Money Doesn’t Deserve the Bad Rap It’s Getting
More of it won’t necessarily make you happier day-to-day, but it does raise life satisfaction.
Money isn’t everything, but it’s a lot.
Photographer: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty ImagesMoney gets a bad rap. In the current environment, amid levels of inequality not seen since the 1920s, too many people find it too easy to disparage wealth and the quest for material goods. There is no doubt that lifestyle creep and the hedonic treadmill are not the paths to true happiness. But what we see today is a backlash caused, in part, by the hangover from the 2007-09 financial crisis.
During the run up to the crisis, America went on a debt bender: offer people almost-free money, and they will inevitably use it to buy homes and other goods they believe will raise their standards of living. This is especially true for a consumer population that a) hasn't had after inflation raises in wages in three decades, and b) many of whom previously did not have access to credit or mortgage markets. When it turned out those homes they thought would rise in value fell, and the cost of paying back the cheap loans soared, the end result should surprise no one.