According to this article, people in Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands are the most content in the world. Surprisingly, one of the common denominators with these countries is the amount of taxes their people pay and what they get in return.
From the article:
Northern Europe pays some of the heighest taxes in the world. Danes pay about two-thirds of their income in taxes.
The Encyclopedia of the Nations notes that Denmark was one of the first countries in the world to establish efficient social services with the introduction of relief for the sick, unemployed and aged.
It says social welfare programs include health insurance, health and hospital services, insurance for occupational injuries, unemployment insurance and employment exchange services. There’s also old age and disability pensions, rehabilitation and nursing homes, family welfare subsidies, general public welfare and payments for military accidents. Moreover, maternity benefits are payable up to 52 weeks.
For what it’s worth, the U.S. was 11th on the list.
For me personally, if it mean effecient social services, I think I would be ok with that. If you think about how much of your money goes to health insurance, social security, medicade, etc., it might not be all that different.
We, (the US) must do something different. “They” have been talking about these issues most of my life. Not much progress, beyond social security & Medicare. WE must do better.
here’s a thought that is not my own original observation, but provocative nonetheless: do you want to be paying government-contract prices (a la Pentagon / Halliburton) for government-bureaucracy customer service (a la Post Office or DMV) regarding your healthcare? I agree that the healthcare system is horribly broken – but I am not sure I want the government involved in my care or my relationship with my physician. For a possible preview of government-run healthcare, just look at the VA. I don’t have any direct experience, but I have heard horror stories of incompetence and negligence – not just in the media, but from real friends and neighbors.
you bring up a good point – our gov’t is not in a situation that it can be trusted to run all of these services. Sadly, I do not know if the gov’t could ever be trusted. That would require a major overhaul of how business is done and I do not see the entities with monetary interests allowing that to happen any time soon.
An interesting subject. I would add that those country probably relatively well managed social medicine and other return on their tax contribution. The happiness may come from not having to make a lot of choices/decisions. The US and other westernized countries suffer from the “choice sickness”, or as author Barry Scwartz wrote “the Paradox of Choice”.
http://www.amazon.com/Paradox-Choice-Why-More-Less/dp/0060005696/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1249261125&sr=8-1
He argues that we have so many choices, we become paralized and it is depressing us… good book!