Some Takeaways On the World's Happiest Nations Report

The world's happiest nations were announced today by the by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations.

World's happiest countries named

Takeaways?

--The US isn't the happiest

--The US isn't in the top 3

--The US isn't in the top 5

--The US isn't even in the top 10

--The US is in the 13th position

Here's what I love.

The top ten "happiest nations"?

Socialist.

All Socialist.

Every one.

Here's another kicker. Another takeaway. Frankly, it's one more slam on us, the US.

Israel ranks higher in happiness than the US.

Israel.

Surrounded by their enemies. Set upon and attacked, not infrequently, by Palestinians yet they have a higher happiness rating than we do here in the United States.


So, America.  Could we learn some things here?

Please?

Soon as possible?

Here's one:  The lady was right.

We are #Strongertogether.

Links:

World Happiness Report Update 2016

World Happiness Report - Wikipedia

America Has the Worst Vacation Policies 

Of Any Developed Country

Once again, U.S. has most expensive, least effective health care

Americans are much, much more likely to be killed by guns than  people in other countries

Americans are paying more for slower Internet 

Way to go, America

Check out the latest ranking of all the nations of the world and who does--and who doesn't--come in at the top. This is precisely what Republican and Right Wing policies and legislators and government and governments get us.

In a global ranking of 'best countries,' the United States drops to No. 7

The top 6 nations? 

Socialist. 

 All Socialist. 

This is what working together gets them. 

A little from the article.

A new ranking of the world's “best countries” is out — and the results don’t look good for America.

Switzerland takes top nation honors, according to the second annual “Best Countries” ranking from U.S. News & World Report, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and global brand consultants BAV Consulting. Just behind the Swiss are Canada and Britain, second and third, respectively.

The United States ends up in the seventh spot, just edging out Australia but also lagging Germany, Japan and Sweden.

Get that. Our neighbors to the North, the Canadians, are number two in the world. I expect most Americans would no way expect that.

Not only are we ranked in the 7th spot but we dropped 3 spots from the previous list. We are only seen as the “most powerful.” Given the absolutely foolish and fiscally irresponsible amount we spend on military and what we call defense, we ought to be most powerful.

Bet better, America. You're falling behind. And it's not because you're not spending boodles of money. It's just that you're foolishly spending far too much of it on what we consider "defense" and health care.

Link:

US Falls in US News Best Countries Rankings

America, Due To This President, You're Being Mocked

I don't remember a time in our nation's history when we were this mocked, this lampooned, by not just groups of people outside our nation but by whole nations. With this new President, not a total surprise, we now are. To wit:

Country by country, Europe is trolling Trump 

one video at a time

Swtizerland is said to have begun it all, with this.



Suddenly, that "richest nation in the world" wants to be "America first!"

I guess we just aren't rich enough yet, huh?

Pretty embarrassing.

What isn't stupid from the Orange One, what isn't stupid and irresponsible policies, are stupid statements and ideas and claims, sometimes, as we've seen already repeatedly, there are outright untruths. Lies.

So again, congratulations, America, congratulations Republicans! You've gotten stupider and more greedy, both, in one fell swoop.

Socialism or America's Capitalism?

In the ever-raging and ongoing battle of what's better? Capitalism or Socialism, I offer you today the Legatum Prosperity Index of world nations for 2015.

Britain leapfrogs Germany in list of world's 

most prosperous

Note two things, ladies and gentlemen.

The US is not "NUMBER ONE!"

And the top nine nations are Socialist.


Huh.

After Hobby Lobby, let's boycott Walgreens while we're at it

Yes sir, if this corporate tax plan goes through, boycott Walgreens:

Renouncing Corporate Citizenship

A little less than two years ago, Gregory D. Wasson, the chief executive of Walgreen, sought a series of tax breaks from Illinois, where his company is based.

“We are proud of our Illinois heritage,” he said at the time. “Just as our stores and pharmacies are health and daily living anchors for the communities we serve, we as a company are now recommitted to serving as an economic anchor for northeastern Illinois.”

The state gave Walgreen $46 million in corporate income tax credits over 10 years in exchange for a pledge to create 500 jobs and invest in upgrading its offices. The state also provided $625,000 in training money and $875,000 in other tax incentives.

