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I'm actually not surprised that the level of discussion on this august 'debate mansion' is as I expected ... that said ...
True happiness comes from doing things that you love and being able to express the things that your passionate about. A big house can't do that for you, and neither can an expensive car. They might look nice and they may make you more popular, but they will not make you happy if your dreams are less superficial.
While I was not surprised above, I am now ... how is 'true happiness' to be defined much less quantified? If, in this example of yours, a big house and expensive car is the stuff of someone's dream, and they are passionate about those things, then their acquisition will almost certainly result in 'true happiness' ... I wonder if you're confusing that addled notion of 'materialism' with that other confusing notion called 'spiritualism' ... I see nothing wrong with the former and believe the latter to require considerable rework and reformulation to bring it up to date with the 21st century ... I personally would not buy a 'big-house' because it's an ecologically unsound approach ... but expensive cars? Well ... I may draw the line there 😊
So many Americans struggle with paying bills and making ends meet.
Money can protect you from the financial worries that so many Americans face today.
Now my curiosity is seriously piqued ... I always wonder at the aplomb with which 'Americans' are brushed off as the best example of the worst in human-kind ... do you live in America? Where is the data to support your assertions/hypotheses? I'm hardly suggesting that there aren't people in this country who struggle through life (and in that they're not unique, a surplus/surfeit of money notwithstanding) ...
While I will not debate the merits/demerits of money as an economist (I doubt if they too could do a comprehensive assessment), from personal experience, money is a damn good thing ... as a means to ends ... I've indulged myself to no end on what I have earned to experience more of the cultural and physical offerings of this planet than I could ever have imagined ... therein lay 'true happiness' for me ...
I've always mused about what it might be like to have the kind of bank balance with an unimaginable number of zeroes after the requisite digit from the 1 <= x <= 9 range ... think of the scale at which real good could be done ... which is where Americans excel - philanthropy and the preservation of the planet's wealth ...
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