Fast Growing Economy

President Trump believes that he has the ability to boost the economic growth of the United States. According to an article from aei.org, Trump is "just like every other politician". Not many politicians from America address the fact that America is one of the richest countries in the world. There are around 195 countries existing today, and as of 2016, the United States is the 13th richest country in the world. They also do not talk about trying to take the wealth from the top 10%, the richest people, and giving it to the other 90% of the population. Presidential candidate "inequality-obsessed" Bernie Sanders claimed that he could help raise the state of the economy if he was elected president. 

French politician Benoit Hamon believed that there was "a disconnect between economic growth and happiness". The World Happiness report 2017 is a study that consisted of asking one thousand people from one hundred and fifty different nations to state their level of happiness anywhere from zero to ten. What was interesting was that the happiest nations were the nations that were growing slower economically, such as Norway, Denmark, and Switzerland. Jeffrey Sachs, an economic writer, wrote, "The predominant political discourse in the United States is aimed at raising economic growth, with the goal of restoring the American Dream and the happiness that is supposed to accompany it. But the data shows conclusively that this is the wrong approach". In other words, many Americans believe that with a better economy and more money, happiness will imminently follow. That is, apparently, not the case. 

Not only are the happier one growing slower economically, but their population is lower. The twelve or so countries that are richer than the United States have a population of around eleven million people, with the top five richest countries having an even lower population of approximately five million. The closer the population number is of two countries, the closer the average happiness level will be. For example, take a look at the United States and the entire nation of Europe. Their happiness levels would be a lot closer than the happiness level of the United States compared to the happiness level of a smaller country, such as Japan.

It is true that a larger income and a growing economy can help people go to a better school and get a better job, but it will not guarantee happiness. An investigator for Measuring Happiness said bigger and better incomes "may not buy happiness with life in general, but it gives individuals the opportunity to be healthier, better educated, better clothed, and better fed, to live longer, and to live well". If you compare the economy of the United States today to when it was just recovering from a war, you will see that the economy rose more quickly when it was recovering from a war. If the economy of the United States rose that quickly today, every house would have a bigger income, about $30,000 bigger. We would most likely have more money with a fast-growing economy, but that does not mean that we would be happy. 

Article: http://www.aei.org/publication/why-ill-take-economic-growth-over-happiness-any-day/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=pethokoukiseconomicgrowth