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Hikaru Hallberg
Ms. Gardner
English 10 Honors, Period 2
28 Oct 2014
$$$
In an ideal world, workers would be paid more, taxes would be lowered, and prices for
your necessities would become affordable. In a utopian society, money would not exist. Regular
customers for a had-been Walmart would be selectively picking their choice cell phones,
radios, and, for those old geezers who have never lost their talent, fishing poles from the whitewash shelves. In that ideal society, life would be relaxing; in this utopian world, life would be
perfect.
However, this is not the case. In our world, money is the desire for most of the human
race wishing to escape the reality of their strenuous lives. Money becomes the golden light
awaiting at the end of the tunnel, the antidote for austerity, the prize by permission, the gift from
Godor Grandma, whoever you believe in.
Money is awesome. You can buy sweet things with it: food, clothes, cars, video games
you name it. Likewise, we must consider that the stronger the urge, the more demanding the
deprivation. Of course, not many people contemplate the meaning of this barefaced factwhich
is why we have thieves and robbers. To counteract this, we build banks and safes; to impede this,
robbers change their names to bank robbers and steal guns and explosives.
Money is pandemonium. When governments modify tax laws, the people of the country
react by rioting. When an elementary school kid takes his classmates quarter-that-makes-him-

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rich from his fingers, he reacts by punching him in the face. When Japan does not receive money
for resources from the United States, they react by bombing Pearl Harbor.
And yet we call this terrible narcotic our reward. It is socially acceptable to call money a
reward, the premium for simple things like taking out the trash every day. But is it acceptable for
you to not have a voice in how much you believe you should be earning?
Say, for example, you work for, lets sayStarbucks. You believe that your hourly pay of
$6 should be raised. Your boss disagrees, so you gather your fellow baristas and start boycotting.
Soon, a large group of Starbucks employees floods the parking lots in front of this coffee shop.
And who is affected? You, someone with no job. Who cares? Certainly not the CEO who has just
started to personally hire people off of the streets to occupy your now-vacant position!
In the early days of serfdom, the poor owed their lords service, the products of which
were often animals, crops, and clothes. In exchange for their labor, the lords presented the serfs
with bits and pieces of their land to live off of.
We live in an era where the rich define those without money as people who have not
accomplished anything; these wealthy powers are often the ones who inform the poor how to live
their lives, how they will spend their days, and how difficult living a life without the moolah will
be.
Given the choice, which life will you settle for? Even today there are certain situations
which call for the payment of hard work and labor. Would you rather pay your taxes in money, or
a few weeks service for your government?
Money is an illusion, clouding our judgment and affecting our behavior. When your
neighbor pays you for a babysit session, what do you do with the cash? Sophomore Honors
English class! Do you honestly believe that you insist on saving it rather than imagine all the

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wonders this can buy you? Many first thoughts are that of how to spend the money; however,
many first actions are defined by the influence of this bounty. And for that reason we must
evolve to understand that however much we believe in controlling money, in reality it is the
money which controls our lives and our identities.

Works Cited

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Welsh, Ian. "The Tyranny of Money." Ian Welsh RSS. 14 Mar. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.
Higgs, Robert. "How U.S. Economic Warfare Provoked Japan's Attack on Pearl Harbor." Ludwig
Von Mises Institute. Mises Daily, 7 Dec. 2012. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.