The (Impossible) American Dream

Very enlightening article!

Pink Panther...

Not ALL of the manufacutering companies are stationed over seas. I happen to work for a very well off company stationed in Tampa, FL with the Manufacturing plant in our own backyard, with this being said, I know many other companies who also have plant's in the US.

As far as disabled...thank the govn'ment for it's gracious gifts (out of our tax dollars) for a small check to live on. Look at it from an emyployers stand point...you're already getting paid, if you happen to have disabilites that "enable" you to work, why hire? There are 2,000 other people who can do the samething as you fast better and arrive on time everyday, no excuses.

American dream, yes indeed.

Oh, yes. Social class in America. Job type, income, neighborhood, education. Well, there is something that trumps all of them- good character. The rest comes as a side-effect.

The American dream is about having freedom and individualism. All you talk as if it was about money. The American Dream will exist as long as individualism and freedom exist in the US, no matter how much things cost.

Degrees don't matter to Burger King as all the jobs your training prepared you for no longer exsist in this country called The Un-United States of America! The factories are closed,the manf sector is in the UK and now not only are all the multi-trillion pharm companies in the E.U. but so went the oil and gas companies like Halliburton who hold the people in this county hostage and demand 22 million to downsize and demand to be tax free for the next 20 YEARS as they to move to the U.K.??? Welcome to Bugerger King can i take your order please and they do not even hire the disabled where i live! Dreams or nitemares, American style:(

The writer missed a main point against his theory though he does mention it off handedly. When he said that black families often had no fathers so they miss the opportunity to have 2 wage earners. That's the main problem for people of all colors, not that there are no father but that in todays america there has't to be 2 wage earners in order to make it. This is a new development, and it is troubling. When both people in a couple have to work, when in a couple if one of them loses their job they lose their home. It used to be possible to raise your families standard of living and offer your children the chance to do better with just 1 person working. I am not speaking against women working I am one I'm speaking to the fact that today they have no choice in the matter.

The constant discussion of the "American Dream" ... what is the American Dream? The American dream is having the financial resources to do what you choose to bring you self satisfaction, whether that is to own your own home, have greater healthcare benefits, able to vacation wherever you choose when you want, or simply be able to live a financially stress free life as an American citizen. The point is, the dream is different for every individual.

For me, the American Dream would be to find the ideal job in order to support myself and family financially. I recently completed a Master's Degree in hopes that this would increase my chances. All I have to show for it is Student Loan Debt. My income hasn't changed and I'm actively pursuing career opportunities.

My question is, what did happen to the economy? Are these issues that have slowly creeped upon us or is this something that could have been forseen many years ago? What can the government do in an effort to promote change for the next generation or for the immediate future?

As a working woman who has went from an income of over $30k a year to an income of under $25K a year, while attending more college and getting more professional licenses, who has witnessed the price of housing in the Eugene/Springfield , OR. area escalate from 89K to over 200K in working class neighborhoods in under 5 yrs, who left the expensive and unaffordable SF Bay Area 5 yrs ago when I thought that the insanity of housing costs was limited to California ( wakeup call) I have watched as my personal "American Dream" is just to keep the rented roof over my head, feed my kids and pray that the 10 yr old car doesn't need repairs ! I have gone to college - have the 24K bill to show for it, and still the income I see in this area is an average of $8 - 12 an hour, and I have talked to enough people and employment agencies to understand that is the wage range here. I am not whining- just accepting the facts that those who know how to make money will, and the rest of us- we just work our a$$ off and pray to who ever that we wake up with a job, and that the rent doesn't go up !

If this Presidential candidate means what he is saying in his interviews, this is the person that We the People and the world MUST have as the next President of our United States. I personally would like to see him sign an affidavit regarding his campaign promises. Check this out: Candidates@Google: Ron Paul

This is the Dream of Dreams if only!

Before
If we spent 2 Billion dollars-A DAY, 2 Billion dollars CAME BACK into the American economy-A DAY, and 100 MILLION recouped in taxes-A DAY

TODAY
We spend 2 Billion+ dollars-A DAY, 300,000$, COMES BACK to the American economy-A DAY, and 100,000- recouped in taxes-A DAY

Bring back the great American war machine, to American soil, use the gas tax, as it was told to us, why, its there, ie: the roads
Hey
WE JUST EMPLOYED 12 MILLION, REBUILDING EVERYTHING, WITH ALT ENERGY, MAKING FAR MORE INCOME THAN MIN WAGE!

DEMOCRATIC CORE- RUN THE COUNTRY, NOT RULE THE WORLD!


