The American Dream: does money equal happiness?

Recently I have been looking at the American Dream with its focus on the “better, richer and happier life”. America has always lived by a Capitalistic ideology, which says the more money and power you have the better your life will be. Is that true though? I had fully brought into the capitalistic ideology growing up. I thought that having money would answer all of my problems and make me happy. However, sacrifices have to be made in order to achieve that money and power. (I am not writing this from first-hand experiences, just observations.)  

The major thing sacrificed is time. People in powerful positions work such long hours. They are generally under great stress and constantly having to think about the company and others. How much ‘me’ time do they get? The saying ‘time is money’ is so true which means free time is often seen as a luxury. A luxury which strangely enough the rich are not allowed, other than for a 2-week luxury holiday to some island no one has heard of or Richard Branson owns.  

I have begun to realise our consumer driven world may not be the route to happiness. To strive for a better, richer and happier life is great but in a degree of moderation. Everyone should have a drive to make their life the best. However, that does not necessarily mean we all need to be Bill Gates. AND most importantly we need to realise we can’t all be Bill Gates. The capitalist structure means there needs to be lots and lots of poor to work under one ridiculously rich person. Looking at Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs it is clear that money will only provide you with the bottom levels so in order to actually live the happier life we need to find it in other ways.  

My aim is to find a middle ground. To have the money to enjoy what money can buy i.e. a home, holidays and possibly every apple product going but I am also able to have the time to enjoy what money cant buy i.e. friends, family and walks on the beach.