Whining

[shadowsmark]

I was contemplating my dreary life, and wondering what everyone else I know has to complain about. I know that a lot of people, possibly the vast majority of the living human population would envy my life without question. But I don't compare myself to them. I look at my friends and acquaintances, nearly all of whom have one or both of the

Comments

[sierra_nevada]

You might find the book Richistan by Robert Frank an interesting read. Among the other revelations therein: the rich (anyone with over $1m of "investable assets" (i.e. not including equity in one's house), but the people in "lower Richistan" who have only $1m to $10m are "merely affluent") all feel that they won't be "financially secure/comfortable" until they have twice as much money as they do, and it didn't matter how much they already had: $10m, $100m, $500m, etc., almost all of them felt this way.

Second: the experienced rate of inflation for the goods and services they buy is twice the routinely reported national rate, because there is so much money chasing those particular goods and services, and those companies don't seem to have the same incentive to lower costs and try and serve a mass customer base.

Keeping up with the Jonses is a relative phenomenon, so ... who are you hanging out with?

And you're not the only one who's feeling alone these days.