Tag: American Dream

The ‘Dream’ Is Dead!

An article I recently read is what made me want to look deeper it this subject….

CNN data analyst Harry Enten crunched the numbers and discovered a large swathe of U.S. residents no longer believe in the American dream.

“America, we have a problem,” said Enten, describing a growing nation of economic pessimists.

“If you work hard, you’ll get ahead: that is the American dream,” said Enten. “[Respondents answering] ‘Never/Not true now’, in 2010 to 2011, 15 years ago, it was 51 percent who said it wasn’t true. Now look at this number! Whooo! Through the roof: 70 percent.”

https://www.alternet.org/american-voters-pessimism/

I have written a couple of times about the death of the American Dream….not too many agreed with me but I continue to believe that it has passed away.

The ‘American Dream’ Has Died

A new survey shows me that I am not as alone as I thought I was thinking the ‘Dream’ has died.

A new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll paints a dim picture of Americans’ faith in upward mobility. Just 25% of respondents believe they have a decent shot at improving their standard of living—a record low since the survey began in 1987. More than three-quarters of those who responded to the poll, which the Independent notes was “fittingly published” on Labor Day, expect that the next generation will fare no better, signaling a widespread loss of confidence in the American dream.

Almost 70% of those polled now say the idea that hard work pays off “no longer holds true or never did,” the highest level of skepticism in more than a decade. The pessimism spans political and demographic lines. While Republicans are slightly less gloomy than Democrats—consistent with the tendency for the party out of power to hold a darker view—majorities across gender, age, education, and income levels express anxiety about their future prospects.

Despite recent improvements in how people rate the current economy, concerns linger. Inflation, job security, and the soaring cost of housing weigh heavily. Only 17% now view the United States as having the world’s best economy, down sharply from just a few years ago. Many respondents across income brackets report feeling economically fragile, even when their finances are solid on paper.

Since the pandemic, economic mood has soured, even as metrics like unemployment and the stock market suggest resilience. Economists suggest today’s unease may be rooted less in current conditions and more in uncertainty about the future. A similar question in a July poll by Quinnipiac University found that 50% of respondents were also souring on the American dream, per the Miami Herald.

What say you…..is the American Dream deceased?

Can it ever be revived?

Well can it?

How much more must the American people suffer before someone steps up and leads?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What Happened To The ‘American Dream’?

All of our lives we have heard about the American Dream….that one should aspire to this concept at all costs….family, home, good job, etc etc….but just what does this ‘American Dream’ really mean?

The term “American dream” refers to the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or their socio-economic status, can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone.

The American dream is believed to be achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance.

The term was coined by writer and historian James Truslow Adams in his best-selling 1931 book “Epic of America.” He described it as “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.

Adams went on to explain: “It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motorcars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/american-dream.asp

If interested here is a brief history of the so-called American Dream….

Let’s go as far back as John Adams….

Adams, worshipping material success was not the definition of the American dream: It was, by contrast, the failure of “the American dream of a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank.” Adams did not mean “richer” materially, but spiritually; he distinguished the American dream from dreams of prosperity. It was, he declared, “not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”

That repudiation is crucial, but almost always overlooked when this famous passage is quoted. Adams specifically gainsays the idea that the American dream is of material success. The American dream, according to Adams, was about collective moral character: It was a vision of “commonweal,” common well-being, well-being that is held in common and therefore mutually supported.

https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/state-of-the-american-dream/churchwell-history-of-the-american-dream

But times are different and the old ‘American Dream’ is no longer.

According to a report from Moody’s Analytics in February, the richest 10 percent of Americans (households with an annual income of at least $250,000) drove half of all US consumer spending (about $10 trillion) between September 2023 and September 2024.

The fact that 12.7 million households could collectively outspend much of the rest of the nation is truly jaw-dropping. It points to the end of an economy that has depended primarily on the needs-based and discretionary spending of ordinary working Americans since the end of World War II.

The biggest surprise of all on the end of the American dream, though, is that for tens of millions of Americans, this is not a surprise. The dismantling of the American dream and the consumer capitalism that defined the nation from 1945 through the housing bubble bust in 2008 began more than a half-century ago.

…

The US, then, is back to its pre-Great Depression economy. Except that in 2025, it’s an economy in which the consumer habits of the wealthiest 10 percent have an outsized influence compared with the bottom 300 million Americans. One cannot truly have consumer capitalism if most consumers cannot make enough money to afford to rent or buy a home, take a vacation, or even pay for food and basic healthcare. But this was the end goal of wealthy Americans pretty much all along, with help from both political parties. Any remaining American dream is but a mere fantasy these days. All because all the on-ramps to general middle-class prosperity have been carpet-bombed.

(aje.com)

Sorry but the American Dream has been over for awhile just too many still want to believe.

What to do?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”