Disneyland Is Not the Happiest Place on Earth

This all started when AARP had an article in their magazine about happiness. They referred me to the World Database of Happiness. They have sponsored polls since 2005 and found that Denmark is the happiest place on earth.

According to polls taken from 2005 to 2011, these were the happiest countries:

Denmark
Finland
Norway
Netherlands
Canada
Switzerland
Sweden
New Zealand
Australia
Ireland

The United States ranks 11th, just after Ireland. The unhappiest country is Togo. It’s not hard to notice that the unhappiest countries are also some of the poorest.The four happiest countries have incomes that are 40 times higher than the four unhappiest countries, the report said. People can also expect to live 28 years longer in the happiest nations. Apparently cold weather is not a factor in determining happiness.

The questions seem to revolve around how you feel. An example are these questions:

“On the whole how satisfied are you with the life you lead?”

4 very satisfied

3 fairly satisfied

2 not very satisfied

1 not at all satisfied

“During the past few weeks, did you ever feel ….?” (yes/no)

A. Particularly exited or interested in something?

B. So restless that you couldn’t sit long in a chair?

C. Proud because someone complimented you on something you had done?

D. Very lonely or remote from other people?

E. Pleased about having accomplished something?

F. Bored?

G. On top of the world?

H. Depressed or very unhappy?

I. That things were going your way?

J. Upset because someone criticized you?

Answer options and scoring:

Yes = 1 No = 0

Twenty six categories or criteria entered into the conclusions. Yes, environment and climate are part of the evaluations.

Are the conclusions biased in favor of European nations? Perhaps.

American Preparation for a Nuclear Attack

America does not appear to be prepared for a nuclear attack!

Associated Press report, “The Pentagon announced Friday it will spend $1 billion to add 14 interceptors to an Alaska-based missile defense system, responding to what it called faster-than-anticipated North Korean progress on nuclear weapons and missiles.”

“We will strengthen our homeland defense, maintain our commitments to our allies and partners, and make clear to the world that the United States stands firm against aggression,” Chuck Hagel, Secretary of Defense, told a Pentagon news conference.

I take issue with this plan. Are we waiting for North Korea to shoot missiles at the United States before we would attack them? If we saw North Korea preparing to attack, why wouldn’t we take a pre-emptive strike against a facility that is being prepped to shoot a rocket at the United States? News reports say that America’s anti-missile system is flawed and may not work at all. I wonder why we are not using Israel’s Iron Dome system.

Furthermore, where have our leaders been all of these past years when we knew that their objective has been to obtain nuclear missiles for war?

Today we are trying to dissuade Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. When will we determine that they cannot be persuaded to stop the development efforts? What are the signals that tell the United States that we must take military action to stop the Iranian nuclear development?

I am disappointed with our government’s lack of plans.

Perhaps moving to Mexico or Canada now might be something to consider.

We Are Too Big to Fail!

The Senate passed the $700 billion bank bailout bill on October 3 2008. The guts of the bill was the same as the three-page document submitted on September 21 2008, by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Paulson had asked Congress to approve a $700 billion bailout to buy mortgage-backed securities that were in danger of defaulting. By doing so, Paulson wanted to take these debts off the books of the banks, hedge funds and pension funds that held them. The goal was to instill confidence in the functioning of the global banking system, which had narrowly avoided collapse.

Then came the annual bank stress tests. The official name is Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review, or CCAR. The results of these tests would be to identify those banks and associated companies that were adequately capitalized. Those not having sufficient funds would be required to take action to resolve the issue. The test is required for all banking institutions with $50 billion in total capital assets.

No banks were split apart and nothing was done to confront the fact that the four largest banking organizations overwhelmingly impact the entire nation.

Largest banks and thrifts in US by total assets

Total Total

Company City, State assets deposits

JPMorgan Chase & Co. New York, NY 2,250.8 1,127.8

Bank of America Corp. Charlotte, NC 2,129.0 1,033.0

Citigroup Inc. New York, NY 1,873.9 865.9

Wells Fargo & Co. San Francisco, CA 1,313.9 920.1

If any of these banks failed the United States would step in to protect their well being.

Federal Reserve press release dated March 14, 2013. “The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced it has approved the capital plans of 14 financial institutions in the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR). Two other institutions received conditional approval, while the Federal Reserve objected to the plans of two firms.”

As to breaking apart the behemoths, not a word.

How the Mind Works…….

A practical example of how the human mind works.

Analysis of the above picture can tell us a lot about how different people think.

– For young men, it’s a picture of a young lady with a nice derriere but only the most observant will notice that she is crossing a street.

– The really observant will notice that she is wearing a thong.

– For older men, she appears to be a respectable woman – with a fairly large ass – probably on her way to work.

– Wiser men will ponder the presence of mind of the photographer to take the shot in the face of such beauty and be grateful that he shared it.

– For half of the women, this is an ordinary woman who should not have left home dressed that way.

– The other half will think she is a slut but wonder where she bought that blouse

– Older women will imagine the misery that the woman’s curves will cause by the time she reaches 50.

