8 ms·

The Grim Secret of Nordic Happiness: Reasonable Expectations

39 points by Bostonian 4y ago

nathanyz 4y ago
Reminds of this old-ish MadTV sketch, Lowered Expectations [1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4Pv2uh8NVg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4Pv2uh8NVg
eurasiantiger 4y ago
Pursuing happiness equals perpetual discontent. Learn to be content with what you have, and harness it as a power.
Maursault 4y ago
Sure, low expectations may contribute, but Norway also has the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, with a value of US$1 trillion, effectively investing US$184,322.62 for each and every Norwegian citizen. That can't hurt, and it is maddening that the US entirely lacks a sovereign wealth fund for its citizens. Come on.
- stefanfisk 4y ago
  what about the other 3 countries?
- Bostonian 4y ago
  Norway is a special case with huge oil wealth relative to its population. The U.S. cannot sensibly have a "sovereign wealth fund" before it extinguishes the national debt, which it continues to increase with large budget deficits.
  - Maursault 4y ago
    We can do both. If every US citizen was required to pay a one-time tax of $200 towards the fund, that'd be close to $70B, which is a good start. At a conservative 5% annual return, the fund would begin growing by $3.5B/yr. After 3 generations, or 60 years, the fund would probably be over half a trillion dollars and increasing faster than ever. In another 3 generations, just part of the return could pay everyones' taxes and still have plenty left to keep growing the fund.
    - strix_varius 4y ago
      This is some truly magical thinking, in which there's a magic box that citizens can put $200 into, once, and then later expect to withdraw $100k out of!
      - Maursault 4y ago
        You weren't paying close enough attention, so you have constructed a straw man. No one alive sees a return on the $200 investment, but for a lousy $200, or less than 55¢ a day for a year, your great great great grandrelatives won't need to pay taxes, and their great great great grandrelatives won't need to work or ever worry about housing and feeding themselves.
        strix_varius 4y ago
        I'm sorry but that simply isn't how money works. If it were, then anyone whose great -grandfather set aside $20 in 1950 would get a huge windfall today.
        deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
        Maursault 4y ago
        Your $20 invested at 5% for 70 years with compounding interest would only build to ~$600. Contrary to this straw man, I was suggesting a principle of $70B invested with compounding annual interest over 140 and 280 years, which would build to ~$64T and ~$60Q respectively. Assuming the US population nearly doubles in 14 generations to 600M, there would be $100M per citizen in the sovereign wealth fund, which at 5% interest, would generate $5M per citizen annually.
        CogitoCogito 4y ago
        Do you expect that ~$64T to go as far in 140 years as today? Maybe it will go as far as $70B does today. Maybe it won’t even go that far.
- krapp 4y ago
  > and it is maddening that the US entirely lacks a sovereign wealth fund for its citizens. Come on But that would be socialism and socialism is bad. Better to have everyone pull themselves up by their bootstraps than have them be debased by a government that actually provides for their welfare, like they're babies. Americans aren't babies, Americans are cowboys. Cowboys don't need a sovereign wealth fund or a nanny state, they just need a Bible, a gun and a good horse. All of which they're welcome to purchase at free market value.
  - mech987 4y ago
    You're free to give as much extra taxes to the government as you want to help reduce the debt and get us closer to that sovereign wealth fund. I'd appreciate it.
- dagw 4y ago
  The article is mostly about Finland, which doesn't have a large sovereign wealth fund.
moogly 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_antidepressant_consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_antidepre...
- theonething 4y ago
  Was very surprised that the US was not on that list and then read: > The OECD have not included the United States in these reviews, but if added the country would have the highest or second-highest rate
cdqnwg 4y ago
I think a cold climate tends to make a hardier people. These peoples have subsided in places where the air itself wants to kill you. Content people are found in the cold. Scandinavia, Siberia, northern China...
- kelseyfrog 4y ago
  Compared to whom?
- dagw 4y ago
  Perhaps, but the happiest people I've ever met where from Caribbean or Mediterranean islands. Can hardly recall meeting many happy Scandinavians, and I've lived a large chunk of my life in Scandinavian countries.

