• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

The World's Happiest Countries

bkf, many Americans are happy about war, guns, and violence. We have a lot of sick people.
 
bobknightfan said:
http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/world...a4d6-bc1f03e823d2&bcmt_s=u#ugccmt-container-b

The top four on the list have several things in common: lots of socialist programs, strong safety nets....and very little military spending.

This is hardly surprising to me. They spend their money on people and the peaceful pursuit of happiness, rather than bombs, bullets and always looking for the next war to fight. What a novel idea!
Click to expand...

This coming from a guy who idolizes Bob Knight is just hysterical. Almost as insane as someone who works in the financial services industry criticizing capitalistic greed.
 
just saying that we spend a lot of blood and money on defense (global policing) to protect and promote commerce which allows all those other countries to spend more on domestic tranquility, even if they aren't quite as wealthy (per cap) as the US
 
The US could definitely learn a lot from some of these countries. We do have our priorities out of whack. However, there is also a lot to be said for being the policeman of the world. It takes a lot of financial and military pressure off the rest of the world that we are willing to be the bad guy over and over again. Whether we should or not is up for debate, but it is naive to act like the US's presence in the world doesn't have a lot to do with the stability of nations like the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway.
 
ImTheCaptain said:
just saying that we spend a lot of blood and money on defense (global policing) to protect and promote commerce which allows all those other countries to spend more on domestic tranquility, even if they aren't quite as wealthy (per cap) as the US
Click to expand...

Unfortunately most of the blood and money we spend on "defense" right now goes for offense that makes the world more dangerous, not less.
 
hm, not sure I agree with that but I can see why some would take that position.
 
when i was young i had an older friend who would always have my back if kids in the neighborhood messed with me in the neighborhood during pick-up football, soccer, and baseball games. i was pretty happy with my situation.
 
WakeandBake said:
:rolleyes:


Those people aren't happy, they don't understand what happy is. Being richer than other people is where true happiness lies, everyone knows that.
Click to expand...

that has nothing to do with the russian, british, and american lives that were spent freeing the nordic countries
 
I agree that we spend way too much, it is stupid to think that the US makes the world a less safe place. Really stupid.
 
bobknightfan said:
Are you guys seriously trying to imply that the situation today is comparable to the 1930s....requiring us to spend as much on the military as the next nine largest military expenditrures combined....in order to prevent another Hitler from a global takeover? Don't kid yourself. All this military spending isn't about security. It's about profits for the biggest military-industrial complex in the history of the world.
Click to expand...

It is just one more government program enriching the already rich and the politicians
 
bobknightfan said:
http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/world...a4d6-bc1f03e823d2&bcmt_s=u#ugccmt-container-b

The top four on the list have several things in common: lots of socialist programs, strong safety nets....and very little military spending.

This is hardly surprising to me. They spend their money on people and the peaceful pursuit of happiness, rather than bombs, bullets and always looking for the next war to fight. What a novel idea!
Click to expand...

Where did you get the idea that the top four have little military spending? I only ask because I know that Norway actually has very high levels of military spending per capita. I'm not sure about the other three.
 
WakeandBake said:
:rolleyes:


Those people aren't happy, they don't understand what happy is. Being richer than other people is where true happiness lies, everyone knows that.
Click to expand...

App grads are so cute.

bobknightfan said:
Are you guys seriously trying to imply that the situation today is comparable to the 1930s....requiring us to spend as much on the military as the next nine largest military expenditures combined....in order to prevent another Hitler from a global takeover? Don't kid yourself. All this military spending isn't about security. It's about profits for the biggest military-industrial complex in the history of the world.
Click to expand...

Our military strength is a big reason why it's not comparable. Could and should spending be cut? Absolutely, but, as ITC and Dented alluded to, someone has to keep the peace.

WFU03 said:
Where did you get the idea that the top four have little military spending? I only ask because I know that Norway actually has very high levels of military spending per capita. I'm not sure about the other three.
Click to expand...

Per Wikipedia, they're all at 1.4-1.5% of GDP, a little less than a third of our rate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top