I think true economic class unhappiness comes from when across the street someone has a new Cadillac and you can't get that.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
If everybody lives in the same way, there's something almost narcotizing about it, but the true misery of economic class difference is knowing that you can't have what somebody else does.
The working class has been turned into a consuming class - a situation has been created where people value their worth by what they can afford.
Everything in America is so stratified by class now. We have the 93rd level of income inequality in the world. You're already seeing highway lanes that are for pay and ones that aren't.
You can have a lot of unhappiness by not having money, but the reverse is no guarantee of happiness.
In the past there were people who were not rich but contented with their living style, laughing and happy all day. But when the new rich people appear, people look at them and ask, 'why don't I have a life like that too, a beautiful house, car and garden,' and they abandon their values.
It is true that rich people can spend more money than middle class people, but there's this upper limit on what we can spend. I drive a very nice car, but it's only one car. I don't own a thousand, even though I earn a thousand times the median wage. I have a few jackets, not a few thousand.
It's pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed.
It's the middle class that feels the luxury of being able to have causes.
There is something about prosperity that brings out the worst in some people.
Ironically, for the mega-rich, recession brings with it the ability to live well at a lower cost and with less of a hassle.