To Avoid Hitting the Brick on the Road, Case Study Example

The cartoon exhibits a taxi that belongs to the Price Control Taxi Co. which is being driven by an old man branded “Congress” with passengers also branded “farm prices” and “wages.” The vehicle has swerved to escape hitting a brick positioned in the road labeled “safety zone” and plunged into a crowd of people on the ‘cost of living Av,” which has resulted in “everybody’s injury.” During World War II, wages and price control managed to keep the cost of living down. During this period, the legislatures weakened controls at the end of the war, which brought about inflation.

Jay N. Darling drew the cartoon in 1942 in which he used a metaphor of a careering taxi to critique how the legislature had delayed in controlling the inflation of farm prices and wages. The painter demonstrates how Congress had avoided addressing the issue of the cost of living by delaying to enact policies that would ease the rising inflation. The cartoon exemplifies how the political class failed the population and decided to benefit from inflation through stealing from the citizens. The farm prices and wages in the taxi represent the required measures that are necessary to be looked into by Congress in order to help the populations with hard economic times. The price control taxi shows how Congress has failed in controlling the economy, leading it into inflation turmoil.

Finally, the plunging of the taxi into the crowd of children, men, and women at the cost of Living Avenue symbolizes how the most affected are the citizens as the cost of living has gone up. The prices of goods and services are beyond their reach as the government shows it could not mitigate the inflation rate, therefore living the consequences to the citizens.