American Dream – Law Street

Is Happiness on the Decline in the U.S.?

Alec Siegel — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 17:57:05 +0000

Image Courtesy of Rachel Kramer; License: (CC BY 2.0)

The World Happiness Report released its sixth annual edition on Monday, with the U.S. registering as the 14th happiest country on earth. Four of the top five happiest countries, according to this year’s report, are Nordic countries: Norway (one), Denmark (two), Iceland (three), and Finland (five). Switzerland was the fourth happiest country. The U.S.—the wealthiest country in the world and, by many metrics, the most powerful–was ranked lower than last year, even as its citizens get richer. In fact, America’s GDP has increased threefold since 1960, but Americans have not grown happier. Why is this, and what can be done to fix this unhappy trend?

According to an analysis of the report’s findings by Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the U.S. is tracking downward in four of the six key factors that lead to happiness: social support, sense of personal freedom, generosity, and the perceived corruption of government and businesses. “America’s crisis is, in short, a social crisis, not an economic crisis,” Sachs, who is also a Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General, concluded.

At the same time, America’s GDP and life expectancy, the other two happiness factors according to the report’s model, are rising. Sachs sees a discrepancy in how the U.S. government generates policy–with a focus on economic wellbeing–and how the American people are feeling. “Almost all of the policy discourse in Washington DC centers on naïve attempts to raise the economic growth rate, as if a higher growth rate would somehow heal the deepening divisions and angst in American society,” he said.

Sachs expanded on America’s current social crisis, which most recently manifested itself in the 2016 presidential election, and the polarized nature of political discourse that has only worsened in the past decade. American politics, Sachs concluded, are opaque, flush with billions of dollars and private interests, and people simply do not trust that their government has their interests in mind. Second, the country’s income inequality is worsening, as a shrinking pool of people amass more wealth, while a growing number lack job opportunities and are struggling to get by.

The third factor in America’s listlessness, according to Sachs, is a decline in social trust. Community bonds are falling. Neighbors do not trust neighbors. President Donald Trump, who campaigned as an outsider (never mind how he has governed), and an agent of change who would “drain the swamp” and bulldoze the establishment, capitalized on these trends of distrust–of neighbors, of outsiders, and of government. The fourth and fifth factors are a fear of terrorism and the deterioration of America’s educational system, respectively.

So how does America, and specifically the government, craft policies that salvage the country’s drop in trust, and in happiness? Sachs said the government’s “happiness agenda should center on rebuilding social capital.” The government, he said, “should raise happiness by addressing America’s multifaceted social crisis–rising inequality, corruption, isolation, and distrust–rather than focusing exclusively or even mainly on economic growth, especially since the concrete proposals along these lines would exacerbate rather than ameliorate the deepening social crisis.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The Bootstraps are Broken

Anneliese Mahoney — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 16:01:14 +0000

Image courtesy of [Jeff Turner via Flickr]

For a long time, a dominant narrative in the United States has been that we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and that it just takes a little hard work to make it work. I’ve heard the argument more times than I can count that people on welfare are lazy, or that the minimum wage is fine the way it is. Based on just my personal experiences alone, I truly think that there are many Americans who believe that it’s easy to succeed here if you simply try hard enough.

That idea needs to be put to bed. Because for many people, that picture-perfect American life of prosperity really isn’t possible, even if you work incredibly hard.

Take the recently released story of Maria Fernandes, for example. The 32 year old from Newark, New Jersey, was recently found dead in her car. The woman was working four part-time jobs. She would go straight from job to job, so she would often nap in between shifts. She had pulled over for a nap on the side of the road early Monday, and left her car on. The fumes from her exhaust, combined with those from a gas tank that had spilled in the back of her car unfortunately led to her death.

Fernandes’s story is beyond tragic, and it’s certainly a dramatic example, but to me, it was unsurprising. Nearly half of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck. According to a study published in April 2014, more than 25 million American families that are considered middle class fall under the paycheck-to-paycheck distinction. The middle class families included in this category have a median income of $41,000, yet still struggle to make ends meet. Many of them have very small rainy day funds, if at all. They’re not working four part-time jobs, sure, but the work they are doing is barely enough. There’s also the fact that the American dream also emphasizes the need for a college education, which now costs the average student more than it ever has.

And that’s just the middle class. Those who aren’t so fortunate have it even worse. According to the Brookings Institution, roughly 12 million Americans live on $2 a day or less.

