[blfr]

I cannot relate to joy of struggle for owning things. Maybe the times have changed and often more expensive things just aren't better (although nicer things still are usually more expensive) but while I feel a lot of pleasure from wearing proper clothes, using well-made tech, and living in a stylishly designed apartment, looking for them is almost always a chore I happily outsource to bloggers, HN (thank you!), or my girlfriend. With the one exception of ordering custom tailored clothes which feels like research.

[alexfromapex]

Yeah I think this is just another lie told by Capitalism to keep people satiated. Anyone who doesn't feel fulfillment with unlimited supplies of money just doesn't know themselves very well.

[cscurmudgeon]

Where exactly is this lie told and exactly who told it?

[riskpreneurship]

My grandparents and parents used to spout idioms like, "hard work is its own reward" as if they were inalienable truths.

IMO it's baked in at a cultural level, at this point. Where did it come from? You could point to the harsh Puritan work ethic, or the myth of meritocracy, or the rivers of blood lurking in the US' past, but there's probably no single root cause.

[cscurmudgeon]

> My grandparents and parents used to spout idioms like, "hard work is its own reward" as if they were inalienable truths.

Are you grandparents representatives of capitalism?

I am sure if you go to the most socialist or communist country out there, you will find grandparents saying the same thing. Source: me, I come from one such country.