-But only children, the extremely intelligent, and the celibate will notice that the taxi is being driven by a dog

I Don’t Shop at Wal-Mart

Not only do I not shop at Wal-Mart, I do not have my oil changed at Jiffy Lube. Companies like Wal-Mart do bring low cost goods to America and the world but they also treat their vendors and their employees like dirt. As to Jiffy Lube, I prefer the attention of a capable mechanic. I will never forget my one time at a quick lube franchise. I had to have my car towed to another garage.

I am willing to pay a little more for the competent workers that are employed by the independent stores and garages that really give me the kind of services I want.

Yes, I shop at Costco. The reason is that they pay their employees so well that the employee turnover is low. My next door neighbor, a Costco employee, bought his home at the bottom of the housing collapse but still paid $333,000. His wife has a part time at home business. The pay at Costco can’t be too bad.

Meanwhile the working poor are employed by the big and very successful national chains. Those chains depend on low wage workers. The companies are Wal-Mart, Target, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, etc. etc. The top 50 executives at each of those companies were paid an average of $9.4 Million a year. The typical worker at those companies has an adjusted gross income of $13,900 a year.

Focusing on Wal-Mart, it’s subsidized by the taxpayers of America. It has the most workers on public assistance. In 2007, the company shifted from regular shifts to flexible shifts, a change labor activists said was designed to force full-time workers to downgrade their status to part-time, so they would not qualify for health insurance or other benefits. The result is that hundreds of thousands of Wal-Mart employees rely on state benefits or Medicaid. Most of the company’s warehouses are contracted out to temp agencies, so even if a warehouse loader works full-time in a Wal-Mart warehouse for years, he gets no benefits. Wal-Mart has also spent at least $1 billion since 2005 settling lawsuits over unpaid wages or illegal working conditions. One study estimated that Wal-Mart workers cost taxpayers more than $1 Billion every year.

Source for part of this article is The Week magazine.

Democracy in Decline

16.1% of registered voters in Los Angeles actually participated in yesterday’s city election. It is a sad commentary on the belief that democracy works. The message from the voters is that whoever they vote for the results will not change anything in city management. We were all taught that elections mattered. Apparently we have learned it just isn’t so. Why vote if the outcome makes no difference?

This may not signal the end of democracy in the next few years. However when I watch the Congress not doing its job it reinforces my suspicion that even at the highest levels of our society democracy is stumbling.

Those of you in other nations reading about the United States and believing that we have the answers to making government work should consider our current performance. Think twice or perhaps three or four times before joining this madness.

Los Angeles Photo Gallery

I have added some photos of the downtown area of the city. The motivation was my trip (journey) there this past week. The distance is about 30 miles via freeway. My choice of conveyance was the Orange Line Busway and the Red Line Subway. It was a short two block walk to my destination. The cost was $6.00 round trip and there was no parking fees. Signs on the street indicated parking from $10.00 to $38.50 a day.

The pictures were taken with Panasonic DMC-FZ28 and Panasonic DMC-FZ150 cameras.

Click on my Los Angeles Photo Gallery to see the downtown photos. Link is also at the top of this page.

Comings and goings at ‘Downton Abbey’ next season

This might make you unhappy if you are a fan of Downton Abbey. Telling you what is to come might ruin the anticipation. Like “Who shot JR?” on Dallas, revealing the next season does not add to the fun. This was posted on an AP story. Don’t read it if you don’t want to know!

By FRAZIER MOORE

From Associated Press

March 02, 2013 8:46 AM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — Shirley MacLaine will be returning to “Downton Abbey” next season, and opera star Kiri Te Kanawa is joining the cast.

MacLaine will reprise her role as Martha Levinson, Lord Robert Crawley’s freewheeling American mother-in-law, Carnival Films and “Masterpiece” on PBS said Saturday. MacLaine appeared in episodes early last season.

New Zealand-born soprano Te Kanawa will play a house guest. She will sing during her visit.

Other new cast members and characters include:

-Tom Cullen as Lord Gillingham, described as an old family friend of the Crawleys who visits the family as a guest for a house party (and who might be the one to mend Lady Mary Crawley’s broken heart).

-Nigel Harman will play a valet named Green.

-Harriet Walter plays Lady Shackleton, an old friend of the Dowager Countess.

-Joanna David will play a guest role as the Duchess of Yeovil.

-Julian Ovenden is cast as aristocrat Charles Blake.

“The addition of these characters can only mean more delicious drama, which is what ‘Downton Abbey’ is all about,” said “Masterpiece” executive producer Rebecca Eaton.

Meanwhile, the producers have confirmed that villainous housemaid Sarah O’Brien won’t be back. Siobhan Finneran, who played her, is leaving the show.

These announcements come shortly after the third season’s airing in the United States. It concluded with the heartbreaking death of popular Matthew Crawley in a car crash, leaving behind his newborn child and loving wife, Lady Mary Crawley.

Matthew’s untimely demise was the result of the departure from the series by actor Dan Stevens, who had starred in that role.

The third season also saw the shocking death of Lady Sybil Branson, who died during childbirth. She was played by the departing Jessica Brown Findlay.