[speakeasy]

US used to rank #1 in 1988:



http://www.economist.com/news/21566430-w...ttery-life

[bacon]

there are things that will always trump where you are born in terms of best opportunities

- wealth
-attractiveness
- intelligence
-charisma

we live in a world of globalization. if you possess even a couple of the above traits and are a hard worker you can make it in this world.

[rudebwoy]

I hate these type of lists.

I would love to be born in any country that pays my education after high school, I believe Roosh said Denmark pays for a Master's program.

I also believe Saudi's get alot of handouts from the government, for things like marriage and buying property.

Life is hard enough, a little help along the way does not hurt.

How can Ireland, Greece and Spain be so high up on this list? Not a great time for these countries at the moment.

[Roosh]

Ireland better than the US?

[Asaxon]

Flawed unless a kid only has one citizenship. My nephew got a Swiss dad, German-Canadian mom, born in the Us. The lucky guy has four passports as a birthright....

[Tomo]

In today's world I'm much more interested in which countries are best for setting up your own business. I know with the internet you can maintain many types of business from a laptop anywhere in the world, but I'm primarily thinking about selling physical products (Boxing and MMA supplies) which needs both a market for it, good tax rates and minimal red tape. Any ideas?

[kosko]

(01-01-2013 02:45 PM)Asaxon Wrote:  

Flawed unless a kid only has one citizenship. My nephew got a Swiss dad, German-Canadian mom, born in the Us. The lucky guy has four passports as a birthright....

I think that is how its viewed. If you were born in one place and had to go up the normal channels of development. Considering in the West right now the next generation is expected to live worse then their parents this list is not to far off. Being born in America today the odds are stacked against you to be come successful. The traits that bacon points are our true but the wealth factor is something that is a random draw when you are born. Its lucky to be born into a wealthy family, but being born into a society/system that gives good opportunity to attain wealth well that's less with luck and more to do with circumstances.

I wonder if Ireland is a type for Iceland? Iceland should be ranked quite high they have one of the better preforming economies post 2008.

[rudebwoy]

I do not see Iceland on either list, so right there you see a bias.

A couple of years ago it was voted the best country to live.

[Vicious]

Ireland has actually turned itself around the last 6 months and their gdp grew 0.6 this period. They've weathered the crisis and accepted the austerity measures.

[Andreas]

My little country Cyprus is above Japan and Britain. Imagine if half of it wasn't owned by Turkish or other foreigners.

[freshcream]

All education in Norway is free, all health care besides dental too, I guess that is why it gets a high spot.

[BIGINJAPAN]

I think Norway is up there because of its no debt, and its super sovereign wealth fund. Fucking thing is like $600,000,000,000. For a tiny country. Give them 20 more years and none of those mother fuckers will ever have to work again because they will all be living off interest. That fund was started in the early 90's and they built it up to that much wealth in 20 years.

Its a shame other countries rich in resources can't accomplish that, ie Canada. More specifically Alberta. Oil around a 100 bucks a barrel for most of 2012 and they are running a deficit of over 3 billion.

[Belgrano]

(01-01-2013 04:35 PM)freshcream Wrote:  

All education in Norway is free, all health care besides dental too, I guess that is why it gets a high spot.

Same in Austria, and dental health care is "free" also.
Just don´t forget that, in fact, there ain´t no such thing as a free lunch.
There´s always someone who has to pay for it. In Austria it´s taxes. (For example income tax: 43% if you make 25K-60K a year. 50% if more than 60K.)
In Norway you have the oil fund, you lucky bastards.

[Emancipator]

(01-01-2013 05:13 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  

I think Norway is up there because of its no debt, and its super sovereign wealth fund. Fucking thing is like $600,000,000,000. For a tiny country. Give them 20 more years and none of those mother fuckers will ever have to work again because they will all be living off interest. That fund was started in the early 90's and they built it up to that much wealth in 20 years.

Its a shame other countries rich in resources can't accomplish that, ie Canada. More specifically Alberta. Oil around a 100 bucks a barrel for most of 2012 and they are running a deficit of over 3 billion.

I think it would be too hard for Canada to accomplish such a thing, especially when compared to Norway. Norway is a country of under 5 million, with a largely homogeneous culture and population, whereas here in Canada, "Multiculturalism" is an official policy.

