Are you happy? Where you live and how much money you make go a long way toward determining that. This week, we look at the happiest countries and how much money it takes to be happy. Spoiler alert: the U.S. is not one of the ten happiest countries.
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Does Jeff have a reading comprehension problem? The ghetto children curfew was simply a proposal in Denmark—not a current policy.
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5. Credits
Are you happy? Where you live and how much money you make go a long way toward determining that. This week, we look at the happiest countries and how much money it takes to be happy. Spoiler alert: the U.S. is not one of the ten happiest countries.
1. Topics
2. Additional Resources
Does Jeff have a reading comprehension problem? The ghetto children curfew was simply a proposal in Denmark—not a current policy.
3. Merchandise/Support the Show
4. Contact Us/Follow Us/Rate/Subscribe
New episodes Tuesday!
Listen, rate, follow, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts!
Follow us:
5. Credits
This week, what are the happiest countries, why are they so happy, and just how much money does it take to be happy? Welcome to Subpar Talks. Hey everybody. Welcome to Subpar Talks where we have conversations about everything. I'm Jeff.
Chris:And I'm Chris.
Jeff:Thank you so much for joining us for yet another episode here. And as always, you know what's coming, our standard disclaimer. Listener discretion advised. We will from time to time touch on some hot button issues and we're gonna inject humor into all of that kind of stuff. And there will be profanity, mature subject matters. So if that doesn't sound like it's a good fit for you, that's OK. But that is our word of warning here before we get going into this week's topic. And so with that said, here we go. We are talking about happiness. Do you feel like you're happy? Are you happy right now?
Chris:I'm content.
Jeff:Content. OK. That's really interesting. Hold on to that cuz I'll come back to that in a second. So, we are looking first at the happiest countries in the world. It's a yearly survey that comes out. It's from the United Nations. So what they do is they compile this really extensive report. And I actually looked up the, the report and it was a lot of statistical stuff that was way over my head. But it is statisticians, so there we go with one of the best jobs, right? Statisticians.
Chris:There you go. And somebody collected that data.
Jeff:They sure did. And made a lot more money than I'm making for sure. But statisticians base the ranking on data from the Gallup World Poll. So they ask residents of countries, just random sample, uh, of residents, citizens in, in countries around the world, and several other factors including levels of GDP, life expectancy, and more. So, how happy are the countries? That's what we're really measuring here. So, I've always had a question, what are we talking about when we talk about happy? Because if somebody's happy, I like, think they're laughing, right? Like, like a Price Is Right contestant is happy. OK.
Chris:Well, they're, they're very over the top happy.
Jeff:True. I'd never make it on The Price Is Right. You wouldn't either.
Chris:Oh, absolutely not. I'd just be standing in line minding my own business. That's not what they wanna see.
Jeff:Even if I somehow made it up on stage and I won$10,000, I'd be like, alright, cool. Thank you.
Chris:Yeah, it's, that's awesome. That'd be it. I know those people, they look like they're hyperventilating. Gonna pass out right there.
Jeff:Yeah. So I read an article in The Atlantic that I will reference when we're done with this list, cuz I have the top 10 here. But they said happiness is more, and they had the actual question that they asked the people, and I don't remember specifically what it was, but it's more about are you content? Are you content? Are you satisfied with your life, where you live, how things are going in the country? That kind of stuff. So happiness might be a bit of a misnomer. Are you content?
Chris:OK. Well, and let me just clarify. Me saying I was content was in the very specific moment that you asked the question. So let's not, if, if we widen that time period a little bit more outside asking the question, my answer can change drastically.
Jeff:It's gonna fluctuate. Definitely, I think for me too. No doubt. And the thing is like, what does it, and maybe I'll put the link to that Atlantic article in the episode notes. But the thing is, like you can be content and not really have a lot of material possessions, right? Like I'm sure you're gonna find people like in African countries or Asian countries who, they have to shit in a hole. But if you ask them if they're happy.
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:They're like, yeah, I've got a family and I've got a roof over my head and whatever. And meanwhile, we're over here...,
Chris:And a hole to shit in.
Jeff:Right.
Chris:Some people probably don't even have a hole.
Jeff:That's true. So they wouldn't be happy. But we sit over here and our internet goes out and then we're all pissed off, you know. Just, so it's a difference in perspective for sure. But OK, here we go. Top 10 happiest countries. Number 10 is New Zealand. Could you tell me anything about New Zealand? Could you give the class a report on New Zealand without looking at any notes?
Chris:I know it's close to Australia. I think they sound kind of similar to Australians. They probably don't think so.
Jeff:Right.
Chris:That might be the extent of it.
Jeff:Yeah. That, that'd be a short report. Mine would too. So, New Zealand ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, education, protection of civil liberties, government transparency, and economic freedom. The country was the first to introduce a minimum wage and the first to give women the right to vote. So good on you New Zealand.
Chris:Wow.
Jeff:Yeah. Um, You were doing that stuff before it was, before it was cool.
Chris:One thing I learned, this is not so much about New Zealand, but referencing New Zealand recently, is the time zone in Antarctica is New Zealand time.
Jeff:Wow.