Mr. Wasson’s actions, however, could soon run counter to his words. The same chief executive who said he was so “proud of our Illinois heritage” is now considering moving the company’s headquarters to Switzerland as part of a merger with Alliance Boots, a European drugstore chain.

Why? To lower Walgreen’s tax bill even further.

Alarmingly, dozens of large United States companies are contemplating the increasingly popular tax-skirting tactic known as an inversion. Under the strategy, companies merge with foreign rivals in countries with lower tax rates and then reincorporate there while still enjoying the benefits of doing a large part of their business in the United States.

And besides being deeply unpatriotic and just blatantly wrong, here's what else Walgreens gets from America:

In Walgreen’s case, an inversion would be an affront to United States taxpayers. The company, which also owns the Duane Reade chain in New York, reaps almost a quarter of its $72 billion in revenue directly from the government; it received $16.7 billion from Medicare and Medicaid last year.

This is obscene.  We need to stop this nonsense.

Final Olympic medal count

1	Russia	13	11	9	33
2	Norway	11	5	10	26
3	Canada	10	10	5	25
4	United States	9	7	12	28
5	Netherlands	8	7	9	24
6	Germany	8	6	5	19
7	Switzerland	6	3	2	11
8	Belarus	5	0	1	6
9	Austria	4	8	5	17
10	France	4	4	7	15
11	Poland	4	1	1	6
12	China	3	4	2	9
13	South Korea	3	3	2	8
14	Sweden	2	7	6	15
15	Czech Republic	2	4	2	8
16	Slovenia	2	2	4	8
17	Japan	1	4	3	8
18	Finland	1	3	1	5
19	Great Britain	1	1	2	4
20	Ukraine	1	0	1	2
21	Slovakia	1	0	0	1
22	Italy	0	2	6	8
23	Latvia	0	2	2	4
24	Australia	0	2	1	3
25	Croatia	0	1	0	1
26	Kazakhstan	0	0	1	1

Repeat after me:

WE'RE NUMBER FOUR!!  WE'RE NUMBER FOUR!!

There is this, anyway:
United States is king of the bronze

Some facts on the final Olympics counts for us:

It didn’t look good for the United States. No medals in individual figure skating for the first time since 1936. No medals in speedskating for the first time since 1984. The four most identifiable Winter Olympians — Shaun White, Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn, Shani Davis — won a total of one bronze medal. (In Vonn’s defense, she wasn’t competing in Sochi due to injury.) The women’s hockey team blew a late 2-0 lead in the gold-medal game and the men’s team was outscored 6-0 in the medal rounds. Still, it wasn’t all bad. American athletes won 28 medals, good for second on the overall medal count. (That was nine fewer medals than the U.S. won in Vancouver, however.) Team USA’s 12 bronze medals were the most for any nation. It’s the third time in the past four Winter Olympics the Americans have won that tally.

Links:  The 14 most fascinating facts about the final 2014 Winter Olympics medal count

Inside the Final Medal Count at the 2014 Winter Olympics

Welfare ruins nations?

We've heard it repeatedly, right? Welfare--for the people--makes them weaker?

And what countries also aren't outspending the rest of the world for war, bombs and planes, investing so much of their GDP on death and war?

Yeah, them, that's who.

And then there's this, added to it all:

I think it's all important to know.

And repeat.


 

Another indication of America's problems

A list is just out, ranking the best and worst cities of the world, based either on "Quality of Living", the second on "Infrastructure ranking."

Not one US city ranks in the top ten of either:

Worldwide top 50 cities: Quality of living ranking

Worldwide top 50 cities: Infrastructure ranking

Repeat after me:  "WE'RE NUMBER ONE!"

Original article:  Mercer's 2012 Quality of Living ranking highlights - Global

Surprising things coming out of Davos

Morality, to come back into our business dealings? Wouldn't that be a great idea?

