I’m lower class economically in America, but I am free to think, believe, say, and research what I like, I have food, medical, air conditioning, and resources for the pursuit of knowledge - books and internet. What more does one need, economically? I am upper class compared to the rest of the world, and even compared to America fifty years ago.
Transportation to get to church would be nice. So would a washing machine. Dental work would be nice. As would restaurant dinners. As would nicer, new clothing in better condition. I see the appeal of a house. But these are not needed, and should not be considered a constraint on happiness. Happiness is the pursuit of knowledge and of God, and of the knowledge of God, as long as the minimum necessities - sustenance, medical, air conditioning (not necessarily heating, as blankets let one escape from cold, where there is no escape from heat) and intellectual and physical freedom - are met. Or so it seems.
I know, I’m unusually well-educated for someone living on $18k a year - one doesn’t need a fifty-thousand-dollar-per-year university: just sources of information and the will to knowledge (it was good enough for Aristotle). I just don’t see the appeal in expensive clothing, expensive wine, hundred-thousand-dollar automobiles; I see some of the appeal in a basic automobile, or clothing in good condition, or a clothing washer; but these are conveniences of the first order: the human comes built with legs, and clothing that serves the purpose of clothing is indeed functional clothing, and a brick of soap and a shower washes that clothing with just a bit of effort. Anything greater is conspicuous consumption. I suppose I am lucky to have been born without the consumer mindset so prevalent, especially in persons of my own age cohort.
If one can afford the ridiculous luxuries of conspicuous consumption, like Mercedes-Benz and Prada, far too little is being donated to the poor.
