Gregg Easterbrook's Money: The Real Truth About Money

Improved Essays
While money may be able to purchase material things that provide people with short-term well-being, there is no monetary value on true, long-term happiness. The Time article titled “Money: The Real Truth About Money,” written by Gregg Easterbrook, provided a respectable argument to the relationship between true happiness and money.
In his article, Easterbrook argued one basic, yet complicated, concept “everyone needs a certain amount of money, but chasing money rather than meaning is a formula for discontent” (“Money: The Real Truth About Money”). He discussed that money was a necessity to maintain life for every day needs; however, money could not buy all things needed to sustain a happy and healthy life. Money cannot purchase the more abstract
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He was referencing people as a whole, whether they were considered the Forbes 400, working middle-class, or financially indigent. He was advising to be grateful for what you do have, not to dwell on what you do not have. He instructed people to chase the meaning of life to obtain what was required to have true human fulfillment. While, yes, people do need money to survive in today’s world, do not chase the money alone; chase the meaning of life itself. Easterbrook says in his article, “we seem to be conditioned to think we do not have enough, even if objectively our lives are comfortable” (“Money”). Whether people have substantial wealth or barely enough to buy basic commodities, they should be grateful for what they have. This article, “Money: The Real Truth About Money,” clearly argued the notion that money cannot provide true human fulfillment and purpose. He states “it is the very increase in money—which creates the wealth so visible in today’s society—that triggers dissatisfaction.” Author, Gregg Easterbrook, effectively explained through his writing that money was but a necessity to attain basic needs; however, money cannot purchase the more immaterial needs in order to truly bring happiness to

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