Possibly driven by the younger generation’s grim outlook for the future, the United States has fallen out of the top 20 in an annual global happiness ranking poll.
Economic analyst and writer Mike Shedlock told The Epoch Times that the data isn’t surprising due to President Joe Biden’s economic policies, which he said have created “two economies but only one interest rate,” leaving black Americans and Americans under 30 struggling.
Happiest Countries in the World
The World Happiness Report is a publication of the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, in partnership with the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the Gallup analytics firm. It evaluates happiness levels on a global scale using the Cantril ladder, in which subjects are asked to visualize their happiness scale as a ladder, with the best life at the top rung at 10 and the lowest on the bottom rung at zero.Researchers evaluate a respondent’s life assessment using the Cantril ladder within six variables: gross domestic product per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption.
“Our happiness rankings are not based on any index of these six factors—the scores are instead based on individuals’ own assessments of their lives, in particular, their answers to the single-item Cantril ladder life-evaluation question, much as epidemiologists estimate the extent to which life expectancy is affected by factors such as smoking, exercise, and diet,” the World Happiness Report states.
Mr. Shedlock pointed out that the United States fell to No. 62 in the happiness ranking for people aged 30 and younger, which he called “a disaster.”
“What does this mean economically? This means if they’re that unhappy, they’re not going to have kids,” he said. “And what are they unhappy about? I’m quite certain that they’re unhappy that home prices are through the roof. Salaries have not kept up. They don’t see that they are ever going to be in a position to afford a house.”
In addition, many are struggling to pay off student debt for degrees in study programs that aren’t getting them jobs, he said.
Democrats Not Buying It
Still, some Democrats and supporters of the Biden administration defend the economy as doing well, citing a soaring stock market, a successful recovery from the COVID pandemic, and a drop in inflation.“Now, of course, there are problems,” he said. “America is a big place. But wages are rising, unemployment is negligible, the stock market is soaring, we somehow brushed off both a Trump presidency and a pandemic.”
He admitted that inflation indeed persisted “for a lot of things,” but celebrated the lowered cost of televisions, convenient Amazon shipping, “stuffed-crust pizza,” and legal marijuana.
Mr. Shedlock said the economy is only doing great “for a certain set of people,” namely, those who own assets. Sixty-four percent of Americans own a house, he said, while 36 percent are renters.
“It’s those 36 percent who are unhappy,” he said. “And who’s that 36 percent? It’s black people and those under 35 and younger.”
In the period from 2011 to 2021, overall homeownership rates increased to 65.5 percent from 64.7 percent, with 9.2 million more homeowners in 2021 than in the previous decade.
However, according to the report, the black homeownership rate—which was 44 percent in 2023—increased less than half of 1 percentage point from 43.6 percent in 2011. This is nearly 29 percentage points less than the white homeownership rate at 72.7 percent.
‘Less Happy Than the Old’
The World Happiness Report states that of the top 10 happiest countries, Finland comes in at No. 1, with Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Israel trailing behind in the top five.The United States is at No. 23 on the list, above Germany and below the United Arab Emirates.
“By contrast, in the transition countries of central and Eastern Europe, the young are much happier than the old,” he wrote.
Mr. Shedlock told The Epoch Times that it’s the Federal Reserve’s problem, and that the agency is being pressed to “cut interest rates this year based on inflation rates coming down.”
“What is that going to do? It will boost the stock market, and probably boost housing prices again, putting them more out of reach of the people who are the most unhappy,” he said. “That’s reflected in the polls, and it’s going to weigh on the election.”
It’s also why Mr. Shedlock believes former President Donald Trump will win in November.
“It’s not because these young voters are happy about voting for Trump,” he said. “They’re just very unhappy about the economic conditions here, and Generation Z is going to be the first generation in U.S. history that will be worse off than their parents. They see it; I see it, but most economists don’t see it because all they are looking at is the booming stock market.”
Asset Holders Versus Everyone Else
Mr. Shedlock said that when the Fed slashed interest rates to zero, mortgage rates fell below 3 percent in the period from April 2020 to January 2022.“So, everyone who owns a house was able to refinance that mortgage from 4 to 5 percent, or even three-and-a-half percent, all the way down to 3 percent,” he said. “Rent, however, has gone up at least four-tenths of a percent for 30 consecutive months. But homeowners don’t pay rent; they pay a mortgage, so when they refinanced their 4 percent mortgage down to a 3 percent mortgage, that puts extra money in their pockets every month going forward. All those people who refinanced are better off now than they were before.”
Though renters may be getting paid more, it’s not enough to cover the cost of skyrocketing rent and food costs.
“Now, inflation is coming down enough to where their pay increase is finally beating the rate of inflation,” he said. “But for about two years they lost money to inflation. But, a lot of those people wanted to buy a house. They were priced out of it then; they’re even more priced out of it now. That’s what they’re angry about.”
The problem is rooted in the Federal Reserve and the “free money stimulus under the Biden administration,” which Mr. Shedlock said “set off a massive wave of inflation from which the economy still has not recovered.”
“It’s coming down now, but the main beneficiary has been the asset holders and the main losers have been anyone else, mainly blacks and young voters,” Mr. Shedlock said. “That’s what they’re angry about, and they’re going to take it out on the polls and it will cost Biden the election.”
President Biden’s regulations and green energy mandates have played a part in this issue as well, he said, adding that they have “increased prices across the board.”
Because these younger generations can’t afford a house, birth rates will come down, striking a blow to the future of the family unit, which will come to play in demographics “for years to come,” he said.
“Economists still have not figured this out,” he said. “The Fed has still not figured this out. What is it going to take to fix it? Unfortunately, for the Fed to fix inflation, it will take a hard recession, and a recession will be harder on these age groups.”
