Then why are people from democratic socialist nations like Denmark, Norway, and Sweden the happinest people on earth?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption

Just to cherry pick a few numbers that jump out at me

Percent struggling

Venezuela   2%
Costa Rica  2%
Laos        4%
Panama      3%
Nigeria     4%

What a load of crap

Let's look at another country in the top ten Costa Rica is listed as having 63% thriving. I have been to Costa Rica well over a hundred times, at least a dozen times last year alone. Ticos are lucky to make $600 a month, and even going by the much more generous "per capita earnings" still average less than $1,000 month. The cost of living in Costa Rica due to the influx of gringos rivals that of the US, yet they live on less than a fourth of the US average. Somehow this stupid study finds that 63% of them are "thriving", yeah if eating rice and beans six days a week because you can't even afford chicken is "thriving"

I call bullshit on the entire fucking study, once again one of Willy's studies fails the common sense test.

It's also no surprise to me that people in 3rd world countries are miserable.

no one who has ever been to some of these countries could ever defend those numbers.

Did you check out the numbers from some of the African hellholes like the Sudan or Nigeria? No fucking way.

I have been all over the world, your articles are complete bullshit, and any moron can modify the information in Wikipedia.  They might as well have written about how Cuba has world class healthcare and the best doctors in the world because Michael Moore says so, or maybe how in North Korea, people are very satisfied with their government, evidenced by the fact that they never protest anything that their government does.  Or how in Iran, there are no homosexuals whatsoever, evidenced by the fact that their president says that unlike in the west, absolutely nobody in Iran is homosexual.  Just because some moron puts something in print doesn't make it true.

Just because you are happy, does not mean you have it good.  Look at where Brazil fits into the survery.  Areas like Harlem, Watts, and Compton look like Bel Air when compared to vast, huge slums of Brazil.

I have been to all three countries and to compare little homogeous countries the size of Los Angeles to the United States is like comparing hard boiled eggs to the Hope Diamond.  

Things would be easier here if we exported oil, like Norway and everyone spoke English.  

Also, a lot of times people don't know how their life compares.  I was in Italy about 15 years ago, before health care was a big issue in the US.  I met some American architecs who were living in France, building hospitals for a few years.  I asked why the French hired a U.S. firm, and the explained that it had been so long since France build a new hospital, they didn't know how to build one that was state of the art.

Now, here is the kicker.  If Pierre La Frog (not a real name) goes to a hospital in Lyon for a heart attack, he does not know that his hospital sucks compared to the one in Tuscon.  He is happy because it is free and no one told him it was second rate.

Also, they spend almost nothing on the military.  Now, you may not like what the US does, but the fact remains that when there was genocide in Europe the combined armies of France, Germany, England, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, and Andora were not able to control genocide in Serbia and had to come crying to Uncle Sam.

Their government has been telling them for years that their troubles are a day at the beach compared to the rest of the world, where, they say, tens of millions are starving to death.

...But I do know a few things about Europe. For 1) only 30% of people believe in God in Denmark, Norway, & Sweden. I also know that the more religious a society is, the more likely it is to be impoverished.

2) Europe actually invests in their infrastructure. Bridges don't fall apart over there. Here's a picture of some trains from nations around the world. One nation stands out like a sore thumb. You'd think that nation was a 3rd world country.

http://www.imagecoast.com/images/willywonka/trains.jpg

I also know that the GDP of Sweden is only 458 billion. The GDP of the USA is 14.5 TRILLION. Yet, this is what Sweden's subway looks like compared to NYC's MTA.

http://gothamist.com/2011/01/10/photos_swedens_stunning_subway_stat.php#photo-1

Here's what Oslo looks like.

http://www.casayego.com/europeancities/oslo/oslo-c.jpg

This is what Copenhagen looks like.

http://www.bigfoto.com/europe/copenhagen/copenhagen-44.jpg

This is what Stockholm looks like.

http://media.lonelyplanet.com/lpi/26688/26688-3/469x264.jpg

And this is what Detriot looks like.

http://www.editorsweblog.org/detroit-bellevue-avenue.jpg

This is what Cincinnati looks like

http://urbanohio.com/OhioSkylinesPics/SWOhio/Cincinnati/Neighborhoods/Camp%20Washington/CampWashington9.jpg

This is what Baltimore looks like.

http://i-cdn.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/ny/8-18-bmore-2.jpg

And we know that the U.S. has the inequality of that of Zimbabwe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ7LzE3u7Bw

but then it all went to shit.

Socialism sucks for the same reason it always has, you eventually run out of other people's money to give away.

Don't believe me, ask Greece.

You forgot to compare Beverly Hills to the slums of Paris where they burn parked cars nightly.  The infrastructure is in fact not better than the infrastructure in America, most of the highways in Europe are generally of worse quality than any typical interstate highway in this country.  It is assanine for you to to write a "fact" that bridges don't fall apart in Europe.  Your posts are too funny to be taken seriously, especially for someone who admits to never actually having been to any of the places that you are talking about.  You are cherry picking things left and right.  As for your comparison of Stockholm to Detroit, you are better off comparing Detroit to Johannesburg South Africa.  If you ever visit that place, I suggest you bring a gun and don't get out of your car.

The center of Stockholm is very historic and a dump. Germany is one of the best but they have their slums, especially in what use to be East Germany. GB is beginning to look like a third world country in major sections. France and Italy are not that great except at tourist attraction.

Unless you go there and get off the beaten track you would have no idea. Don't drink the water if you get off the beaten track.

It is a great place to go but damn expensive. $125 night for a hotel room in a small town in England. Actually the home town of Winston Churchill. But it was redecorated post war. It think post WWI. LMFAO