show me the... intellectual satisfaction!

According to several surveys: among all those people whose basic amenities are met (food, water, shelter etc), material wealth is completely uncorrelated with happiness. That is, the rich aren't any happier on average than Joe six-pack.

However, surveys also show that most people who aren't rich seem to believe more money (and all the fancy stuff money can buy) would make them happier.

Why? Very simply, we believe what we've been taught. The grand irony is, the very sources of this teaching are the same sources that have convinced us simultaneously to save less and spend more. Since, typically, goods depreciate in value over time, while money itself appreciates, our desire to 'be' rich in status is making us poorer.

As my uncle once said: "Money just makes you more of what you already are."