Charlie Munger Explains the #1 Cause of Unhappiness

Channel: Wealth Awesome
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l660RWbmfuI

In a Q&A clip, Charlie Munger argues that the world is driven by envy rather than greed, and that envy is the main reason people feel less happy even as living standards have soared.

Key points

• Asked what worries and what cheers him about the economy, Munger is optimistic about the competence of technical civilization.
• Most of modernity arrived in the last 100 to 200 years (electricity, modern medicine, the automobile, the airplane, air conditioning); before that life was "brutal and short" for thousands of years.
• He notes how recently child mortality was so high that families had six children expecting three to die.
• In the US basic needs are largely met -- he says the principal problem of the poor is now obesity, the opposite of past starvation.
• Despite roughly 600% improvement in living standards, freedom, and reduced racial inequity, people are less happy than when times were harder.
• His explanation: the world is "not driven by greed, it's driven by envy." People take their gains for granted and fixate on others having more.
• Cites the commandment against coveting a neighbor's wife or donkey as evidence that even ancient peoples struggled with envy; says he admires those who opposed envy.
• Criticizes media networks and politicians who "pour gasoline on the flames of envy" for their own advantage.
• Says he has personally conquered envy and does not care what others have.
• Warns the young against "pretentious expenditure" (e.g. a real Rolex you can get mugged for); says it brings little happiness even though it drives demand in capitalist society.
• References Harvard's Steven Pinker, who notes everything has gotten better while attitudes about fairness have grown more hostile.