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View Full Version : Wash Times: New Zealand rated most peaceful, U.S. 83rd




Cowlesy
06-03-2009, 08:29 AM
After New Zealand, the top 10 most peaceful nations are Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Austria, Sweden, Japan, Canada, Finland and Slovenia. In the bottom 10 are Zimbabwe, Russia, Pakistan, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Israel, Somalia, Afghanistan and, in last place, Iraq.

Perhaps its time to move to New Zealand!



http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/03/new-zealand-rated-most-peaceful-us-83rd/

pinkmandy
06-03-2009, 08:30 AM
NZ would be awesome!

Pennsylvania
06-03-2009, 08:33 AM
Idiom, quick go start a bar fight

malkusm
06-03-2009, 08:43 AM
I've been wanting to move to NZ for a while, but I found their immigration website and it's not necessarily a cakewalk....

Definitely a good option though if you qualify :)

ChaosControl
06-03-2009, 09:28 AM
It has nice scenery there. But how are the taxes?

RevolutionSD
06-03-2009, 10:08 AM
Well....it's disappointing that the so-called peaceful nations are all socialist. NZ isn't quite as socialist as the rest but more so than the U.S. I traveled around there last year and it's a beautiful country with lots of space, and there are some elements of the free market, but the state definitely runs everything, just like everywhere else.

Makes me wonder though, Doug Casey is probably the richest anarchist known, and has a house in NZ...maybe it is just a little more free there in addition to being peaceful. Taxes are, however, through the roof there- more than the U.S.

ChaosControl
06-03-2009, 10:53 AM
Taxes are, however, through the roof there- more than the U.S.
I'll pass then. U.S. is already way too high in taxation, not going somewhere that it is even worse.

Sean
06-03-2009, 11:28 AM
They have the All Blacks and a more stable currency.

FindLiberty
06-03-2009, 11:31 AM
been there, not a bahhhhhh D place at all, if you like sheep and scenery.

Mesogen
06-03-2009, 11:42 AM
What kind of jobs/industry do they have? From what I understand they've got sheep herding and tourism.

edit: I just looked them up. They have deregulated a lot of typically government operations like postal service. So they have competing private postal services at least.

idirtify
06-03-2009, 03:04 PM
well I know they have mushrooms, but do they have high speed internet?

Cowlesy
06-03-2009, 03:40 PM
My buddy just got back from Iceland, and he said it was absolutely amazing.

I wouldn't mind living in Iceland if I could figure out how I could be productive there.

torchbearer
06-03-2009, 03:41 PM
My buddy just got back from Iceland, and he said it was absolutely amazing.

I wouldn't mind living in Iceland if I could figure out how I could be productive there.

harvesting the ocean would be a good trade. either fish or oil.
edit: if you have the capital- you could finance the company that hires professionals to harvest the above.

idiom
06-03-2009, 03:59 PM
Well....it's disappointing that the so-called peaceful nations are all socialist. NZ isn't quite as socialist as the rest but more so than the U.S. I traveled around there last year and it's a beautiful country with lots of space, and there are some elements of the free market, but the state definitely runs everything, just like everywhere else.

Makes me wonder though, Doug Casey is probably the richest anarchist known, and has a house in NZ...maybe it is just a little more free there in addition to being peaceful. Taxes are, however, through the roof there- more than the U.S.

Say what? Our major industry is farming which is completely unsubsidised and voluntarily regulated.

I wouldn't believe the peaceful thing though. A guy was shot back in february.

ChaosControl
06-03-2009, 04:14 PM
I wouldn't believe the peaceful thing though. A guy was shot back in february.
lol

Eh maybe Ill go there and start some organic farm. How much is land?

FindLiberty
06-03-2009, 05:23 PM
Talked to some NZ small town locals in front of a closed resturant that I wanted to eat at. (This had happened back
in the 90's, right after they had to re-organize their own government after it had tanked their $). Their apparent concern
(lesson learned from their mistakes) and advice for us: They didn't gut the state enough and it was already starting
to grow back again.

The re-engineering of the state needs to be treated like it's a deadly tumor - excise it with a wide margin. (my conclusion)

Other that getting $$$ from tourists, not much economic activity other than farms and sheep numbering in the ga-jillions.

PS When they pronounced the name of their town (Christ Church), it sounded like they were saying, "Cross Stitch" IMO.
http://www.christchurch.org.nz/PhotoGallery/img/001.jpg

risk_reward
06-03-2009, 08:04 PM
New Zealand is economically more free than the United Sates according to the heritage foundation. That ranking is before a lot of the new programs are included too. I expect the score to drop dramatically for the US and the designation to change from free to mostly free next year.

http://www.heritage.org/Index/Ranking.aspx

risk_reward
06-03-2009, 08:05 PM
Australia looks like the place to be though. A nice steady upward progression on their freedom score over the last 15 years.

http://www.heritage.org/Index/Country/Australia

Although Canada looks to be on the move itself. Maybe our perception is outdated?

http://www.heritage.org/Index/Country/Canada

risk_reward
06-03-2009, 08:06 PM
Talked to some NZ small town locals in front of a closed resturant that I wanted to eat at. (This had happened back
in the 90's, right after they had to re-organize their own government after it had tanked their $). Their apparent concern
(lesson learned from their mistakes) and advice for us: They didn't gut the state enough and it was already starting
to grow back again.

The re-engineering of the state needs to be treated like it's a deadly tumor - excise it with a wide margin. (my conclusion)

Other that getting $$$ from tourists, not much economic activity other than farms and sheep numbering in the ga-jillions.

PS When they pronounced the name of their town (Christ Church), it sounded like they were saying, "Cross Stitch" IMO.
http://www.christchurch.org.nz/PhotoGallery/img/001.jpg

That looks like a nice golf course.

idiom
06-03-2009, 09:08 PM
We have waaaay too many golf courses.

I left Australia to come back to New Zealand because Oz was pretty nanny-state-ish and it was way to much red-tape when running a business.

They have several more levels of Government than we do.