Chris:I think the reason for that is because they are the first time. Like, if you look at like, celebrating New Year's, they're the first one in the time zone where that happens. And so I think they just arbitrarily pick them for that reason. Like, well, it's gotta be some time. And you think about it, there is no left to right in Antarctica. So, they're just sitting down there all by themselves.
Jeff:I do know that people who work in Antarctica, which, I mean it's like a few hundred people maybe, and I'm not even sure what they do. But I know to get down there, your first flight is to New Zealand and then you fly from whatever airport there to Antarctica. I came across, uh, and you've probably seen her, um, I don't know what her title is. Is she the President or Prime Minister? I think she might be Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern. For the listeners out there, Google her and then Google McKenzie Phillips. I've always thought they looked similar. Do you know who McKenzie Phillips is?
Chris:Really?
Jeff:Yeah, she was the...
Chris:She was on One Day At A Time.
Jeff:Yeah, she was the older daughter on One Day At A Time. Yeah.
Chris:And the daughter of, I don't know who, that was in The Mamas And The Papas.
Jeff:Well, yeah. OK. That's what I was gonna say. Mackenzie Phillips has not had a good life and it kind of shows. But...
Chris:Yeah, it's rough..
Jeff:Drug use and, and incest will do that to a person.
Chris:Oh, incest too?
Jeff:Yeah. She came out several years ago and said that she had a sexual relationship with her father, whatever his name was, from The Mamas And The Papas.
Chris:Oh. I guess I missed that one. I knew about the drug use. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it was the incest that caused the drug use.
Jeff:Just trying to escape it. Yeah, I could.
Chris:Well, yeah.
Jeff:I could understand that for sure. OK. Famous New Zealanders, or they're called Kiwis for whatever reason, but famous New Zealanders. Did you know that Russell Crowe is from New Zealand? I thought he was Australian.
Chris:I did not. OK. Well there you go.
Jeff:They sound alike.
Chris:What's the difference?
Jeff:Yeah.
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:Uh, Keith Urban.
Chris:I didn't know that either, because I know Nicole Kidman is Australian.
Jeff:Yeah. So they're married, right?
Chris:Right. And so I thought he was.
Jeff:Yeah, I did too. Nicole Kidman, she kinda scares me. She's got that look her eye.
Chris:In what way?
Jeff:Well, she's just got that look in her eye, like she could fuck you over, and not in a good way.
Chris:She could turn on you?
Jeff:Yes.
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:In a heartbeat. Just kinda scares me. Uh, and then Lucy Lawless, she was, um, Xena, the Warrior Princess.
Chris:Yep.
Jeff:So she's also a New Zealander. All right, so there you go. New Zealand. Number nine is Israel. Can you tell us anything about Israel?
Chris:Um, not, I mean, I think they're like always at war Um...
Jeff:That's kinda true. All right. Maybe we'll do, maybe this will come up in a future episode, or maybe not, because it just kind of makes me wanna lay my head down on the desk. But the whole conflict with Palestinians, and Israel, as a country, a modern country, was not created until 1948. And this was in response to what happened after World War I. That whole area, I guess I'm giving a history lesson here, but it's gonna be short. That whole area, the Middle East was the Ottoman Empire, OK? And the Ottoman Empire lost in World War I. So now there is no Ottoman Empire. So what is all that area? Well, the French and the British and the Americans went over in the Middle East and they just carved up all that shit and said, OK, this is Iraq and this is Iran and whatever. And they did so without any regard to, uh, ethnicities or any kind of regional differences with groups or, or tribes, or whatever. And there was a movement to, it's called the Zionist movement, but to get Jewish people back to the so-called Promised Land because God promised this to His people. So that came to fruition in 1948, but obviously that has been wrought with conflict with the Palestinians and, and other Arab countries since. But that's all I'll say about that.
Chris:So that's kind of, I mean, I was gonna say, it's a surprise to me that they would be that high on the list.
Jeff:Right. I always think of, well, if you live in Israel, like you're, you're living under constant threat of being bombed, right? Like, this is what I think. But maybe that's my narrow American view. I don't know.
Chris:Well, and it wasn't too long ago, I wanna say within the last year or so that we were seeing their air defense system, you know, taking out missiles as they were incoming. So, apparently it's pretty sophisticated. Maybe that makes them feel better. They're a little more content.
Jeff:True. Um, and they've gotten so much of that technology from us because we, like when they declared their independence, Israel as a country and, and other countries start recognizing them, like we were one of the first to do so. So we, we, the big Americans, we legitimize the country of Israel and we've been, like I think they have nuclear weapons and that's because of us and, and other technology like that. Perhaps Israel's most beautiful citizen, Natalie Portman, is from Israel. Did you know that's where she's from?
Chris:I did know that.
Jeff:Yeah.
Chris:Yes.
Jeff:What else can you tell us about Natalie Portman?
Chris:Well, you said it. She's all right. Yeah.
Jeff:Gene Simmons from Kiss is from Israel. One of the most overrated bands ever, but...
Chris:I've never taken as much interest in him, but...
Jeff:No. As Natalie Portman?
Chris:Comparatively speaking, right?
