Please read and respond to the following article. Use complete sentences and good grammar! Your individual responses should be at least a paragraph long. Your responses to one another can be any length.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/07/switzerland_0_n_4038031.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
looks like switzerland takes care of it's own.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting expression. It makes sense!!!
DeleteI think that small population is the biggest key! For instance it is more difficult to organize all of things in the United States.
ReplyDeletetrue it is difficult to organize a big country such as ours. with many unemployed and people being laid off you can see the state we are really in.
DeleteMorning, everyone! It seems to me that Switzerland, in terms of happiness, had a stable government that could not only agree on governmental actions but were also very smart concerning the past, present and the future. I could be very wrong about this. But here in the United States as Presidents will begin to fix our healthcare system it seems as if we're only adding onto what has already been done. What if we were to get to the root of the problem and fix it from there? But my perspective is from a nutritionist's point of view. For example, instead of a doctor throwing pills at a patient, a nutritionist/dietitian would spend time trying to get to the heart of the problem and correcting the most basic aspect of intake of the human body.
ReplyDeleteTo add. We are not only so in debt, but all of these large corporations have already invested their spot in the top ranks in the States and to climb down from it would be the unthinkable. Healthcare costs money, yes. And our sicknesses can be directed towards a myriad of things but as doctors are taught (and as pharmaceutical companies have invested their money in) they've been told to essentially "cure" this patient with a drug. When this drug may or may not help them and in addition cause other adverse side effects. Then you are to take all those that cannot afford health insurance and you have not had an education and are living on the streets. How are we to fix this? Is the government able to provide each citizen with an equal opportunity for education and not be up to their ears in debt as soon as they finish college? And then once they finish college then they merely have a degree in their hand and it's just as hard to find a job than before they had attended a university!
I'm ranting now. But so much coincides with this subject that its difficult to even cover every realm that should be focused on and may be a problem that should be fixed.
Preach!
Deletepreach indeed. lol
Deletebesides, Switzerland having an stable government. I believe those people are the happiest in the world.
I completely agree that nutrition and fitness are extremely important, and if people would just pay more attention to what it is they are consuming, and add at least 30 minutes of exercise 3-5 days a week, they would be able to fight off and prevent a myriad of health problems. Of course, there are cases where medication is really needed, but the general number of drug intake and mental illness would decrease significantly if health and wellness were more publicized. Even the people of Switzerland are doing well in this! See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tara-stiles/why-arent-the-swiss-fat_b_156582.html
DeleteWe would never succeed like Switzerland, as we speak we are in the process of a government shut down.
ReplyDeleteI think the article mentions two important factors for economic stability and development. Education and investment in talent and innovation. By educating and investing in talent people can actually look forward in studying the field they want to study. Living costs in Switzerland are high but most salaries are high as well. By allowing room for growth education-wise, people can actually give back to the country by doing their job, mostly of preference, efficiently. Adding to that a stable health care policy and good methods of transportation, people do not have the need to worry about their health and even their timings better. By developing a good environment, people can actually thrive no matter their career. Happiness can be contagious but not to everyone, studies have shown that the happiest places on Earth have also the highest suicide rates. Another example of this is Finland and Denmark. There is an anomaly in these countries. Seems to be that life-satisfaction comparison between two parties tend to pressure the losing person into committing suicide, obviously this has not been confirmed yet but it is truly alarming to see that the better life-quality gets, there is an increase in suicide rates. In my perspective happiness deals directly on how you live your life. Of course it is awesome to see that in other countries matters like transportation and education are a given. Maybe I'll move to Switzerland one day.
ReplyDeleteThis is the link for the suicide research information. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110421082641.htm
DeleteI wonder if its as simple as everyone around you is smiling but inside you're screaming. Isn't it funny how those that are struck with poverty and struggling in third world countries fight every single day to survive? (At least from what I have been exposed to, media wise) And then those that have jobs, families and homes are some of the first to take their own life?
