What we're seeing here is the desire of the rest of the developed world to "Catch up" to the United States' model of Capitalism.
Corporate Profit is now the most important thing, and as those corporations expand globally and use their might and influence, we see more and more countries reduce public spending, cut taxes and make it easier for big business to flourish at the expense of the average citizen.
IMO this is a horrible thing for citizens of developed countries, and I genuinely hope countries can find a way to buck this trend and not focus purely on corporate profits. I don't know if that's possible when The United States has the best advertising agency in the world (Hollywood).
I think it likely happiness indexes will fall as more countries tend towards the US model, unfortunately.
From my perspective in the U.S. I see things quite the opposite. We are slipping towards the european model with expanding entitlements, unfunded mandates and an ever expanding litany of ridiculous laws. Self reliance empowers the individual and the state. Few things are as inefficient as government bureaucracy.
> Few things are as inefficient as government bureaucracy.
I haven't found this to be blanket true. My dealings with the Danish government are a dream of transparency and efficiency compared to my experiences interacting with large American corporations. I had to go through more bureaucratic nonsense (including urine testing!) to get hired for a shitty summer job in high school, than anything I've had to do for the Danish government, and that even includes getting a visa.
The major difference being that the US ranks dead last among developed countries in every way that directly impacts the life of the average person on the street. Life Expectancy, poverty rates, murder rates, education, etc. etc.
Life Expectancy, poverty rates, murder rates, education, etc. etc.
All of those measures are not even close to homogeneous across the US, so any talk of the the "average person on the street" is meaningless, statistically.
You really have to segment the US in order to get an accurate picture for what it's like for a particular person (or kind of person, such as a typical HNer) to live here.
That's the whole point of taking a sample across a big population, we're talking about the average, not how life is for one particular group or another.
Everyone in America is impacted by the choice to put corporate profits ahead of public spending.
Corporate Profit is now the most important thing, and as those corporations expand globally and use their might and influence, we see more and more countries reduce public spending, cut taxes and make it easier for big business to flourish at the expense of the average citizen.
IMO this is a horrible thing for citizens of developed countries, and I genuinely hope countries can find a way to buck this trend and not focus purely on corporate profits. I don't know if that's possible when The United States has the best advertising agency in the world (Hollywood).
I think it likely happiness indexes will fall as more countries tend towards the US model, unfortunately.