US Happiness PLUMMETS As Youths Say American Dream DEAD
Summary
TLDRThe transcript discusses the high costs associated with achieving the American Dream, including raising a family, housing, and healthcare, which have significantly increased over time. It highlights how these financial pressures have contributed to a decline in national happiness, particularly among younger generations in the United States. The conversation also touches on the contrast with social democracies like Finland, where a stronger social safety net and lower costs for essentials correlate with higher reported happiness levels.
Takeaways
- 📉 The American Dream is now estimated to cost $3.4 million, including expenses like marriage, children, homes, healthcare, cars, and education.
- 💰 The cost of raising two children to the age of 18 is reported to be $576,000, not including other expenses like a down payment on a house or a 30-year fixed rate mortgage.
- 🏠 A significant portion of the lifetime expenses is attributed to housing, with an average 30-year fixed rate mortgage costing around $800,000 at 7% interest rate.
- 🚗 Car purchases over a lifetime are estimated to cost around $270,000, reflecting the substantial expenditure on transportation.
- 🏥 Healthcare costs are notably high, with an average family premium for a family of four totaling $93,400 over 39 years, excluding hospital birth costs.
- 📉 The US has dropped out of the top 20 nations in overall happiness, with a significant decline in happiness among young people being a contributing factor.
- 🌍 Finland ranks at the top for overall national happiness, with the US ranking 10th for people over 60 but 62nd for people under 30.
- 🤔 The decline in young happiness is linked to concerns about the future, such as climate change and the changing trajectory of traditional life paths.
- 📈 The cost of basic components of the American Dream, like education, healthcare, and housing, has significantly increased over the past decades.
- 🌐 Nordic countries, known for their social democracies and strong social safety nets, consistently rank high in happiness indices.
- 🤷♂️ The script raises questions about whether the Nordic model could work in a large, diverse, and dynamic country like the US, which values entrepreneurialism and innovation.
Q & A
What is the estimated cost of the American Dream according to the Yahoo news report mentioned in the transcript?
-The estimated cost of the American Dream is $3.4 million, which includes expenses related to marriage, two kids, homes, healthcare, cars, and education over a lifetime.
How much does it cost to raise two children to the age of 18 in the United States, as per the Investopedia study from December 2023?
-The cost of raising two children to the age of 18 is estimated to be $576,000.
What is the significance of the 7% interest rate mentioned in the transcript?
-The 7% interest rate is significant because it affects the cost of a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, which is a major component of the American Dream, with an estimated cost of $800,000.
What is the average lifetime cost for a family of four to have health insurance in the United States?
-The average lifetime cost for health insurance for a family of four is $934,000, which does not include out-of-pocket expenses for hospital births or medical treatments.
How has the cost of living in the United States impacted the national happiness ranking?
-The increasing costs of living, particularly in areas such as housing, healthcare, and education, have contributed to the United States slipping from the top 20 nations in overall happiness, with a significant drop in happiness among younger people.
Which country ranked as the happiest according to the report discussed in the transcript?
-Finland was ranked as the happiest country.
What is the rank of the United States for people over 60 years old in terms of happiness?
-The United States ranked 10th for people who are 60 and older in terms of happiness.
Which country ranked below the United States for happiness among people under 30?
-Countries like Guatemala, Bulgaria, and Saudi Arabia ranked below the United States for happiness among people under 30.
What are the core components of the American Dream that have increased in price over the past several decades?
-The core components of the American Dream that have increased in price include housing, healthcare, and education.
How does the transcript suggest social media reflects the current living conditions?
-The transcript suggests that social media reflects the actual living conditions by sharing and going viral about the struggles people face in affording life, rather than being the cause of unhappiness.
What role does the social safety net play in the happiness levels of countries like Finland, according to the transcript?
-In countries like Finland, the social safety net plays a significant role in happiness levels by providing universal healthcare, more subsidies for housing affordability, and a stronger social safety net, making people feel more secure and less susceptible to divisive tactics.
Outlines
🌟 The American Dream and Happiness
This paragraph discusses the concept of happiness in the United States and questions its existence due to the high costs associated with achieving the American Dream. It references a Yahoo news report stating that the American Dream now costs $3.4 million, including expenses for marriage, children, homes, healthcare, cars, and education. The paragraph highlights the significant costs of raising children, interest rates affecting mortgages, car purchases, and especially health insurance premiums. It contrasts these financial burdens with the fixed nature of health insurance, which is a necessity in the U.S. The paragraph also notes the decline in the U.S.'s ranking in national happiness, attributing this largely to younger people, and contrasts the situation with countries like Finland, which ranks higher in happiness despite its perceived lack of joy in daily life.
