It's true that people have a sort of baseline happiness, and that they tend to drift back to that level of happiness when left in a stable situation. So, it's t

It's true that people have a sort of baseline happiness, and that they tend to drift back to that level of happiness when left in a stable situation. So, it's true that being poor doesn't automatically make you unhappy. But let's be honest: being poor doesn't help. I also object to the relative definition of poverty, that if you have less than those surrounding you, you're poor. I've always felt that an objective definition is much more useful. Suppose we objectively define "the poor" as everyone not having access to basic human rights? Can you honestly say there aren't many people that fall into that category even today? To me that's a category worth reducing to zero.