So I know I posted during the wee hours of this morning. But. I saw this and it sort of fit sort of a little sort of with the wee-hours post. So. An addendum. Here goes.
A study out of Pennsylvania State University (a study that spanned three decades and 20,000 people) has "discovered" that wealth does in fact make people happy. But not just wealth. Amassing more of it than your friends. That's apparently the key.
First of all. Duh. We should fund a study to "discover" whether pot-smokers giggle more often than sober people.
Secondly. Professor Glenn Firebaugh (sociologist at Penn State) and Laura Tach (graduate student at Harvard) also suggest that one strategy for attaining greater happiness -- rather than continually increasing your income -- would be to "hang out" with poor people. Yes. That's right. No. I'm not kidding. Poorer friends. That's what they suggest.
Apparently it's not so much about keeping up with the Joneses. It's about finding less well-off Joneses to begin with.
Maybe this whole "war on poverty" thing is misguided. What we should really have is a buddy program. Instead of "big brothers" we could have "rich brothers." At least half of us would be happy. We've made the rich richer for 6 years. Now let's introduce them to the poor people and make them happier too.
Again. All I'm saying is. There's toads invading Montana, guys. And storms move across this country from West to East.
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