Why isn't enough enough?

Why are we never allowed to have enough?

Modern economies constantly encourage us to want more: more possessions, more consumption, more experiences and often more debt. Advertising tells us that something is always missing and that buying it might finally make us happier.

But does having more actually improve our lives?

In this video, I ask whether there comes a point when our material needs have been met, and additional consumption adds very little to our wellbeing. Food, housing, security, meaningful work, relationships and participation in society for both work and leisure matter enormously. But once those needs are satisfied, relationships, achievement and understanding may contribute far more to a good life than accumulating still more things.

This is not an argument for accepting poverty. Quite the opposite. Millions of people do not have enough, while others consume resources on an extraordinary scale. Inequality therefore matters not just because income and wealth are distributed unequally, but because consumption is too.

And there is a limit we cannot escape: the planet itself. Human lives are finite, natural resources are finite, and unlimited material consumption is, then, impossible.

Maybe learning what “enough” means is not about giving something up. Maybe it is about discovering what actually makes life worthwhile.