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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: loco on December 18, 2009, 06:40:45 AM
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livescience.com – Thu Dec 17
Ever wondered if you'd be happier in sunny Florida or snow-covered Minnesota? New research on state-level happiness could answer that question.
Florida and two other sunshine states made it to the Top 5, while Minnesota doesn't show up until number 26 on the list of happiest states. In addition to rating the smile factor of U.S. states, the research also proved for the first time that a person's self-reported happiness matches up with objective measures of well-being.
Essentially, if an individual says they're happy, they are.
"When human beings give you an answer on a numerical scale about how satisfied they are with their lives, it is best to pay attention. Their answers are reliable," said Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick in England. "This suggests that life-satisfaction survey data might be very useful for governments to use in the design of economic and social policies," Oswald said.
The happy-states list, however, doesn't match up with a similar ranking reported last month, which found that the most tolerant and wealthiest states were, on average, the happiest. Oswald says this past is based on raw averages of people's happiness in a state, and so doesn't provide meaningful results.
"That study cannot control for individual characteristics," Oswald told LiveScience. "In other words, all anyone has been able to do is to report the averages state-by-state, and the problem with doing that is you're not comparing apples with apples because the people who live in New York City are nothing like the individuals living in Montana."
Rather, Oswald and Stephen Wu, an economist at Hamilton College in New York, statistically created a representative American. That way they could take, for example, a 38-year-old woman with a high-school diploma and making medium-wage who is living anywhere and transplant her to another state and get a rough estimate of her happiness level.
"Not much point in looking at the happiness of a Texas rancher compared to a nurse in Ohio," Oswald said.
The happiest states:
1. Louisiana
2. Hawaii
3. Florida
4. Tennessee
5. Arizona
6. Mississippi
7. Montana
8. South Carolina
9. Alabama
10. Maine
The scientists caution, however, that the top spot, Louisiana, might not reflect current levels of well-being since the data were collected before the disruption caused by Hurricane Katrina. They are confident that data for the other states does accurately reflect happiness levels.
See the full list of 50 states (and the District of Columbia) here.
http://www.livescience.com/culture/091217-happy-state-list.html
Happiness measures
Their results come from a comparison of two data sets of happiness levels in each state, one that relied on participants' self-reported well-being and the other an objective measure that took into account a state's weather, home prices and other factors that are known reasons to frown (or smile).
The self-reported information came from 1.3 million U.S. citizens who took part in a survey between 2005 and 2008.
"We wanted to study whether people's feelings of satisfaction with their own lives are reliable, that is, whether they match up to reality - of sunshine hours, congestion, air quality, etc - in their own state," Oswald said.
The results showed the two measures matched up. "We were stunned when it first came up on our screens, because no one has ever managed to produce a clear validation before of subjective well-being, or happiness, data," Oswald said.
They were also surprised at the least happy states, such as New York and Connecticut, which landed at the bottom two spots on the list.
"We were struck by the states that come at the bottom, because a lot of them are on the East Coast, highly prosperous and industrialized," Oswald said. "That's another way of saying they have a lot of congestion, high house prices, bad air quality."
He added, "Many people think these states would be marvelous places to live in. The problem is that if too many individuals think that way, they move into those states, and the resulting congestion and house prices make it a non-fulfilling prophecy."
Would you be happier in another state?
Using both the subjective well-being results, which included individual characteristics like demographics and income, and the objective findings, the team could figure out how an individual would fare in a particular state.
"We can create a like-to-like comparison, because we know the characteristics of people in every state," Oswald said. "So we can adjust statistically to compare a representative person hypothetically put down in any state."
This new research will be published online on Dec. 17 by the journal Science.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20091217/sc_livescience/happieststatesrevealedbynewresearch
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Notice that the happiest states revealed by this new research are also some of the poorest states in the US. Proof that wealth does not buy happiness. These are also mostly conservative states.
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Notice that the happiest states revealed by this new research are also some of the poorest states in the US. Proof that wealth does not buy happiness. These are also mostly conservative states.
