Come on, you don't think you can be happy without money? Tell that to the people who live in slums. Being happy is not to do with what you have, it's how you perceive what you have. Just like bitcoin's worth is only defined by the value people assign to it.
Are people in slums generally happier than people with appartement/house, car etc.? I don't think so. Also not having a job makes unhappy, I guess most people in slums don't have a job.
I did not say that they are, it's clear there is a link between money and happiness but to suggest that happiness cannot be achieved without money is incorrect. Happiness is a chemical reaction and is all decided in your own mind and thus is a simple matter of perception.
Bravo, bro. I didn't exactly grow up dirt poor, but there was definitely not enough money for a lot of extras--toys, clothes, bicycles, etc., so I had to do without a lot of the fun stuff kids tend to enjoy. But I made do, and the biggest factor of whether I derived pleasure out of something was my own imagination. There were no smartphones when I was a child, and I didn't own a video game console until my late teenage years. Anyway, my point is that I agree that money does not equate with happiness.
There are extremely rich individuals who live in their own private hell, and all the money in the world does nothing to assuage their pain. I've met quite a few such people. Their money ends up owning them.
Right now I've got enough dough to live just how I'd like to live. I'm not wealthy by United States standards by a long shot, but I have everything I need and a lot of the things I want. I just bought a beautiful gold-plated fountain pen for $140, and it's been exceeding my expectations and keeping me very amused and satisfied throughout the day. I don't need big expensive things to keep me happy. Those are all external solutions to what amounts to an internal problem if that's what you need to be happy.
Exactly my point, happiness can be found from the littlest or cheapest of things. For example the joy of waking up to the birds singing outside or the sun, that is all free, you just need to be able to notice it and appreciate it. Mindfulness is the key.
It seems to me that slum dwellers need to be asked why they live like this and what they have done to live better? Man himself is to blame in their problems. I often see the poor begging. But these same poor people vote for politicians who brought the country's economy to such a state. Our living conditions are the price we paid for what we did or didn't do.
That's a big generalization, many are in bad circumstances because of their actions but many are there because of circumstance. It's also a judgment thing, can we really judge people for being homeless and addicted to drugs, we do not know their circumstance and what lead them to make the decisions that they did. We of course can choose not give them money because we see it as contributing to their problems.
I don't quite understand what your point is. Do you want to say that people living in slums are happy? Some of them may well be, but most will readily change their surroundings for something better if given an opportunity. Let's not be hypocrites here. Your well-being is determined by how wealthy you are. There are outliers, of course, but they just prove the general rule, which can be summarized as follows: most people would be happier if they had more money in their pocket.
You're entirely right and I wasn't disagreeing with that. If you see my first response in this message that might clear things up.