Then there’s the minimum wage debacle. It would be close to impossible to live on a minimum wage job in pretty much every state. Check out this amazing infographic from USA Today. It’s based on the question, “How many hours must minimum wage earners work to afford rent?” The answer ranges from state to state, but they’re all equally unreasonable. In Texas, you’d need 93 hours. California clocks in at 130 hours. New York is slightly lower at 124 hours. In order to survive on minimum wage in Hawaii, you’d need to work 174 hours a week, which is a bit difficult, given that there are only 168 hours total. But never fear, guys, in Arkansas and Montana you can get by on working a measly 69 hours of minimum wage work a week!

Of course, the argument can be made that minimum wage work isn’t intended to be a career, rather a stepping stone. But that’s pretty much a crock of bullshit at this point. When education is so expensive, families are living hand to mouth, and the unemployment level is only slowly getting better, it can be hard for people without educational opportunities to raise above minimum wage. In that environment, four jobs isn’t ridiculous, it’s pretty much understandable. It’s pretty hard to pull yourself up by your boot straps when the boots are so old that the straps are falling off.

Finally, let’s juxtapose all this uplifting news with how Americans feel about minimum wage jobs. More than three quarters of conservative Americans believe that the poor “have it easy.” Overall, when surveying all Americans, 44 percent think that the poor “have it easy.” When asked the question, “Why are people poor?” a majority of conservatives responded that people are poor because of a lack of effort on their part. And in case I haven’t made you too depressed yet on this beautiful Friday, check out these tweets that sum up how some truly spectacular idiots feel about minimum wage jobs:

Thanks PublicShaming

Thanks, PublicShaming

Ms. Fernandes, I’m so very sorry that your life had to end the way it did. You were just trying to provide for yourself, and we all know how truly hard that can be. You were not alone, but I do hope that someday we get to the point where stories like yours are a thing of the past.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Government Shutdown: One Step Closer to the End of the American Dream?

Asim Mian — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 18:14:01 +0000

If you watched the news coverage, the night of Monday, September 31st felt like New Years Eve. News channels were so excited about the government shutdown that they had countdown clocks on their screens. Bill Hemmer, of Fox News, said “I thought the sky was going to fall, but the sun came up,” while the same station’s Sean Hannity claimed that the shutdown was not a big deal to him and did not affect him mentally at all.

The question remains, what about the 800,000 government employees who are jobless and have bills to pay at the end of the month? What about a young infant who needs milk every night before going to bed? The government shutdown will also suspend special supplementary nutrition programs for women and children, such as the WIC program. The government shutdown may not affect a casual observer immediately, but it will have long term ramifications.

Does this shutdown indicate that our politicians are so ruthless and stubborn that they do not care about people losing their jobs or the children who might be deprived of the nutrition they need? According to a CBS News poll, 44 percent of Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown while 35 percent hold Democrats responsible and 17 percent blame both parties. A Fox News poll of registered voters found that 42 percent blame Republicans while 32 percent blame Democrats for the shutdown.

In March, when President Obama shut down the White House tours, critics called it, “a political game” and also blamed him for punishing innocent tourists and school groups. Now, even though most Americans think that Republicans are the reason for the government shutdown, and despite the fact that children may not be getting food, they still act impassively toward the issue.

It’s not the first time the government has shutdown; it happened before in 1995-96. The economy recovered quickly then, but the situation is not so promising this time. Our continued military interventions in the Middle East have also played a significant part in bringing this country to its knees financially, as a significant portion of our income is spent on war.

We are barely operating under our credit limit of $16.7 trillion, and yet politicians seem to behave like obnoxious children without realizing the consequences of this shutdown.

According to HIS Inc. (a global market research firm) the shutdown will cost nearly $30 million each day it continues. Millions of veterans may not receive their benefits if the shutdown continues for more than four weeks. The CDC may halt flu vaccines, despite the fact that flu season is on its way. Tourism would be significantly affected due to the shut down of national parks and monuments. Children’s Head Start programs would also be affected and eventually close down while disability benefits could also be interrupted.

Should we assume that the “American dream” is coming to an end and we are about to wake up to a harsh reality that being American is no longer a sign of pride? Due to the lousy, incompetent, and stubborn nature of these politicians who have been charged with a great responsibility to make this country the best place to live and a symbol of pride for all its citizens, this question may become reality.

[Wall Street Journal]

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Featured image courtesy of [woahfrisla via Flickr]

Asim Mian

Asim Mian is a graduate of George Mason University. Contact Asim at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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