Economics take part in many daily lives can be seen in the music people listen to. Harry Chapin’s “Cats in the Cradle” song is no exception. The song describes a young father trying to live up to capitalistic America’s economy and needs. Sometimes in life choices must be made. People respond to incentives put in place by Homo Economicus. For many, just as it is in the song, that incentive is money. The song states, “My child arrived just the other day. He came to the world in the usual way. But there were planes to catch and bills to pay. He learned to walk while I was away.” These lines relate to opportunity cost. The father had to give up one thing in order to achieve another. The opportunity cost is the time that the father lost watching his son grow up. He felt there was a higher demand for his job than for his time with his son. He chose to be on that plane and to be at a job that would keep him from his family. In his mind, the father used marginal analysis to make this decision. He simultaneously, even though he might not have realized he …show more content…
However, time is a scarcity and incentives change. The son, following the example placed in front of him throughout his whole life, grows up to be just like his father. Chapin sings, “I’ve long since retired, my son’s moved away. I called him up just the other day. I said, ‘I’d like to see you if you don’t mind.’ He said, ‘I’d love to Dad, if I can find the time. You see my new job’s a hassle’.” The father’s short run decisions turned out to affect his long run decisions. His son has grown up, and now he cannot find the time to spend time with his father. It is an evil twist of fate. The father chose to spend his resources working, hoping that one day he would be able to exploit them elsewhere. However, new opportunities for gain for the son become quickly exploited, and he no longer has time for his
The author Wes Moore dad was a hard worker and he had dreams & goals set for the future. The other Wes’s parents didn’t have as much drive and ambition. The other Wes’s dad walked out on him and his mother was left to work jobs just to provide for the family. Author Wes’s parents ambitions rubbed off onto him and his mother’s love for education drove her to push Wes academically. The two mothers had different expectations and ambitions for their sons. The other Wes states “‘We will do what others expect of us, Wes said. If they expect us to graduate we will graduate. If they expect us to get a job, we will get a job. If they expect us to go to jail, we will go to jail.” (Moore 126). The expectation the families had on both Wes’s shaped who they were and that influenced the decisions they made, that caused their lives to end up so
When the man and boy meet people on the road, the boy has sympathy for them, but his father is more concerned with keeping them both alive. The boy is able to get his father to show kindness to the strangers (McCarthy), however reluctantly the kindness is given. The boy’s main concern is to be a good guy. Being the good guy is one of the major reasons the boy has for continuing down the road with his father. He does not see there is much of a point to life if he is not helping other people. The boy wants to be sure he and his father help people and continue to carry the fire. The boy is the man’s strength and therefore courage, but the man does not know how the boy worries about him how the boy’s will to live depends so much on his
The topic of Nickel and Dimed, an autobiography written by Barbara Ehrenreich, is economics. Nickel and Dimed go over the economic situation of living in the minimum wage. The test subject in the book, who is Ehrenreich, the author, and a journalist, attempts to make a living out of a minimum wage job. Ehrenreich wanted to know how could a person can live with a minimum wage job, so she decides to move to different states, apply for jobs such as fast restaurants, maid services, waitressing, and try to make a life out of the job or jobs she managed to get. The author meets co-workers who either have a somewhat similar or worse financial status and who also live in motels, trailer parks, and even in their cars because money
Walter has long dreamed of making his family’s condition better, of giving them wealth that his low-paying job is unable to do. Nature appears to be against Walter and his family, for they are living in a poorly maintained tenement apartment while surrounded with racism. Walter understands this situation, so he decides to use the $10,000 check for an investment in order to exceed his primitive state. In mid-morning, he excitedly asks his family about the check’s arrival, “Check coming today?” (Hansberry I.i.868). The check is one of the few reasons that forces Walter to get up each morning, so he will eventually be able to obtain success and self pride. Walter views the check as the only solution to all of his problems, so once Mama receives it, Walter confronts her and begs for her “financial” support. Walter exemplifies his sudden, new-found confidence to Travis when Mama unexpectedly entrusts him with the remaining $6,500, “…your daddy’s gonna make a transaction . . . a business transaction that’s going to change our lives” (II.ii.885). Walter is finally ready to realize his dream, and he has all the possible confidence he can acquire. He foresees the significant change that awaits his family when the money is invested. Unfortunately, nature has different plans for the Youngers. Whe...
