American Dream
Many of us are wondering if the American Dream is real or if it is just a dream. What is the American Dream? On the one hand, the American Dream used to be having a nice paying job, be able to afford a nice house, having a decent vehicle, having health, vision, and dental insurance, as well as having social security for a pension. The American Dream was also the ability to afford having a stay home mother to take care of the kids, and for those kids to be able to obtain a good education, and to be able to provide housing and food. In fact, back in the 1950’s, the unemployment rate was low and therefore the American Dream was not as difficult to achieve. On the other hand, what is the American Dream today? Would we be able to call it the American Dream when the unemployment rate is so high? Or working for a company that is unstable, that you do not know when they may go out of business or simply fire you? Could the American Dream be achieved today knowing that employee medical benefits, and 401K’s retirement plans, and social security pension plans may soon be taken away? How is the American dream viewed today by both Americans and immigrants?
For example, in the 1950’s golden years, in California for instance, everyone seemed to be doing good financially, and otherwise. Californians were leaving the true American Dream. The unemployment rate was low, about 3%, (Starr, 1950). Californians were able to afford nice houses with nice layouts and high end, E.G, appliances were popular. (Kurutz, 2013). In addition, they drove nice vehicles, the public education was very good, new highways were been built, and there were good paying jobs. They were also able to afford homes with swimming pools in their back yards, in fact, every other home had a swimming pool. California’s population of only 2 million in the 1900’s had a boom and reached 10 million by 1960 (Starr, 1950). That was the perfect American Dream, people had work benefits, good retirement plans, nice houses, access to good quality education, stay home mothers, a booming economy, and everyone wanted a piece of that cake.
The American Dream today, however, is nothing but a nightmare, or perhaps a myth. To begin with, the housing market is not for all, lenders are having more restrictions than ever, and homeowners are afraid to sell, big corporations are laying people off and paying lower wages to the ones that stay, medical benefits are not as popular anymore, and social security may disappear sooner than later. Now, we cannot blame the people for aspiring to have a better future as they get older, and for their children to have one as well. However, the so called American Dream today, is a myth.(Whiting, 2004). In addition, The American Dream promised a better future for immigrants, and is still viewed as the American dream by new immigrants, but could it be just a mythical dream? (Partridge, 2001). For many immigrants, including myself, the opportunities that American provided in the past, are now different. Many immigrants are exchanging family tides, love and friends for a better education and freedom in the USA and perhaps insolation (Springate, 2010). Perhaps, for many immigrants, if we want to follow the myth of the American Dream here in the USA, we should ask ourselves if we are capable to exchange what really makes us happy, family, friends, etc, for the land of the opportunities and democracy.
So, what exactly is the American Dream today? Although, many people still believe in the American Dream, statistics show something different. In the last two decades, the middle class has decreased and the poor has increased. Further, we could say that there are winners and losers, it is the law of the jungle, the stronger and the smarter and the greedy always survive. While one single person as the financier Michael Milken earns per day $1.5 million others are losing their homes and many others are homeless. In Contrast, today’s poor comparing to 1972 are in worse shape than what the poor were then. No wonder many people do not believe in the American Dream, because the middle class from the last two decades from 1970 to 1990 because the proportion of the American’s income is 25,000 to 49,000 as it was reported by the Census Bureau in early September, the 14% of Americans are now living below poverty line (Topolnicki & Schnepf, 1992). Whereas unemployment is also worse than in the 1950’s, Today's’ unemployment as April of 2015 and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics is at Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (5.1 percent), adult women (4.9 percent), teenagers (17.5 percent), whites (4.7 percent), blacks (10.1 percent), Asians (3.2 percent), and Hispanics (6.8 percent) showed little or no change in March (Bureau, 2015) and the jobs don’t offer pensions any more and the health insurance is outrages.
