Keller @ Large: Money Can't Buy Happiness

BOSTON (CBS) - It oozed into my e-mailbox Monday morning, a press release promoting a new billboard in Times Square that flashes: "JOIN THE 1%. DON'T BE LEFT BEHIND."

Some sleazy new get-rich-quick scheme?

Even worse.

It turns out to be an ad for an online dating site for the "rich and powerful, and for those looking to pair up with successful people." Apparently, this thing has been around for awhile, and claims more than two million members.

To each their own, I guess, but color me skeptical that this company is offering a truly desirable service.

It's true, money can buy you nice things and fly you first-class, and there's certainly little about poverty to recommend it. But the evidence that big money isn't all it's cracked up to be is all around us.

Take the sorry story of Casey Kasem, the radio personality and voice-over specialist who surely made millions during his career.

But all that money apparently can't buy happiness. At age 82, Kasem's family life is a shambles, his children and second wife in a bitter court battle over his care, complete with claims of elder abuse.

His story is not an aberration.

A recent study of 120 people worth more than $25 million found them to be "a generally dissatisfied lot, whose money has contributed to deep anxieties involving love, work, and family."

Listen to Jon's commentary:

Need more evidence?

Two words: Donald Sterling.

You'd be happy to wrestle with their problems?

I get it. Worrying about making ends meet is no fun.

But count your blessings if you have stability, peace and loving relationships in your life.

You have what many of the one-percent can apparently only dream of.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

MORE LOCAL NEWS FROM CBS BOSTON