{"id":95365,"date":"2026-09-02T07:03:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T06:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=95365"},"modified":"2026-09-14T08:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T07:19:13","slug":"what-is-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/09\/02\/what-is-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"What is enough?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">Why are we never allowed to have enough?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">But does having more actually improve our lives?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Maybe learning what \u201cenough\u201d means is not about giving something up. Maybe it is about discovering what actually makes life worthwhile.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qY0I6Rqo7bc?si=bGaTO0ZzR1AsA_Wq\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This is the audio version:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px); height: 150px;\" title=\"Why isn't enough enough?\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/player-v2\/?i=9vyfm-1b4ba6c-pb&amp;from=pb6admin&amp;share=1&amp;download=1&amp;rtl=0&amp;fonts=Arial&amp;skin=f6f6f6&amp;font-color=auto&amp;logo_link=episode_page&amp;btn-skin=c73a3a\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\" scrolling=\"no\" data-name=\"pb-iframe-player\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There is no Debate Ammunition for this video.<\/p>\n<p>This is the transcript:<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Why isn\u2019t enough enough? That\u2019s a question I want to ask, because isn\u2019t enough good enough? Isn\u2019t that sufficient? And that\u2019s a question I think we have to ask ourselves at this moment, because we live in a society that always tells us we need more: much more. More possessions and more consumption. All of that is assumed to make life better, but there must be a point when our material needs have been met. Surely that has to be true. So why are we so reluctant to recognise when we\u2019ve had enough, and what is the significance of not doing so?<\/p>\n<p>My point is, does having more really make us happier? We\u2019re told it does, but that\u2019s not the point. Does it really? Because, in fact, happiness surveys undertaken by economists, including people I know, suggest that meeting basic needs does matter enormously. Having enough to live on, having a place to live in, being able to eat, being able to have fresh air and water, and, of course, being able to get to work, having a job if you want one, and having friends and social activities. All those things matter. They make a good life.<\/p>\n<p>But beyond that point where relationships can happen and where we can see the people who matter to us and share our lives with them, the benefits from more material goods become very much weaker. And survey after survey shows that. More consumption does not necessarily mean greater well-being.<\/p>\n<p>And let\u2019s face a fact: we are finite. There are only so many hours in a day. There are a finite number of days in a year, and there are only so many years that any of us can live. We might want to live life pretending that isn\u2019t the case, but we all know it\u2019s true, really. So there are limits to what we can do, as a matter of fact. And as a consequence, there\u2019s a limit to the amount we can experience and consume.<\/p>\n<p>So there must logically be a point when we have enough, and the ultra-rich make this obvious. Their obsessive and excessive consumption is easy to see. Yachts, private jets, and multiple properties consume extraordinary resources. But does all this excess actually make anyone happier really?<\/p>\n<p>Stable relationships, achievements and understanding provide much of what makes life worthwhile. More consumption cannot substitute for those things. In fact, it might mean there\u2019s just more to worry about.<\/p>\n<p>That consumption is what I call \u2018Cumber\u2019, which is the bit of the word in the middle of encumbrance. It\u2019s the stuff that wears us down. And this excess consumption might just be \u2018cumber\u2019. It\u2019s all for show. But it\u2019s not for happiness. It does not make these people necessarily feel any better or any happier.<\/p>\n<p>And anyway, isn\u2019t the capacity to be happy finite? And is it really created by things or our relationship with other people? The rich may have things no better than anyone else.<\/p>\n<p>So, why are we so frightened of saying we have enough? That\u2019s an important question, and the answer is fairly obvious. Advertising encourages us to believe that there\u2019s always something missing in our lives, and that fear creates pressure to consume still more. It also encourages us to go further into debt. It\u2019s fair to say that our whole economic system, as it currently operates, depends upon keeping dissatisfaction alive.<\/p>\n<p>But what if we decided we\u2019d had enough material well-being? Might we then give more attention to relationships, achievement and understanding? Wouldn\u2019t that make us happier? Well, wouldn\u2019t it make us happier if we had met our basic needs?