Do we need expensive clothes, houses, and cars?

Not true at all. Have you ever visited "people throughout the world"? I can tell you that there is plenty of "stress, disorders, and diseases" in every country on the globe.


Kelvin, I didn't know it was mandatory for anyone to have such a lifestyle! Some people choose to live that way, but my observation of most people that I know is that they live a life commensurate with their ability to afford the lifestyle. The more they make, the more they can afford. But to say that everyone is materialistic, self-gratifying, and living a luxurious lifestyle is way off base, IMO.


It's all about the individual. To lump everyone together and say "we are all greedy and only care about money" is to ignore all the many, many people who care about others, give freely of the time and resources, and are willing to serve others in many, many ways. Making such a statement, IMO, is to turn a blind eye to all the good that is being done in the world - and there is plenty of it - if you care to look.


From my experience in life, throwing all the money in the world at long term problems in society never gets rid of the problem.

I appreciate your sense that wealth distribution throughout the world provides advantages to certain people; however, I think you are very naive to believe that the rich throwing money to the poor is going to solve world poverty and all its related problems.

Steve

I agree with KelvinN that many people believe that material possessions equal happiness, and that's not the case. I also think that lots of people only live in big houses and drive super fancy cars to show off. The fact is that we do not need these things to be happy.

All that's necessary to lead a happy life are to have your basic human needs met, and to have lots of love in your life.

Personally, I could afford a big house if I wanted, but instead I own a modest condo in a nice neighborhood. That's good enough for me. Also, I own it outright so I don't have a mortgage to contend with. I could afford an expensive car, but I drive a 2008 Chevy Cobalt. Why? Because I like the car, it's good on gas, cheap to fix, and I don't owe anything on it.

I have one credit card, for emergencies only. Everything else I buy I pay cash for. If I don't have the cash to buy something, then I guess I can't afford it. I will just save more cash until I can. I do probably put about $100 a month on my credit card and then pay it off every month. I've been doing that for the past 20 years and so if I wanted to use credit I could because I have a perfect credit rating. I'm not bragging, just stating a fact.

I have chosen to live this way for several reasons. First and foremost, if something should ever happen to my IM business and I all of a sudden find myself without an income, I could get a job paying $9 an hour and make enough money to pay all of my bills and continue to enjoy life. I am never at risk of being homeless or having my vehicle repossessed, etc.

Also, I like the fact that I can pretty much just do whatever I want. I spend lots of time volunteering at the local animal shelter (I am an animal lover and animal rights activist). I also volunteer helping the homeless and those with substance abuse problems. I love the fact that I can do what I want, when I want. If I want to drive up to the mountains right now and go camping and fishing, all I need to do is pack the car and go.

I don't ever have to be a slave to a big corporation or be owned by bill collection agencies, etc. I feel that life is so short and so it should be enjoyed to the fullest.

Now, all that being said, that is how I CHOOSE to live.

Just because someone else wants a big house and a fancy car does not make that wrong at all. That's what is great about life. We can choose how we want to live it.

The bottom line is that you have to live your life in such a way that it makes you happy. And if material things make you happy then I don't think there is anything wrong with that. However, I do believe that we have come to rely on material things a little too much.

lol. What a crock. You've got a "make money quick ... quit your day job" bs link in your signature, so go ahead and make money quick and give it to third world countries. The money this country contributes to third world countries is astronomical, and no, they don't look particularly happy and carefree to me living in tin huts and drinking contaminated water and having very little to eat.

What's there to fix? You just said they have a perfectly happy lifestyle with no stress.

There are many in the US that make average incomes and do not buy fancy cars, clothes, etc., but what people buy is really no one's business except theirs.

Please speak for yourself and leave me out of it. I'm quite confident that I already do more for other people and animals than you ever will since I have already made my money and have given most of it away.

I don't need a lecture from you!

Cheers. - Frank

I wear the least amount of clothes as I can get away with.

OK, ADMIT IT! You know NOTHING about what you are talking about. I WISH I were perfectly happy! I WISH I had no stress, depression, disorders, etc.... If the poor are so happy, GREAT! Let them live in piece WITHOUT our nasty help! My home is actually FAR more expensive than it should be, but that isn't MY fault! If there were no people like you, it would be CHEAPER. The products I have are pretty inexpensive. I have a desktop system that cost $250. I have a laptop that cost less than $500. My car was bought USED, and is 13 years old. I bought it 12 years ago. My clothes cost about as little as middle class clothes for business can cost. I once went into a lord and taylor shop, found a shirt I liked, and was APPALLED when I saw it cost over $150! For ONE SHIRT! I had an argument with the salesperson, and went to a discount shop. I bought a new "$100" shirt for about $20.