Jeff:That's good to know. The woman who played Wonder Woman, Gal, I always thought it was Gal Gado, but I recently saw her interviewed and she said it's Gadot. And I was like, how can that be? It looks French. But she's from Israel. So I guess that explains the pronunciation.
Chris:You said the woman who played Wonder Woman. I'm thinking Lynda Carter. Like you're talking very current.
Jeff:True. Yeah. I didn't even think about Lynda Carter.
Chris:That's like, that's like saying the guy who played Superman and you talk about somebody from a few years ago.
Jeff:Right. I wasn't even thinking about Lynda Carter. But now that you brought up Lynda Carter, maybe I will think about her. Let's pause.
Chris:Hey, she's all right now.
Jeff:Yeah.
Chris:And she's like almost 70, I think.
Jeff:Yeah. Talk about a Wonder Woman, like, yeah. You still look that good at 70 or whatever. That's amazing.
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:And then Benny Hin, Do you know who Benny Hin is?
Chris:I know that name. Why do I know that? Oh, wait a minute. Was he a, a televangelist guy?
Jeff:Yes. So I remember seeing that when I was little in the TV Guide, like Benny Hin. I'm like, does that have anything to do with Benny Hill? Cause it sounds really similar. I turned that on and then it's this guy in a white suit and he's slapping people on the forehead. You're healed and they're collapsing on stage.
Chris:Yes.
Jeff:And the whole bit. But I didn't know he was from Israel. So there you go. Uh, next up is Norway. So, we're getting, we're getting cold here. We went from New Zealand to Israel, and now we've entered the Great White North.
Chris:I've heard that people in the Nordics generally can fit this category.
Jeff:Yeah. Uh, yeah. That's a, they play a prominent role here. Since 2010, Norway has been classified as the world's most democratic country by the Democracy Index. So that's another, uh, report that the UN puts out. And they factor in all sorts of stuff like civil rights, civil liberties, voting rights, things like that. So Norway ranks number one. The US currently ranks 26th on the list of Democracy Index. And we are now officially classified as a flawed democracy according to that report, which I'm not sure I disagree with.
Chris:Well, there you go.
Jeff:Yeah. So that's Norway.
Chris:Is this a democracy versus an oligarch graph?
Jeff:Right. Yeah.
Chris:Definitely falling the other way.
Jeff:Sweden is number seven, so we're staying in Scandinavia. Did you know that 36% of Swedes are not religious? That's one of the highest in the world. It's actually not the highest.
Chris:Wow, I did not know that.
Jeff:Yeah, it's not the highest on this list, but it is, uh, it's pretty high. Um, famous people from Sweden. Greta Garbo. I only know she was an actress. And I know Madonna mentions her in Vogue.
Chris:In Vogue, that's what I was thinking.
Jeff:Um, Alfred Nobel. So he is the namesake of the Nobel Prize for all the different categories.
Chris:All right.
Jeff:But his, I didn't know this. To me, this is more significant. He invented dynamite. So there you go.
Chris:Really?
Jeff:Yeah. I don't know that I knew dynamite had to be invented, but evidently it did.
Chris:Yeah. I guess there's multiple things in it..
Jeff:Yeah.
Chris:All right. Well, uh, that's kind of cool.
Jeff:Yeah, it is. Uh, Greta Thunberg. So she's the, uh, teenager climate activist. Yeah. And then we can't forget ABBA, the group ABBA. Do you like ABBA? You like any of their songs?
Chris:I do like them. I didn't, I didn't remember that's where they were from. I knew they were from another country, but I couldn't remember where. Yeah, I like them.
Jeff:Yeah, they're good. And uh, I mean, they get a reputation as being oh, just a, you know, people kind of throw it away. They're just a disco band or whatever. But no, there's a lot of talent and skill there among those four members. And I gotta say, uh, Sweden, you deserve a round of applause because, you churn out some beautiful people. And I of course am talking about the women. I can't find beauty in a man.
Chris:No.
Jeff:As Jerry Seinfeld said, I find them repugnant and unappealing.
Chris:As Elaine said, you know, just admitting that a male is attractive doesn't necessarily make you gay.
Jeff:I gotta give George's response. It doesn't help.
Chris:It doesn't help
Jeff:That's right. But yeah, good job Sweden. Maybe we should, uh, we should have Sweden as our adopted country here on Subpar Talks. I mean, we might need to find a country to move to pretty soon. So...
Chris:It's looking that way.
Jeff:Yeah, they're sure as hell happier than we are. By the way, the US ranks, uh, 17th on this list.
Chris:I was gonna say, there's no way we're in the top 10.
Jeff:No, nuh uh. Number six is Luxembourg, which has all of 646,000 people in the entire country. And I really couldn't tell you anything about Luxembourg. In fact, I didn't list anybody famous from Norway because there isn't any, and it's the same with Luxembourg. And by the way, I could have mentioned like sports stars. Like on this list, because most of these countries are European, there are tons of soccer players on here, but I didn't bother with that.
Chris:I'm sure.
Jeff:Yeah. OK. The Netherlands is number five. In the Netherlands, 55% of people are not religious. That's the highest. That's the biggest.
