The "Money Doesn't Buy Happiness" Canard
Recently in my newsfeed I saw yet-another "Money Doesn't Buy Happiness" article. This one is based on an interview with Barbara Corcoran, star of the TV show Shark Tank. Example coverage: CNBC article 14 Jun 2023. These stories bother me because they're almost invariably written by or about people who are a) wealthy today and b) have never really been poor.
What's my stake in it? I grew up poor. Mind you, not poor-poor, but not higher than lower-middle class. We had food on the table but couldn't afford doctor visits except in emergencies, and I regularly wore shoes with holes in them. Although I'm doing much better, financially, in life as an adult after completing an advanced degree and building a well-paying career, I don't forget where I came from. I draw on that life experience to understand the challenges that people currently in poverty face. And it pisses me off when yet-another 1%er trots out that canard that poor people should be happier because "Money doesn't but happiness".
I call it a canard because while the statement "Money can't buy happiness" is literally true, the implied meaning, the meaning that almost everyone understands, is false. Money is actually pretty important to happiness in the 21st century US.
Consider these three basic determinants of whether a person can life a happy, satisfying life:
Money is critical to having a place to live- and not just having a roof over your head from night to night, but having certainty about your living arrangements. Couch surfing, where you depend on the generosity of friends week to week or month to month, creates a lot of stress.
Money is critical to having adequate food- and again, as with housing, it's also about food security. Not knowing if you're going to have money to buy food next week, or having to choose between buying food and being late with the rent check or utilities bills again, is hard.
Money is critical to adequate health care. Yes, you can show up at a hospital emergency room and technically they have to help you, but there's a huuuge gap between getting only minimal, life-saving emergency care and getting proper health care. You might not see that difference if you're young and healthy... but wait until you're older, or think about it again when you have a chronic health condition you can't afford to address.
It's pretty darn hard to be happy (in any non-self-deluded fashion) when you don't have certainty around housing, food, and health. And the reality for genuinely poor people in the US is they don't.
What's my stake in it? I grew up poor. Mind you, not poor-poor, but not higher than lower-middle class. We had food on the table but couldn't afford doctor visits except in emergencies, and I regularly wore shoes with holes in them. Although I'm doing much better, financially, in life as an adult after completing an advanced degree and building a well-paying career, I don't forget where I came from. I draw on that life experience to understand the challenges that people currently in poverty face. And it pisses me off when yet-another 1%er trots out that canard that poor people should be happier because "Money doesn't but happiness".
I call it a canard because while the statement "Money can't buy happiness" is literally true, the implied meaning, the meaning that almost everyone understands, is false. Money is actually pretty important to happiness in the 21st century US.
Consider these three basic determinants of whether a person can life a happy, satisfying life:
Money is critical to having a place to live- and not just having a roof over your head from night to night, but having certainty about your living arrangements. Couch surfing, where you depend on the generosity of friends week to week or month to month, creates a lot of stress.
Money is critical to having adequate food- and again, as with housing, it's also about food security. Not knowing if you're going to have money to buy food next week, or having to choose between buying food and being late with the rent check or utilities bills again, is hard.
Money is critical to adequate health care. Yes, you can show up at a hospital emergency room and technically they have to help you, but there's a huuuge gap between getting only minimal, life-saving emergency care and getting proper health care. You might not see that difference if you're young and healthy... but wait until you're older, or think about it again when you have a chronic health condition you can't afford to address.
It's pretty darn hard to be happy (in any non-self-deluded fashion) when you don't have certainty around housing, food, and health. And the reality for genuinely poor people in the US is they don't.