Money Money Money... Money! (High Pitched, Song-like Tone)

From the beginning of time the saying has gone "money can't buy happiness" or as they say in more urban areas, "mo' money mo' problems." Jonathan Dee angles his story, The Privileges, around said concept. He includes this controversial contradiction by way of describing how much an excess of money altered Adam and Cynthia's children's lives. He writes of Jonas' anti-social nature and how he matures at an almost unhealthy rate just so that he can break away from parental dependence. His own sister calls him a "forty year old junior" which obviously sheds light upon his want to sever his need of his parents (186).  He pronounces that his parents money, "is not who I am" (186).  Likewise but alternatively, Dee foils Jonas' character with the Morey's eldest child, April who cannot seem to mature at all and continually makes stupid, rash decisions that do not concern her because she knows her parents will simply pay her way out of trouble. I am rather angry that the author allows all of the blame for her immaturity fall upon her family's financials and that Dee does not apportion some of the blame to April's parents who clearly did not teach her how to handle youth and prosperity. The writer tells of April's beyond dumb decision to meet up with someone she just got to know in a porn chatroom just so that if people found out then "she would be... the damaged one" (160). Did an excess of money cause April to need attention? NO! Her own parents neglectful attitudes and primary concerns of just having fun led to this attention deficit she seeked to fill. Sure maybe her parents quest for cash caused some of the neglect however that problem lies in the parents innate greed rather than money itself. I will defend money because it cannot help being the universal language and solver of any problem! How can money create problems when one can also use it to rectify any situation? Dee's inclusion of his argument that money cannot buy happiness only serves to free the Morey parents of some guilt for poor parenting.