Socialism?

Originally posted by Divinorumus
Well, things might seem okay now, but what is the state of their current national budget/debt? And, what is it forecasted to be like 30 years down this socialist road?

I always find it funny, the amount of blatant ignorance in opinions on this site.

Those countries are not socialist.

They have social policies... Learn what socialism is please.. because even though you will obviously say you know the definition.. you clearly haven't a clue about either
A. Socialism or B. The countries in question.

They have extremely low debt to GDP ratios because they don't spend ridiculous amounts of taxpayer money on their militaries, war, black ops etc etc - they put it back into circulation in their own countries and economies by ensuring everyone is healthy, educated, safe, is making money and as happy as they can make them. Their markets are also completely free (by EU standards - The EU regulates the markets somewhat to ensure safe trading and consumer safety)

And yes, overall quality of life in the Nordic countries dwarves the standard of living in the US/UK.. even though the UK also has social policies like free healthcare etc.

reply to post by Divinorumus


Ok, but what if the government said that you could only paint your house every so often?

And forget about upgrading your car, you'd only be able to use government-approved parts.

And forget about living in the safety of your government apartment -- socialism has yet to deter anybody away from the drug trade.

www.nationmaster.com...

NationMaster's ranking of the top 50 most "happy" countries (difference of very happy people to very unhappy people):

# 1 Iceland: 94%
= 2 Sweden: 91%
= 2 Denmark: 91%
= 2 Netherlands: 91%
# 5 Australia: 90%
= 6 Ireland: 89%
= 6 Switzerland: 89%
# 8 Norway: 88%
= 9 United Kingdom: 87%
= 9 Venezuela: 87%
# 11 Belgium: 86%
# 12 Philippines: 85%
= 13 United States: 84%
= 13 France: 84%
# 15 Finland: 83%
# 16 Austria: 81%
# 17 Canada: 75%
# 18 Poland: 74%
# 19 Japan: 72%
# 20 Turkey: 71%
# 21 Bangladesh: 70%
# 22 Spain: 68%
# 23 Italy: 64%
# 24 Uruguay: 60%
= 25 Brazil: 59%
= 25 Argentina: 59%
# 27 Azerbaijan: 56%
# 28 Chile: 52%
# 29 China: 49%
= 30 Mexico: 48%
= 30 Portugal: 48%
# 32 Dominican Republic: 47%
= 33 Hungary: 46%
= 33 Nigeria: 46%
# 35 Ghana: 43%
# 36 India: 40%
# 37 Slovenia: 32%
# 38 Croatia: 31%
= 39 Georgia: 27%
= 39 Latvia: 27%
# 41 Estonia: 26%
# 42 Romania: 23%
# 43 Armenia: 14%
# 44 Lithuania: 10%
# 45 Slovakia: 4%
# 46 Russia: 2%
# 47 Ukraine: -4%
# 48 Belarus: -8%
# 49 Moldova: -12%
# 50 Bulgaria: -24%

The study suggests that health is most important by a slight margin. Wealth and education are about equal in importance. Having a socialist or republican government was irrelevant; people living capitalist economies were most likely to be happy by a long shot. The highest-ranking hard-left socialist country was China at #29. Another study shows that about 80% of Chinese people surveyed reported being "satisfied" but not "happy" per se.

Here are the top countries for most life satisfaction. They are overwhelmingly Latino counties, whose governments tend to favor socialist policies. They are also located on the western hemisphere and have a tropical climate, which is opposite of the countries who are "most happy."

# 1 Costa Rica: 7.5
= 2 Vanuatu: 7.4
= 2 United States: 7.4
# 4 Dominica: 7.3
= 5 Colombia: 7.2
= 5 Panama: 7.2
= 5 Honduras: 7.2
# 8 United Kingdom: 7.1
# 9 Guatemala: 7
# 10 El Salvador: 6.6
# 11 Cuba: 6.2

Here's a list posted to Wikipedia

1 Vanuatu 68.21
2 Colombia 67.24
3 Costa Rica 66.00
4 Dominica 64.55
5 Panama 63.54
6 Cuba 61.86
7 Honduras 61.75
8 Guatemala 61.69
9 El Salvador 61.66
10 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 61.37

In short, people living under a republican government tend to be more bi-polar, whereas people living under a socialist government tend to be more complacent (or are afraid to say that they are unhappy).