Does Happiness Matter More Than Wealth?

[HuckleB]

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=36235


"Negative events that reduce well being actually increase GDP," says A.J. Senchack, holder of the Lucy King Brown Chair in International Business at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

Hurricane Katrina is a case in point. While this was a personal disaster for hundreds of thousands of citizens, recent figures for the country's GDP showed a robust growth of 4.1 percent due to the huge medical expenses and rebuilding costs associated with the hurricane. Many other transactions such as crime, divorce and environmental degradation have a similar impact on GDP.

Senchack says that GDP -- which has its roots in the 1930s -- was never intended to be a direct measure of economic health or well-being. "Our policymakers, economists and the media bestowed that role on it," he says.

..."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=36235

[buddysmellgood]

1. I've always thought disasters to be good for the economy. If the economy

is doing well, we must be happy...right?

[HuckleB]

2. That is the question posed.

You seem unsure of your answer.

[applegrove]

3. Community matters more than wealth. Too much power in the hands

of elites erodes community because they always, always legistlate to have more power. And keep all the freedom & choices for themselves. When elites get too strong - it is always the dark ages.

[f-bush]

4. Yes

That is why when you go to a repuke convention they're all scowling and stuff and when you go to a Democratic convenetion they're all smiles!

[depakid]

5. GDP is more or less just the velocity of money

where and how it flows- and who uses credit for what and ends up going bankrupt or produces tons of toxic waste isn't taken into account.

GDP may look fine, even though the country is racing toward third world status.

[Sammy Pepys]

6. Sometimes they're two sides of the same coin

Wealth can certainly be a conduit to happiness....it can enable one to work less, travel more, educate themselves, own their own business or any number of things that make people happy.

But that's also because that wealth has a purpose, or is working in furtherance of a goal. If you just had a billion dollars sitting in a bank account, you could have any material luxury you wanted. But if that's your goal, to acquire material goods, then you'll quickly reach it and that will be it.

And, of course, you don't necessarily need wealth to travel, or become educated, or anything else.

[Delphinus]

7. For me, the answer is a resounding YES!

I know many in my life who've looked at me like I've lost my mind when I put my happiness in front of wealth, but, truly, it's the only way for me.

[Warpy]

8. Being kept artificially poor in a land of plenty can certainly

lead to a lot of negative emotions, from rage to self blame, and those can certainly make people unhappy. Money doesn't equate to happiness, though, as any nurse who has ever worked in a VIP hospital can tell you.

Those of us who have traveled outside the tourist areas have met a lot of desperately poor people who are remarkably happy, who don't steal, and don't seem to covet much of anything the rich have. However, their situation is such that there isn't that huge a gap between rich and poor in their countries, and they don't see themselves as being robbed to fatten a few rich people, the way we are here.

In any case, using a GDP that only measures how quickly the rich are getting richer as an indication of anything but that is ridiculous. It has nothing to do with the deplorable state of my own finances, and it doesn't affect any of my neighbors, except perhaps as a reminder that this is a very rich country full of very poor people.

[yella_dawg]

9. Success (wealth) is gettin' what you want...

Happiness is wantin' what you got.


Two different things, if you think about it.

[phantom power]

10. There's "wealth" and then there's "economic security"

Maslow's hierarchy applies. A certain amount of economic security is (so I think) a prerequisite for happiness. That isn't necessarily tied to "money." For a prehistoric hunter-gatherer, "economic" security manifested as a secure supply of food, shelter, etc. Or, maybe the reverse is more correct: in modern times, food, shelter, etc, manifest as "economic security."

[Father Gapon]

11. Neither matters.

If you serve the state.