Not to be contrary, but the last line of the summary in the wiki article is:
The hedonic treadmill viewpoint suggests that wealth does not increase the level of happiness
I would infer from that, that increased wealth has increasingly diminishing returns after a certain point.
I did try to follow the link, but Investopedia broke it on their end and I can’t seem to find it (aside: wooof, that is a bad layout). Any good sources for me?
You’re right, I was off on a weird thing. Was thinking about the skew between mean and median indicating this or that, but starting in median keeps us in population counting territory. I was just wrong. Derp.
I mean, cost of living is higher than america than other parts of the world and other parts of the world have state-funded security programs that take some of the anxiety away from living.
Here in (western) europe I’d wager at half of people (including me) are insulated from “poverty induced misery”. There are an awful lot of stupidly big and expensive cars on the road.
Am I glad that ~400 million (200 mill in north america, 100 mill in europe, 100 mill everywhere else) people now live in that state of relative freedom? absolutely, but it is depressing to think about what a minority of humanity it really is.
Wtf??? You actually really said that? Dude noone dies of hunger (nor thirst) if they have more than one dollar PER FAMILY. look it up. Ask unicef.
20$/day per person is enough to save for a NEW TV in 2 Months while buying sooooo much rice and beans your ENTIRE FAMILY will be overweight.
DUDE FOR REAL? 20$/DAY IS GOOOOOODDDDD. AFTER PAYING THE TV THAT FAMILY WILL BUILD A HOUSE WITH 15$/DAY AND USE ONLY 5$ A DAY in food electric & water.
Dude get out of Europe /us… Get real.
A large part of Asia Africa and most of south America is MUCH poorer as Ecuador… Just in case
You just yell without even saying where you think I supposedly made a mistake.
You can’t see an in depth calculation and still just yell “mommy” like a dumb kid… I mean you obviously can and did, but that means noone will take you seriously
Which is why everyone should be paid the same wage. In fact, forget wages. I deserve $1000 a week as UBI and so do you and so does everyone else. So they can live a nice life.
My raise is like 50 cents an hour every year. And I do pay taxes. Why do you keep lying about me?
You have said many things about me that aren’t true, like how I get paid better than I actually get paid and how I want to give some people less than others. Stop lying. I’m not going to discuss anything further with you if you keep lying about me.
Your an idiooot and looooser for keeping this rethoric up. I’m not talking about you at all. Just saying things in general. Get off your high horse, bithcazz
Got it. You are not here in good faith, you lie, and when called out on it, you resort to insults. I don’t think anything more need to be said, apart from the last word you’re so desperate to have. Go for it.
Pricing is almost yh same in US$ all over the world if you consider buying in relative bulk (60$/sack of rice of 100pounds = PREMIUM RICE. 35$/SACK is normal.
60-120 GRAMS PER DAY = 44 kg per YEAR = 1 sack of 35$ (or $60 if you feel fancy)
That leaves 363 days x 20$ to pay for beans, veggies, some protein and A TV, MOTORBIKE AND BRICKS & CEMENTS & REBAR.
If you give 20$/day to every FAMILY (not even person) in the world, all of them will have a DECENT CHANCE ON A DECENT LIVE including some luxury.
But we/YOU/ prefer to give them $2 a day but (y)ourselves 20$/hour and our overlords 20.000$/second.
YOU HAVE NO POINT NO PROOF NO EXPERIENCE NO ARGUMENT. JUST STOP REPLYING OR I’LL GO INTO MUCH MORE DETAIL
I buy my groceries without concern for price, my bills are all on auto pay and my bank account balance slowly increases. Money has bought me freedom from unhappiness at the very fucking least.
No, but you are ASKING others to no longer be rich. If you are paid fairly how will your boss afford his new pet Hippos, are you aware of the amount of landscaping it takes to recreate the nile valley in his humble 2mio acre backyard?
This is exactly it. It doesn’t really buy happiness to a large degree, but it does remove so many problems and worries that you get to spend time on your happiness.
