Does money makes people happy?

As I ponder this question out loud rather than silently looking up and holding a couple of fifties in my hand, I think that all depends on your frame of reference. There are many studies that have been done to try and conclusively prove that money makes you happy or makes you unhappy. It all really depends on how you frame the question and to whom you are asking the question to in the first place.

If you give people money when they're on the street and hunger and ask them if money makes them happy, then it is a no-brainier. This also applies to any person who suddenly has a windfall in cash, like winning the lottery or getting a raise, people take the money and are happy at least for a little while. Or you could have the opposite scenario, where someone who makes a lot of money but is unable to cope with the money and eventually lose it all, like some high profile ex-NBA players. Another example could be a person who is rich but going through problems in other areas of his life. One thing is for certain, money in itself is not the reason why people are happy or not it is always how they view it in life that determines it's "power." 

I think money is a curious thing, it is completely made up so that people don't have to fight each other for food all the time. Yet it gives us great power and comfort if we have a lot of it, but we can't do anything with it by itself, we must trade it away in order to gain something that makes us feel happy.

My views on money is just what I described, a means to an end. I want to live a life that is based on living a life as freely as possible, if that requires a lot of money then so be it. If it doesn't then great, I can relax and take my foot off the gas petal of life. :) Money is not my goal, rather it is the life I want to live. I think that most people get that confused and associate happiness with lots of money. The thinking is that if I have money then I will automatically be happy, which doesn't quite work, at least most of the time.

Does money make you happy?