Spot on. These liberal hell holes like NY, CT, MA, MI, are a perfect example of liberal policies brought to full fruition. High taxes, high regulation, insane prices, govt hell, and PC garbagee everywhere.
I cant wait to leave this mess.
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2nd that !!!!
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2nd that !!!!
Bodysite- people often wonder why i get so amped up about this stuff. Unless you live in the devils' den of leftism you have no idea how bad these policies and their eventual outcomes are.
Take a guy like Hugo - nice guy and I think he really has his heart in the right place, but if he were where I am, he probably would be even to the right of me as he lives in Wyoming.
I have been looking at houses for a long time and you know why I wont buy? The govt!
The taxes are so freaking high you have no idea. A little 50 y/o cape cod near me is well over 10k a year in property taxes alone. DMV fees, sales taxes, nickle and dimed all the time etc.
This is why I loathe the govt so much and everyone who wants to increase and embolden it.
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Yep, taxes are insane and this administration will (and are) forcing them higher.
Soon, they will allow the Bush tax cuts to expire too. That not only affects wealthier Americans, it affects capital gains taxes...so it affects all business owners and lots of people that have invested in companies and the stock market, even 401K.
Its simple people...when you have people in like Obama and far left liberals, they believe in larger government and more spending which requires more tax dollars squeezed from us. Unfortunately, Bush did the same thing with gov spending, though not to this degree. Choose wisely for 2010 and 2012, we cannot sustain this kind of all out spending.
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Maybe it has nothing to do with wealth or politics?
Maybe it simply has to do with a lot of sunshine and a lack of snow?
It's easy for people to be happy when the sun shines 24/7,
...and women will flash their boobies for cheap plastic beads. :D
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i know why you get amped up 33, peoples stupidity or blindness or willing to live in denial realy is truely fucking amazing and if none of what i just listed apply then they must be a socialist and need to just go live in a socialist country and not try to change america, what used to be a great nation
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Maybe it has nothing to do with wealth or politics?
Maybe it simply has to do with a lot of sunshine and a lack of snow?
It's easy for people to be happy when the sun shines 24/7,
...and women will flash their boobies for cheap plastic beads. :D
???
11. Alaska
.
.
.
51. New York
http://www.livescience.com/culture/091217-happy-state-list.html
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I lived in CT my whole life except for three years in Maine.MAINE SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!There are three months of summer and 9 months of winter.Its dark,poor,and filled with people that do nothing but eat all year long and then when you go to the beach,the very people that were stuffing their faces wear thongs on the beach[french canadians/mainers].Its a HORRIBLE state.No pro sports teams,shitty college sports teams [except hockey]the newspapers suck and they are about 20 years behing the trends in every other state.
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i know why you get amped up 33, peoples stupidity or blindness or willing to live in denial realy is truely fucking amazing and if none of what i just listed apply then they must be a socialist and need to just go live in a socialist country and not try to change america, what used to be a great nation
In your opinion, when was the USA a great nation, up to what point in time?
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I lived in CT my whole life except for three years in Maine.MAINE SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!There are three months of summer and 9 months of winter.Its dark,poor,and filled with people that do nothing but eat all year long and then when you go to the beach,the very people that were stuffing their faces wear thongs on the beach[french canadians/mainers].Its a HORRIBLE state.No pro sports teams,shitty college sports teams [except hockey]the newspapers suck and they are about 20 years behing the trends in every other state.
Billy - i live in the most liberal of areas and that is why i loathe and detest liberals as much as I do. They destroy everything they go near.
All the people a tschiff's HQ last night said the same thing of CT.
wherever liberals go, they screw up the dam place, same as NJ, MI, NY, everywhere.
Unless you live in one of these areas you have no idea what its like if you have a brain.
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11. Alaska
ummm... ignorance is bliss? :D
...tons of pork including a bridge to Nowhere (almost)?
That far up in latitude... they get days of sunshine without end.
...'sides, ....It's hard to be unhappy when you have meth. ;D
51. New York
???
That one's easy, ...they're right next to New Jersey. ;D
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Hahaha, the tri-state rounding out the bottom three. Awesome.
