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I have decided to post this as a separate post, not to distract from Jonathan’s post today, but to further explore the concept of what makes not an individual, but a country happy. If a country is happier as a whole it seems intuitive that the individuals in said country would be happier as well.
I have received some of my highest negative net rating in the past for posting these facts on Humble Dollar but since I am a glutton for punishment will post these facts again:
Every year World Population Review ranks the happiest countries. All five of the nordic countries of Norway, Finland, Sweden, Demark, and Iceland are ranked in the top 7. In the past four years none has ranked lower than 8th.
https://data.worldhappiness.report/table
Finland has ranked as number one for the past eight years, while the US was ranked 24th this year, and no higher than 15th over these four years.
Why is this? Is it because they live on some tropical island where it’s sunny year round? Er, obviously not!
Is this because their personal income tax is so low? No, as of 2023 (the most recent data available) three of the top five highest taxed countries are Nordic, and Finland, the happiest county is the highest at 57.3%. They also have a 24% sales tax, and a 20% corporate tax rate. The US has the 45th highest personal income tax rate.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/highest-taxed-countries
Are the Nordic countries the “richest”? No, Finland, the “poorest”of the Nordic countries in 2025 is ranked 21 richest. Finland’s per capita income is only 61% of the US which is ranked 7th.
https://www.voronoiapp.com/economy/Ranked-GDP-Per-Capita-by-Country-in-2025-5370
Why is Finland so happy? In 2024 US News and World Report listed 5 possible reasons in this article from 2024:
I am not proposing we copy Finland, but perhaps it’s time we as a country should have a serious conversation as to how we can make changes to improve our happiness. It seems that recent changes in our society has us headed in the opposite direction from what has been proven to make a population happy.
I hate to point out the obvious re US happiness. If happiness is rooted in financial security and, beyond finances, people worry most about their health and that of family, then the US healthcare structure really provides a whiplash to happiness.
No-one of ordinary means is more than a few steps away from a healthcare induced bankruptcy – largely it just takes an insurer refusing cover or to be outside cover.
So people worry about their health then worry whether they will ever have the financial resources to be secure on health and long-term care. I’ve seen people that were exhausted by work (and absent healthcare cover with adequate resources) having to hang on until they qualified for Medicare.
bbbobbins,
This is just one example I was trying to make on my post, that I think was missed.
I was hoping that readers would read between the lines and come up with the bottom line of the post. The bottom line is that while current legislation is looking to cut taxes the most for the wealthiest Americans and corporations, they are also cutting what appears to make the Scandinavian countries happiest which is less concern paying for healthcare, education, retirement; and the social safety net. Meanwhile there is no urgency in congress to solve the Social Security conundrum which is set to decrease incomes of retirees leading to further unhappiness.
These problems can be solved it just takes courage and commitment from congress. It has nothing to do with culture or the diversity of Americans. All people around the world want to feel they can retire with enough income to be comfortable, and to feel like if they get sick, will be able to obtain quality healthcare without sacrificing a modicum of their lifestyle.
Congress is only part of the problem. Congress doesn’t act because it doesn’t want the wrath of voters who rather believe the fantasy of things like Congress stole the SS funds, rather than accept that the program needs more funding to be sustained.
The funding levels should be adjusted as necessary every year based on the annual report by the trustees of the need. No Congressional action should be required other than a mandate to maintain long term solvency.
Most Americans have no clue how it works.
I once read a post on a site that read:
“SS would be fine if the government had contributed its share as promised.”
Now the issue is who pays for the fix, just today’s workers or also current retirees who have benefited from the years of inaction when they should have paid more?
I say both and one way to do that is to trim future COLAs for a period of time for higher income retirees.
Raising the taxable wage base helps, but we must maintain the concept that all income that is taxed earns some benefit. For example, current bend points in the formula for the benefit are
90% of the first $1,226 of AIME. (Averaged indexed monthly earnings)
32% of the AIME between $1,226 and $7,391.
15% of the AIME above $7,391.
For those who pay taxes above the standard level use 10% or 8% and there is still extra income for the trust but the basic concept is retained. In other words the more your earn the less generous the SS on the theory higher income should have more of their own retirement burden.