Furthermore, because altruism (as we have already seen) is an impractical code of values, it necessarily creates conflict and frustration for its practitioners. For this reason as well, pain and suffering are regarded as marks of virtue.

Altruists tend to regard happiness, suffering, wealth, and poverty as matters of fate, which cannot be significantly altered by one's thoughts or actions. Like the early economists, altruists fail to grasp that value can be generated by the human mind; wealth, it is assumed, must have been obtained either by good fortune or by exploitation. To the altruist, a more affluent person is simply "more fortunate," for happiness and wealth are merely matters of luck or fate. A prosperous person, it is assumed, cannot possibly have achieved success by his or her own efforts. Such people are therefore constantly exhorted to "give back" to the community what it "provided" them.