Prompt: Does money lead to selfishness?
“Money buys everything,” is a common proverb that is heard everywhere in the world. After all, money is the driving factor of the economy; it fosters the growth of businesses, and helps families stay financially stable. However, money ultimately leads to selfishness and unaltruistic character, because it gives one lots of power to do certain tasks, which can backfire, and separates one individual from another.
Wealth is a force among business, but when one obtains too much of it, lack of altruism for others occurs. This is seen in the case of Eugene Krabs, an owner of a burger restaurant, Krusty Krabs, in the movie Spongebob. He is obsessed with money, and would do anything it takes to augment his net worth, even if it means lowering his workers’ pay, or increasing the price of the food items. Eventually, he lowers his workers’ pay just to please himself, which led to worker strikes. His obsession with money led to lack of respect and compassion for his workers, and he let his greed transform into a monster. The Mr. Krabs before the restaurant business was a nice, tranquil, man, but when he started to be obsessed with money, he turned into a completely different type of human being, one who was disdainful and disrespectful towards others. Although money led to happiness for him, he grew very selfish, which in turn led to many of his workers disliking him. Ultimately, he became a different individual from others, due to his greed for wealth.
During the Roaring 20’s, a period of wealth and prosperity, many gangs and illegal corruption sprung up. One of the leaders of these gangs was Boss Tweed, a corrupt politician who gave money to any one who would vote for him in the presidential election. As one may expect, his wealth gave him an abundant amount of power to sway the general public and it gave him an overwhelming amount of power, which ultimately led to corruption and gang violence. His supply of money made him happy, parallel to Mr. Krabs, but his selfishness and greed led to a weakened economy and downfall of several businesses. He also was a previously calm man, but his increasing wealth led to tyrannical behavior and lack of respect for others around him. One of his biggest legacies is the transformation of his character when he grew very rich.
As seen through Mr. Krabs and the notorious Boss Tweed, an abundance of power and wealth leads to selfishness and lack of compassion and respect for others in society. The wealthy and powerful men in business ultimately leads to a digress in the economy. When these individuals grow more altruistic in spite of their wealth, society will be more prosperous.