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ummm... ignorance is bliss? :D
...tons of pork including a bridge to Nowhere (almost)?
That far up in latitude... they get days of sunshine without end.
...'sides, ....It's hard to be unhappy when you have meth. ;D
That one's easy, ...they're right next to New Jersey. ;D
"The results are based on an examination of two data sets, one that included personal reports of happiness for 1.3 million Americans and the other that included objective measures, such as how crowded that state is, air quality, home prices and other factors known to impact quality of life."
http://www.livescience.com/culture/091217-happy-state-list.html
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i would say up until clinton , that is when all this political correctness bull shit realy took over and when people got realy spineless to stand up to bull shit bills and politicians , gb wasnt much better and now we just have a fucking train wreck with this admin
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i would say up until clinton , that is when all this political correctness bull shit realy took over and when people got realy spineless to stand up to bull shit bills and politicians , gb wasnt much better and now we just have a fucking train wreck with this admin
I would say that too. Clinton really ushered in a level of unprecedented corruption and garbage that paved the way for what we have now.
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i would say up until clinton , that is when all this political correctness bull shit realy took over and when people got realy spineless to stand up to bull shit bills and politicians , gb wasnt much better and now we just have a fucking train wreck with this admin
Thanks for answering my question and for sharing your opinion!
From what I've studied, since the end of the cold war, Americans and Europeans are living, or should be living the best years of their lives. It wasn't much fun during these times:
WWI
The Great Depression
WWII
The Cold War. This spawned many other wars around the world(Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Central America, etc.), while Americans, Europeans and many people in other countries were scared to death of a nuclear war. I read somewhere that the reason not much was done for the environment in those days is because people didn't see the point in building a better future, because they thought it was very unlikely the earth had a future. They concentrated only on the here and now.
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i see the point in that however it wasnt until clinton that this new victim attitude came about, nowa days many would rather sit around and wait on handouts and play some victim role to keep the handouts coming rather than just get up and work for what they want and lately the government just condones that by keeping the handouts coming, all that does is screw shit up for the people that actualy work for a living and contribute to things
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its not my fault that some chick dropped out of school then had 7 kids from 6 different daddies who are in jail, why the fuck should uncle sam keep digging further into my wallet to support these people , they put themselves there let them get them self out .
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Retirees and retarded red necks seem to be happier people than the rest of us. Some have little to worry about, and others are too stupid not to be happy.
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Retirees and retarded red necks seem to be happier people than the rest of us. Some have little to worry about, and others are too stupid not to be happy.
;D
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Notice that the happiest states revealed by this new research are also some of the poorest states in the US. Proof that wealth does not buy happiness. These are also mostly conservative states.
proof?
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proof?
Wealth doesn't buy you happiness, ...but it can afford you the ability to work your problems out in style. :P
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proof?
It's just an expression, Straw. And no, money can't buy happiness.
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Wealth doesn't buy you happiness, ...but it can afford you the ability to work your problems out in style. :P
Problems caused by wealth itself? All we need is enough money to keep us from being cold and hungry. It's hard to be happy when you are cold and hungry. But wealth beyond that does not bring you more happiness, and often creates new problems.
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Problems caused by wealth itself? All we need is enough money to keep us from being cold and hungry. It's hard to be happy when you are cold and hungry. But wealth beyond that does not bring you more happiness, and often creates new problems.
The only problem poverty ever solved was indecision. When you're broke as fvck, you have no choice or options.
I'll take the "problems" of wealth over the solutions of poverty any day of the week. ;)
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The only problem poverty ever solved was indecision. When you're broke as fvck, you have no choice or options.
I'll take the "problems" of wealth over the solutions of poverty any day of the week. ;)
Who said poverty solves any problems? Who said being poor or broke is a good thing? ::)
I said once you buy your way out of being cold and hungry, adding more wealth does not add to your happiness, but often does add new problems.
Not being rich doesn't mean you are poor. There is a middle ground. Beyond that, richer does not mean happier.