Yep; money is necessary but not sufficient for happiness. It also removes very common cause of unhappiness (financial stress). But it can’t unconditionally make someone happy.
I want enough to get my car working in perfect condition. A person that will sell their drawing display to me, and update my clothes. Maybe like 2 weeks of food
Median weekly earnings of full-time workers were $1,118 in the third quarter of 2023. That means half of all people make above this and half make below.
Most people’s problems would NOT be solved if $1,100 went up to say, $1,300
When did a living wage become “buy real estate” wage? A house in my area is two million dollars. So you guys really want everyone to become a millionaire, huh?
If houses would not cost unreasonable amounts then a normal salary would be able to afford one. You can’t demand a salary that can afford a house because houses are NOT reasonably priced, so your demand is not a reasonable one either
The American Enterprise Institute is a neoconservative organization. Of course they’re going to claim wages haven’t stagnated, just like their corporate masters want them to.
Real means it has, considering $40 in 1960 would be worth $400 today if it hasn’t been adjusted for inflation we’d be making four times less money so that doesn’t make sense
Great. Now explain how a single income working a low-wage job in 1960 could afford an entire house and now someone like that can’t even afford to rent without multiple roommates. Because wages haven’t stagnated, right?
I’m talking about the link where it talks about wages being stagnant.
It’s only stagnant peak to peak. They have been going up since the bottom of 1980s where wages did not keep up with inflation. This is basically the last 30 years when wages actually did go up.
It’s trying to make it seem like there was no change, when actually they only had it good for a few years in the 1970s and are still better off now
That’s a separate issue that I agree on, but the problem is with cities like New York and SF refusing to build enough housing. It’s not so expensive in places that do build
They build plenty in this not especially large town and it’s still out of the price range of many people under 40. Are you really unaware that America’s housing crisis goes beyond big cities?
I don’t think housing prices are justified, which is why not everyone can afford to own. I’d rather build so much housing it crashes the market in all of the cities so that everyone can afford a house on their current salary. It doesn’t make sense to suggest to increase everyone’s wages so more money is chasing the same amount of housing, that would only increase housing prices
You do know things other than houses cost money, right? And that if you don’t raise wages since the 1970s, but inflation has gone way up since then, all those things cost too much money, right?
A fair wage is when you can afford all basic necessities and have money left over to buy reasonable things that you don’t need but want. Anything below that is not a fair wage.
Dude you can buy a LOT OF RICE AND BEANS AND VEGGIES LOADS OF EGGS & MORE protein. Things you want come AFTER each of 9.000.000.000 get the aforementioned (and basic shelter, basic clothing, etc). Before half the world doesn’t have that, you have no right to extras.
Well I’ve just got a chinchilla and those guys are cute little fuckers. So yeah I’m just bought some happiness.
Although possibly if I had spent time slightly more money tgey would have a less squeaky wheel, so perhaps what money has really bought sleepless nights.
When I was in college, they were still teaching Maslowe’s Pyramid as textbook knowledge. I’ve since heard people try to walk it back as a flawed model, but…I think it’s a useful concept here.
If you are struggling to meet your biological and safetey needs, you bet your scrotal meat money can buy happiness. Too many people on this earth could have their lives permanently changed for the better with 2,000 American dollars.
On the other hand, the set who scolds the piano tuner to make sure BOTH full grand pianos in the main hall are in tune with each other this time, who legitimately struggle to think of anything else they could actually buy and end up going to restaurants where they pour chocolate sauce on your bare hands for you to lick off as an “experience” genuinely aren’t made happier by addition of cash…they’re operating at the interpersonal and self-actualization levels, and not particularly well because, well…they’re deeply flawed humans whose dads can afford generations of yes men. Nothing can buy these people happiness, especially money.
We even learned this objectively during the pandemic. Even though it wasn’t really that much money, poverty rates declined due to the stimulus payments.
I’ve since heard people try to walk it back as a flawed model,
That’s interesting. Who is trying to walk Maslow’s Hierarchy back? And to what end? I mean, I can think of a few motives, but I have no way of knowing if I hit the mark. Perhaps to convince the poor that having more money won’t meet their needs?