📈 Inflation and the Changing Cost of Life
The second paragraph delves into the impact of inflation on the core components of the American Dream, such as education, healthcare, and housing. It discusses how these costs have skyrocketed over the past decades, leading to a sense of precarity among younger generations. The speaker argues that this financial strain contributes to the decline in young people's happiness and the perception that the American Dream is no longer attainable. The paragraph also compares the U.S. to other countries like Guatemala, Bulgaria, and Saudi Arabia, which rank higher in happiness despite their apparent shortcomings. It suggests that social media might reflect the real struggles faced by young people rather than causing their unhappiness.
🌐 Cultural and Economic Factors in Happiness
The final paragraph explores the cultural and economic factors that contribute to happiness levels in different countries. It contrasts the social democracies of Nordic countries, where healthcare and other social safety nets are more comprehensive, with the dynamic and entrepreneurial spirit of the United States. The speaker questions whether the Nordic model could succeed in a diverse and large country like the U.S. and reflects on the historical period of the New Deal when America experienced high levels of happiness and economic prosperity. The paragraph concludes by suggesting that social democracy could provide a balance between ensuring everyone's well-being and fostering innovation and creativity in American society.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Happiness
💡American Dream
💡Cost of Living
💡Healthcare
💡Interest Rates
💡Inflation
💡Social Media
💡Social Democracy
💡Economic Trends
💡COVID-19
💡New Deal
Highlights
The American dream is now estimated to cost $3.4 million, based on expenses like marriage, children, homes, healthcare, cars, and education.
The cost of raising two children to the age of 18 is now estimated at $576,000.
A 30-year fixed rate mortgage at approximately 7% interest rate can cost around $800,000.
The average lifetime cost for a family of four to maintain health insurance is $934,000.
The US has dropped out of the top 20 nations in overall happiness, with young people's happiness ranking dropping significantly.
The unhappiest country is Afghanistan, while the US ranked 10th for people aged 60 and older but 62nd for people under 30.
The cost of the American dream has significantly increased over the past several decades, affecting core components like housing, education, and healthcare.
The decline in young people's happiness in the US coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic, impacting anxiety and mental health.
Finland and other Nordic countries consistently rank high in happiness, often attributed to their social democracies and strong social safety nets.
High levels of immigration and diversity in the US may present unique challenges compared to more homogeneous societies.
The US's dynamic and entrepreneurial nature may make it difficult to directly apply social democratic models from smaller, more homogeneous countries.
During the New Deal era, the US saw high levels of self-reported happiness, suggesting a balance between social safety nets and economic prosperity is possible.
Wages have not kept up with the increased productivity of American workers, contributing to economic challenges.
Social democracy might offer a balance between ensuring everyone's well-being and fostering innovation and creativity.
The Finnish model of alternating between heat and cold, such as in saunas, is recommended as a cultural experience.
The discussion raises questions about the sustainability of the American dream and the need for a new model that balances economic growth with personal well-being.
Transcripts
let's talk about happiness let's talk
about happiness and uh does it even
exist anymore here in the United States
and to what extent let's go a and put
this up there on the screen there was a
very interesting report here from Yahoo
news and it was a write up specifically
about how the American dream now costs
$3.4 million and the overall way that
they arrived at that math was that
between marriage two kids homes
healthare cars and education an
estimated $3.45 million over over the
course of a lifetime a new Investopedia
study has found this is from December of
2023 but has actually been readjusted
now at this point they say that the cost
of raising children in particular just
two to the age of 18 now totals
$576,000 per down payment on average and
a 30-year fixed rate mortgage of
approximately 7% which is where we at
right now is
$800,000 that's actually possibly the
most stunning part to me because it
really shows us where uh how the massive
impact of interest rates can affect this
car purchases Lifetime on average given
how people are spending it's about 2
$270,000 another very very significant
chunk but let me tell you guys the one
that hurts more than any of this in the
breakdown is average family premium cost
39 years of annual for a family of four
93400
out of pocket just for health insurance
out of pocket and the craziest part is
that doesn't even include the hospital
birth that they list here at the top
which is 5700 because that's what people
are paying out of their damn deductibles
yeah and that doesn't that doesn't
actually include your medical that is
just your premium yeah like just a
premium not MediCal G so it's insane
it's funny because uh retirement in this
is less than Lifetime Health insurance
cost that is what outraged me actually
most about this the Topline figure you
know we can debate and spend some time
on that and a lot of this is fungible
like you can you know you can buy
cheaper cars you can buy a smaller house
you can choose to go to state college
and all that but you really can't choose
to not have health insurance in this
country that's one of the most fixed
costs in this entire thing is the single
biggest chunk of your overall lifetime
uh of your overall lifetime expenses and
what do we know is that this currently
is just based on 2018 the 2020 costs
there's actually been an inflation huge
inflation in health insurance cost
health insurance costs inflation far
outstrips normal CPI inflation and I
haven't even mentioned food and cost of
living and all this so the likely number
