If there's any positive from our current economic situation, I think it's that some people are realizing that money doesn't bring you happiness. It can bring you comfort, as you mention, but buying things beyond the basics isn't going to make you happy.
The problem is that the wealthy don't accumulated funds just to buy things. They use it for power. And increasingly in this country, money equals political power that affects all of us. In a weird way the "good guys" should become money hungry, but use that money in positive ways that benefit society.
I would be very interested to see some thoughts on this subject. I go back and forth agreeing and disagreeing with the grandparent's last paragraph.
Its easy to make yourself feel moral and just this way (and elitist and morally superior), but I think it can also be the beginning to an easy loophole around "money doesn't buy happiness." Once you've decided that more money will allow you to do others good, you're in the same structural problem that materialists are, which is that once you meet goal X, there goal Y will be, just out of reach, and with it, your happiness.
The problem is that the wealthy don't accumulated funds just to buy things. They use it for power. And increasingly in this country, money equals political power that affects all of us. In a weird way the "good guys" should become money hungry, but use that money in positive ways that benefit society.