Eating and Living Well Trumps All

Whether the material wealth of a nation brings happiness to its citizens is a question not easily answered. For many countries, however, it clearly does not bring happiness. Korea, for example, has become an economic powerhouse. Back in 1960, it had a gross national product per capita (the wealth distribution of a country showing the dollar value of its goods and services in a year, divided by its population) of 100 dollars. Today, with a GNP per capita of over $20,000, Korea is the envy of many developing countries, but despite the remarkable increase in the material wealth of the country, there has been no increase in the level of  happiness.

Writing the recent opinion column of the  Catholic Times, a professor with a doctorate in education introduces us to the Easterlin Paradox: poor countries, like Costa Rica and Columbia, have a higher happiness index than the economically advanced, OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), countries.

If this is true why do countries continue to praise themselves, he asks, for their economic achievements. There are many countries that have gone from a colony to independence, having received a great deal of help, but have not been able to leave poverty behind.

Although Korea has made great strides economically, she still has a large foreign debt, the middle class is disappearing, the number of the poor is increasing, and, with the acceptance of neo-liberalism, there is increased polarization within society.The upper 20 percent has 13 times more income than the lowest 20 percent and many families are in debt. At the beginning  of 2013, the competition is intense and employment is difficult to find. The disparity between the haves and have-nots is increasing. Moreover, Korea leads in the number of suicides among OECD countries and has the lowest birth rate and happiness index.

The professor, using the United States as an example, says that after a GNP per capita income of over $10,000 is reached the influence of economics on the happiness  of citizens decreases. Now that Korea has reached $20,000, there will be little influence on the happiness index of the country, the professor says. The Saenuri party expressed an interest in equalizing the income of 99 percent of the citizens in comparison to the 1 percent of the highest income earners. The Saenuri Party could read the pulse of the citizens, noting that the middle class was less interested in the right or wrong of issues but rather in earning enough money to eat, live well and pursue happiness.

The promises of the Saenuri Party will be their political platform for the next five years. They have promised to help more workers enter the middle class, and they have indicated that they will report on how successful they have been in keeping that promise each year. The citizens will be eagerly waiting to see if the Saenuri Party can deliver on their promise.