Chris:That's the biggest. That's a lot.
Jeff:It is, isn't it? A majority. I couldn't believe that.
Chris:So not to get off topic here too much, but I just saw, uh, there was a study put out the other day that was tracking Christianity in the United States.
Jeff:I saw that.
Chris:And saying that if we stay on track for where we are, where we're headed, in 2070, I think Christianity's gonna be like 45%.
Jeff:Wow.
Chris:Now of course other things could make up, I was saying that cuz that's the opposite of 55%, that that would be the other piece of that. But I mean there could certainly be other religions making that up where it's not like the rest of the country's not religious at all, but...
Jeff:Yeah. Wow, so I bet that has some people worried.
Chris:Absolutely.
Jeff:They're gonna have to start making babies, moreso than they do now.
Chris:Yeah. Banning more books. People are gonna turn gay and then...
Jeff:Yeah.
Chris:We'll have fewer...
Jeff:You shouldn't be having the kind of sex where you can't produce anybody. Vincent van Gogh is from the Netherlands. They're the Dutch Remember George was confused on who the Dutch are.
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:Um, Eddie Van Halen, one of the best guitarists ever. Anne Frank.
Chris:OK.
Jeff:Rutger Hauer, do you know who that is?
Chris:I know the name, but I don't know really who.
Jeff:He was an actor. He recently died, I think like a couple of years ago. I know him from, well, people talked about how much they liked him in Blade Runner, but I never saw the movie Blade Runner.
Chris:I didn't either.
Jeff:He was in The Hitcher. Did you watch that? The original.
Chris:No.
Jeff:I think they remade it, but this was from the 80s. He was the bad guy in that. He was also in Lady Hawk. Did you see that?
Chris:In what? Oh, Lady Hawk?
Jeff:Lady Hawk, yeah.
Chris:I saw that as a teenager. I couldn't tell you anything about it. I was bored outta my mind.
Jeff:Well, OK, I saw it. That was the first PG-13 movie I saw. It's 1985. It's got Rutger Hauer in it. It's got Matthew Brodrick in it. And it's got Michelle Pfeiffer. So those are like the three stars in it. And I liked it as a kid, and my wife will gravitate toward any movie that's set pre-1900. And it's a bonus if the actors have a British accent, and if there are horses. If those three things are present, then she's on it. And I was like, right after we started dating, I was like, you should watch Lady Hawk. It's got all this, you know, good stuff in it. There's romance, there's love, whatever. And we got done watching it and she was like, eh, it was OK. But I don't know. I liked it. I thought it was, it was a good movie. But anyway. Rutger Hauer is in it. He's from the Netherlands.
Chris:Well, if it fits all of those categories, then that explains to me why I didn't like it.
Jeff:Why you didn't like it. I know, I'm pretty much the same way. Like, Yeah, I like my movies with cars. You ever been to the Netherlands?
Chris:I've not, no.
Jeff:Would you go to the Red Light District in Amsterdam?
Chris:Go? Yeah, I wouldn't, doesn't mean...
Jeff:Participate?
Chris:I'd participate. But sure.
Jeff:Yeah, I, I wouldn't participate. I'd go just to see, just to see like...
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:What's going on.
Chris:There are lots of things I'd like to see. Not necessarily do, so...
Jeff:Not do.
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:I just imagine you walk in one of those places and STDs are just gonna jump on you when you walk in the door. All right. Number four, Switzerland. Switzerland is a famously neutral country, right? They don't pick sides.
Chris:Right.
Jeff:They also have conscription where, and I think it applies only to the men, but you are drafted. Like not even draft. I don't know if they call it drafted, but when you reach age 18, or graduate high school, or whatever they call it, you have to have, I don't know what it is, a year military service, two, whatever.
Chris:Is that a thing in England?
Jeff:I don't think so. Now other countries might have, the US used to have this, where there was a draft even when it wasn't war time. So...
Chris:Really?
Jeff:Yeah. That's how Elvis had to go into the Army in the 19, well, I think it was like 1960. So the Korean War was long over, and we weren't in Vietnam yet. And I always wondered like, why did he have to go in the Army? But that used to be a thing, like you could be drafted even when it wasn't wartime.
Chris:I didn't know that.
Jeff:Yeah. I think a lot of countries still have that, but I think for Switzerland it's like everybody. Like if you're a man, again, I don't think it applies to women, but you have to. You have to serve your country. Would you be in favor of that here? Should people have to have some type of service?
Chris:I would not be in favor of that. No. I'm just, I don't know. That's me. I didn't want to go in the military. I would like people to be in the military that want to be in the military. I mean, yeah, I, I can see good things about it. Maybe in some ways that would improve the kind of citizens that we have.
Jeff:Yeah.
Chris:But the opposite of like what I just said, I mean, do you want somebody there who doesn't really want to be there?
Jeff:Right. That's the argument I've heard for mandating some type of service, is that you're trying to build citizenship, pride in the country, patriotism, whatever. And I don't guess it would have to be the, I don't think I'm in favor of it either, but I, I don't, I don't think it would've to be the military. It could be some other type of service that people would perform. But I don't think it would ever fly here. People don't like being told what to do, which I can identify with on some level. And yeah...
