In "Prosperity" Finland and Scandinavia Out Rank USA

It is interesting that the Christianist crowd in the USA seems to always like to deride the countries in Scandinavia for being "ungodly" and too gay friendly, yet a new study that looks at the prosperity of nations ranks all those same ungodly countries above the USA in terms of prosperity. It would seem that these countries are doing something right that perhaps we in the USA ought to mimic instead of deride. But then, the far right Christians in the USA cannot see the forest for the trees due to their religious based bigotry. They prefer ignorance, backwardness, and intolerance above all else. In calculating the rankings, in addition to per capita income, the study also looked at safety and security, personal freedom, and absence of government surveillance. And the best of all nations? Finland followed by Switzerland and then most of the rest of Scandinavia. Canada and Australia also out ranked the USA. What is telling is that ALL of the countries ranked above the USA provide citizens with better health care, governance and personal liberty. Here are some highlights from Yahoo News/Reuters (I encourage readers to go to Legatum Prosperity Index to compare their home country with others):
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For those who value their freedom of expression as much as health, wealth, and prosperity, then Finland is the place to be, with an index ranking the Nordic nation the best in the world. The 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index, published on Tuesday and compiled by the Legatum Institute, an independent policy, advocacy and advisory organization, ranked 104 countries which are home to 90 percent of the world's population. The index is based on a definition of prosperity that combines economic growth with the level of personal freedoms and democracy in a country as well as measures of happiness and quality of life.
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With the exception of Switzerland, which came in at number 2, Nordic countries dominated the top 5 slots, with Sweden in third place followed by Denmark and Norway. The top 10 were all also Western nations, with Australia (6th place) and Canada (7th place) both beating the United States, ranked 9th. Britain came in at number 12.
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The index combines objective data and subjective responses to surveys. More details can be found on http://www.prosperity.com.

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While the USA still ranks 9th, the results are nevertheless not the best of news for the "America, love it or leave it" crowd that refuses to accept the fact that there are areas where this nation needs to improve markedly.