More money leads to greater happiness?

I would believe everyone has heard of the phrase “Money is the root of all evil”. Money has been known to be the medium to cause greatness in society and massive economic growth but on the other hand, it has also caused families to break up, bankruptcies, suicides, etc.

What is money?

So what is money? From what I’ve read, in a laissez-faire society, not crippled by government bureaucrats, money is a symbol of man's unspent production that has yet to be consumed. Money is a tool of exchange that allows men to trade goods and services that they have produced in a market economy. When money has been earned (as opposed to looted, stolen, and begged), it is a sign of material and spiritual greatness. (quoted from www.capitalism.org).

Singapore context

I have noticed over the years people seemed to be more and more materialistic, putting more emphasis on gaining material wealth. It is true people are earning more and are able to afford more luxury goods these days. Nowadays, you see more long queues outside restaurants and people are travelling on expensive tours to exotic places such as Egypt and Tibet. With richer parents, children and teenagers nowadays have so much more pocket money that they can just enjoy Swensen’s ice creams, buy volumes of comic books or watch movies on a regular basis, as and when they like.

So is this trend good for the society? Oh, certainly it does when you talk about economy and government revenues. When parents earn more, they are being taxed more; and when parents and their children spend more, they improve company profits and government is able to tax on these companies’ higher chargeable incomes. But are they happier?

In my experiences I have found that the less wealthy a person is, the more grateful they are for the little aspects of life.

I feel money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he's evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he's evaded the choice of what to seek.

Money merely opens the door to happiness but unable to sustain it

Today most people do things for money. They consider being rich "successful." But not every rich person is successful. To have true success, I think you have to be proud of your accomplishments and of your personal characteristics. So many people cheat and lie to get ahead. Yep, they get rich, but are they truly successful? I don't think so. They have all the money in the world. So what? No matter what they buy it's never enough because there will always be something newer and better. How can you still be happy when you are forever in this never-ending materialistic cycle?

Can we stop being so materialistic?

Newcomer to the Blogosphere

Over the past year, I am deeply concerned over the state of affairs in my beloved country. Although we may seem to be living in a first-world country with a per capita GDP of S$46, 832 (Source: www.singstat.gov.sg), there are still many socio-political problems such as the following:

• the ever-widening income gap between the elites and the common Singaporeans

• the lack of substantial consultations with the public before the implementation of any new government policy

• the reluctance of the ruling party to engage in public debates with members from the opposition and certain non-governmental groups

• the recent disproportionate price hikes even though there is only a 2% increase in GST

• the proposed compulsory Annuity policy to tackle the problems of an ageing population

• the over-emphasis on material wealth in our society

• the over-emphasis on attracting foreigners to take up citizenships resulting in some social problems

I would express my views on the above problems on a regular basis and I welcome constructive comments. Regards.