The Butter Battle book has been viewed as a tale about the Cold War and World War II and the nuclear weapons race. The Yooks represent the United States and the Zooks represent the Soviet Union. Seuss was using them to describe the major events that occurred during his life.
What made it difficult for New England colonist to repay the English investors who had funded them? :)
Well, New England colonists were fishermen, shipbuilders, whalers, traders, and farmers. However, the land was poor and rocky, so few things grew there. Because of that, colonists didn't really have much things to trade, making life quite a bit hard for them. Due to their struggle, they couldn't grow enough food to make ends meet, so they didn't have enough things to give to the English investors who had funded them.
~Hope I helped!~