At last - you can buy happiness!

[mada85]

In this insane world in which we find ourselves, it seems that someone, somewhere, will find a way to quantify and purchase even the most intangible things; things that any sane person would realise cannot, by their very nature, be bought. And this doesn't take into account that the pursuit of happiness may well be a massive red herring.

From today's Independent Online Edition (21 March 2008): _http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/want-to-be-happy-give-your-money-away-799015.html
Want to be happy? Give your money away

Both Bill Gates and Warren Buffett know a bit about making money – and also about giving it away to charity. Now scientists have proved that such acts of philanthropy can be a short-cut to achieving happiness.

Now, Warren Buffett has an estimated net worth of 62 billion US dollars (_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett), and Bill Gates is not far behind, so holding up these two paragons of greed as examples of virtuous giving is rather disingenuous, imho.

An initial survey of 632 American men and women indicated that spending on other people was a strong indicator of general happiness, the scientists found. The study, published in the journal Science, then went on to look at 16 employees of a Boston company before they received a real bonus of several thousand dollars. The researchers interviewed the employees again between six and eight weeks after they received the money to assess their state of happiness. Professor Dunn found that a clear pattern emerged, with those employees who devoted more of their bonus to "pro-social" spending coming out higher in terms of a happiness league table.

In a final experiment, the scientists gave 46 student volunteers an envelope containing either $5 (£2.50) or $20, telling them to spend their money by 5pm either on themselves or on other people. Those who were asked to spend their windfall on others said that they felt happier at the end of the day than those who had to spend the money on themselves.

"These findings suggest that very minor alterations in spending allocations – as little as $5 – may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day," Professor Dunn said.

It's interesting that The Independent should choose to use Buffett and Gates as examples of obtaining happiness through charitable acts. There are some quite close connections between these two men.

[Warren Buffett] is the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.
[…]
Buffett is also a noted philanthropist. In 2006, he announced a plan to give away his fortune to charity, with 83% of it going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
[…]
Buffett is an avid player of the card game bridge. He has said that he spends 12 hours a week playing the game. He often plays with Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett

The UK time is 22:00, 21 March 2008, and the following article was posted 8 hours ago, and updated 6h 40m ago:
_http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/2008-03-21-gates-foundation-sells-berkshire-stock_N.htm
Gates Foundation to sell 550,000 Berkshire shares

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's trust currently owns one million shares in Berkshire Hathaway, and is going to sell 550,000 of them. This strikes me as odd since the Gates Foundation trust is selling these shares over the next three years to comply with US tax law, and at the same time, Buffett will be donating 451,250 shares to the foundation this summer.