All of these stories and valid and probably true for the people that tell them. But I can't help but also recall the stories I read of people talking about being poor in the 3rd world, and it being so much less stressful because everyone else was poor and it wasn't seen as some failing but rather everyone was dealing with together.

Being at the bottom of the social pyramid, even if not poor, has its own problems. Circumstances obviously change from person to person and place to place but some individuals seem to react better to being the middle a country of poor than being poor-rich in a much rich country.