The Advantages Of Wealth Essay Research Paper

The Advantages Of Wealth Essay, Research Paper

Wealth Begets Freedom

Fortune is inherently a private issue that only allows observers a peek from which to surmise the condition of the holder’s lifestyle and budget. However it is from these glimpses that society draws its stereotypes, as there is supposed to exist a set of standards such as clothing, good looks, and automobiles that influence our perception of one another. This system could not be more flawed. Wealth has no universal effect on a populace, as every being is an individual and therefore harbors independent views on the proper uses of wealth. That said, there is one gift which money conveys which, although not universal, is nearly synonymous with wealth; Freedom.

With wealth comes choice, and with choice comes opportunity; the basis of the American dream. Wealth buys opportunity from the very start. An infant born into a wealthy family begins its life a league ahead of its poverty stricken counterpart. This is not so much because of the proximity of money, but because of what that money can do. Having ample funds allows the infants parents the freedom to spend more time with the child and it also makes the entrance of the baby much less traumatic for the family. The other family however will face a much greater economic shock with the coming of a child and as a result will have to devote even more time to work, leaving the child to, in large part, rear itself. This difference in parenting techniques is said to have a large role in the eventual success or failure of the child later in life and therefore the wealthier child already has an advantage. This however, is just the tip of the iceberg as advantages go.

The addition of wealth to a family unit has further consequences for the families’ children all the way through school and into the child’s adult life where the family acts as a safety net. Starting with elementary and secondary education the ability of a family to choose schools for its offspring allows the parents to put an end to bad situations and prevent stagnation in randomly assigned classrooms. The poorer family on the other hand will not be able to afford this choice and instead will have to rely on Chance to see its children through the educational system. In addition to probably attending worse schools, this child will most likely have to take a job in order to help his family and to be able to afford the social trappings that are the survival gear of teenagers today. In contrast, the counterpart child will remain sheltered from the realities of life and be able to concentrate energies on growing up and learning. Assuming that both sets of children excel at school at wish to attend university the gap between them will grow. With good grades, the child of the wealthy family will have the advantage of being funded by his family while he attends the college of its choice. Meanwhile, the poorer child will fight for financial aid packages and have to go where the money is provided, and while attending this college a part time job will probably be necessary to pay for living expenses. By being able to accept at a variety of universities, the first child will open further opportunities for itself while the second child will watch as these same doors open only for a moment before slamming home as his community college education will not cut it in many of the 21st century job places. Once they exit college with degrees the child of poorer heritage will not have the funds to support himself during an extensive job search. This means that he will enter the work force quickly and the same lack of reserve funds in the future will steal the freedom of job choice from him forever. His counterpart however will be able to take time and find something that fits him as well as allows for growth. If perchance they both should lose their jobs or a fiscal calamity should strike, one will be able to fall back on family for financial support, while the other can only expect encouragement. Thus the cycle of life draws to a close as this is the point at which either one of the subject would raise a family, and as shown it is unlikely that either has significantly altered his or her place on the socioeconomic ladder.

This has shown how wealth and degrees of freedom can affect the lives of similar people in a supposedly free and democratic society, but it has ignored to freedoms in the quality of those lives. Once again, wealth fundamentally alters purchasing power and this alteration allows those with the means to live more or less however they want to while their counterparts flounder in government regulations and necessity. Once a family has sunken into poverty they have crossed one of society’s invisible lines and they are no longer privileged to the basic rights that the rest of society tends to take for granted. A family in poverty has little if any privacy as it suddenly becomes the business of greater society what that family does. The finances, the family decisions, and the living conditions are all subject to regulation by government and charity. Instances of child removal and repossession increase dramatically for poor families as compared to middle class families. This happens when a family is already down and out, as though the government where punishing them for misfortune. A welfare family gets periodic reviews of its finances and living situation by government agents, and if anyt