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wealth isnt the problem, its the pursuit of wealth by immoral people that will do anything in spite of everything else to obtain wealth that is the problem, many wealth people with morals dont seem to have issues like we see and read about , but these people go unnoticed cause they havent screwed eveyone to get what they want, maybe the media should give these people that have morals some t.v. timeand they could be an example to all these immoral crooked people in the world
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wealth isnt the problem, its the pursuit of wealth by immoral people that will do anything in spite of everything else to obtain wealth that is the problem, many wealth people with morals dont seem to have issues like we see and read about , but these people go unnoticed cause they havent screwed eveyone to get what they want, maybe the media should give these people that have morals some t.v. timeand they could be an example to all these immoral crooked people in the world
(http://www.jaguarenterprises.net/images/trophy.jpg)
BINGO!!!
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well dam jag.. we agree on something lol
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well dam jag.. we agree on something lol
Hell just froze over! lol :D
(http://www.jaguarenterprises.net/images/hellfreezingover.jpg)
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well it is the season of miracles
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All we need is enough money to keep us from being cold and hungry. It's hard to be happy when you are cold and hungry. But wealth beyond that does not bring you more happiness, and often creates new problems.
I can't believe what a selfish, and pathetic poverty mindset I'm witnessing. Surprising coming from one who claims to be so heavily involved in charitable works. Wealth empowers people to be a philanthropic force for good in the world. It empowers people to make decisions, take effective actions where needed, and to bridge the gap for many.
It was wealth that empowered my friend to build 2 schools, one in Thailand and the other in Somoa in 2006.
It was wealth that empowered Oprah to build her academy for girls in South Africa.
It was wealth that empowered my friend Bob to spend the last 20 years doing missionary work abroad.
It was wealth that has allowed many Americans to get the life saving necessary medical care they needed.
It's wealth that provides the capital for many worthwhile, entrepreneurial & philanthropic ventures all over the world
You are no good to anyone else if you cannot even help yourself. Food & warmth are good, but what good can you do in the world if that's all you have? A homeless, unemployed guy in Jamaica has all the food & warmth he'll ever need, ...but what can he do to leave a legacy? And if you don't think that being a force for good in the world, and making a positive difference in people's lives does not bring happiness & fulfillment to one's life, ...you've obviously never done it.
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well it is the season of miracles
...and gift giving
(http://www.jaguarenterprises.net/images/redribbongift.gif)
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wealth isnt the problem, its the pursuit of wealth by immoral people that will do anything in spite of everything else to obtain wealth that is the problem, many wealth people with morals dont seem to have issues like we see and read about , but these people go unnoticed cause they havent screwed eveyone to get what they want, maybe the media should give these people that have morals some t.v. timeand they could be an example to all these immoral crooked people in the world
Good post BodyProSite!
But I want to make it clear that nobody said that wealth is the problem. Wealth is not a problem. There is nothing wrong with wealth, pursuing wealth or with being wealthy.
I simply said wealth can't buy happiness, and that it often creates problems you wouldn't have without wealth.
I know this won't stop people from pursuing wealth, and that's fine. But I pity the fool who believes that attaining wealth brings happiness.
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(http://www.jaguarenterprises.net/images/trophy.jpg)
BINGO!!!
::)
Jag,
You are the immoral people that BodyProSite is talking about, taking advantage of desperate people with your Multi-Level Marketing scams, pyramid schemes, useless fuel tabs and all your other worthless products.
That's why you don't like my posts on wealth and happiness, because it doesn't go well with your MLM propaganda, does it?
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I can't believe what a selfish, and pathetic poverty mindset I'm witnessing. Surprising coming from one who claims to be so heavily involved in charitable works. Wealth empowers people to be a philanthropic force for good in the world. It empowers people to make decisions, take effective actions where needed, and to bridge the gap for many.
It was wealth that empowered my friend to build 2 schools, one in Thailand and the other in Somoa in 2006.
It was wealth that empowered Oprah to build her academy for girls in South Africa.
It was wealth that empowered my friend Bob to spend the last 20 years doing missionary work abroad.
