Apparently we are one of the happiest as well.

[i-need-a-martini]

So not only is our economy way out front and we live longer than just about every other nation, but now we are about the happiest too.

Despite what the glass-half-full CSers think, I think this is all pretty true.

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/healthy-wealthy-but-australians-could-be-happier-20131026-2w8f9.html

[fourandsixpants]

Oh well....if an article is 'telling' us this - then it must be true (sarc)

[fourandsixpants]

Australia a Nirvana?......ask the youth and ask the pensioners of Australia

Australia a Utopia?........ask the Mums and Dads .....ask all the folk paying mortgages 

[freshwater-2]

That result was compared to the rest of the world.

Of course Martini.....there are always those who love to wallow in misery and nothing will ever make them happy.

In spite of some inequities,  Australia to me is heaven on a stick......I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

[pct001wine]

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Australia a Utopia?........ask the Mums and Dads .....ask all the folk paying mortgages 

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All the folks paying mortgages ?? And their probylem is .... ? Low interest rates anyone ?

Maybe ask someone in the countries where land & house ownership is impossible, let alone affordable .... or where mortgages are passed on from generation to generation like Japan.

A wee bit of perspective here please.

Maybe we should accept that it is not our god given right to own a 4br house with pool, study, 2 car garage and shiny fittings by the time you reach 30.

[azureline**]

I agree..... our expectations are higher, our wants are more expensive, our homes bigger, our cars newer.

We started out with living in a garage on a block of land we bought with cash, after renting a flat for several years. Who would do that now?

[lakeland27]

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@azureline** wrote:

I agree..... our expectations are higher, our wants are more expensive, our homes bigger, our cars newer.

We started out with living in a garage on a block of land we bought with cash, after renting a flat for several years. Who would do that now?

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the people who cant get enough hours at bunnings or maccas to afford the land and garage i guess wouldn't. there's no shortage of underemployed people around.

[azureline**]

Plenty of people rented a garage... or space on some rellies land.

[carls*world]

All that really shows is how bad the rest of the world is crumbling.

If one could buy a new 3/1 house on land on a single factory wage, while already renting, well, we might be as happy as we were a few decades ago. But then also, we had full employment back then, and factories to provide that employment.

[freshwater-2]

And it was achieved on one wage...most of.the women stayed home to raise the children.

They saved and bought what they needed.....not craving luxuries they couldn't afford.