This post will be short and sweet: it's great to live in Scandinavia.
A study recently completed by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, a Paris-based group of 30 countries that analyzes the various stats and data of democratic governments, ranked the 10 happiest countries in the world, and found an absolutely shocking (*sarcasm) discovery: all the countries, with the exception of Canada, were in Northern Europe, and to be even more precise, Scandinavia (oh yeah, the US didn't even crack the top 10).
Indeed, Scandinavia boasted four of the 10 countries, including THREE in the top five (Sweden at no. 4, Finland at no. 2, and Denmark at no. 1).
This is a bittersweet experience. On one hand, there's a certain jouissance to reading these stats, especially considering how the countries of Scandinavia all have the evil government enterprises of universal health care, free education through the college level, and other various social safety nets that have stymied the worst of the current Mini-Depression (Denmark, for example, currently has a jaw-dropping 2% unemployment rating, with an hourly wage for manufacturing jobs at $47 dollars).
Then again, it could be a complete coincidence that the world's countries with the most progressive taxation, strongest social programs, and most active public sector (in other words, the most SOCIALIST) dominated this list. Complete coincidence, I know.
On the other hand, though, lists such as this are infuriating, especially in today's political climate of $10 billion a month to Iraq, millions to Israel, a health care system that leaves 47 million uninsured, a humiliating public education system, a college system akin to blood sucking leeches, and, of course, right-wing crazies at the local and federal level who want to cut taxes and spending amidst this superlative economic climate.
When will we Americans stop being so stoopid?
The in-depth study can be found here.
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