At one point Stan’s parents were sick of financially supporting him and did not believe a career in music was “realistic”. Stan choosing to become a jeweler was not seen as a choice to his parents, rather it was assumed due to his culture. These factors influencing Stan’s decision are perfectly illustrated by Wilk and Cliggett’s three models of decision making, as discussed in the book “Economies and Cultures”. According to Wilk and Cliggett these three models are the “Self-Interested Model”, the “Moral Model”, and the “Social Model”, all of which combined form the basis of explaining “human behavior and decision making”(42). The pressure of Stan’s family as previously described is an example of both the “Moral” and “Social” Models. Stan saw his musician friends “in bands and doing drugs”, which made him realize that that was not the life he wanted for himself. Stan also came to the realization that it was in his best interest to choose a career that provided a more reliable and steady income, which is an example of acting out of self-interest (Wilk and Cligget’s Self- Interested Model). However, with making this career choice came many initial
Sumner believes that inequality is imperative in order to establish the different between the fittest and the unfittest. He believes that “we work and deny ourselves to get capital, just because, other things being equal, the man who has it is superior, for attaining all the ends of life, to the man who has it not” (Sumner, 38). Basically, this statement means that as long as people competitively work to earn money, there will always be the superiors and those who are not. Sumner considers inequality as benefit to the world and economy. He believes that “It is impossible that the man with capital and the man without capital should be equal” (Sumner, 38).
The young man moved away from his parents to attend college. This gave him time to mature and learn what was important in life. He did well in school, and was becoming successful. Even his father was proud of him. This time the tables were turned, the father wanted to spend time with his son. Only to be told, he had places to go and people to see, and can I borrow the car.
People with a lower socioeconomic status convey the impression that they rely on their culture to help them with the world or their lives. Which, in turn, shapes what they value. For example, in “Everyday Use”, the mother states, “I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style” (SB page 64). The mother has a low economic status and she believed that the quilts could help Dee but Dee, who has a higher socioeconomic status thinks the complete opposite. This shows that people with less attachment with money will decide to rely and value on cultural items (quilts specifically in “Everyday use”) to aid them in life. Another example, in “My mother pieced quilts”,
Relations between fathers and the younger generation have been and continue to be an important theme for various literary genres (King Lear, Shakespeare; Fathers and Sons, Turgenev). For many famous writers the significance of fathers’ influence on their children forms a subject of particular interest. . In the play, Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller shows in a very striking manner that the father's influence can be either positive or fatal. The dispiriting story of the three generations of the Lomans family contrasts with the happy account of the life of their neighbors, Charley and his son Bernard.
The role of a father could be a difficult task when raising a son. The ideal relationship between father and son perhaps may be; the father sets the rules and the son obeys them respectfully. However it is quite difficult to balance a healthy relationship between father and son, because of what a father expects from his son. For instance in the narratives, “Death of a Salesman,” and “Fences” both Willy and Troy are fathers who have a difficult time in earning respect from their sons, and being a role model for them. Between, “Death of a Salesman,” and “Fences,” both protagonists, Willy and Troy both depict the role of a father in distinctive ways; however, in their struggle, Willy is the more sympathetic of the two.