Deletewhen you already have everything, can afford everything,have freedom and one of the highest standard of living in the world,what else is there to strive for ?so many people become dissatisfied and bored that they take their lives
DeleteYeah in essence it is truly ironic. I believe that in many cases, not all to be clear, people do not have a sense of conformity in them. Either you are striving to put food on the table or kill yourself because you have a lot but not enough to compare yourself with others, obviously that is dealing in absolutes and I do not abide by them because there are quite a lot of exceptions. In my experience, living a humble life, of course with a humble attitude, is where we truly find happiness.
DeleteAnd not to mention simplicity in addition to a humble attitude! What more can we be asked of as human beings than to be relay our service to mother nature and do unto others as we would do unto ourselves? It all comes down to being a good human being and accepting the current situation one is in and allowing yourself to become absolutely content with it. A peace of mind. Happiness comes from within, yes?
Deletei love reading your responses you are very intelligent. also it was stated that even with all this "happiness" they are still relatively "stressed" and i agree that it comes from that competitive drive that the economy builds on. how the worrying of comparing yourself to the next man is a complex, and how you may be too happy to kill yourself your life is not satisfying. true happiness has NO price but is really EXPENSIVE. :-)
DeleteDue to his central location in europe and the stability of its politics and currency,switzerland has become one of the world's most important financial center.the banking system has a secrecy laws,which have led wealthy foreigners to evade taxes by hiding assets with swiss banks, all of this keep up the banking system it can also explain this wealthy situation
ReplyDeleteyep, so where would they send all that "hidden" money to if our system became one of the same...lol
DeleteWell since Switzerland is smaller it focuses more on their people and everything to keep them happy. Which is great. i highly doubt that the United States will ever be like that. We don't have that kind of strive to go and do things like that. We don't have that great of a healthcare which is not good. Many people here don't have healthcare which of course is not good. They take care of their people they follow the rules on how to have a good environment. Maybe if the United States did that we would have a better economy, environment and everything but right now the government is shut down so nothings really getting down now. This makes me want to move to Switzerland. We should all move, wait no that would make Switzerland not as good. I do think if the United States did that then we would all be happier and live better here.
ReplyDeleteSeems like Swiss people are more in control of their government than we are in the good ol' US of A. Any negative issue that they encounter is easily addressed and fixed in the many referendums that take place throughout the year. They have a direct democracy system set up to the point where the people essentially decide every thing that Switzerland will do. Like for instance, they are close to eliminating poverty by dropping twenty-eight hundred a month on every one of its 8 million citizens. Sure the price of living in the Swiss nation is one of the highest, but that amount of money nonetheless provides a safety net for those struggling through hard times. Their direct democracy easily beats our representative democracy by replacing the reps. with the citizens, which in turn allows them to control a bigger aspect of their government. The people have a final say in the everyday life of the Swiss Nation, the way it should be in every democratic based nation And that's how they are the happiest country in the world and one step closer to a Utopian based society.
ReplyDeleteAlso:
DeleteLink to 2.8k monthly check
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/2-800-month-every-adult-it-could-happen-switzerland-8C11354757
First I can agree on everything you are saying because i our country we have just known to be in outa of control and we cant seem to realize that we need to control our own country and say what we want and be able to live a very happy life and be very thnkful for our country and our lives
Deletewow I dint know know that swisiterland had the lowest tax return only thing I wanna do as of right now is too go over snd register with that country cause in our country mna our taxes is just reall high. they can have a lot of things as far as they can liv and survive.
ReplyDeleteThis is how the article came off to me, I write this not to be right nor wrong just reflecting on what I read. In the stance of Switzerland being economically on point I think that is great, but my question that wasn't answered was how long has the country been that way? In order to have an end result you must start from somewhere, where did they start? As for being a goal for the United States of America, thats doesnt seem like it too far fetched. However, one must keep in mind that the United States of America is by far larger than Switzerland and the time effort and energy it would take that is not (for the most part) what today's Americans would be willing to commit to. It is further stated how Switzerland has little natural resources of its own, but failed to mention if what they had was something so considerably valuable that it percentage wise it still made nearly as strong of an impact. As for converting the United States of America over to this way of life I think that in order to do so they would have to separate the states into regions or completely all together. Texas, for one would be able to survive. In doing that they could build up the individual economy's pf the states/regions and grow that way. Seeing where, if, and how to build up these smaller units. That division may take an extreme amount of time, commitment, effort, energy, and patience and it is because if that the people of this country will always hold back that very country that they claim to love. In a nutshell we will never be able to obtain Switzerland status, people here are too selfish. Additionally, where could people then hide their if the USA and Switzerland economic systems were the same?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article i was taken by how Switzerland was ranked the world's third happiest country, and through out the whole article you can clearly see the Switzerland has invested within there own country not taking anything for granted not over looking education,health Etc. and outcome of it all is that they have a way better system that actually functions well.
