-Do you think you would be more or less happy if you did not pay taxes and, consequently, received no government services? (no police, no army etc.)

-Do you think you would more or less happy if there were no government regulation of the food or banking industries. That regulation undoubtedly makes buying food or taking out loans more expensive for the informed consumer, but it also means (perhaps you disagree) that I have a lot less to worry about when I put my money in the bank, take out a loan or buy some chicken for dinner.

Toward the latter point, NPR said this morning that in 2004 the average black family earned 54% of what the average white family earned. Given that disparity, I believe it would be more prudent to work on "upshifting" the many Americans who are under- or unemployed (or in prison) into productive heads of households.

Lately, I've been seeing more and more driver behavior that's not merely thoughtless or inconsiderate but deliberately and pointedly aggressive. Several months ago, walking at the edge of a road with no sidewalk, I was forced off the road and into a gully the first time, and nearly pinned against a guardrail the second. There was no mistaking the intent.

I think drivers are coming to realize that the game is up, or nearly up; that private transportation arrangements are unraveling, in New York as in a growing number of cities worldwide. Their resentment finds a convenient outlet on our streets, with sometimes murderous consequences.

As "This Week's Carnage" reports make all too clear, I can't as a pedestrian take my physical safety for granted; not in a crosswalk, not on a sidewalk, and as I learned, not at the edge of a road that doesn't have either one.

The Atlantic Monthly last month had an article about Bhutan, which apparently has an official Gross National Happiness index - and the Wikipedia article I link to mentions some criticisms with this idea.

As far as I know, measures like Gross Domestic Product were never intended to be measures of well-being. They were intended to be measures of how likely investers are to get a good return on their investment, which is not the same thing at all.

That doesn't imply paternalism. We need laws that give people the *choice* of downshifting economically - working less and consuming less. Most Americans don't have that choice, though the Germans and Dutch do. See http://www.preservenet.com/studies/WorkTimeGlobalWarming.html.

It is odd that the graphic shows that the wealthiest nations are happiest. All the research that I have heard about shows that, after a nation reaches a per capita income of about $15,000 (about one-third of US income), further increases in income to not increase happiness. Within each country, wealthier people tend to be happier; but among countries, greater wealth does not bring greater happiness after you reach this level of basic comfort. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness_economics#Happiness_and_GDP. That chart may be based on research aimed at supporting economic growth, against the overwhelming majority of research showing that economic growth does not increase happiness.