Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy a lot of the prerequisites
this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2024
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I'd argue it can by happiness in a very literal sense since you can pay people to do things you don't want to do, thus freeing up your time enjoy however you like.
Having to not do certain things may not make you happy either. Maybe you have some other problems
Being able to spend your time doing things you want to do obviously makes everyone happier.
Does that? Yes. That alone? No!
Context matters. This is an appropriate statement to make to someone who has enough to live a comfortable life but is always chasing more. But to say it to someone struggling to make ends meet is just incredibly disrespectful.
And with all due respect we all know what this meme is about and it isn't the former.
after a certain point*
i doubt someone like elon musk is as happy as he is rich, id argue the opposite.
being debt free and unworried about cash would make me happier tho
Money doesn't buy happiness, but it will buy away the sad
The people I know all seem to understand the "after a certain point" concept. Up to a certain point, money is directly connected to happiness, and I my group understands that.
Still, a good meme (or whatever it's called). A reminder that most thing we want to believe are more important than money are only obtainable with money.
"Money can't buy happiness" is a great mantra for rejecting the capitalist enshirining of wealth as a virtue. It's important to see happiness as something more complex than income.
The issue is that when interpreted as "poverty is no excuse for unhappiness", it loses all valid meaning.
See also: "Life isn't fair"
Alternatively, we could say "money can buy happiness, and that's the problem".
And yet Elon Musk doesn't appear all that happy lately
It may be essential, but not sufficient. That's all this statement claims.
Put another way "having money isn't everything, not having it is"
Okay but for the vast majority of us living on the precipice of homelessness and always budgeting for how much ramen noodles we can afford it is crass and insensitive and this meme is calling that out.
Unless you are advocating mass redistribution of the ill gotten gains of capital please shut the fuck up with this condescending debate pervert bullshit.
That's just how rich people say they're too dumb to figure out what makes them happy.
Usually it's miserable rich people who say this, and they're miserable because they don't have a soul.
No happiness... just material needs.
"I guess I'll have to rent it" - Weird Al
Not to be confused with the fallacy that these essentials are exclusively the product of exchanging money-- while you can pay for better health and better safety, there are also things you can do with little to no money to improve those for yourself, though the freedom to do so unfortunately is not default and financial security does empower an individual to better use what resources are available to them-- maybe not everyone can trivially access hiking trails, or be in the health for it, and even then they should have a good pair of shoes, a water bottle, and reliable mode of transportation to/fro the trails, which again not everyone has unfortunately.
Imo, the idealistic answer is to work to ensure everyone an essential baseline level that can reliably empower them to live as healthy and opportune of lives as is reasonably possible, while of course having in place infrastructure and accomodations to those less fortunate in health and/or opportunity. I'd like to think this is more than a utopian idea, and closer to a reality than one might originally think, or perhaps I was somewhat unique or grossly digressed from the status quo in pessimistically believing that we might be far from this being a reality. Perhaps my pessimism was also influenced by my financial stress at the time, among the other throes of life.
"'Money doesn't buy happiness.' Do you live in America?..because it buys a WaveRunner. You ever see a sad person on a WaveRunner?" -Daniel Tosh
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Money can buy happiness, but happiness doesn't have a delivery service. You have to go pick it up yourself.
Am I wrong that it's correct in the subject/object sense
If you are lacking in some basic material need then money absolutely can buy happiness
I would never contest that point
Money can't buy happiness, but you can buy a yacht and pull right up next to it