How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
He made good dough, still he wouldn't give Velma enough, figuring she'd come back to him if he kept her needy. (3.62)
Wealth is put to various uses in The Adventures of Augie March. While the Renlings would have used their prosperity to lift Augie out of neediness, others use their capital to keep people down. In both cases, however, wealth brings power over others. Money talks.
Quote #2
The Commissioner died before the general bust, and wasn't very long in his grave when the suicides by skyscraper leaps began to take place in La Salle Street and downtown New York. (7.2)
This would be the great Wall Street Crash of 1929, which led to none other than the Great Depression. Augie hangs with folks who lose a lot in the crash—Einhorn, for one—but no one who was long reduced to poverty due to the bust.
Quote #3
"No rent, no heat," he said in the winter, resolving to be tough. "A landlord ought to act like one or give up his property. I'll stick by economic laws, good times, bad times, and be consistent." (7.4)
Einhorn's consistency makes him ruthless. It also gets him sued. He loses. Sorry, Scrooge.