Happiness Goes Up With More Government Services

[smartguy911]

People living in countries with governments that have a greater number of social services report being more satisfied with life, according to a study by a Baylor University researcher.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-life-satisfaction-state-intervention-baylor.html

[nate895]

Correlation does not equal causation. Countries that have large "social services" programs happen to be rich European countries that are losing all of their money. When the money runs out, we'll see how happy they are.

[MelissaWV]

Countries with fewer things for each citizen to worry about, have happier citizens.

That is, as long as these programs are running well AND leave people with enough money for their own diversion, they'll be happy. If the programs start to fail, or people are left with too little money, then the citizens will become increasingly worried. I'm fine with those countries doing what they do. That wouldn't work in the US, though, where the system is beyond bankrupt and the people are left with a lot of responsibility and very little money with which to meet it.

[mczerone]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-life-satisfaction-state-intervention-baylor.html

Impressed with some of the comments over there, quoting Bastiat.

Dismayed by the study, the people who are happier with more government, the people that will use this to justify more government, and the people that can't recognize that libertarianism IS NOT the straw-man exaggerated Objectivism that they claim it to be.

[Mahkato]

I'd be pretty happy today too if I were running all of my credit cards up to the max. Sometimes, young grasshopper, it's better to plan for tomorrow.

[dannno]

Correlation does not equal causation. Countries that have large "social services" programs happen to be rich European countries that are losing all of their money. When the money runs out, we'll see how happy they are.

That's it right there.. poor countries can't afford social services.

[lester1/2jr]

I guess I'd be happy if we had some social services. Instead we have multiple never ending wars and massive subsidies for corporations.

[awake]

Happiness goes up with a shot of heroin or alcohol. It's the following hangover and chronic health problems that really demonstrate the real consequences.

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

I am not happy. Who are these people they speak of? A plurality? That is all the socialists know. Groups. Aggregates. Hives. My unhappiness is just the price for their Statist utopia's, otherwise known as thievery and plunder.

[aGameOfThrones]

I am not happy. Who are these people they speak of? A plurality? That is all the socialists know. Groups. Aggregates. Hives. My unhappiness is just the price for their Statist utopia's, otherwise known as thievery and plunder.

You hate the poor!

/J

I'm not happy either.

[NYgs23]

How do you measure happiness? Positivist garbage. Sadly, we'll probably never hear the end of this "study" being quoted by state-worshipers.

[heavenlyboy34]

Correlation does not equal causation. Countries that have large "social services" programs happen to be rich European countries that are losing all of their money. When the money runs out, we'll see how happy they are.
qft!

[doodle]

Off topic, when happiness goes up, customer service level improves universally.

Caryy on :)

[VIDEODROME]

I suppose it maybe be possible to run social programs if you're careful with the budgets, and also you're not throwing even more money at military boondoggle projects like building new Aircraft Carriers or being in a state of war for decades.

or trying to have both Guns and Butter.

I'm not totally against social programs in America except regarding the Federal level. If the Fed tries to run something it becomes an epic disaster. But I'm open to the idea of State's or even Municipalities attempting it.

[Theocrat]

Hogwash. In America, we have more government services than ever before, and yet, the cost of living is going up, it's become harder to find jobs, and a slew of other economic troubles that place hardships on families and individuals who are trying to become profitable. Besides, happiness is not a function of the government, anyway.

[acptulsa]

Has anyone done a study comparing how happy people self-report themselves to be and how much their governments spend telling them how happy they are?

[Vessol]

People in North Korea must be the happiest of all people!

[Anti Federalist]

People in North Korea must be the happiest of all people!

Thread winner.

[South Park Fan]

I wouldn't contest the validity of the statistic. However, I would posit that happiness is proportional to contentness, and thus those societies where government plays a larger role in peoples' everyday lives are less likely to exercise their full innovational potential.

[tpreitzel]

The poor money tree is being plucked to death.

[outspoken]

Any one who gets out of a system more than they put into it is going to be happy with it... Unfortunately it's not a sustainable system and was designed for that, only the usurping of power.

[Distinguished Gentleman]

On 20/20's special on happiness, John Stossel said the highest correlation in the study with happiness was actually racial and spiritual (or lack there of)homogeneity. There are counter examples to this, but it was a stronger correlation that any 'style' of government. It didn't matter what you agree upon, as long as you agree upon it.

Human beings are a depressing lot. Or maybe it's just our animal sides that are depressing.

[CUnknown]

That's it right there.. poor countries can't afford social services.

Yeah, to make this statistic mean something they'd have to match countries with roughly equal economies and standards of living.

[sailingaway]

Do they have more representative or more corporatist governments? Because a small country where individuals feel they have a real voice would be a happier country.

[Andrew-Austin]

I bet I could compose a study just as convincing as this one, suggesting that happiness goes up correspondingly with the amount of sugar cereal brands available in a country. Poorer less happy countries don't have Captain Crunch and Lucky Charms available to them.

[Vessol]

I bet I could compose a study just as convincing as this one, suggesting that happiness goes up correspondingly with the amount of sugar cereal brands available in a country. Poorer less happy countries don't have Captain Crunch and Lucky Charms available to them.

Do not deny the power of Frosted Flakes!

[heavenlyboy34]

Do not deny the power of Frosted Flakes!

They're GRRRRRRRREAT! :D

[MaxPower]

So the American respondents averaged a self-rated happiness level of 7.26, compared with an international average of 7.39; these guys are basing their argument off a one-tenth-of-one-point differential in one survey. And they certainly haven't controlled for all extraneous factors, as they would apparently like readers to believe- there are an incredible number of things that might effect an individual's "self-happiness" rating, including plenty of entirely non-political influences. For example, Americans suffer from an obesity epidemic, are in the middle of an economic downturn, and could easily, as a culture, just tend to have a higher standard for what constitutes a happiness level of "7" or "8" or what-have-you, since the scale is entirely arbitrary and depends upon what one considers a "normal" level of happiness.

[Indy Vidual]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-life-satisfaction-state-intervention-baylor.html

The 15 countries included in the study are Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States...

Finland, Norway and Sweden have a reputation for low-corruption and happy people.* :p
*These people are happy to pay 70%+ in taxes, and sometimes they die from lack of medical care.

[Brooklyn Red Leg]

To me, this was the best response over at phys.org:


ryggesogn2 (http://www.physorg.com/profile/user/ryggesogn2)
May 06, 2011

Rank: 2.3 / 5 (6)
This article shows why Popper developed falsifiability. Socialists would keep attempting to use science to justify their desire for power.

That speaks volumes, really. Science that cannot be falsified (proved false) is simply NOT science. Its religion in another guise.