The reason why so many people lose enthusiasm for life is because on balance, life's a drag. Let's face it, everyday life for most people is pretty banal and unfulfilling. You get up and get into a traffic jam everyday to get to a job you dislike if not hate, to work with people you'd rather not associate with, to earn a paycheck that's spent before you even get it. And you have to keep that up for years on end. Add in all the other pressures and stresses of life, and it's easy to see why many people decide it's simply not worth it. It's either the stress of the rat race grind, or the stress of not having a job and economic hardship. Either way, it's unrelenting stress. And if one is alone and has no one to share the journey with, it makes life that much more taxing. "All the lonely people, where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong?" Money may not guarantee happiness, but it frees one from all the soul crushing aspects of life. Life with money is a paradise, life without money is a prison.