Hi. This document ultimately ranks countries by "HPI" or "Happy Planet Index" which is comprised of three elements measured separately: "life satisfaction", life expectancy, and "energy footprint". It is calculated by [(Life Satisfaction)*(Life Expectancy)]/(Energy Footprint). Estonia has such a low HPI and is thus ranked so lowly on this list largely because of the last element, the energy footprint -- their's is quite high. In terms of "Life Satisfaction" they are much higher than 6th from the bottom.
And even then I would caution highly to take any measure of "life satisfaction" or "happiness" with a grain of salt (idiom meaning "take it lightly"). These are typically measured by asking people how they feel, and is really distant from being objective.
I hope nobody in Estonia really wishes to return to Communism. Many of the countries on that list with the highest "life satisfaction" are the most capitalist countries. E.g. the United States, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand. And some of the lowest are those still reeling from the disaster that was communism! It's not that they're suffering under the newly appropriated capitalism!
It makes sense to me that it would take time for whole nations of people to adjust to capitalism. Certainly, if people are sorta stuck in the communist mindset they would still only be able to see capitalism as this evil thing and dwell on why it's so evil and bad. And even after that, it just takes getting used to changes, and dealing with the new ways of life. And along with any change their is some discomfort, some "growing pains." But I suspect these will be some of the happiest people in the future. Anyway, I don't see why not.
I don't know what "priorities", would come in the way of capitalism. I guess the idea is that certain people get screwed because they can't work? And how can we just leave these people to die? Well, these cases are very rare, first of all. Very few people are handicapped or decide to become hobos. For the former case, these people are almost always taken care of by their families and/or by charities (charities are not illegal in capitalist countries, and, in fact, thrive here!). In the latter case, this is their choice; I wouldn't second guess it. Presumably, they are happy. Anyway, there are charities in New York, e.g. that provide Hobos with clothes and even SHAVING materials and DEODORANTS so that they can perform in job interviews!
In terms of people who just can't find a job b/c there are not enough jobs, well, unemployment is lower in capitalist countries than anywhere else, and then people who cannot find work are usually helped out somewhat by the gov. or families. And if they really can't find a job they have some problems, b/c there is just so much job creation in the US, e.g....
The other complaint I hear people having about capitalism is about the "income disparity." That it is just terrible to live near
Whoa.. You're the CEO and Co-founder of a technology company? First my apologies for the tone in some places of my previous post. I assumed you were a lot younger. Second, you wouldn't even be able to start that company under communism, right?... Is it Socialism you're interested in?
Okay, my first comment got cut off. Here is the final paragraph:
The other complaint I hear people having about capitalism is about the "income disparity." That it is just terrible to live nearby, or in a country with, others who make like 1,000 times as much income as you, and that everyone over here just spends all their time worrying about how much money they have and "keeping up with the Jones's." This is ludicrous. As long as you have enough money to live and eat, and you find a job you basically are happy doing, and a wife to love, and to get you kids, you're going to be very happy. Money DOESN'T buy happiness, and everyone knows that. We don't all work our asses off trying to make more money and get more stuff than everyone else. You CAN do that, but most people here in America (e.g.) do simple manual labor service jobs, or are artists or musicians, or other jobs like this that don't pay crazy money. We're not all financiers and businessmen! And we wouldn't want to be! And we aren't all unhappy because other people in our country are busting their asses doing that! Those people don't have much outside of those jobs... The people who make those crazy bucks work like 100+ hours a week. They don't do much else! Not many people over here want to do that anyway. (I might actually become a businessman, hahah, but I'm RARE.) But all the movie crews, and waiters, and construction works, etc., they do their work, and they get paid for their work, and based on how much they work and how productive they are when they work, and the government hopefully takes as little as possible, and so they get the highest pay they can, and then they can spend that money freely on their families, towards their own desires, providing healthcare for their families, etc.. More important than the low taxes, it is just the fact of a DECENTRALIZED ECONOMY that makes capitalist countries able to be so efficient and attain such high GDP; and then these high GDPs get spread around ALL workers (e.g. serving fast food in America is just as easy as serving fast food in Cuba, but you'll get paid a much higher PPP wage in America, just because GDP is so high! In fact, wage bill goes up .70 for every 1 dollar increase of US GDP)
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