It is often thought that money can solve problems, and that is true, whether it be during the times of the great depression or in 2016. Money is usually thought of as a medium of exchange used to pay for things. It seems that today many problems can be solved solely through money, like paying off America’s 19 trillion dollar debt or just having enough money to pay off college tuition. Either way, money is great and can solve many of the problems that arise in everyday life.
©2016 Geralt CCO Public Domain
In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath written by John Steinbeck, we see that the Joad family’s problems start to arise when the land starts to become unprosperous and yields very little profit, and in return they don’t have enough money to sustain the farm and thus, must sell their house and all the belonging in an effort to make enough money for the big move to California, where prospects seem much more promising. This problem that seemed to affect not only the Joad family, but all of America could have been eased if the government stepped in and gave welfare to the farmers, which would have helped stabilize some families that were still able to live off the land, but the government was in no position to do so. Because, the government did not take action, there is a downward spiraling trend that the America’s economy starts to take. For example once the Joads lost the ability to live off the land and the big banks saw farming as unprofitable, then their neighbors lost their farms to the banks and soon the entire state was unprofitable for farming and this was the start of the chain reaction of horrible events that all could have been solved by money. The Joads were continuously threatened by the problem of money as they made their way to California. They had to be cautious as how they spend their money as “they want a lot for a ol’ tire”(Steinbeck 120), and the Joads were not looking for any unnecessary spending. The Joads had to make the drive in fear guessing when the tire would give out. All the stress could have been alleviated if they could they could of bought that tire and know comfortably that they still had money left to make it to California. Money plays a crucial part in the economy and everyday life. Without it the world would not function.
Even 30 years after the great depression everyday Americans are pressed with problems of money. In The language of Composition, it goes over the economy and gives several readings about it. One which particularly stood out was a short excerpt from the book Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich goes undercover from her well paying job as an author and takes on the life of an everyday working american in the 60’s. She starts out working as a waitress for a restaurant but soon finds it pays “only about $7.50 an hour” (Ehrenreich 399). With this nominal amount of money she couldn’t even afford to pay her housing fees, so she was forced to compromise and obtain a second job. This means that most working Americans have to work two jobs just to get by life every single day. Ehrenreich later deemed it too hard to live as an everyday lowly paid working american and decided to quit and continued to pursue her career as an author. Millions of Americans have to work two jobs just to get around! They have to endure an enormous amount of stress each day thinking about it they will have enough money to eat or pay the taxes. If they just had a little bit more money than they would not have to look over their shoulder every time they buy food or any other item. Life would be so much easier if everyone had enough money to live comfortably.
It seems that money is the root of the problems. Money or the lack of it can even split families apart. Shyima Hall a little Indian girl was sold into slavery by her family in order to pay off a nominal amount of money. For four years she had to work 20 hours a day for 7 days a week, constantly being abused by her owners. It was not a happy life and this type of atrocities happened in 1998. To think that child slavery still occurs in the start of the 21’st century, in a time or relative prosperity is just astonishing. A family could have been spared huge grievance if they just had a little bit more money. This is only one of the many cases that have been reported of child slavery and there still remain millions of stories like this that go unreported. Millions of families are living under the poverty line that they must sell their child, just to pay off a debt. Imagine if everyone had money to live comfortably today. How great would the world be?
Money is constantly on people’s mind and is a sole source of many problems. With more money people could pay off the debt they had or even just live comfortably knowing that they are financially secured. Money is the cause of many problems, but also the answer to all of them.