What's So Bad About Being Poor By Barbara Ehrenreich

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In the words of the highly successful author Alek Wek, “The most beautiful things are not associated with money; they are memories and moments. If you don’t celebrate those, they can pass you by.” Although most any person will agree with this statement, not all will act upon it. One of the greatest debates between people currently is the power of money. Most will assume that next to air, money is one of the essential necessities of life. You use money to buy food, water, shelter, healthcare, and several other items that are needed for survival. However, money is the driving force of living for some; it influences career choice, specific job choice, which eventually leads to spending even more money on items to destress. Others will tell you …show more content…

He concludes that money doesn't guarantee happiness like Myers said, but he says that it does aid in success, especially in the United States where education is a privilege and cannot be afforded by everyone. He suggests that money may not be the pursuit of happiness or the American Dream, but it aids in the pursuit of success, which eventually leads to security and happiness. The Vanishing Middle Class, written by Elizabeth Warren and What’s so Bad About Being Poor written by Barbara Ehrenreich strongly agrees with Myers. Based off of the experiments conducted by Ehrenreich with working minimum wage jobs, she determines that it is impossible to live comfortably this way unless a hotel or car becomes your permanent residence. Although this doesn’t necessarily make you unhappy, it is the debt and the stress of being in a financial hardship that does. Author Elizabeth Warren has similar claims, saying that money troubles eventually lead a person to unhappiness. Based on my own experiences, I side with David Myers the most, as he states that there is absolutely no connection between happiness and money. Personally, I have little money to spend on items that I would like to purchase, but it does not affect my moral whatsoever. I’ve learned how to do activities where little to no money is involved,

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