Monetary addiction
Modern society provides so much abundance that it is easy to get addicted to the accumulation of money and things. This is especially true when all of the incentives of capitalism encourage this.
“Some people are so poor, all they have is money.” -Patrick Meagher
Consumerism and Hoarding
Hoarding is a uniquely modern phenomenon where the compulsion to accumulate possessions reaches debilitating levels.
Hoarding of money is an affliction of the wealthy that so warps their perspective that many are able to justify profiting from mass suffering if it feeds their addiction.
A happy life requires all of the stuff you need to be comfortable, and some stuff to have fun with. But beyond that any additional accumulation promises diminishing returns.
Creating personal strategies to counter the materialistic urge is a necessary prerequisite to finding happiness in a capitalist society. Especially when the entire economy acts as a propaganda machine to try and make you buy more.
See Economic Materialism and Consumerism
Monetary Addiction
Capitalism's relentless incentives to pursue money, growth, and materialism, has caused a new outbreak of one the oldest forms of addiction--monetary addiction. It is easy to spot a victim of monetary addiction. The size of their portfolio is a key outward indicator. For those without sound financial strategies, the size of their hoard or their debt will let you know.
"Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich." -Anonymous
Billionaires are the ones whose addiction runs deepest. The amount of cognitive dissonance they must have to deal with in order to make move after move that reduces the quality of life for their workers, and bribe politicians to make life worse for all of us, in order to feed their addiction. This is why depression is so prevalent in the rich, even though it's more prevalent in the poor for different reasons that should be obvious. [1][2] The system of unequal, exploitative capitalism that incentivizes work and profits over happiness doesn't really work for anyone.
The addiction model for income inequality offers a way to change the conversation about wealth, power, and happiness. If people start to feel sorry for the rich instead of the combination of worship, hate, and jealousy that they currently get, the social norms around ostentatious wealth will begin to change. Nobody wants to be pitied.
Monetary Addiction Treatment Centers are proposed as way to advanced the social goals of metaculture while providing a sustainable business model for the future.
The Ferengi depict a society where monetary addiction is encouraged instead of treated as mental illness.
Bootlickers
Sycophants who enable the worst behavior of money addicts in the hopes that they can live off of the scraps like a pilot fish are called bootlickers.
All Billionaires Are Bad
The popular slogan used to decry the police state can be put to better use against the oligarchy. A public safety institution with strong internal controls to prevent corruption has its place in a thriving society. Billionaires do not. Having that much concentration of wealth in the hands of a single human is an insult to the concepts of balance of power and equal justice. It is impossible for any institution to treat a billionaire equally to an average person. They will always have the ability to pay fines as if they are nothing, use their influence to persuade if not bribe officials, and command more authority than anyone appointed to judge them. There existence is anathema.
There is no economic benefit to these concentrations of wealth. Any business you can start with ten billion dollars you can start with one billion and the pooled investments of other venture capitalists. You'll just need to spread the rewards out a bit more rather than keeping it all for yourself. Boo-hoo. Society benefits, not just you.
Can't Buy Me Cool
They say you can't buy love, but there are plenty of people willing to love any successful money addict, or at least pretend to convincingly. But there is one thing even more elusive than love and harder to buy, and that is to be see as "cool" by the public, especially young people.[3]
The harder you try, more money you spend, more platforms you take over and make into your personal propaganda machine--all of it simply adds to the air of desperation given off by any try-hard who doesn't realize that being effortlessly cool is an essential part of being cool.
Unless you got rich because you were a cool person who did cool stuff, you will have to live with the fact that you chose to forsake friends, family, community, and happiness in the relentless pursuit of your addiction, and the only people who think you are cool are bootlickers.
Consume These Videos
These videos analyze the problems of consumerism and how it contributes to the mental health and environmental crises.
The Netflix documentary "Buy Now" does a great job of showing how Amazon employs complex algorithms to trick your brain into becoming addicted to impulse buying.