Watching The Happiest Country on Earth: Finland on PBS

americans of finnish heritage (there are a lot in the UP of michigan) are among the happiest of all americans. It's cultural.

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10 min in and only 1 POC and it was a school cafeteria worker.

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Black female cafeteria workers were the best when I was in H.S.
Me: 'Mattie Lee, you're so pretty. Will you marry me when I graduate?'
Her (laughing): 'Have an extra piece of fried chicken, Zach.'
This worked every Fried Chicken day of the year for me.

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ericans of finnish heritage (there are a lot in the UP of michigan) are among the happiest of all americans.

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The 5 largest ethnic groups in Western Upper Peninsula PUMA, MI are White (Non-Hispanic) (91.4%), Two+ (Non-Hispanic) (2.56%), Black or African American (Non-Hispanic) (1.62%), American Indian & Alaska Native (Non-Hispanic) (1.46%), and Asian (Non-Hispanic) (1.06%).

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PBS

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Progressive broadcasting channel

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Black female cafeteria workers were the best when I was in H.S.
Me: 'Mattie Lee, you're so pretty. Will you marry me when I graduate?'
Her (laughing): 'Have an extra piece of fried chicken, Zach.'
This worked every Fried Chicken day of the year for me.

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Sophronia was one of ours. Every person that went through her line got a big "Hey Baaaaaby!" When she died some years ago they named the cafeteria after her

Beyond their homogeneous racial demographics, there are other reasons for Finnish to be happy, such as a focus on their health and well-being via universal healthcare, solid infrastructure, politicians who aren’t hyper-focused on hatred and vitriol, etc.

If racial homogeneity guaranteed harmony, families would never experience any tensions or conflict. That’s not the case.

happy paying 57% income taxes

insanity



LINK

Makes me wonder why most of the countries that are the happiest are the heavily-taxed, socialist European countries.

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happy paying 57% income taxes

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I'm not saying it's right, but in a smaller population that is that homogenous, you likely know more family members who have benefitted from those programs than you do folks who are ripping off the system, or you are at least willing to consider that you know some who benifit. Here I feel like I don't know anyone who benefits from gov't programs, but see lots of stories about grifters.

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Here I feel like I don't know anyone who benefits from gov't programs, but see lots of stories about grifters

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Presumably, you benefited from an LSU education, subsidized by the state of Louisiana. You benefit from the U.S. military, from your local police, from those who build and maintain your roads, and countless others. We all benefit, just like those citizens in those Scandinavian countries. If Trump's COVID checks kept the economy from cratering, you benefit from that.