Of course, you are right…and I missed the edit window! Ah well, as you say, the point is the same. Although perhaps the phrase “guarantees the right” is a misstatement in this case, as well. 
There’s some correlation between happiness and wealth:
So the saying that money can’t buy happiness is not 100% true.
My suspicion is that money cannot buy happiness, but only after a certain point. I.e., a person in the US making 100k is likely to be significantly happier than a person making 20k, but a person making 500k is probably not much happier than the guy making 100k, and so on.
I think once your basic needs are met (enough food, clothing, shelter, medical care), happiness stops being closely tied to the pocketbook, and starts becoming dependent on more intangible things like family relationships, religion, worldview, etc.
Of course the Danish are happy. I’d be happy, too, were I covered in icing sugar.
I think a lot of American 'dopers THINK they’d be happier in Denmark…
(What happens in Denmark stays in Denmark)
Personally I think they are wrong. I like Denmark well enough (though I’ve only been there twice and only to a couple of the larger cities), but I doubt most American’s would be happy living there. Of course, I believe the same is true for much of Europe…the concept of living in Europe is appealing to a lot of American’s (especially it seems American 'dopers), but I think the reality would leave many of them less than enthused. The converse of course is true as well…I know a lot of Europeans who think they would like to live in the US but who I doubt would really enjoy it here.
Of course, a lot of Europeans DID come here…so, perhaps that answers the question. 
Maybe people who are free to decide for themselves how they want to live have made the choice for where they have the best chance to pursue that happiness stuff? So, if you live in Canada or Europe or the US you have a CHOICE, which allows you to pursue as much happiness as you can…while if you live in less fortunate places you don’t.
-XT
There was an article in Scientific American awhile back called “the Tyranny of Choice,” the premise being that people don’t always react to a greater range of choices with a higher level of satisfaction/contentment. Apparently, people spend a lot of time worrying about alternative choices, and then once a decision is made, we fret over opportunity cost (all those other choices we could’ve made, but didn’t).
So maybe the freer countries in the world are not necessarily happier places just by virture of their freedom. Maybe it’s more complicated than that.
Spoken like a true patriot. And they said all Chicagolanders were godless communists…
hehehe. funny man…
I can believe that. I’ve been agonizing over which of two similar lucrative job offers I should accept for like a week now (there’s even a thread on it). I think it made me more anxious and tense than actually losing my old job.
Americans always talk of Eurpope like it’s some Utopia with their standard of living being significantly higher than ours. I don’t know if I buy that. AFAIK, most Europeans live in flats, not the big American style houses full of gadgets and crap.
It all hinges on what ‘standard of living’ means to the individual. It varies between individuals as to what is important and what isn’t. Americans definitely look at what’s important and what isn’t in a different way than Europeans do (though both of those terms are broad brushes as Americans in various parts of the country look at things differently…and of course Europeans are very different depending on which country we are talking about).
-XT
I can only speak for my experience in the UK, not the rest of Europe, but a minority live in flats.
Most of us live in regular three bedroom houses, unlike Americans who mostly live in high rise tower blocks and ghettos.
And our houses are very full of gadgets and crap.
Definitely. The bar of success is set high in America. While that’s great for overall prosperity, I have a feeling it’s not the best recipe for overall happiness. In order to climb the economic ladder, a person needs to foster some level of dissatisfaction with life. If everybody were perfectly content to live in a small apartment and drive a 10-year-old beater to work every day, there’d be precious few “successful” people in this country.
At the same time, if you could convince yourself to be totally satisfied with such a minimalist lifestyle (which, if you think about it, is still quite luxurious relative to other places in the world), I bet you’d live a more emotionally fulfilling life. I’m attempting to do this, and it’s not particularly easy. Somewhere along the line I’ve been programmed to want that six-figure income, house in the 'burbs, and an SUV, and no matter how hard I try to convince myself that it’s a superficial goal, I can’t quite shake it.
:dubious: Cite? According to this, the average American house size has doubled in the past 50 years, to 2,349 square feet. I’ve lived in both countries, and from what I’ve seen, Americans on average live in much larger houses and apartments (for better or for worse) than most Brits. I think you’ve been watching way too many movies if you think most Americans live in tower blocks and ghettos.
Apologies, I should have used a smile to explain the tone of my post.
You’re right of course, I was just being a smart-arse in response to msmith537 saying most Europeans live in flats.
I wasn’t intended as an attack, but as a gentle revelation of the facts with a small dose of snark.
::Whoosh:: Gotcha. Haven’t posted on the Dope in a while, so I’m kind of out of touch picking up on that kind of thing. 
Should we, as individuals, find out which people are the happiest and strive to be more like them?
My approach to life, as an individual, has always been to seek out people who seem happier than me and harass them until they’re quite irritated. Unfortunately the strategy is not very scaleable, but it’s always left me the happiest person in the room.
Heavens, no, we have all kinds here. It’s a big city. But what’s your point?
All kinds of communists? Or all kinds of godlessness?
Both, of course!
None, it was a sincere compliment.