<\/p>\n<p>And I can\u2019t stress that point enough. Of course, if you have not met your basic needs, you might well still need more, and I\u2019m not going to deny that. Dealing with poverty is an essential part of this argument, but maybe we need to deal with poverty precisely because those who suffer poverty do so because others consume far too much.<\/p>\n<p>If we had less inequality, not just around income, but also around consumption, maybe we could deal with poverty very much better, and we could all then recognise when we\u2019ve had enough.<\/p>\n<p>And that is essential because, let\u2019s be clear, we are not the only things that have limits. Our planet also imposes limits on consumption. Excess consumption uses resources that future generations will need. The planet cannot sustain unlimited material consumption. We as human beings are finite, and critically the resources available to us are also finite. Recognising \u2018enough\u2019 is therefore not a choice. It is an economic and environmental necessity.<\/p>\n<p>So is enough, enough? More consumption cannot be the purpose of our lives. Enough must mean having the security and resources required to live well, and not everyone does - that\u2019s a point I\u2019ve already stressed in this video - but beyond that point where we do have the security and the resources required to live well, relationships, achievements, and understanding matter more.<\/p>\n<p>Learning to recognise enough may then be essential for our wellbeing. But that\u2019s also especially true if we want to continue to live on this planet, and we want our children, and their children, and their children to do so as well. That is the critical point. Enough is the word that lets us imagine continued life here on Earth.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what I think. What do you think? There is a poll down below, of course. Let us have your views. Please like and share this video. Please subscribe to the channel. Please hit that bell button as well because that means that you will be told when we produce another video. And if you\u2019d like to buy Tom and me a coffee using the donation button down below, that would be great, although at this moment I\u2019m actually drinking a cup of tea.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Poll<\/p>\n<div id=\"polls-512\" class=\"wp-polls\">\n\t<form id=\"polls_form_512\" class=\"wp-polls-form\" action=\"\/Blog\/index.php\" method=\"post\">\n\t\t<p style=\"display: none;\"><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"poll_512_nonce\" name=\"wp-polls-nonce\" value=\"a631485d40\" \/><\/p>\n\t\t<p style=\"display: none;\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"poll_id\" value=\"512\" \/><\/p>\n\t\t<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Does having more, once our basic needs are met, make us happier?<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"polls-512-ans\" class=\"wp-polls-ans\"><ul class=\"wp-polls-ul\">\n\t\t<li><input type=\"radio\" id=\"poll-answer-2227\" name=\"poll_512\" value=\"2227\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-2227\">No, relationships and experiences matter more at that point<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"radio\" id=\"poll-answer-2228\" name=\"poll_512\" value=\"2228\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-2228\">Sometimes, but there is always a point of enough<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"radio\" id=\"poll-answer-2229\" name=\"poll_512\" value=\"2229\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-2229\">Yes, greater wealth improves quality of life<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"radio\" id=\"poll-answer-2230\" name=\"poll_512\" value=\"2230\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-2230\">Not sure: I need the chance to find out<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<\/ul><p style=\"text-align: center\"><input type=\"button\" name=\"vote\" value=\"   Vote   \" class=\"Buttons\" data-poll-id=\"512\" data-poll-action=\"vote\" \/><\/p><p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"#ViewPollResults\" data-poll-id=\"512\" data-poll-action=\"result\" title=\"View Results Of This Poll\">View Results<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\t<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"polls-512-loading\" class=\"wp-polls wp-polls-loading\"><span class=\"wp-polls-spinner\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span> Loading ...<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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<br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/09\/02\/what-is-enough\/\"><em> Read the full article&#8230;<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,204,35,108,16,74,147,224,106,223,241],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-city-of-london","category-economic-justice","category-economics","category-environment","category-ethics","category-green-new-deal","category-inequality","category-neoliberalism","category-politics","category-politics-of-care","category-understanding-economics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95365"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95377,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95365\/revisions\/95377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}