ReplyDeleteyeah they have a better system than us. Its great that they are number 3 in the world!
DeleteSwitzerland has a lot of advantages over the US. They have a significantly smaller country, with a far smaller population (~8 million instead of ~313 million) So they're the size of a single state in the US, which makes it easier for them to have things centralized, since then they're dealing with significantly smaller sizes of area and numbers of people. For example, the healthcare system for them works for 8 million people, but there's no way of knowing whether it would work with 313 million. On top of that, European countries (especially Switzerland) have very little healthcare tied up with employment. That leaves people free to pursue whatever meaningful careers they want without worrying whether they'll get their health insurance. As well, you can consider that fact that the economy is mostly powered by small businesses, unlike the US where vast corporations have tons of financial and also political power. Switzerland is governmentally unique with a direct democracy, unlike the US which is a democratic republic, which makes political movements hard for even a majority of the population.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting cause Switzerland is a very small country in which have been one of the most powerful economy in the world. "Countries that invest in human capital end up getting in terms of economic growth,'" said Zahidi. Their economy is empowered by investing in people. If we do a deeply research we will find out that Switzerland its not a rich country full of natural resource like diamonds or petroleum. They establish an powerful economy by focusing on having an excellent health care. Their people are not only healthy, but happy. They invest in top-notch education. they care about talent and innovation. They've created an environment where people can thrive. I believe if Switzerland would teach the rest of the world about creating a robust economy and a healthy, happy population the world would be so much better. And I am sure that the level of criminality wouldn't be so high.
ReplyDeleteI, believe that the Switzerland have benefited from four basics principle wellness, physical assertion, education, and workforce which have given them in return happiness, health, and financial stability. The people of Switzerland outreach too their people is a great way to exercise human capital, where majority of the people benefits. Their low tax rate of 11.5 percent help all thriving people succeed. AUBREY
ReplyDeleteits is nice to know that a country lis very happy with its dues and don'ts how are we dealing with the taxes in country but they just keep on going on like nothing happing to them. As I read those things its makes me wanna not look so negative at my life nd the country I stay in and hopefully I could do those things like Swisterland
ReplyDeleteThere is an almost infinite list of reasons why the citizens of the United States are nowhere near as happy and healthy as the citizens of Switzerland. One explanation could be that unfortunately, many politicians, and people who work in the government in the US work mainly with large corporations because of the amount of money they produce, and the small and medium sized businesses that have so much potential to thrive even more than these current major companies are neglected. Because of this, many people are more focused on getting jobs at these few companies instead of working for a smaller business, and helping it to grow. However, the thinking behind getting successful jobs stems from the education system. From a young age, people are taught that to make it in life, you need to have a career with a high salary, or else you will fail and live in poverty. This may sound a bit extreme, but it is very true. When students graduate from high school, a majority of them have this “success is key” mentality, and this causes them to choose majors that will give them a good job once they get their degree. The students who have majors that aren’t seen as extremely complex or useful are frowned upon, and this takes away that encouragement to follow their dreams. College students are pressured even harder to succeed because many of them will have loans to pay off once they graduate. It is now being recognized that even though people have college degrees, it has become much harder to find jobs, and this goes back to what I said at the beginning of this response.
