Money Can Buy Happiness.

I must disagree with you here and would like to clarify the difference between an emotion and a mental state. AN EMOTION is "a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others." For example. I walk up to a person on the street and slap them. Instantly they will feel mad, confused, shocked. But just because they are temporarily upset due to a physical response doesn't mean their entire outlook on life has change and are thus upset for the rest of their lives. Thats not how emotions work. They are temporary influencers not long term deciders. A MENTAL state is "a mental condition in which the qualities of a state are relatively constant even though the state itself may be dynamic". Using my previous example. The person I slapped may soon forgive me because they choose to accept what has happened to them even though their emotional state would make them want to slap me back. They can choose to be optimistic about being slapped even though they will be temporarily upset. Their conscious mind has a larger impact. There is a very big difference between the two. Happiness is an emotion, not a mental state. Sources in comments.. sorry couldn't fit them in REBUTTALS: "You have no means of determining their happiness, so you don't know that money makes them happy (or sad)." This is partially true, you cannot measure happiness. But this is also true with pain. There is no way of measuring pain because it is subjective. But if you ask a person if they are in pain they know how much pain they are in they will tell you despite the fact that you can't actually measure it. Using the slapping example once more. I can't measure pain, so that means I don't know if slapping someone creates pain? Of coarse not, I know both from experience and from watching their body language and their verbal response whether or not they are happy or in pain, even if I can't actually measure it. I do live in a developed country, but I have also lived in South America near lots of poverty, I have also lived in the US near people and places that where also suffering financially. And regardless of where I've lived giving people money gave them happiness. "YOU CANNOT BUY HAPPINESS" This is also partially true, you cannot go to a store and buy a jar of happiness. That was a grammatical error on my part. Using your A,B,C example. A leads to B and on to C. While its true A doesn't equal C, you still require A to get to C. It all comes down to semantics. It could be argued the actual eating (swallowing) of the food doesn't bring nourishment. It is the digestive system that provides nourishment when given food and so swallowing food doesn't actually give you nourishment. I hope this gets my point across and we don't have to waste this debate arguing over a grammatical fault. What I should have said originally was "Money can buy things that provide happiness" even though the idea is still the same. I would hate to waste this debate over a small error. CURING WORLD POVERTY "THROWING MONEY AT IT DOESN"T SEEM TO MAKE IT GO AWAY" Yes, but giving money to people who need it still gives happiness to both the receiver and giver. It doesn't necessarily cure poverty as the problem often isn't just that they have no money, but it does provide happiness. "MONEY HAS NO INHERENT VALUE.. except TO THE EXTENT THAT WE ASCRIBE IT" But we still give it value. If a kid gives their mom a painting, it has sentimental value even if its market price is zero. Currency value isn't the only way to measure the value of an object. The painting has a value of zero, its worth nothing. But that mother still won't give it up because it is valuable to them. Value can be both subjective and objective. Some people place more value on money then others even if its technically the same. I would like to point out that I'm not saying family, friends, and experiences don't bring happiness, because they do. I'm only saying so can money Thank You and Good luck