We buy things because it is easier to buy things than ask for things.
As children, we have to ask for everything we want (or even need).
When we grow up, start making money, we find out that we don’t have to ask for anything anymore, because we can always buy what we want.
Over time, we become so used to buying everything we want that we forget how to ask for anything.
For instance, for more than seven years now, I haven’t really asked anyone for anything, without offering an immediate or delayed quid pro quo.
Only when you can’t buy what you want, you learn to ask for what you need.
Then you learn that your needs are much lower than your wants.
Only when I gathered the courage to ask for a couch to crash on, did I realize that I don’t really need a five start hotel room for a good night’s sleep.
But it is difficult to ask for what we need.
Which is why we prefer to buy what we want.