ReplyDeleteIt is an ongoing cycle that begins with the government not caring about supporting their people like the Swiss. It is shown by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development in http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/switzerland/ that the high education and literacy ratings in Switzerland lead to the high employment rating. All of this is happening because Switzerland puts it’s most powerful resource, people, first. They support and invest in their citizens training, innovation, and talent. From caring about their people, there is a ripple effect of success in all other aspects of life in that country. If the US would put more importance in it’s citizens’ success and talents, a new cycle could begin, and it could create a nation of happier and healthier people.
America fails on education so much so that we even place lower that some third world countries. Switzerland on the other hand, drops so much resources and money on education that it boost's their economy in the long run.
Delete* than
DeleteI, believe that when someone doing something well and have proof to show it; size should only factored in somewhat. Aubrey
ReplyDeleteAll though the United States is still perceived to be the the top dog for entrepreneurship , perception may not coincide completely with reality. Other countries even around the world,even those with high taxes and high bureaucracy, appear to have as much as or more opportunity for its citizens to start a business and make a decent living.
ReplyDeleteadvantage and inconvenience
ReplyDelete-the burden of government spending is lower in switzerland.according to organisation for economic co-operation and development ,the public sector consume only 33.1 percent of economic output in switzerland compared to 41.1 percent of gross domestic product in the united states
-switzerland has genuine federalism with the national government responsible for only about 1/3 of government spending but more than 2/3 of government spending comes from washington
-because of the belief that have the right to control information about their personal affairs,switzerland has a strong human rights policy that protects financial privacy,in the united states the government can look at your bank account and does not even need a search warrant
-switzerland is not a cheap place to live
-switzerland is not warm enough , to have been there for a while
-speaking of sport ,the swiss like to follow the soccer ,me not
so each country with its differences,
I agree with your response, and it does make a lot of sense. Sure, the citizens of Switzerland are healthy and happy...but also, apparently, of some wealth. I believe money can buy health (maybe not happiness, but maybe) in just about any country in the world. Good commentary.
DeleteIf only everyone had the same way of thinking as Switzerland than we all wouldn't have such poverty and unhappy people. I mean here in the States we just don't have that strive and motivation that the Swiss people have. We don't have that "environment where people can thrive". Its a very cut-throat world here in the States. Plus we have all these big companies that are way too greedy and selfish. It also doesn't help that they don't really care about their employees. Companies just care that they are getting their income. I was amazed at their focus on education for their people. In my opinion, I believe that the United States focuses more on its wars rather than its people. I don't know, but I think that one day I might just move to Switzerland or just stay in South Korea. Who knows! (^_^)\/
ReplyDeleteClearly to me, Switzerland is what every country dream of. Despite the fact that they do not have a lot of resources compare to other country, they were able to focus on what is more important and that is the people's well being, assuring their education and helping them enhance their talent that result on living a happy life. Switzerland being a small country with small population made it easy for their government to maintain their health and everything else to be at its best. Other country such as a China, that has the biggest population is hardest to control. A lot more people are polluting the environment and this causes them to be ill more often and could lead to more serious diseases that could past down to people and spread faster. The government having to much more people to take care of at the same time made it more difficult to handle. I'm not saying that its impossible for a large population to be successful, but it does take more work comparing to a small county such as Switzerland. After all this being said, I am still very inspire by Switzerland ways of living. And hoping that one day more country will have the joy and happiness Switzerland are experiencing! - Sarah Jane Mancao
ReplyDeleteOn the outside looking in, Switzerland seems like a dream come true for people living in the U.S. Especially in terms of things like healthcare and the idea of investment in it's citizens versus investments in "less important things." This seems like some sort of dream come true...except the grass is always greener on the other side, and things are not as "perfect" as they most often seem. For instance, the people of Switzerland are some of the healthiest and happiest in the world, but what this article failed to mention is the very high suicide rate in said country. There was a (tiny one-line) mention of the stress level of the Swiss being unusually high. The high level of stress may be exacerbated by the high cost of health insurance. In the future, if I become insanely wealthy, I "may" open a bank account in Switzerland and perhaps pay a visit to the beautiful countryside. However, I believe I would be happiest living where I currently reside...my stress level is high enough as it were.
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