Money Brings Irish Misery (what money/misery?)
It doesn’t seem that long ago that Ireland was declared the 2nd richest country in the EU behind Luxembourg. Everyone seemed very proud, especially with the newly expanded EU now totalling 25 countries, even if they didn’t seem any richer. Even people not in Ireland, and not Irish seemed proud, if the midwest of America is anything to go by.
And now this week Ireland was declared the 2nd richest country on the whole planet, again per capita, and this time behind Japan. This was in a survey done by the Bank of Ireland, not the Bank of England, you’ll note.
Earlier in the year Ireland was also declared, in a study by the Economist magazine, the country with the highest quality of life. And now the New Economics Foundation, a London think-tank outfit has produced a report measuring happiness, and Ireland has come in down in 113th place, behind even the cheerful English who live in the 108th happiest country on the planet.
The Happiness Index did not use gross domestic product (GDP) to measure a country’s progress; instead, it combined environmental impact with well-being to measure the environmental efficiency with which countries provide long and happy lives. In other words if you’re happy walking around your house in your underwear spraying flykiller at, well flies, you’re not really happy at all.
So What Does It All Mean?
Well some reports use GDP as a measurement, others GNP. In most countries this doesn’t make a huge difference, but in Ireland’s case it does because total GDP per capita is almost misleading as a concept as huge chunks of money being made end up not in Irish pockets but are repatriated to US pockets in America.
But Are The Irish Happier or More Miserable Than The Rest of The World?
Who cares? Why are people trying to measure happiness? Will we have to check the Happy Report online as well as the Weather Report before we go out of an evening?
-Oh good, it’s not raining. Oh but look, it says I’m not happy. And I felt fine. Best stay in.
Anyway I can’t let things lie like that so I did my own survey today to put all these other reports to rest. I called my brother in Dublin:
-Howaya
-Howaya
-Tell us, would ya check your pockets right now and let me know if ya’ve any more money in them than ya had a week ago.
-Alright…nope. But I bought a 99 yesterday when I was over looking at apartments in Ashbourne. A quarter of a million euro for an apartment, in Ashbourne.
-Yeah, well anyway, tell us, how are things at the moment, I mean like how are ya feelin’ yourself?
-Ah grand, ya know?
Related Posts:
• Hundreds of Irish Pubs Close
• Surprise! Irish Health System is Lousy
• Prosperous, Cosmopolitan, and not very Catholic
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