To live well, getting rich is only half an answer

The explanation goes partly to the question of how a country (or an individual) uses the money it has, though it may also involve factors that have little to do with money. But it also suggests income suffers heavily from what economists call ''diminishing marginal utility''. The first, say, $15,000 of annual income buys you a lot more wellbeing than the last $15,000 does.
But let's focus on the better life index. Partly because the organisation chose not to draw attention to the fact (and most journalists are weak at doing their own sums), surprisingly little attention has been paid to the news that Australia had the highest rating among the 34 countries, beating Canada by the narrowest of margins.
Sweden runs a close third. And, indeed, all the Nordic countries do well, yet again defying the Anglo-Saxon notion that countries do best when their governments do (and tax) least. Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland remain an excellent advertisement for what the libertarians contemptuously refer to as the nanny state.

via smh.com.au

Send this to the Tea Party Movement. Money isn't everything and big government/higher tax regimes create happier people.