Why they "occupy"

An article right now at Reuters explains it: Growing wealth divide puts globalization at risk (Reuters) - A backlash against rising inequality - evident from the Occupy movement to the Arab Spring - risks derailing the advance of globalization and represents a threat to economies worldwide, according to the World Economic Forum. Severe income disparity and precarious government finances rank as the biggest economic threats facing the world, according to the group's 2012 Global Risks report released on Wednesday. The 60-page analysis of 50 risks over the next decade precedes the World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual meeting in two weeks' time in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, and paints a bleak picture of an increasingly uncertain world. THAT'S why. A gross imbalance between the uber-wealthy and a very large group of "has nots" is not healthy for political and financial systems and structures. That should be obvious. It's dangerous. It makes for instability of the first order. It's how and why political systems are overthrown down through history. Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/11/us-davos-risks-idUSTRE80A0KK20120111

Not one American city is list of "top ten"

The consulting group Mercer took a survey of the "Top 10 Cities in Qualty of Life" and not one is in the United States. "Vienna's excellent infrastructure, safe streets and good public health service make it the nicest place to live in the world, consulting group Mercer said in a global survey which put Baghdad firmly in last place. German and Swiss cities also performed especially well in the quality of living rankings, with Zurich, Munich, Duesseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva and Bern in the top 10." Let's see--excellent infrastructure, safe streets and good public health service. Well, naturally, if you look at THOSE things, American cities will never rank well. Lesson, anyone? Link: http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/survey-says-the-best-place-to-live-is---.html

And while we're on the subject of who's "Number One"

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the Better Life Initiative, examining how various aspects of people's lives affect the general well-being of whole countries and came up with the following list of "The 10 Countries With The Best Work-Life Balance." Guess what country who thinks--and claims, frequently, that it's "number one"-- ISN'T EVEN ON THE FREAKING LIST? Yeah, I think you know. European countries? All over the place. The Netherlands? You bet. No Uncle Sam. Read it and weep, suckers. As I've said before, your boss loves you. Try to have a nice weekend anyway. Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/01/top-ten-countries-with-work-life-balance_n_868224.html#s285262&title=10_France

Guess what country ISN'T on the "World's Top 9 Countries With The Fastest Internet Speeds"

Sure, the country I'm thinking of--that you're thinking of--THINKS it's number one. But it isn't. Think again. Akamai, a company that collects data about Internet use, ranks countries by their computer speeds and has ranked the following: Belgium (9), Romania (8), Switzerland (7), the Czech Republic (the Czech Republic, for pity's sake) (6), Latvia (FREAKING LATVIA!!) (5), the Netherlands (4), Japan (3), Hong Kong (2) and South Korea (for crying out loud) at number one, are all FASTER IN INTERNET SPEED than the United States. Where do we rank, you might ask? We rank a lowly number 12--not even in the top 10. How's that "we're number one!" thing going for you? (We're slower than Romania. Holy cow. Romania. and Latvia. --banging head--). Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/fastest-internet-countries-akamai_n_1051651.html#s438321&title=9__Belgium

Ex-President George W. Bush--now officially "on the lam"

Yeehaw!

Good on you, Switzerland.

Check it out, according to The New York Times:

February 5, 2011

Bush's Swiss Visit Off After Complaints on Torture

By REUTERS

GENEVA (Reuters) - Former U.S. President George W. Bush, under fire from human rights group over allegations of ordering torture, has canceled a visit to Switzerland where he was to address a Jewish charity gala.

Bush was to be the keynote speaker at Keren Hayesod's annual dinner on February 12 in Geneva. But pressure has been building on the Swiss government to arrest him and open a criminal investigation if he enters the Alpine country.

Criminal complaints against Bush alleging torture have been lodged in Geneva, court officials say, and several human rights groups signaled that they were poised to take further legal action this week.


Because, after all, as the article rightly and correctly points out:  Torture is a crime under international law and human rights experts say the absolute prohibition is very clear.

Unfortunately, technically he has diplomatic immunity and, likely, these human rights groups won't keep their pressure on forever but hey, at least for now, at least in this instance, it messed with his plans and he's at least remotely aware of how people around the world feel about the national and international laws he broke.

But at least, for right now, let's enjoy this moment.

Have a great weekend, y'all.


(and thanks to friend John McA. for bringing this article to my attention).