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:Like people not wanting to serve in the military. Do we really want these people? It's like Vietnam. Like did people want to go over there? If they don't wanna be there, then should they even be trying to fight or do whatever that people are gonna do in the military? I wouldn't last in the military, wouldn't make it.
Chris:Oh, I wouldn't either.
Jeff:No.
Chris:No.
Jeff:I'd go AWOL maybe, or I'd end up getting court mar, court martialed because...
Chris:Yeah, I'm not sure what would happen to me, but it wouldn't be good.
Jeff:No.
Chris:I mean, you know, dishonorably discharged in a day or something.
Jeff:Yeah. OK. Oh, I said I didn't put, um, like sports stars here, but I did put him down because he just retired. Roger Federer, tennis player, probably the greatest tennis player ever. Uh, he just retired, so I figured I'd throw his name in. Uh, Carl Jung, I think I'm saying that right, J-U-N-G. He was a psychologist, couldn't tell you anything more than. And then I didn't know this, Louis, probably Louis Chevrolet, co-founded the car company. I didn't know he was Swiss.
Chris:Really?
Jeff:Yeah.
Chris:Swiss co-founded the American car company.
Jeff:Yeah. Which has a French name. Iceland is number three. It has a whopping total population of 377,000 people. And that is it. Yeah. You talk about small.
Chris:See, now this is all backing up empirically my feeling that being hot makes people disagreeable.
Jeff:Oh yeah.
Chris:It's very upsetting. This is a bunch of people in cold countries that are happy and content.
Jeff:Yeah, it's true. I mean, they've done studies that during the summer the crime rate goes up. And it's because being hot makes people irritable.
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:And they, they do things that they otherwise wouldn't do.
Chris:It's like, um, Michael Douglas in Falling Down. He's sitting in his hot car in traffic and he just finally has enough, gets out. There's the rest of the movie.
Jeff:Right. See, that never would've happened in Iceland. He'd just be happy with his heater on in his car, and he wouldn't be sitting in traffic. There can't be traffic with 377,000 people in your entire country.
Chris:No.
Jeff:I don't have anybody famous from Iceland except Björk, the singer. Do you know anything about her?
Chris:No.
Jeff:I don't either. I mean, I couldn't tell you anything she sings I just recognize the name, so I figured I would throw that in here. Uh, number two is Denmark. And I gotta read this. I found this, um, I found this interesting. Denmark is the, this is from Wikipedia. Denmark is the only country to officially use the word ghetto in the 21st century to denote certain residential areas. Since 2010, the Danish Ministry of Transport Building and Housing publishes the list of ghettos, which as of 2018 consists of 25 different areas. As a result, the term is widely used in the media and common parlance. The legal designation is applied to areas based on the resident's income levels, employment status, education levels, criminal convictions, and non-western ethnic background. In 2018, the government proposed to solve the issue of integration to rid the country of parallel societies in ghettos by 2030. The measures focus on physical redevelopment, control over who is allowed to live in these areas, crime abatement, and education. These policies have been criticized for undercutting equality before law and for portraying immigrants, especially Muslim immigrants in a bad light. While some proposals like restricting ghetto children to their homes after 8:00 PM have been rejected for being too radical, most of the 22 proposals have been agreed upon by parliamentary majority. So did you catch that last part? If you are a ghetto child in Denmark, which has an official designation, your curfew is at 8:00. That's amazing to me. Yeah.
Chris:That is amazing.
Jeff:And we're talking about a, like a, I mean, I think of these European countries as like free, you know, wide open countries.
Chris:Advanced.
Jeff:Advanced.
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:And now you're telling little black and brown kids that, you gotta stay in your house after 8:00 because you're officially in a ghetto. That's amazing to me.
Chris:That's really crazy that, that they can get away with that.
Jeff:Yeah, that would never fly here. And I'm sure, like a lot of these other countries, that would never fly. So who is from Denmark? Uh, not a lot of people. Lars Ulrich, uh, from Metallica. And get this. You'll appreciate this one. Giancarlo Esposito is from Denmark.
Chris:Really?
Jeff:Yes.
Chris:Wow. I would not have guessed that one at all.
Jeff:Gus Fring from Breaking Bad.
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:I wonder if he was a ghetto child.
Chris:I dunno.
Jeff:He probably was.
Chris:Well, he's out now.
Jeff:Yeah, he is. Um, and he's done alright for himself. Brigitte Nielsen? Do you know who that is?
Chris:No.
Jeff:The only reason I know. Well, OK, I'll tell you who she is. She was like, I think she was a like supermodel in the 80s. She was married to Sylvester Stallone, or they had a long relationship. I don't know if they ever officially tied the knot. I didn't know who she was until probably like 15 or 20 years ago. I was watching one of those, um, like celebrity rehab shows where all these washed up celebrities have just gone off the deep end and basically ruined their lives with drug use and alcohol abuse or whatever. And she was one of the people. So that's the only reason I, I know who that is. OK, so things haven't
Chris:gone well for her.
