Bill Bonner’s Diary 08/03/2015 After you have food, shelter, clothing, and a few necessities, everything else is status, vanity, and power. Extra money helps us feel good about ourselves… and attract mates. It’s not just the money that matters. It’s your relative position in society.”
Tag: Standard of Living
“Too much” is not a blessing; it is a curse. We benefit from scarcity, not from having too much …
Bill Bonner Hormegeddon Humans were shown the door from Eden a long time ago. Now, we live in imperfection and need correction. We need an adversary. We need setbacks. We need to push against something. Our muscles need to strain in opposition to some force—or else they wither. So do our characters and our minds.
You don’t really need much to live. Food, clothing, shelter, a WiFi connection. After you have the basics everything else is no longer about survival. It’s about status: the relationship between you and your fellow men
— Bill Bonner You don’t really need much to live. Food, clothing, shelter, a WiFi connection. After you have the basics everything else is no longer about survival. It’s about status: the relationship between you and your fellow men.”
I’m tired of spending money I don’t have to buy things I don’t want to impress people I don’t like
“I’m tired of spending money I don’t have to buy things I don’t want to impress people I don’t like.” Marilyn McGuire, The life of Meaning P. 163
People can live as though they had money, even when they have none. Which puts a strain on the whole system of envy
“One of the results of the credit explosion is that it makes it hard to tell who is rich and who is not. People can live as though they had money, even when they have none. Which puts a strain on the whole system of envy. A man tries to keep up with the Joneses…who
We overspend to keep up with neighbors and friends
“… issues of money – and the envy it causes – [are] creating more financial and psychological distress than we can imagine, psychologists and social scientists say. We overspend to keep up with neighbors and friends; take jobs we’re not happy at to keep up a lifestyle we think we should have; and compulsively watch