It was wealth that has allowed many Americans to get the life saving necessary medical care they needed.
It's wealth that provides the capital for many worthwhile, entrepreneurial & philanthropic ventures all over the world
You are no good to anyone else if you cannot even help yourself. Food & warmth are good, but what good can you do in the world if that's all you have? A homeless, unemployed guy in Jamaica has all the food & warmth he'll ever need, ...but what can he do to leave a legacy? And if you don't think that being a force for good in the world, and making a positive difference in people's lives does not bring happiness & fulfillment to one's life, ...you've obviously never done it.
"my friend", "Oprah", "my friend Bob", "Americans"? What about you Jag? What charitable works has wealth empowered you to do? And you call me selfish? ::)
Here you go Jag:
"Americans give more to charity, per capita and as a percentage of gross domestic product, than the citizens of other nations"
"The most charitable people in America today are the working poor."
"it's in fact low-income employed Americans who give the highest portion of their income, or 4.5%."
"low-income people give almost 30 percent more as a share of their income."
"When you look at the data," says Syracuse University professor Arthur Brooks, "it turns out the conservatives give about 30 percent more. And incidentally, conservative-headed families make slightly less money."
Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism
by Arthur C. Brooks
# ISBN-10: 0465008232
# ISBN-13: 978-0465008230
http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/24/america-philanthropy-income-oped-cx_ee_1226eaves.html
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2682730
http://townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2006/12/06/who_gives_to_charity?page=full
And there is more:
"But the idea that liberals give more is a myth. Of the top 25 states where people give an above-average percentage of their income, all but one (Maryland) were red -- conservative -- states in the last presidential election."
"The people who give one thing tend to be the people who give everything in America. You find that people who believe it's the government's job to make incomes more equal, are far less likely to give their money away."
"Conservatives are even 18 percent more likely to donate blood."
"Religious people are more likely to give to charity, and when they give, they give more money -- four times as much."
"Religious Americans are more likely to give to every kind of cause and charity, including explicitly nonreligious charities. Religious people give more blood; religious people give more to homeless people on the street."
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"Money that lifts people out of poverty increases happiness, but after that, the better paychecks stop paying off sense-of-well-being dividends, research shows."
"The Keys to Happiness", according to psychologists and researchers:
- Make lists of things for which you're grateful in your life
- Practice random acts of kindness
- Forgive your enemies
- Notice life's small pleasures
- Take care of your health
- Practice positive thinking
- Invest time and energy into friendships and family.
http://www.livescience.com/health/060227_happiness_keys.html
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Liberals are big into giving. Just not big into giving away their own money. Yours, though? Perfect.
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::)
Jag,
You are the immoral people that BodyProSite is talking about, taking advantage of desperate people with your Multi-Level Marketing scams, pyramid schemes, useless fuel tabs and all your other worthless products.
That's why you don't like my posts on wealth and happiness, because it doesn't go well with your MLM propaganda, does it?
I don't take advantage of desperate people, ...the George W Bushes, and the Jim Bakers of the world do that.
I bring value to the marketplace. The fact that I've done in with products that came into great demand doesn't make me a crook, it makes me one with tremendous foresight.
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I don't take advantage of desperate people, ...the George W Bushes, and the Jim Bakers of the world do that.
I bring value to the marketplace. The fact that I've done in with products that came into great demand doesn't make me a crook, it makes me one with tremendous foresight.
Ha Ha. Unreal. Seriously unreal and comical to the Nth Degree.
I wish you included the Clintons, Gores, Obama's, and Soros' of the world in that too.
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I don't take advantage of desperate people, ...the George W Bushes, and the Jim Bakers of the world do that.
I bring value to the marketplace. The fact that I've done in with products that came into great demand doesn't make me a crook, it makes me one with tremendous foresight.
I'm not a George W Bush fan, but....
Bush is more green than the Liberal "Green God" Gore!
Bush cleaned up more toxic sites than Obama plans to clean!
Bush gave more to AIDS/AFRICA than Obama plans to pledge!
Bush gives a lot more to Charity than Obama does!