2017-07-17

American Mood Sours

BI: Americans are less happy than they were 10 years ago — and money alone can't fix it
Americans were first asked that question in 2006, and in 2007 the US had the third-highest happiness results of 23 OECD countries. Today, that response is at its lowest point yet, ranking 19th of 34 OECD countries.

"America's crisis is, in short, a social crisis, not an economic crisis,"economist and Columbia University professor Jeffrey D. Sach wrote in a chapter of the report called "Restoring American Happiness."

Sachs mentions that while per capita GDP — an indicator used to gauge the economic health of a country — is rising, happiness is falling.

"The United States can and should raise happiness by addressing America's multi-faceted 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," he wrote.
The scale of crisis is far greater than any time at least since the 1930s. Correcting these problems requires a decline in social mood because people don't reform until mood turns negative. Rising mood will increase the very problems that need to be fixed because diversity and immigration increase isolation, distrust, corruption and inequality. Social mood is in a bear market and the low lies in the future.

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