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Didn't Marx signpost this with his concept of alienation ?

It's all relative. The sort of money I might spend on a single taxi journey could feed someone for days. The mind set in the country is what's wrong. If we could get the establishment and media to change the mantra from Greed is Good to Happiness Is Good, that change in emphasis might introduce people to a different outlook.

Not everyone can or will be happy, but attempting to buy happiness doesn't work either. A purchase to cheer you up when despressed tends to have a short-term effect. In the end, the cause of the misery remains and you just need to spend more the next time to mask it.

Our world is based on acquiring things to achieve satisfaction, and that makes sense because that is what we've been taught to believe. There are those---not me---who feel most alive when doing something "simple": working in the garden, building something. It's easy for the rest of us to laugh at such stuff, because we're constantly being told that instant gratification is the way to go. Taking time to do something, and the joy of succeeding, is probably the greater reward.

Sorry. Rambling here. But there is some truth to what I'm saying. Anything we want, we want it now. Nothing worthwhile is ever so easily achieved.

Again, fair point Sam.

I've never been homeless and totally skint, therefore have no experience or perception of the conditions; I'll always have a roof over my head and food on the table if the worst comes to the worst, as family will always be there- that may be wealth in another form.

However, my peace-of-mind over money argument doesn't really apply to the end of the spectrum you mention, my main point being that there's no point killing yourself for a massive salary-- however, we do need some form of wage/income for survival; in the case you mention, money is beyond peace-of-mind, it's survival itself.

As you say, it wouldn't wash with someone in this situation.

Interesting piece. A few points hoved into view.

Does anyone ever really buy into the 'money buys you happiness' line of thinking? A few, I suppose, but if you turn the theory round a bit and say 'money can offset or cushion the blow of certain types of unhappiness' then it becomes a touch more credible.

We're also told we live in an age of escalating fear, so surely it's better to have money at hand should some fear or crisis make itself present.

If people do crave money, then it's probably as much for the underlying comfort factor as for consumerism/purchase power, which itself is a well-acknowledged form of comfort for the rich and desperate.

People have always wanted money for security and not without reason, so perhaps they feel their security under threat more than ever in these times.

Prof wrote:

> Oh, btw, you missed all our caption competitions. They were
> made for a Fudgey like you.

Minky's still up.

I agree; we do have a blame culture, but I have a feeling that those that are keen to point the finger, don't really blame others because they think it's right, but because they're allowed to. Deep down, I know that if I fall down a man-hole, it was because I wasn't looking where I was going. The negligence of the workmen that uncovered the hole is all that will be blamed and talked about though. In reality, we're both to blame.

As for unrealistic aspirations: I didn't mean getting a job and getting by. We all want this; but it's how we want to get by, and which kind of job we're prepared to take is where problems arise. We all know that lots of menial jobs are crying out for workers, but no one wants them. Why is this? Is it because the jobs aren't worth it, financially? The minimum wage and tax credits supposed to have stopped that. I believe it's because too many people think they are above such work.

Of course, not all people are this way, but the article does give an insight as to why some people would turn down an honest weeks work, as well as why some work too hard. There will always be people who do not want to work for a living, but I bet that if you gave 90% of suposed unemployable people a job they think they deserve, they'd take it. If this is true, then it's not just laziness that they're turning down work, but unrealistic aspirations.

No one's going to want to tell the poor that they're aiming too high as it looks like the higher classes are trying to keep them down. It's like the west telling India not to develope massive industry for the sake of the world's climate; to the average Indian, who just want's a better life, it looks like we're wanting to keep all the wealth to ourselves, and they want to tell us to fuck off.

Trouble is it's the truth.

"The reason we think rich folk are mental is because those mental rich flolk that do exist are in the media a lot."

Good point there. As we see the folk in the media as having such illnesses, there can be the tendency for us to overgeneralise- easy mistake to make.

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