Moolah

Money. Without enough of it, we live with struggles; with enough of it, we still live with struggles. In an ironic statement from the man featured on the 100 dollar bill, Benjamin Franklin says "Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants."

It is human nature to desire something we don't have. Whether this is a better computer or a new phone, these desires are transient; they only satisfy us for a short time but eventually, we grow steadily in lust for more. Money is no exception. In society today and throughout history, money has been a symbol of power. For instance, the Nacirema people have a "hierarchy of magical practitioners" with the "medicine men" near the top. Since Nacirema actually represents the American people, the medicine men represent doctors. Since doctors generally earn a large salary, the medicine men are naturally higher in the feigned hierarchy. Even with money and power, however, there is never enough.

If we cannot be happy with money, then how do we become happy? Logically, we assume that the only way to obtain happiness is "to be in want of it" or in other words lacking it (Hazlitt 2). In an excerpt from William Hazlitt's "On the Want of Money,"he asserts, "Literally and truly, one cannot get on well in the world without money" (1-2). To elaborate, he states that even without money, one cannot succeed. So the final question is, how does money relate to happiness? If we cannot succeed with it and without it, how do we solve this paradoxical question?