When an individual goes from living in poverty to a middle-class lifestyle, there is clearly a strong relationship between increased wealth and increased happiness. However, once individuals move beyond this level of wealth, the relationship between increased wealth and increased happiness isn't nearly as strong (as you're all probably aware, there is no shortage of unhappy wealthy people in this country). We've probably all heard the saying "money can't buy happiness" too many times to count, yet we live in a society where there seems to be a dominant underlying belief that increased levels of income and/or wealth will in fact provide increased levels of happiness and satisfaction. With this in mind, please respond to the following discussion questions: 

1. When making decisions, do you believe many/most individuals in the United States realize that wealth and utility (happiness/satisfaction) tend to increase together up to a certain point, but are less related at higher levels of wealth? What caused you to arrive at this conclusion?

2. Regardless of your answer to the first question, do you think individuals in the United States generally tend to prioritize short-term utility (what will make me happiest now or in the near future) or long-term utility (what will make me the most satisfied months and/or years from now) when making decisions in their lives?

(Helpful Note: Since it's generally a mix/balance of prioritizing the short-term and long-term for most people, the second question is asking for your view on which seems to be more dominant in decision making based on your experiences in life, observations of society, and any of your previous coursework that happens to be related to this.)

 When thinking about these questions, the often used "YOLO" certainly enters the equation, so here's a few videos for your consideration and possible entertainment (the Saturday Night Live video featuring Adam Levine, Kendrick Lamar, and Andy Samberg is meant to be funny, while the second video featuring George the Poet is more serious): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5Otla5157c 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaO9j0PR8pg