It would be hard to implement it in just one province, Quebec managed to have a good welfare state during the Quiet Revolution, but their separatist sentiments led to straining their economy. Alberta did have the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund which received a large chunk of Oil royalties with the goal being similar to Norway's fund. But damn politicians stopped sending off royalties to the fund and it has been largely drained in the past two decades. Alberta and Saskatchewan, more so the latter, both early on pointed to them developing as a welfare state taking advantage of their resource wealth. The 80's sort of ended that unfortunately.

[ManAbout]

(01-01-2013 01:27 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

US used to rank #1 in 1988:

It's obvious that 25 years of rampant socialism in the US has driven it into the ground.

[Andy_B]

I think it's worth noting that most countries that are considered very good to be born in are low-population countries. It probably makes more sense to compare these countries to U.S. states, than to the U.S. as a whole.

[Wreckingball]

(01-01-2013 02:36 PM)rudebwoy Wrote:  

I hate these type of lists.

I would love to be born in any country that pays my education after high school, I believe Roosh said Denmark pays for a Master's program.

I also believe Saudi's get alot of handouts from the government, for things like marriage and buying property.

Life is hard enough, a little help along the way does not hurt.

How can Ireland, Greece and Spain be so high up on this list? Not a great time for these countries at the moment.

Scandinavian countries "pay" your tuition. I know that in Sweden it's free only if you're EU citizen. Germany and Switzerland also have low tuitions. But cost of living in these countries is very high.

Apparently the list as more to it than merely economic factors. Freedom, access to basic needs, etc.

[Asaxon]

Germany's cost of living varies by region but can be very low... As a student you get free medical, some financial aid and no or very low tuition. I know people in college there who live on 700 Euro a month and live well. This would not be Munich or Hamburg but out east.

[Emancipator]

(01-01-2013 06:24 PM)ManAbout Wrote:  

(01-01-2013 01:27 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

US used to rank #1 in 1988:

It's obvious that 25 years of rampant socialism in the US has driven it into the ground.

How does that explain the top ten countries, all more socialist than the US?

[Vicious]

(01-01-2013 06:24 PM)ManAbout Wrote:  

(01-01-2013 01:27 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

US used to rank #1 in 1988:

It's obvious that 25 years of rampant socialism in the US has driven it into the ground.

Christ, where to start?

1. The US has never been anywhere near socialism. To use the word to describe the political direction of the country for the last 25 years is fallacious.

2. Among the countries that have performed the best in this ranking many of them are what you would (incorrectly) refer to as "socialist".

3. In the last the US senate has had majority leaders from the GOP and Dems an equal amount of time. The house has had majority leaders from the GOP 16 years and the Dems 9 years in the same time period. US presidents have respectively been Dems for 11 years and 14 years from the GOP.

So even if we assume that the US has suffered from" rampant socialism" the main culprits to this would thus be... Republicans!

[ManAbout]

(01-01-2013 06:59 PM)Vicious Wrote:  

So even if we assume that the US has suffered from" rampant socialism" the main culprits to this would thus be... Republicans!

I would have thought that the sarcasm in my post would have been obvious, given that the top ten countries in that list are hated socialist utopias that the US is afraid of turning into.

[kosko]

(01-01-2013 05:53 PM)Emancipator Wrote:  

(01-01-2013 05:13 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  

I think Norway is up there because of its no debt, and its super sovereign wealth fund. Fucking thing is like $600,000,000,000. For a tiny country. Give them 20 more years and none of those mother fuckers will ever have to work again because they will all be living off interest. That fund was started in the early 90's and they built it up to that much wealth in 20 years.

Its a shame other countries rich in resources can't accomplish that, ie Canada. More specifically Alberta. Oil around a 100 bucks a barrel for most of 2012 and they are running a deficit of over 3 billion.

I think it would be too hard for Canada to accomplish such a thing, especially when compared to Norway. Norway is a country of under 5 million, with a largely homogeneous culture and population, whereas here in Canada, "Multiculturalism" is an official policy.