MY MATH IS OFF! WE WOULD EMPLOY MORE LIKE 50 MILLION! REBUILDING FACTORIES, STAFFING THEM, BUILDING WIND FARMS, STAFFING THEM! ONE MILLION A DAY IN TAXES, AND COUNTING THE 2 BILLION SPENT INSIDE OUR BORDERS, A DAY! YA 50 MILLION EMPLOYED AT BETTER THAN MIN WAGE IS FAR CLOSER THAN JUST 12 MILLION EMPLOYED-SORRY FOLKS MY MATH WAS OFF-just economicly dreaming!!!

I joined the USMC at 17 books is not what i learned to do, and i do my job very well, and enjoyed it very much! Even when training the Taliban and Al-Queda in 79 till they let me go, but bagging and tagging 241 Marines was one of the last deployments of mine -i kill for a living, so my english suffers, but my insight is right on!! Deal with it we create our own problems and we bleed for them before during and after by plain stupidity! Kepp out the terrorist to late they had free passage in and out all through the 70-80 so to claim they are coming now is moronic, just as claiming our economy is strong just because all the highly paid CEOs who moved out of the USA are counted in this report and should be discounted if not one dime is spent inside our borders! We spend 2 BILLION a day and only 300,000 makes it back this is not the way of the great American war machine which during Nam employed Americans in America and all the money spent stayed inside our own borders, unlike today when OUR WAR supports the world, but not America!

I think that the author misses a crucial point. Not everyone measures their dreams in terms of dollars. I think that Americans as a whole are a whole lot more dissatisfied with their lives because they use what other's have as a yardstick to measure their worth. Believe it or not, there are places in this world where people have no running water or permanent shelter, yet they are happy. They are happy because everyone around them lives like that and they cannot see what they are missing. Americans are constantly bombarded with images in advertising and online; and it has the effect of making us feel inadequate.

Every time I am tempted to whine about the high cost of living here in the DC area, or the rising cost of healthcare, or the "middle class squeeze" that I can now count myself a part of since separating from the military: I count my blessings. I could be living in a country where I could not work, or even show my face because I am a woman.

Propereous? only if burger King is called a job which can support a family!!! aball if that is poor what do you call a life on 700 a month for the rest of your life all cause you were the designated driver and the unemployment rate for the disabled is 89% in an "At Will" state! I make to much for food stamps or medical as Medicare is not acceptable here and not taken by any doctor for 170 miles?? The dream is a nitemare and gets worst if you have kids of age in our military protecting those who danced in the streets when the WTC fell! If you take it from here it only gets worst or better if you can afford to buy Alpo or Gaines Burger for the grill both will allow you to live with a full belly once a day. unless you a Veteran! Here where i live we excort them all to the city borders and told to leave and never come back!! The native Americans walk in traffic drunk, this we allow, but not a homeless Veteran? An Associates degree gets you 6.50 an hr, or min wage, if lucky. Life is no dream not for a day not even for a min. We spend 44,000 a day for criminals, but I'm payed 8000 a year to obey the law, to be correct to say this statement, in this country, is just not right!! Let the nitemare continue!!

Despite the gap between the rich and poor in the United States, the actual picture is grossly distorted by politicians (garnering votes from constituents) and supporters of wealth redistribution through taxation. Being poor in America means two TV's and a car. In comparison, poor in Bangladesh means trying to find enough food to survive. Those who advocate socialist policies often forget that more rich means richer poor. The rich reinvest and capital flows north to south. Capitalism encourages investment and those with more money will invest more. It's a bell curve. There are those in American society who genuinely need help to survive and I won't deny that, but they are the exception and not the general rule.
Unfortunately, Americans often focus on what they do not have (myself included) instead of focusing on what they do have. This type of mentality is destructive. Besides, after we have taxed all of the wealthy, who (and what) is left to tax?

If the dream is just a dream, and it takes 2 incomes to float the boat - their is only one clear and factual explanation for it. Studies show that all aspects (transportation, food, power, housing, etc.) of a family's cost of living have decline as a percentage of household income in the last 30-40 years --- WITH the expection of 2 things - 1) housing and 2) taxes. Housing as a pertcentage is up slightly. Taxes as a percentage is through the roof - typically up 10X, depending on where you live. That increase in taxes primarily came from a large decrease in "disposable" income.

And of course the "household income" of 40 years ago was a single wage earner. Now it is 2 incomes...

Good food for thought as we enter this election. But it wont help IMO, as I have yet to hear a single canidate on either side discuss cutting the federal govt. spending. They talk about taxes all they time - raise them, dont raise them. - but no one talks about the real issue which is spending - not govt. income