The Simple Life

No I am not talking about Nicole Richie's and Paris Hilton's show. I am talking about the subject that was briefly touched on in class. I do believe that the simple life, the road less traveled, is the happier life. It seems like nothing is kept simple anymore; weddings are now over 1.2 million dollars (and then the divorce 2 yrs later costs about the same), birthday parties for children are thousands of dollars, (even though they are not going to remember them, and the list goes on. Capitalists aren't happy people. They may have 30 cars or 12 mansions, but they are never able to be happy with these material things. I must say that I do admire the Amish people. They stay away from material things and don't let modern times and technology affect their way of living. When did the simple life get cut out and the life of capitalists get introduced? Was it the Industrial Revolution that started this greed and corruption or was it way before that?
Another thing is that I do not understand people who buy things for crazy amounts of money. Does the amount of money you spend make the product look better? What about those people who only have money for their basic needs, yet blows next months rent on a new Prada bag. Does knowing that you spent $500 on a bag make you feel better about the bag? Does it make you feel better about yourself? If I just spent five hundred big ones on a bag it would make me feel depressed and sick. Its like the more expensive something is, the more fascinating it becomes, and the more people strive to get it. I don't understand, is a bag not a bag whether it costs $5 or $500. Isn't the $500 bag going to eventually lose its thread and its straps. For the person who wears $200 dollar jeans, if you gain weight wouldn't the jeans stop fitting you like any other jeans pants would (even if its $12). It's puzzling and interesting to see how money is handled by people.