Although widely used and researched, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs lacks conclusive supporting evidence and the validity of the theory remains contested in academia.[10][11][12][13] One criticism of the original theory which has been revised into newer versions of the theory, was that the original hierarchy states that a lower level must be completely satisfied and fulfilled before moving onto a higher pursuit; there is evidence to suggest that levels continuously overlap each other.[3]
Hence the “pyramid” model of “the bottom layer must be solid before work can start on the next layer up” is…probably not science.
In the early 2000s we learned it in more of a nucleus model to address the pyramid criticisms. As someone who grew up poor and lives comfortably now, I can attest that it’s a real thing. I miss the struggle in a morbid way. Life was somehow more defined.
I find it useful to think of as a teacher as the mechanism behind the principle of readiness, for two separate reasons:
Students who are tired, hungry, thirsty and busting for a toilet are not going to focus on a lecture about aerodynamics. The lecture is less immediate than their other needs.
Students who don’t see a need to learn aerodynamics aren’t going to bother to put in the effort to pay attention. Yes, higher learning can fulfill those higher, more intellectual needs up toward the self-actualization end of the pyramid, but it’s not a guarantee. It is the responsibility of the teacher to inform his students which needs his lesson will help his students fulfill. By high school, students intuitively understand this, and might ask an algebra teacher “Why do we have to know this?” It amazes me how often that answer comes back “To graduate.” As a flight instructor, I always found “So that you don’t hit the trees at the end of the runway, catch fire and die” is more motivating to students.
I don’t know, people find reasons to be unhappy. Supplying your baseline needs could certainly alleviate stress and help keep you content, but without purpose beyond themselves there tends to be a trend of disillusionment and depression. It’s no secret the amount of substance abuse is prevalent in wealthy families.
Additionally there is some merit that money can’t buy your attitude and therefore happiness in life in general. (Assuming we could define healthy relationships as happiness) You can see people with very little still have flourishing relationships with those around them that a rich people will struggle with.
There’s always the consideration that without money you can be assured the people who are your friend are legitimately there for who you are. They say it’s lonely at the top and I believe that means that those who know you have money and trying to be your friend there’s always going to be question about legitimacy.
If you are struggling to meet your biological and safetey needs, you bet your scrotal meat money can buy happiness
genuinely aren’t made happier by addition of cash…they’re operating at the interpersonal and self-actualization levels
There’s a 2010 study that supports both these statements, where an increase in income equals an increase in happiness - up to a point (plateauing around 60-90k, in 2010 money). However, a more recent study from 2022, shows that an increase in money up to a larger point (500k) increases happiness. I’m unsure why the data have a drastically different number this time, inflation doesn’t account for that dramatic of an increase. Though, a percent of people in the newer study (15%) do line up with the original study with happiness plateauing around the 100k mark, which matches up given inflation. Interestingly, one of the authors is the same for both studies.
I am definitely asking to be rich. The world contains more than enough wealth for every human on it to live the life style of rich people if the resources were better distributed.
I’m not against a better distribution, but I think that wouldn’t allow everyone to live the lifestyle of the rich. That would allow everyone to live without worrying about survival though.
My parents lost most of their life savings to a scam about 10 years ago. I’ve been helping us get by for the past 5 years now. Recently due to interest rates climbing higher and higher, the only way the bank would allow them to renew their mortgage is if I was signed onto it. With the amount we have to pay monthly now, it’s like my salary was cut to worse levels than when I started. I’ll have $100 extra a month after the mortage and other cost of living expenses are paid. We’ll be cutting it close.
It’s extremely frustrating because my salary certainly is not making up for the increased cost of living. It feels like both my job, and the bank have me by the balls. Truly feeling like a wage slave
The actual fact is that Money buys happiness but in diminishing returns 10k extra a year makes a lot more difference to a minimum wage worker than it does to a 6 figure software developer
Add comment