Since the Industrial Revolution in the United States, The American people have been obsessed with the dollar. Americans try to imitate the wealthy to hopefully make money. The money that we do make is immediately spent. Therefore, there is a rise in consumerism and materialism. Also, good qualities that people usually associate with everyday ways of life have been concentrated an fattening peoples pocketbooks. According to the classic American novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this country has become a valley of ashes-a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat.
This leads to the conclusion that the American Dream has dissolved like an Alka-Seltzer tablet into a cesspool of petty desires and wants. The populous has equated being happy with being wealthy, as if the richest of the rich have no cares in the world. Now, it is the trend to have money. Bill Gates is the trendiest of them all. From the countless articles and news reports to the obscene popularity of the Windows program, everyone knows Bill Gates. Or at least everyone has a guess to the total of his massive fortune. At last count, from the official Bill Gates Net Worth web site, he has 50.
Everyone wants to be like Bill, which would explain the outrageously popular Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. According to 3bigshows. com, an average of 24 million Americans are sucked into the show each airing like a vacuum, yelling what they believe to be the correct answers at a strangers face on the television screen as if their screams could change the contestants mind after choosing their answer but before answering Regis now famous question. Maybe if we yell loud enough, they will hear us and share their new found fortunes with us.
Compared to twenty years ago, the cost of living has dramatically increased. What would buy us $5,000 worth of useless trinkets in 1980, would only buy us $2,500 worth of things today, according to the American Institute for Economic Research. The reasons for this are the rises in inflation and consumerism. Nobody is satisfied with what they have anymore. If something breaks around the house, we dont fix it, of course not, we buy a new one. Not only that, but we buy things we dont need. The perfect example for this is the Pokemon disease infecting children today.
Kids want anything Pokemon, and parents feel that the only way to make them happy is to spend their money. This is similar to the Tickle-Me-Elmo obsession a few holiday seasons ago. Competition, ambition, and the need to strive for success are good traits. The way that we are focusing these traits is for the intent to make money. When the drive to make money is combined with competition, it leads to greed. The competition to make more money than your neighbor, to own a nicer car, a larger house, and more things to fill that house seems to be why we want the money in the first place.
Of course, you could use the money to educate your children. That, in itself is often used as a statement of wealth, as a As a people, we need to stop being infatuated with the size of our bank accounts. It seems hard to imagine making money less important in our lives, but we need to concentrate on our families and our happiness. Money can lead to the happiness of our families and ourselves, but a shallow, conceited happiness that makes us greedy, spiteful, ruthless people. In conclusion, stop worrying about money and make the most of each