RICH people are happier than low-income earners but the benefits of wealth appear to taper off after US$75,000 a year, according to a Princeton University study.
The new study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) asked about 1,000 randomly selected US residents to assess their emotional well-being each day and also asked them to rate how they felt their life was going in general, according to a statement from Princeton University.
Participants assessed their emotional well-being by determining how much time they spent in positive or negative states the previous day.
They determined their life evaluation by rating their life on a scale of zero to 10.
Based on more than 450,000 responses, the study found as income decreased from US$75,000 ($82,000), respondents reported decreasing happiness and increasing sadness and stress.The pain of life's misfortunes including disease, divorce and being alone, were also made worse by poverty, according to the study's authors, psychologists Professor Angus Deaton and Professor Daniel Kahneman.
“We conclude that lack of money brings both emotional misery and low life evaluation; similar results were found for anger,” write the authors in the report.
“Beyond US$75,000 ($82,000) in the contemporary United States, however, higher income is neither the road to experienced happiness nor the road to the relief of unhappiness or stress, although higher income continues to improve individuals’ life evaluations.”
Although the study does not suggest that quality of life will improve with higher incomes, it does indicate that above a certain salary, people's emotional wellbeing was impacted by other factors such as temperament and life circumstances.
Those earning more than US$75,000 ($82,000) would not be able to buy happiness but the money would bring a life they people thought was better, the study concluded.
Opinion: It is indubitable that money can't buy any happiness in life, but it is a necessary and essential key to a better life and better standard of living. Every single thing we consume or enjoy today carry a cost and without money, nothing can be done. Fundamental component to stay in life such as food, water, electricity, education, health care and etc. do involve a cost and the way to pay for those is money!!! However, money dosen't determine everything. It cannot guarantee that misfortune will not happen on someone rich, ensure a healthy life, promote good reputation with noble quality, buy proximity, trust, believe and the list goes on. It's up to someone to decide on the balance between money and life. The most significant factor that decide on quality of life is the greediness of the person, but not money. People should feel contented as long as the money they have earned are able to provide them with the fundamental need and occasionally some entertainment to relax themselves.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
News: Cholera outbreak 'covered up' in eastern China
Talking about food safety, China had been well known for its notorious lax food regime and food hazards. The callous and malign profit-oriented businessmen there will try any possible ways to maximise their profit, even it is on the cost of lives of million population in the China. The most recent world astonishing case was the incident that industrial chemical melamine were found to have been illegally added to dairy products to give the appearance of higher protein content. The scandal was blamed for the deaths of at least six infants and for making 300,000 others ill in China.Despite the transgressors had been put to capital punishment, it seemed that this aggressive punishment had met its futility in curbing this outrage callous activities. Here the news:
AUTHORITIES in eastern China covered up an outbreak of cholera for 12 days out of fears that publicising the often fatal disease would shock the local population, state press reported.
According to the website of the Anhui province health department, 38 people have contracted cholera since August 16 and the outbreak was under preliminary control with the numbers of cases diminishing. Five patients remain hospitalised, it said.
Cholera causes serious diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to dehydration, and can be fatal if not treated quickly. It normally breaks out in impoverished regions with poor sanitation.
Although health authorities have not reported any deaths, internet chatrooms were abuzz with rumours that several people have died from the disease.
At the same time state media criticised the government for covering up the epidemic and refusing to alert the local population.
"On August 16, the Anhui centre for disease control had confirmed the outbreak of cholera, but it was not until August 28 that it was publicised," the Beijing News said in an editorial.
"The government covered up the outbreak for 12 days."
The paper quoted Wang Jianjun, the vice director of the Anhui centre for disease control as saying that local officials were powerless to publicise disease outbreaks and had to wait for approval from more senior officials.
"Besides, if every outbreak of disease is publicised every time, this will easily lead the public to become paralysed in their thinking," the report cited him as saying without elaboration.
The cholera outbreak has been traced to soybean milk shop in Anhui's Mengcheng city.
Poor sanitation and a lax food safety regime have repeatedly led to health scares in China. Last week, 87 children were taken to hospital after eating tainted yoghurt at a kindergarten in northwest China's Gansu, state media reported yesterday.
Also last week, a cooking oil company in central China acknowledged it had waited five months before notifying the public that one of its products had been found to contain excessive carcinogens.
AUTHORITIES in eastern China covered up an outbreak of cholera for 12 days out of fears that publicising the often fatal disease would shock the local population, state press reported.
According to the website of the Anhui province health department, 38 people have contracted cholera since August 16 and the outbreak was under preliminary control with the numbers of cases diminishing. Five patients remain hospitalised, it said.
Cholera causes serious diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to dehydration, and can be fatal if not treated quickly. It normally breaks out in impoverished regions with poor sanitation.
Although health authorities have not reported any deaths, internet chatrooms were abuzz with rumours that several people have died from the disease.
At the same time state media criticised the government for covering up the epidemic and refusing to alert the local population.
"On August 16, the Anhui centre for disease control had confirmed the outbreak of cholera, but it was not until August 28 that it was publicised," the Beijing News said in an editorial.
"The government covered up the outbreak for 12 days."
The paper quoted Wang Jianjun, the vice director of the Anhui centre for disease control as saying that local officials were powerless to publicise disease outbreaks and had to wait for approval from more senior officials.
"Besides, if every outbreak of disease is publicised every time, this will easily lead the public to become paralysed in their thinking," the report cited him as saying without elaboration.
The cholera outbreak has been traced to soybean milk shop in Anhui's Mengcheng city.
Poor sanitation and a lax food safety regime have repeatedly led to health scares in China. Last week, 87 children were taken to hospital after eating tainted yoghurt at a kindergarten in northwest China's Gansu, state media reported yesterday.
Also last week, a cooking oil company in central China acknowledged it had waited five months before notifying the public that one of its products had been found to contain excessive carcinogens.
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