Is The American Dream Still Alive And Reasonably Attainable?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

[raccoon]

1. Need you ask? nt

[dkf]

2. We've overspent so our future is pretty bleak

[Palmer Eldritch]

3. way to qualify the statement so you ensure the result you aimed for.

why didn't you just go with "Is the American Dream still alive and easy as pie to achieve?"

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. Because, Palmer, There Is A Difference Between Easy And Reasonable

Palmer, if you think "easy" and "reasonable" are synonymous there is nothing I can do to disabuse you of that notion.

[Palmer Eldritch]

18. But if you had asked "Is the American Dream still alive?"

You wouldn't have got the dramatic response that you crave.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. I Think Sans The Qualifier The Results Would Be More Lopsided

To me the American Dream is a nice home, a nice car, and a nice family, and hope for the future. To achieve it you should get a good education and be prepared to work hard. But the dream should be reasonably attainable. You shouldn't have to be extraordinary.

[Uben]

4. It's still alive.....it's a dream!

Although, today it is much harder to attain than years past. Just a few years ago, a young man or woman without a college degree could find a good paying manufacturing job that had decent benefits and gave them an opportunity to better their life by buying a home and amenities. Today, as we all know, those jobs are few and far between.

[FreeJoe]

13. I agree

It is still alive and, in many ways, even easier for some - professionals with skills in demand. For many, many others, particularly unskilled labor or those with skills no longer in demand, it is getting much harder.

Reminds me of some advice I got from a neighbor when I was a teen. He told me that I had it easy. I just had to get good grades in high school and keep my math skills up, go to a good college and earn a good degree, get a good job with advancement opportunities, work hard, keep your expenses well below your income, maintain liquidity, stay single till I was in my late twenties, marry well, don't have kids till my thirties. Do all that without making a single mistake or having a bad month and life will be easy.

[bemildred]

6. No, and it was always a bad idea anyway. nt

[Newest Reality]

7. Sure,

but like Carlin said, you have to keep your eyes closed to see it.

Dream on!

You can achieve it by picking yourself up by your bootstraps, I hear. That Western Zen always farts on my cookies.

[Starry Messenger]

8. No, it was always an illusion.

It suited the interests of profit to have a strong consumer sector for a few decades. Now, they are going overseas for that. No more "American Dream".

[robcon]

9. Yes, it's still coming true.

Every generation has it better than the previous one.

[Goblinmonger]

11. I believe the current generation is in line to be the first

that will not be better educated than their parents.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. It's Also The First Generation That Might Not Live As Long As Its Parents

~

[Goblinmonger]

10. F. Scott Fitzgerald knew that the American Dream was dead in the 1920s.

The rich are different and will never accept the unwashed masses.

[marmar]

14. That American Dream, whatever it was.......

is dead. ...... A new one focused on community and cooperation, rather than individualistic materialism, has got to emerge.

[Newest Reality]

15. That is the key!

The new American Reality can emerge. It is the one you can see, feel and hear. It is local and based on community, cooperation and sharing.

Even if you are not environmentally concerned, the economics of energy and resources are an important aspect of where we are heading. Low-energy living is possible and sustainable with the right techniques. We have some weaning to do, first.

If we can begin to move away from the stronghold of corporatist dominance, we have something far more tangible than dreams and hope to achieve.

[kirby]

16. Trick question - which America? n/t

[Hand_With_Eyes]

17. The Obama commission deal effectively ends the American dream

Something the republicans have been trying to do for decades.