It would be hard to implement it in just one province, Quebec managed to have a good welfare state during the Quiet Revolution, but their separatist sentiments led to straining their economy. Alberta did have the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund which received a large chunk of Oil royalties with the goal being similar to Norway's fund. But damn politicians stopped sending off royalties to the fund and it has been largely drained in the past two decades. Alberta and Saskatchewan, more so the latter, both early on pointed to them developing as a welfare state taking advantage of their resource wealth. The 80's sort of ended that unfortunately.

Canada DID do things like this. The bones such as a the CPP, Canada Medicare, Underwritten Tuition (school was not free here but the Govt gave you loans which limited the ability for costs to soar), etc. All of these things were started because at 25-35 million people whom only live on 0.8% of the land surface and abundant resources Canada could easily provide top-notch services for its citizens. The same was true in Australia as well I believe.

What happen in Canada was three events.

1st. To join the G7 Canada had to give up its sovereign right to create its own currency and adopted the private model of the 'Private Central Bank' which was a requirement of all the members in the G7. In those days Canada freely developed infrastructure and funded exploration projects for Gas and Oil. Even in the parts I am from the Crown Corporation invented the first Commercial Fibre Optic network and Cable Video on Demand. The research behind this was all done in 70's with abundant debt-free money.

2nd. Mulroney sold of key Canadian industries for next to nothing in a fire sale to raise cash, and would end up bankrupting the Country in due time (see point 3).

3rd. Canada was basically bankrupt in the early 1990's it had to take out loans from the IMF and with that had to adopt IMF "recovery packages" which lead to the squeezing, gutting, or capping of key Government services. The University one is a key example before then The Govt gave Student loans out at next to no interest. After the IMF conditions Students Loans where now dealt via Private Banks (RBC, CIBC, BMO, etc), the Govt only now could act as middle-man and keep interest payments of the students shoulders. After this move Tuition costs have gone up in a lot of places 120%.

Canada has by some estimates 100 Trillion in untapped wealth in Canada and yet we still run deficits each year. This was all done by design to limit the sovereign power and ability to leverage these resources for the nations good. Instead private bankers leech and get most of the benefits of Canadian resources not Canadian citizens. In Canada we scrape of Royalties while in Norway they develop and sell all of their key resources.

The Norway model is ideal. It is far from socialism making sure your citizens have a good education, good health, and to make sure they have a full stomach is an investment in the future. A nations top resources are its citizens and if they do not invest in their citizens properly they end up going into the shitter in due time.

(01-01-2013 07:05 PM)ManAbout Wrote:  

(01-01-2013 06:59 PM)Vicious Wrote:  

So even if we assume that the US has suffered from" rampant socialism" the main culprits to this would thus be... Republicans!

I would have thought that the sarcasm in my post would have been obvious, given that the top ten countries in that list are hated socialist utopias that the US is afraid of turning into.

The USA is probably the most Socialist nation on earth. Look how much money the pump in to subsidize select areas of the economy. Everything from the roads to the military is heavily fronted and propped up by the Government. The difference is very little goes to benefiting the people, most of it just goes to benefit the extreme wealth .5%.

[Sherman]

I have lived in several countries, and it is still hard to beat the US for comfort, convenience, and an unlimited number of useful things to buy for a cheap price.

[T and A Man]

(01-01-2013 08:21 PM)kosko Wrote:  

The USA is probably the most Socialist nation on earth.

No.

Just no.

[rudebwoy]

(01-01-2013 06:34 PM)Wreckingball Wrote:  

(01-01-2013 02:36 PM)rudebwoy Wrote:  

I hate these type of lists.

I would love to be born in any country that pays my education after high school, I believe Roosh said Denmark pays for a Master's program.

I also believe Saudi's get alot of handouts from the government, for things like marriage and buying property.

Life is hard enough, a little help along the way does not hurt.

How can Ireland, Greece and Spain be so high up on this list? Not a great time for these countries at the moment.

Scandinavian countries "pay" your tuition. I know that in Sweden it's free only if you're EU citizen. Germany and Switzerland also have low tuitions. But cost of living in these countries is very high.

Apparently the list as more to it than merely economic factors. Freedom, access to basic needs, etc.

Is this a bad thing? Should it not be free for Swedes alone.
In Canada I know guys that pay $900 a year to park there cars at University. In Montreal earlier this year people were rioting over the increasing cost of University.