is probably higher so the pro point of
all this is just that the cost has gone
significantly up from where it was
previously and then lo and behold uh it
turns out that the US has slid down in
the ranking of overall National
happiness let's go and put this up there
on the screen Finland for some reason
and we'll talk about this in a second
let me focus on the us part at least
right now the US has now slipped from
the top 20 of nations in overall
happiness but what they particularly
noteworthy is that inside of the report
what we find is that it is largely
attributable to young people it's that
the people who are over the age of 30 uh
their overall happiness ranking has not
really gone and by the way this is all
self-reported their overall happiness
ranking has either remained static or
has gone up but that the drop in the
young happiness has actually slid all of
the US below the top 20 for the first
time in quite a long time so they
surveyed 143 countries um the unhappiest
country by the way is Afghanistan which
we obviously have a significant hand in
way to go guys um the US ranked 10th for
people who are 60 and older they still
feel pretty good about things but
62 for people under 30 6c
for people under 30 um they quote an
economist uh in one report they who said
I have never seen such an extreme change
talking about the drop in happiness
among younger people this has all
happened in the last 10 years it's
mainly in English language countries
there isn't this drop among young people
in the world as a whole and uh this
report I looked at also talked to a
young person who is not feeling too
happy who said listen we have less to
look forward to in the future there's
going to be climate change that will
affect the way we live there's less of a
clear-cut trajectory for our life paths
because for so long it was so easy just
to know you could get married have your
2.5 kids pay for your house now that
path is a lot more closed and going back
to some of those components that make up
the $3.5
million that you need just to do the
basics of the like you know middle class
American dream life have a house go to
College get married have kids be able to
retire have health
insurance those pieces those core
components have gone up in price wildly
over the past several decades so you
know we've talked a lot about inflation
in terms of uh near-term cost of living
those things obviously incredibly
important but part of why you see this
overall trajectory of people saying
we're on the wrong path of people saying
the American dream is no longer reality
of young people feeling so depressed
about their the current state of their
lives and their possibility for the
future is that long-term massive price
spike in
Education Health Care and housing that
has made life so much more precarious
for younger Generations yeah so again I
mean just to be 62nd some of the
countries that uh beat us are Guatemala
Bulgaria and Saudi Arabia which is
pretty crazy especially Saudi Arabia
because if you're a female in Saudi
Arabia don't even have any rights and
it's like you're happier than people are
here in America that that doesn't sound
right well look what we can gleam from
this is that I think almost all of it
comes back to housing and that is one of
the just because housing is the biggest
expense you're going to make in your
entire life so if you're not able to
make that is more well well yes uh
whenever so housing and Healthcare I
guess housing because it's the biggest
upfront cost you're going to make in
your entire life right in terms of the
largest purchase unable to save for that
that is what delays marriage people
having kids America is one of the very
few countries in the world where people
report having to having wanting more
children than they're able to afford
some countries like Japan and others
it's not like they don't have the money
to have kids they just genuinely don't
want to have children but America is one
of those places where people want to
have 2.2 between 2.5 kids which is
replacement rate and so they just simply
can't afford it and we just read
everybody the the numbers there and they
feel it would be irresponsible or they
wouldn't be able to have a reasonable
quality of life if they were able to do
so I have always found that very very
sad statistic because it's one of those
where that's the exact reason why people
are supposed to work hard it's not
supposed you can have nice cars or
whatever it's supposed to you know being
able to raise kids have family that's
largely where you're going to derive the
vast majority of happiness in your life
and there's reams of data to back all of
that up the problem uh that we can see
inside of this is both from the very
very early level and this is where I'm
curious to what you think everyone keeps
blaming social media but I'm like you
know I just think social media is a
reflection of what people accurately
feel it's not Tik Tok Instagram reals
and other things that go viral about
people being unable to afford life
that's not a fake circumstance like in
my opinion it goes viral and it gets
shared because people can resonate with
the themes and you know kind of what
people are talking about there's a big
debate right now as to whether it's
causal in terms of social media but I
still genuinely believe that it's very
just reflective of what the actual
living conditions are I mean when you
look at the fact that young people
around the world have social media and
they're not all seeing this precipitous
Decline and how they feel about you know
their life and their level of happiness
I think that is you know pretty decent
proof in your direction I mean I I would
be remiss if I didn't point out that
consistently places like Finland other
Nordic countries you know Denmark
Iceland is another one that does well in
these happiness rankings these are all
social democracies where things like
you're not going to be paying a million
bucks of the course of your lifetime for
health insurance you're going to have
healthare universally it's not going to
be something that you worry about they
have more of a solid social safety net
um more subsidies in terms of you know
housing making housing more affordable
and paying more attention to that as
well so I don't think it's an accident
that those are consistently the places
where people self-report the highest
levels of happiness um I also think we'd