There are a LOT of myths about America and Americans. You will find that almost all of the really fantastic ones are mostly FALSE! Ironically, there are stars that talk about lavish lifestyles and greed, and promote the idea that all should pay there fair share. They also say things like blacks are SOOOOOO bad off. Well let me tell you about ONE woman. I don't know if she has made the above claims, but she probably has.

One woman, and I am NOT kidding, who is BLACK, played the part of a low class stupid whore on a sitcom in the US. I was actually SHOCKED when I saw her talked about on the rich and famous and where they showed a "room" in a hotel. It was actually like a FLOOR, complete with STAFF, that she often stayed at for $4000/day! And that was DECADES ago! Of course, some actors are DIRT POOR, but that just makes the filthy rich ones stand out all the more.

And HEY, I am OK with a decent actor being rich. When they say that I am so rich and I should pay so much, and I have done SO much with nothing in return, while they so rarely do anything without return, I start to get real upset.
Anyway, if you hear we make SO much, check out what we REALLY make, how much things cost, and how we must live.

We did it! IT DIDN'T WORK! The money was squandered and stolen, and the population simply increased.

GREAT! HAVE AT IT!

Steve

For heaven's sake, man: think about what you're saying. You surely can't really be naive enough to imagine that's true?! If it were someone's first post here, I'd assume it was just "provocative trolling", but I have a nasty feeling that you may actually have intended it seriously?!

No, of course not: we don't need them (according to the narrow kind of definition of "need" which you had in mind, and I'm not criticising that), but that hardly warrants your initial premise, which was just nonsense - and readily disprovable nonsense at that!

.

There is plenty of stress everywhere, even more than in Western civilization.
Sure, some % of the population tend to spend money on expensive toys, but majority of people are just trying to make a decent living and live normal lives, that's all.

Good God. These words. Start over again. Type differently.

The OP is stargazing. Why do we keep seeing threads like this that demand people hand over all the fruits of their labor or they are bad people?

I haven't donated to a human charity in 30 years other than during natural disasters. I donate every cent I can to animals, though. So am I evil for not having to live in my car to support others?

I don't know why people care about sports cars and huge homes. If they've worked hard enough to afford them without taking money from someone else for them, I don't see that it's really much of my business to wonder why they wanted it. People who buy stuff are helping - it took jobs to make the stuff they buy. Jobs build self reliance. In the US - self reliance is integrity, it's noble effort, it's respectable.

We've been giving to other countries to the tune of billions per year. Has it helped? LOL. Hell no. If some woman with 5 kids at her side that are starving to death and shes pregnant again and wants MY money that I work so hard for, I'll help get funding for her....to sterilize her and adopt her kids out to people that can feed the kids. How ya like that bit of charity? We've been giving billions a year already and the only thing we're seeing for it is just populations that are double to triple the density as when we started giving, and twice as many people starving.

If someone else isn't giving enough for you, then you better get busy and make lots of cash that you can give away. You want money for a cause - do what the kids wearing the big kid panties do and GO MAKE IT yourself. Let's see how long you can watch it wasted and see nothing really change for those taking the handouts before you decide to treat yourself to a place to live that you really, really love.

Money spent on those countries should be in the form of teachers to educate, to teach them to drill wells and filter water, to teach them to grow crops that will take to their indigenous climates, and how to sanitize. Teach them birth control so they won't be having babies while their other children are starving. Money is doing not one damned thing for them but keeping them on a welfare check.

I believe the bolded bit above is called charity.

How much aid, charity, concerts etc have taken place and gone to many parts of the world only to see their leaders drive around in fancy cars and suits and the people remain the same?

Take Africa for example. Here is a list of charities that exist for Africa.

You're right though, we're just not doing it, never will and if only it happened, it'd all be fixed. If only we were like you.

How come all of these happy, upbeat people risk death every day to get into our countries then?

Migrants storm UK-bound lorries at Calais - Telegraph

And this is a daily occurrence that has been going on for years and years.

Do you think they are coming to see how stressed, depressed and diseased we are?

Dan