Feeling depressed?
Don”™t blame Seasonal Affective Disorder or the holidays if you live in Connecticut.
A new study whose title sounds cool if you read it with a robot voice ”“ Objective Confirmation of Subjective Measures of Human Well-Being: Evidence from the U.S.A. ”“
says the Constitution State is one big unhappy place.
So unhappy, it ranked at the bottom of all states with only New York sparing it the ignominious distinction of being the most joyless in the nation.
The research, which was published Dec. 17 in the journal Science, was done by economists Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick in England and Stephen Wu of Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. The two used data from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”™s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System collected from 1.3 million people from 2005 to 2008. They then compared the data with “quality of life indicators” such as the usual markers ”“ cost of living, crime rates, pollution ”“ and the not-so-usual ”“ sunshine and state and national parks.
“When human beings give you an answer on a numerical scale about how satisfied they are with their lives, it is best to pay attention,” Oswald said. “Their answers are reliable. This suggests that life-satisfaction survey data might be very useful for governments to use in the design of economic and social policies.”
The top 10 happy states are:
1. Louisiana
2. Hawaii
3. Florida
4. Tennessee
5. Arizona
6. South Carolina
7. Mississippi
8. Montana
9. Alabama
10. Maine
Â
Besides Connecticut and New York, the others in the bottom 10 in descending order of joylessness are Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois, California, Indiana, Michigan and New Jersey.
C”™mon, Connecticut residents are happier than people from Michigan.
And by the way, all of the bottom 10 are “blue states” in the political sense, as in they voted Democrat in the last national election.
As for the happy states, seven of the top 10 were red, as in Republican.
Â
Â
Now, some positive news
The Harbor Point project in Stamford”™s South End is going to receive $16 million in lower cost financing through Recovery Zone Economic Development Bonds.
The recent approval was the first for the bonds by the board of directors of the Connecticut Development Authority. The $16 million for Harbor Point will come out of Fairfield County”™s allocation of $26.8 million of the state”™s $90 million share.
Â
The U.S. Treasury Department made $25 billion in bonds available during the summer through the Recovery Zone Bonds program that was created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
“Harbor Point is one of the most important transit-oriented development projects in the state, and I am thrilled that it is the first to be taking advantage of this new financing program,” Gov. Jodi Rell said. “This mixed-use project will bring jobs, housing opportunities and many other benefits to the community and the region, and its proximity to mass transit make it a great example of responsible growth.”
The governor”™s office says the project, once built, could generate millions of dollars in income for the city and state via fees and tax revenues. Most welcome news in today”™s stressed economy.
Â
Pork and health
Members of Congress cannot help themselves.
Even when amending an important piece of legislation such as the health care bill, lawmakers need to exploit it with their member items.
According to an Associated Press report, Sen. Chris Dodd requested $100 million for construction of a university hospital. The bill leaves it up to the Health and Human Services Department to decide where the money should be spent, but the AP reported Dodd”™s spokesman hopes the senator could claim it for the University of Connecticut”™s Health Center, which has been trying to expand.?Very noble effort, senator.
But with an election upcoming, we hope you weren”™t doing it for personal gain.