Jeff:No, they have not. In fact, I mean, I think she's still alive. I don't know. I said that was 15 or 20 years ago and back then she looked like she was pushing 70. I mean, I don't know if she was. She probably wasn't. It was just living a hard life.
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:And finally, who have we not mentioned that you think might be number one here?
Chris:Finland.
Jeff:You're right. It is Finland.
Chris:Yeah?
Jeff:Yeah. So we're staying in the, uh, the Great White North here. And yes, Europe, Northern Europe has played a prominent role in this top 10 list. Finland's a small country, not Iceland small, but they've got 5.5 million people. Have you ever heard Finnish spoken?
Chris:Yes.
Jeff:It is weird.
Chris:Yeah, they barely have any vowels. I think most of their language is consonants.
Jeff:It's so weird. If you listen to Danish or Dutch or Swedish or Norwegian, it sounds similar to German. You can tell it's different, but it sounds really similar to German, but you listen to, to Finnish and it doesn't sound anything like those others, which is weird because it's all right there together.
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:It's bizarre.
Chris:I think Finnish may sound a little more Russian?
Jeff:Yeah, maybe a little bit.
Chris:I don't know.
Jeff:It's just weird.
Chris:So the company that I work for is a Finnish company, founded in Finland. That's still the the base, the world headquarters. So I've worked with, met many different Finnish people, heard them speak. So yeah, that's where I've experienced that. When I first started work there, I had some conversations with the people that were fairly new living in the US. They, um, I, I don't know, I think they had only been here for a couple of years at that point. And so, you know, we were just exchanging all kinds of information, moreso about them telling us about things in Finland. And, you know, it was just amazing at some of the differences that, that there are, um, particularly in education. I mean, they have the highest, if not one of right at the highest ranked education systems in the world.
Jeff:Yep.
Chris:The, their, their work life balance, all of that is. I heard that the government, now, first of all, their taxes are crazy high compared to anything we pay. Anybody would say that it's high, but they get good...
Jeff:Well, you get what you pay for.
Chris:Yeah. They, they get a lot out of their taxes. I mean, you know, and that, that's where there's a lot of distrust here, for example. People pay taxes and they go, well, what did I get? And or, or you think that it's being used unwisely or corruptly or whatever. But you know, in Finland, yes, they pay high taxes, but they're aware of and feel like they're truly benefiting from those taxes that they pay. One of the things that that we heard, which was just baffling to me, although it's cool, is that any expectant mother gets a big gift basket from the government.
Jeff:Wow.
Chris:Of all kinds of stuff for their child.
Jeff:That's amazing.
Chris:Yeah, but I, I've also experienced very early on some really different ways in attitudes toward work. Two things that happened within, within a year and probably within a few months of me starting at the company that was just so pleasantly surprising. I, I, I'd come from some other companies that we said we'd probably do another episode about, you know, bad jobs. I'd come from other companies where the, the culture in some of them was just, um, bordering on abusive and, and nasty attitudes, things like that. And, um, I had not been there very long when at the end of the day, the person who was kind of pseudo-boss to me, at least overseeing in some ways, we're having an issue with the customer. And he came and said, would you be willing to do this later, like to work on something later for that customer. It wasn't a, hey, this is what has to be done, or you are doing this, or it was, would you be willing to do it? And I literally had to kind of take a step back like...
Jeff:Yeah.
Chris:Am I hearing this right?
Jeff:Yeah.
Chris:Like, would I be willing to? Is this really a question?
Jeff:Wow.
Chris:So that was a very refreshing. Experience The other thing not too long after, and it was from that same person, I had been a part of a call with another one of our employees where a customer was just yelling and chewing out this other employee of our company. Well, obviously in getting off the call, uh, we were discussing it internally and that other guy was quite upset that someone had treated one of our employees that way, called the customer back and said, this is not OK.
Jeff:Wow.
Chris:We're, we are not allowing that kind of behavior to happen. And, you know, from places that I came from, it would just be a, well, you suck that up.
Jeff:Yeah.
Chris:You know, um, they're paying us so, they treat us that way. And they, they're very clear like, this is not happening.
Jeff:So the customer's not always right in Finland.
Chris:Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, but anyway, you know, I'm saying that because I, I think those are some examples of, if you have that kind of attitude and, and saying that those are positive things, obviously that could lead to some happier people.
Jeff:No doubt.
Chris:You know, you don't have your workers feeling like they don't have that work life balance and that they do have some autonomy and hey, people can and will wait until tomorrow if that's what has to happen.
Jeff:Yeah.
Chris:And, it's not OK to treat people that way.
Jeff:Something that cracks me up about Finland, part of their history and, uh, it involves World War II. So the Russians invaded Finland. And I don't remember what year this was. It was like 1940 or 41. So the Soviet Union, technically, invaded Finland and Finland's like, well, what the hell, we can't defend ourselves. We're a little tiny country. This is the big bad Soviet Union. So the Germans come to the Fins aid, and so now Finland's on the side of the Germans fighting the Soviets. And so when the war was over, Finland had to pay reparations. Reparations! Had to pay reparations to, to Russia and whoever else, I don't remember what. But it was like, like they're not technically at fault, are they? Cause they were just...
Chris:Right.
