Study Shows Big Government Makes People Happy, 'Free Markets' Don't

[LongTomH]

From Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/study-proves-big-governme_b_5989698.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications

A recent study confirms something leftists have suspected for a long time: People are happier in countries with larger governments, a more generous "welfare state," and more government intervention in the economy. Policies that depend on the so-called "free market," on the other hand, decrease personal satisfaction.

This is not a matter of opinion, according to the data, but of fact.

...........//snip

The paper is titled "Assessing the Impact of the Size and Scope of Government on Human Well-Being," and it begins by asking a simple yet compelling question: "Does more government enhance human happiness?" The authors say, "We found what we believe to be conclusive evidence that indeed it does."

...........//snip

What's more, the correlation between left-leaning government and individual life satisfaction is strong. Being married and having a job are two factors that strongly influence personal happiness, as researchers know from previous studies. And yet, as Flavin told us, "The effects of living in a country where the government intervenes in the economy is larger than both those effects."

...........//snip

Each of these measurements represent policies that the American right and the Republican Party adamantly oppose, and that "centrist" Democrats have also been known to resist. We now have evidence that conservative and neoliberal politicians are against working against the cause of human happiness.

Indicators such as this chart, which shows a net loss of government jobs for the first time in recent history, could therefore be interpreted as yet another sign that we're on the wrong path. The same is true of proposals to cut Social Security or Medicare benefits.

The study suggests that proposals to expand Social Security, however, would be likely to increase overall happiness and life satisfaction in this country.

[unblock]

1. sometimes it's useful to imagine the entire economy is just 10 people on an island

a whole lot of what we have in our modern economy just looks really silly when you imagine a group of 10 people on an isolated island having the same system. assume they all agree on a currency, the dollars they had on them when their plane made an emergency landing or whatever.

would pollution or other externalities be tolerated? i mean if any two people decided to trade something but a third person (possibly all 8 other people) got screwed in the process (hey, he paid me a lot to use the last of my battery power for 30 minutes of fan time. if you really wanted to use that battery power to make an emergency rescue call, you should have paid more), would everyone be fine with that?

would they tolerate one person accumulating the vast majority of the wealth and not using it to help all the people? would everyone happily be his virtual servants in exchange for minimal sustenance?

would people force the poorest people on the island to sleep out in the rain while the richest islander has vacant huts but refuses to rent them out for affordable prices?


there are many such theoretical examples. in short, our sense of ethics when we know the people involved tells us one thing, but we allow ourselves to get away with and even justify something else when it's the big, anonymous "market".

[jollyreaper2112]

2. studies confirm

Abstract, tokenize and distance decisions from consequences and people won't feel guilty.

You wouldn't take money from a little old lady's purse but, as a car salesman, you might give her a car loan that's a point or two in your favor for a better bonus even though it is worth a thousand or two over the life of the loan. That doesn't feel like stealing.

[blkmusclmachine]

3. "Free markets" = Rightwing Corporate fascism

[Hestia]

4. At what point do they give a flying rat's ass if we are happy? They are happy when we are miserable

and fighting for every crumb. As if they care about us one little iota. We aren't even on their radar

[Doctor_J]

5. Which is why we're on the brink of Civil War.

[Bill USA]

6. also if Government is controlled by the people (not corporations) and it regulates businesses to

prevent the worst abuses which lead to boom and bust cycles (to include crashes e.g. the Trickle Down Deregulation disaster).