The second part is the poisonous way most live their lives. Relatively - i.e. the core determinant of many people's happiness is relative and not absolute income.
If this theory is correct, we should discourage people from discussing income distribution. Whenever a reporter writes an article about rising income inequality, they are contributing to the problem.
That's open to debate. Inequalities of income distribution are pretty visible anyway: whether discussion of the topic exacerbates people's unhappiness with the situation depends whether discussion of the topic helps them reconcile themselves to the normality of being unable to keep up with the Joneses, or whether it makes them feel angrier and more impotent than they actually are.
If this theory is correct, we should discourage people from discussing income distribution. Whenever a reporter writes an article about rising income inequality, they are contributing to the problem.