Jeff:Trying to get the Russians outta their country. Yeah.
Chris:Well that sucks.
Jeff:It does. Um, one more thing about Finland. Um, right now I think they have the most attractive Prime Minister, if anybody wants to Google. Sanna Marin, Marin. S-A-N-N-A. Last name Marin, M-A-R-I-N. Yeah, good on Finland.
Chris:She's all right.
Jeff:Good job. Yeah. So...
Chris:Good job.
Jeff:What?
Chris:Good job.
Jeff:They're kinda like their neighbor, Sweden. You're churning out some beautiful people. All right.
Chris:Right.
Jeff:So here's that Atlantic article that I was referencing. And I'll just read this one paragraph and, and again, I think I'll put this in the episode notes. But they're kind of summing up this whole report about happiness and what exactly that means."For the people who come up with policies and run countries the lessons of this report are not shocking. People are more satisfied with their lives when they have a comfortable standard of living, a supportive social network, good health, the latitude to choose their course in life, and a government they trust. The highest echelon of happy countries also tends to have universal healthcare, ample paid vacation time, and affordable childcare." Which those last three things are something we don't have, so...
Chris:Right.
Jeff:There's definitely something to that.
Chris:Yeah, and those things were something that I talked quite a lot about with those Finnish counterparts. So that, that's a huge thing for them.
Jeff:All right, so those are the happiest countries, and that is of 2022. And that is based, uh, on the previous year's data, so 2021. You recently brought up the subject of, and I didn't even know this was a thing, but there is an actual study or studies out there that talk about what you have to make in each country in order to be happy. So in other words, what is the, the price of happiness here? And there's a website. I actually saw this report on a few different websites, but this is the one I went to, called expensivity.com. And they explained this study, which was done at Purdue University by scientists there. And basically what they did is they measured the purchasing power in each country, and then they stack that up against the cost of living. So how much do you have to be making in each country for you to be"happy". And I gotta say, when I read this, I went from being content, like we said earlier, to I'm not so content now. In the US, according to this report from Purdue University, you have to be making$105,000 to be happy.
Chris:Is that a single person, or a family?
Jeff:That is a single person. Yeah. Not household. That's a single person.
Chris:And that's average for the country.
Jeff:Yeah.
Chris:Not pinpointing a particular area.
Jeff:Right? Not, not city. They did list like, if I remember, like 10 or 15 cities. But yeah, that's overall. And there's gonna be a lot of variation of course. But on average,$105,000, which really, really surprises me because I looked this up before we started recording. The average salary in the US right now, according to jobted.com, is$53,490.
Chris:Mm-hmm. Well, OK, so that, first of all, that really surprises me that that amount would be for a single person. I mean, when you start getting into families, yeah, OK. You can see that they're gonna have to make more with kids and all of that, but that just underscores right there the inability for people to meet expenses on a single income.
Jeff:Right.
Chris:You've got, have to have dual income in houses now where that did not used to have to exist. People used to live just fine.
Jeff:Yep.
Chris:On a single income.
Jeff:That was possible to do, and now there's, there's no way. There's no way it can be done, unless you're pulling in, I mean, a whole lot of money. I wouldn't say necessarily six figures. I mean, it depends on where you're living, of course. But yeah, that is incredibly hard to do and most people cannot do that. They can't support a family on a single salary. So I wonder, I mean we could look this up, but what percentage does that put you in in terms of income earners in America if you're making$105,000? Like you're making about double what the average is? So...
Chris:Yeah, I would think that would put you in about the top 20, 25% probably.
Jeff:Yeah, I would think so. So we have a whole lot of unhappy people in this country?
Chris:70, good 75%. I mean...
Jeff:Sounds about right when you put it that way, I guess. Yeah. Lot of unhappy people.
Chris:Plus factor in all the heat in the country and it's gonna get, it's worse.
Jeff:It's, it's gonna get much worse.
Chris:Much, much worse.
Jeff:So I found this interesting and, and um, just from, comparing us, America, to other countries, they did list the highest price of happiness countries, so the top 10. Number one is Bermuda. Two is Australia. Three, Israel. Four, Switzerland. Five, New Zealand. Six, Norway. Seven, Denmark. Eight, Japan. Nine, Iceland. And ten, the good old USA. So we round out the, uh, top 10 there as the, uh, or highest price of happiness. And then the lowest, if you're looking to stretch your dollar and therefore increase your happiness, perhaps you might consider one of these countries. Number one is Suriname. In Suriname, you can be happy with$6,800 a year. I would be ecstatic, I guess.
Chris:Really?
Jeff:Yeah, in Suriname. Well, do they just
Chris:have a hole in the ground though? I mean...
Jeff:Maybe so. I don't know anything about their country. I know it's in South America, but I couldn't tell you anything about it. Um, Argentina,$8,800. Angola, uh,$9,000. Kyrgyzstan, we've had that come up in an episode where the eagle attacked the the girl.
Chris:Oh, that's right.
Jeff:Episode, yeah, episode one. So there you go.$9,000 to be happy in Kyrgyzstan. Um, have you had any, have any thoughts about moving to Iran? You wanna move to Iran?
Chris:I have thoughts about it. Yes. They're not positive.