be remiss if we didn't point out that
part of this you know catastrophic
decline for young people in
self-reported happiness also coin inides
with Co and you know we we know that
that had a tremendous impact on levels
of anxiety and overall mental health for
young Americans uh so you know I I don't
think that I don't think we can ignore
that piece as well even as I do think
that these long-term economic Trends are
incredibly significant in terms of how
people feel about the direction of their
own lives and the direction of the
country yeah no that's a good point I
hadn't thought about that I think you're
absolutely right okay this is the only
thing about Finland I've been in Finland
man Finland is is dark as hell people
there are not smiling I I'm just not
sure I buy it like maybe they
self-report happiness but from having
traveled all the Nordic countries these
are some of the most like closed off
folks that you will ever see in your
entire life they even they joke about it
about how Americans are too smiley and
they talk all the time and so I'm like
are you guys really that happy like be
honest let leave us in the comments also
the food let's all be real there's not a
scrap of flavor in any of the food
that's up that's the power of social
democracy can overcome
food terrible climate rotten fish gou
all day long in the winter that's how
powerful social democracy is no I don't
think so I I would say there is some
argument about that though Crystal about
whether we could even have so I mean
this is a a more important question kind
of relates back to immigration but you
know these are very highly homogeneous
societies where look what are the real
differences when you all look the same
talk the same language you have very
very low levels of immigration in terms
of their uh tax and you know capital in
terms of their innovation and all that
what's the last thing Finland really
invented so I'm not going to put it down
uh and say that that's not a worthy
model the question is can it ever
actually succeed in a country of
3 million we have social security it's
one of the most it is one of the most
successful and popular Universal social
safety net programs in history and I
would argue the exact counter that when
you have the level of rapacious
predatory State captured capitalism that
creates this zero some seeming game and
high stakes that's exactly what
exacerbates and opens up an opportunity
for unscrupulous self-serving
politicians to stoke these divides where
if you have a social safety net where
people feel more secure and more stable
then they're less susceptible to those
type of divide and conquer tactics which
are so effective and so ever in terms of
our politics I don't even disagree it's
more just a question of like what is
America like for example the largest
company in Finland by market cap is like
42 billion like that's a freaking joke
like they they they this is not a
country that's because they have free
healthcare no I have no idea why I don't
even think it's necessarily because they
have free healthcare there's a lot of
crappy European countries that also have
very very little business my only
question is about America is a very
Dynamic country make a lot of money here
people like
entrepreneurialism it's a huge country
there 330 million people people from all
over the world we have very different
ideas we have very uh you know finnished
politics I'm not 100% familiar but as I
understand it in general the way that
ours functions and the way that we kind
of go at it like that it doesn't really
exist in the same way in a lot of these
places I don't know though whether
that's because of our economics or not
right so even in times of uh High
economic Prosperity I was looking at
this fascinating graph the uh top
earning cities in America in 1949 were
like Cleveland Detroit it was all in the
American Heartland from industrial
manufacturing from the postor War II era
and I was thinking about how different
of a country it was whenever the richest
people in America were also the people
who actually produced stuff this is all
just kind of me trying to wrap my head
around whether any of this is even
possible in America like the I lived in
Denmark it's a tiny ass little country
they don't have a lot of people there I
mean but also you're ignoring the fact
like the time period in American history
when probably we had the highest levels
of self-reported happiness was during
the New Deal and when you had you know
and partly this was just because of post
World War II Global circumstances that
we overwhelmingly benefited from but you
had a middle class that was expanded
expanding you had people who felt like
they were able to you know achieve the
American dream and this idea of we're
able to work hard and we're able to get
ahead was more present um and seemed
more realistic and you know the numbers
in terms of the cost of housing then
versus now the cost of healthcare then
versus now uh the cost of education then
versus now also bear that out not to
mention the way that wages have not even
come close to Keeping Up With The
increased Pro uh productivity of the
American worker so you know of course we
can that's why I'm not advocating you're
right that there's a balance right you
don't want to lose that creative spark
and that Innovation that at its best we
all you know have so much pride in As
Americans you don't want to lose that
that's why I'm not like out here asking
for capit for communism I understand um
that's why I think social democracy is
you know has proven to be a good balance
of some of those competing priorities of
making sure everybody's good especially
in a wealthy prosperous Society but also
allowing for Innovation creativity and
that like you know fruitful hum that we
again at our best get here in America
that's one thing we should steal from
the fins is sauna finish saas are
awesome I I hate saas but oh man no hey
everybody anyway I just I listen I'm a
sweaty person to start with I don't need
a freaking sauna that's like my worst
nightmare so no but the Finish model is
great it's like you get hot then you get
cold and you get hot and you get cold
again it's a lot of fun if you ever go
to Finland I highly recommend it fins
you can keep that you can keep that part
to yourself hey guys if you like that
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