China has been judged the world’s happiest nation in a new international ranking of national welfare.

The ranking, as compiled by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea:
1. China (100 points)
2. North Korea (98 points)
3. Cuba (93 points)
4. Iran (88 points)
5. Venezuela (85)

Last at 203rd is the “American Empire” with a pathetic 3 points.
North Korea’s high placement is attributed to the fact that “the state provides free housing, food, clothing healthcare, and other necessities, whilst jobs are allocated by the state so there is no worry of unemployment.”

Incidentally, the capitalist roadsters at the OECD recently harnessed the power of flowers to rank Canada as the all-round best off running dog nation:

I fucking lol. I live in Venezuela by the way. The “American Empire" is used a lot in here by the government.

First time I've actually heard the term "American Empire", but its nice to learn new insults for different countries.

I guess the world really like communism - That particular style of government seems to have gotten china pretty high up there on the sliding scale.

Logically, that makes sense - Communism is a division of wealth amongst its people equally, while the opposite, capitalism, is a concentration where almost 97% of America's wealth is actually controlled by the top... maybe 2% of the population? My statistics on this topic are fuzzy, but that ratio isn't exactly far off.

So it does make a lot of sense that America would rank lower due to concentration bumping out the middle and lower classes, where as china's communism allows for a fresh sweep across the board.

Thanks for the info, Xion!

>>3 Sadly, logic and reality are separate entities.

The "Utopian" idea that is communism sadly cannot exist or at best has a minimal chance of survival in reality. This is because of human nature. Those with power wish to keep it and those without try to take it (working and middle class). Those with luxuries tend to work at perserving their way of life (upper-class). And no matter what they have the masses always want more.

Communism tends to work by suppression.
Individuals think for themselves and the masses follow by example.
So if you can suppress/remove the leaders of the masses the masses will follow the status quo.
The government controls all of the money, the land, the peoples’ possessions, jobs, power... and in some cases like North Korea, dictate your life as well as punish/remove anyone you personally know if you attempt to escape the country or the life they provide you with.

And also, I am a citizen of America; if I may I would like clarify about America.
1. Your numbers are actually kind of close; the richest 20 percent has about 85 percent of the wealth. The next richest 20 percent has about 10 percent of the wealth. And the remaining three-fifths of America share a tiny sliver of the country's wealth.

2. We have jobs, I see quite a few everyday (and I mean available jobs) but people think they are too good to take them (and some of these are actually pay very well). If the remaining 60% took these jobs the numbers would shift accordingly.

3. And even with the money distributed the way it is, even the poorer people have a higher standard of living than a lot of countries, and yes I understand some of the poorer masses are having a hard time in the economy with the crash of the DOW.

4. Our welfare system is messed up in favor of the people, there are people going a good 3-5 years on it without trying to get/getting a job.

Capitalism does work, it’s not the best system but it is the currently the best system that is compatible with reality. And America's problems come from the people and not the economic system or the government. And besides, this is what the people want as to retain their freedoms... but that’s a different topic to diverge to.

I don't get it

>>4

I'm also an American citizen, and while you bring up legitimate and valuable points, the survey taken seems to be leaning in favor the 'utopia of communism' for the time being. We should also remember that while China has been primarily communistic in history, it has started to integrate capitalism in the recent years as well.

The result being that, if my estimations are correct, they are just now moving out of a period of complete stability - not far enough out for any major changes to occur - while starting to gain the 'freedoms' that capitalism presents IE: freedom of wealth.

In other terms, they're still somewhat crawling out of the safety blanket and playing with a new toy. Of course they're happy.

Interested to see how China does in the following years - They're financial plans eclipse Americas and... indeed... almost everyones by a large span of time. I believe the average nation plans ahead roughly 10-20 years - China is planning at 50 years ahead, if I recall.

>>6 You do understand that this poll was taken by the DPRK, also known as North Korea, and it would be evident the survey is in all likeliness biased. North Korea has been known for preventing outside help from other countries that are not communist as well as using a dictatorship to control the people. So it can be thought of as propaganda. Also china's internet as well as the internet in a lot of communist countries is blocked off from the main stream, so only the ideas the government puts out will be the dominate information as well as preventing people from private research and questioning.

Also the reason china is so well off is because as you mentioned, they use a capitalist system for foreign marketing, but don't forget the fact that their air has been and still is extremely polluted and some of the cheap products they make for their people are toxic and/or have permanent side effects. A final note is that if we stop throwing money at China and the debt clock, we will create more industry at home as well as more jobs, more economic well being etc... and China would lose well more than 50% of its trade market.

But back to the survey, if you read closely at what >>1 says it says that it was a ranking system put that the DPRK used to rank the countries, no one was actually surveyed. And is it not curious how America, who in the Cold War fought to contain communism, has been ranked last on a list composed by a communist nation that will be distributed to their people, communist leaders and citizens of the present and the future?

>>7

Their air has remained toxic because china itself is the single most massive production based nation on earth. America "throwing money" at china isn't exactly a choice - its somewhat inevitable due to the fact America as a whole has moved away from production and is transitioning into a service type Economy - Coupled with the fact that America is now, and almost always has been, a consumer-driven nation, means that as America is the customer, we are required to purchase our goods from the provider (China).

Why not other nations? because of prices in trade, relations with the country, and consolidation. Its not so simple to just "stop throwing money" at china, nor would it particularly help us much in that field aside from deteriorating the relations we have with the country which has us pretty deep in the hole.

on the survey note though - embarassingly, I actually didn't notice it was from North Korea.

... and I missed the ending line about canada to clarify it as a joke. Damn, what was I doing while I read this post?

Fuck this. A sack of potatoes cost 10RMB, some meat cost about 15RMB, a month of childcare for you little treasure is 1500RMB. The average Joe in a major provincial city in China earns about 3000RMB a month.

DPRK or not, this is just bullshit.