Jeff:$10,000 and you could be happy there. Or perhaps Zambia is, is more in line with what you'd like.
Chris:I don't know anything about Zambia.
Jeff:I don't either. It's in Africa. Couldn't tell you anything else. A little over$10,000. Sierra Leone,$10,500. Ethiopia.
Chris:So Zambia was equivalent to Iran for the amount of money you need for happiness?
Jeff:Yeah. I don't know whether... OK, no, I wouldn't wanna be in Iran, so I guess Zambia. But I might be shitting in a hole in that country. I don't know. Sierra Leone,$10,500. Ethiopia,$10,700. Turkey,$10,700. And rounding out the top ten, Nicaragua,$11,300.
Chris:Well, not saying they're all good, but that's, that's a lot of options for retirement.
Jeff:True. And I've heard that about, like, people talk about Costa Rica, how inexpensive Costa Rica is, and...
Chris:I've also heard that I, I think the cost of living's going up in Costa Rica for that reason, that a lot of people are flocking there.
Jeff:Yeah. A bunch of Americans moving there to, to retire.
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:Um, so this is, uh, a top ten list of the price of happiness by city and the US is featured prominently on this. Um, New York is number one. To be happy in New York City, you gotta be pulling in$139,000.
Chris:OK. Yeah. It's been a few years since I saw, but I think it was like 125 or 130% cost of living compared to the national average being at a hundred. So yeah, take that$105,000 at the average and multiply that. That's right where you'd fall.
Jeff:Yeah, I remember hearing this, this has probably been 15 years ago. Somebody sold a parking space in Manhattan for$250,000.
Chris:Holy shit.
Jeff:Yeah. I just remember thinking at the time, why can't that be me? Why can't I have a parking space? Sure, I'll sell it to you. I'll sell it to you for less than$250,000, but why can't that be me? But then I also thought, who's got that kind of money to spend on a parking space? That just blows my mind. That, that's so far above and beyond what I can comprehend as far as as spending goes. Yeah.
Chris:Well, especially for us in Texas. I mean, we're, in Texas, we're used to that being a really nice house.
Jeff:Yeah, no kidding.
Chris:Historically anyway. I mean, housing is going up like crazy in Texas. But historically at least, yeah, that's a nice house.
Jeff:Right.
Chris:Nevermind a place to put your car.
Jeff:I know it. Honolulu is number two. Bern, Switzerland is number three. That's the only non-American city on this list. So then we go Anchorage, Seattle, Boston, Washington, Jersey City, so right outside New York, Minneapolis, and then LA rounds out the top ten. So...
Chris:Surprised LA Is that far down the list then.
Jeff:Yeah, I am too. Yeah, right. Like behind Anchorage, what is that? Like...
Chris:Yeah.
Jeff:Although, I guess, I mean, goods are gonna be more expensive in Hawaii and Alaska, I would guess. So when you're talking about purchasing power, I imagine that's gonna be weakened just because stuff's gonna be more expensive. I don't know.
Chris:That's true. And they may be living all on top of each other in Anchorage, cuz they don't wanna be anywhere else in Alaska.
Jeff:Right. Yeah. All right, there you go. That is the happiest cities and the price of happiness. If you like this kind of stuff, as I've said before, you are our kind of people. So go ahead and follow us. Whatever platform you're listening to this on, that means you will get new episodes delivered to you automatically. You don't even have to do anything. It will magically appear on your device. And while you're there, go ahead and rate us. We would be ever so grateful if you'd give us five stars. And while you're there, leave a review. Go ahead and, and write something there. It doesn't even matter what you say. But if you write something in the review, then that's easier for people to discover this show. And so we would be really appreciative if you would do that. You can go to our website, that is subpartalks.com. You can find out more about the show, more about me, or Chris. You can email us, you can leave us a voicemail. We love reading what listeners wrote and we love hearing from listeners. If you wanna make a suggestion on future topics you would like to see covered on this show, you can do that there. You can follow us on social media. On Twitter, we are@subpartalks. On Facebook, we are Subpar Talks. If you wanna follow our personal Twitter accounts, on there I am at@independentjeff.
Chris:And I am@chrisbradfordtx.
Jeff:And we have other social media links on our website, so you can go there and find out what those are. And finally, last but not least, get the word out about Subpar Talks. You can share this with your friends on social media. You can talk to your family members, colleagues, whoever about this show. The more listeners we have, the easier it is for us to get this content to you every week. And are you feeling happy now?
Chris:I feel like we're in the wrong place.
Jeff:Maybe we need to be in Zambia.
Chris:You know, Natalie Portman did a movie called Anywhere But Here. So, just kind of bring it all full circle.
Jeff:Did that make you happy?
Chris:Um, yeah. Actually thinking about it made me happy
Jeff:Anywhere But Here, I've never heard of that. What's the premise?
Chris:Yeah, it was with Susan Sarandon.
Jeff:OK.
Chris:It was one of our earlier ones.
Jeff:Never heard of it. Maybe I need to check it out.
Chris:Yeah, go watch it.
Jeff:All right. That is another episode of Subpar Talks, and until next week, so long.