There was once a man, for the sake of the story we’ll name him James. James had been lucky enough to be born into a great family. His parents had decent jobs their whole lives, so his family had money. With that money and a little bit of hard work it was not too hard for James to make it into one of the top universities, and graduate straight into a decent paying job. After a few years working at that job James had earned a nice house and a beautiful car. At this time he realized that he felt like he needed something more. James decided that with where he was financially now would be a good time to start a family. He began the long journey looking for a wife; and a few years later he found the perfect women, fell in love, and had a child. The one thing James didn’t know about having a family and having a job is how to juggle the two together. He didn’t want to have less money now than he did before he got married, so he started working more hours in order to make up for the income he was losing. In doing this he missed his only child growing up. Before he knew it he was missing his son’s baseball games. His wife was begging him to come home. James was making empty promises, and he was losing control of his life. One day he came home from work and saw a bunch of boxes. His wife came out of their bedroom kissed him on his cheek and walked out the front door; followed by their son. That night James reflected back on a lot of the choices he had made. He realized that he had been doing everything wrong. He thought back to a time when his father took days off of work to do things for him and his mom. At that moment he realized that he needed to change his ways. He realized that there are many things that had a play in his su...
The father’s character begins to develop with the boy’s memory of an outing to a nightclub to see the jazz legend, Thelonius Monk. This is the first sign of the father’s unreliability and how the boy’s first recollection of a visitation with him was a dissatisfaction to his mother. The second sign of the father’s lack of responsibility appears again when he wanted to keep taking the boy down the snowy slopes even though he was pushing the time constraints put on his visitation with his son. He knew he was supposed to have the boy back with his mother in time for Christmas Eve dinner. Instead, the father wanted to be adventurous with his son and keep taking him down the slopes for one last run. When that one last run turned into several more, the father realized he was now pushing the time limits of his visit. Even though he thought he was going to get him home, he was met with a highway patrol’s blockade of the now closed road that led home.
In the third sentence of the extract, the narrator states that the father “nonchalantly stands . . . like a horse at rest”, connecting him with the image on a strong and powerful horse. The father is viewed by the narrator as being in control and mighty. The diction used by the narrator develops an atmosphere than is tense, like walking a tightrope. The use of “if” and contrasting sentences displays the anxiety present in the scene. Should the father accept the offer, the mood will become “exuberant”, but if the father tears the ticket, refusing, the atmosphere will become “quiet” and in the future, cause “anger”. As of the moment of the scene however, the atmosphere is taut and nerve-wracking. Synecdoche is also used to distinguish to the reader which parent the narrator is focused on, such as when the father is being addressed. The narrator takes note of watching “Dad’s hands as he walks the line”. This prompts the reader to focus their attention to the father’s hands and how they are linked to his line of work, the trading mainly. This gives off the essence of a working class as usually one would watch someone’s back as
Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a non-fiction book written by Robert Kiyosaki. Kiyosaki takes us into his life to describe to us the difference between two separate households and how they manage money. When you first open up the book, you are immediately shown the confliction Robert has between choosing whose advice to follow. His biological father is known as his poor dad who is highly educated but doesn’t make the right choices when it comes to money. His rich dad isn’t his father but is a childhood friend’s father who is also trying to teach Robert how to manage money. Rich dad has very little education background but the way he deals with money is what made him successful. Robert’s poor dad views education as the main principle to success. As long as you do well in school, you will have a good steady job thought poor dad. Poor dad always stated “I’m not interested in money”, and “money doesn’t matter.” Rich dad on the other hand knew how to make money work for him not the other way around. He felt that in order to succeed and make a lot of money, you need to work for yourself and not others. Robert learned many lessons from both dads and he feels he is very fortunate to have had two father figures to teach him and give him examples on how to become rich and successful.
In the first chapter he allows us to consider the idea of capitalism and the free market. His main emphasis being the question “When is a market free?” He directs us away from the common ideology of freedom from something to a new notion of being free for or free to, with a specific ‘telos’ in mind. In the second chapter Cavanaugh draws our attention toward consumerism and our attachment to materialistic goods as well as our detachment from the production process, the producers and products themselves. The third chapter takes us through the concept of globalisation which allows for everything to be available but in turn nothing seems to matter and finally, the last chapter addresses the question of scarcity based on the assumption that human