39 points by Bostonian 4y ago

Reminds of this old-ish MadTV sketch, Lowered Expectations [1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4Pv2uh8NVg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4Pv2uh8NVg

eurasiantiger 4y ago

Pursuing happiness equals perpetual discontent. Learn to be content with what you have, and harness it as a power.

Maursault 4y ago

Sure, low expectations may contribute, but Norway also has the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, with a value of US$1 trillion, effectively investing US$184,322.62 for each and every Norwegian citizen. That can't hurt, and it is maddening that the US entirely lacks a sovereign wealth fund for its citizens. Come on.

stefanfisk 4y ago
what about the other 3 countries?
Bostonian 4y ago
Norway is a special case with huge oil wealth relative to its population. The U.S. cannot sensibly have a "sovereign wealth fund" before it extinguishes the national debt, which it continues to increase with large budget deficits.
- Maursault 4y ago
  We can do both. If every US citizen was required to pay a one-time tax of $200 towards the fund, that'd be close to $70B, which is a good start. At a conservative 5% annual return, the fund would begin growing by $3.5B/yr. After 3 generations, or 60 years, the fund would probably be over half a trillion dollars and increasing faster than ever. In another 3 generations, just part of the return could pay everyones' taxes and still have plenty left to keep growing the fund.
  - strix_varius 4y ago
    This is some truly magical thinking, in which there's a magic box that citizens can put $200 into, once, and then later expect to withdraw $100k out of!
    - Maursault 4y ago
      You weren't paying close enough attention, so you have constructed a straw man. No one alive sees a return on the $200 investment, but for a lousy $200, or less than 55¢ a day for a year, your great great great grandrelatives won't need to pay taxes, and their great great great grandrelatives won't need to work or ever worry about housing and feeding themselves.
      - strix_varius 4y ago
        I'm sorry but that simply isn't how money works. If it were, then anyone whose great -grandfather set aside $20 in 1950 would get a huge windfall today.
        deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
        Maursault 4y ago
        Your $20 invested at 5% for 70 years with compounding interest would only build to ~$600. Contrary to this straw man, I was suggesting a principle of $70B invested with compounding annual interest over 140 and 280 years, which would build to ~$64T and ~$60Q respectively. Assuming the US population nearly doubles in 14 generations to 600M, there would be $100M per citizen in the sovereign wealth fund, which at 5% interest, would generate $5M per citizen annually.
        CogitoCogito 4y ago
        Do you expect that ~$64T to go as far in 140 years as today? Maybe it will go as far as $70B does today. Maybe it won’t even go that far.
krapp 4y ago
> and it is maddening that the US entirely lacks a sovereign wealth fund for its citizens. Come on But that would be socialism and socialism is bad. Better to have everyone pull themselves up by their bootstraps than have them be debased by a government that actually provides for their welfare, like they're babies. Americans aren't babies, Americans are cowboys. Cowboys don't need a sovereign wealth fund or a nanny state, they just need a Bible, a gun and a good horse. All of which they're welcome to purchase at free market value.
- mech987 4y ago
  You're free to give as much extra taxes to the government as you want to help reduce the debt and get us closer to that sovereign wealth fund. I'd appreciate it.
dagw 4y ago
The article is mostly about Finland, which doesn't have a large sovereign wealth fund.

moogly 4y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_antidepressant_consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_antidepre...

theonething 4y ago
Was very surprised that the US was not on that list and then read: > The OECD have not included the United States in these reviews, but if added the country would have the highest or second-highest rate

cdqnwg 4y ago

I think a cold climate tends to make a hardier people. These peoples have subsided in places where the air itself wants to kill you. Content people are found in the cold. Scandinavia, Siberia, northern China...

kelseyfrog 4y ago
Compared to whom?
dagw 4y ago
Perhaps, but the happiest people I've ever met where from Caribbean or Mediterranean islands. Can hardly recall meeting many happy Scandinavians, and I've lived a large chunk of my life in Scandinavian countries.