Today, we have two aspects of what the American Dream is in reality, but looking back many of us have been slaves to their homes to work to pay only the mortgage. For many americans a better and richer life is to own their own home, but for many it means to go bankrupt. Another fact, is that many American,s that are homeowners feel obligated to stay in one place and to stay in a job that they don’t like. In fact, the rule to own a home should be to pay between 25% to 30% of you income for housing, but the reality is that people actually pay more for housing, without thinking that you also have to count for transportation, clothing, utilities, food and health care etc. Obama proposed to extend mortgage to 40 year term instead of 30 to help reduce the monthly mortgage to 38% of the income and according to Florida this is outrages (Florida, 2009). Far from a naive cliche on the interest to follow the American Dream we can see many foreclosures, students with high debts on student loans and credit cards to survive and many unemployments (Demetri, 2014). The American Dream is nothing but a heritage cliche say (Hauhart, 2015).
So, if you are still believe that the American Dream, for many had died or was never a life, many of us do believe and have a hope that the American Dream is still out there and if we want to reach it. But if you do, make sure that you hold it, or it may go thru your fingers as if it were water. Let’s all hope that the American Dream can be reach to everyone and not just for few, that everyone can make about the same amount of money and not just one person. Let’s all hope that one day the golden dream could be back again as one time existed in California and that everyone can find a job as easy as that and that education can also be reach to our future generations and not just to few. So if you are still believe in the American Dream go for it!
Reference page citation
Demetri, Lallas. (2014). From the People, by the People, to the People’: The American Dream (s) Debut.
Florida, Richard. (2009). Rent Out the American Dream. USA Today.
Hauhart, Robert. (2015). American Dream. American Sociologist. Vol. 46 Issue 1, p65-98. 34p.
Kurutz, S. (2013). Celebrating the Fab in Prefab, 50’s Style: [House & Home/Style Desk]. New York Times.
Patridge, Jeffrey F. L. (2001). Extreme Specialization and the Broad Highway: Approaching Contemporary American Fiction. Studies in the Novel. Winter2001, vol. 33 issues 4, P459-470. 14p.
Springate, Kristine, (2010,August) At What Price the American Dream?. Community College Week. Vol. 23 Issue 1, p4-4. 3/4p.
Starr, Kevin, (1950-1963). Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance. California State: New America Foundation.
Topolnicki, Denise M., & Schnepf, James. (1992). Money. Personal Finance, vol. 21 Issue 10, p98. 16p.
United States Department of Labor. (2015, April 3). Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved May 3, 2015, from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
Whiting, Frederick. (2004). American Dream, American Nightmare: Fiction Since 1960” by Kathryn Hume. University of Alabama.
Many of us are wondering if the American Dream is real or if it is just a dream. What is the American Dream? On the one hand, the American Dream used to be having a nice paying job, be able to afford a nice house, having a decent vehicle, having health, vision, and dental insurance, as well as having social security for a pension. The American Dream was also the ability to afford having a stay home mother to take care of the kids, and for those kids to be able to obtain a good education, and to be able to provide housing and food. In fact, back in the 1950’s, the unemployment rate was low and therefore the American Dream was not as difficult to achieve. On the other hand, what is the American Dream today? Would we be able to call it the American Dream when the unemployment rate is so high? Or working for a company that is unstable, that you do not know when they may go out of business or simply fire you? Could the American Dream be achieved today knowing that employee medical benefits, and 401K’s retirement plans, and social security pension plans may soon be taken away? How is the American dream viewed today by both Americans and immigrants?
For example, in the 1950’s golden years, in California for instance, everyone seemed to be doing good financially, and otherwise. Californians were leaving the true American Dream. The unemployment rate was low, about 3%, (Starr, 1950). Californians were able to afford nice houses with nice layouts and high end, E.G, appliances were popular. (Kurutz, 2013). In addition, they drove nice vehicles, the public education was very good, new highways were been built, and there were good paying jobs. They were also able to afford homes with swimming pools in their back yards, in fact, every other home had a swimming pool. California’s population of only 2 million in the 1900’s had a boom and reached 10 million by 1960 (Starr, 1950). That was the perfect American Dream, people had work benefits, good retirement plans, nice houses, access to good quality education, stay home mothers, a booming economy, and everyone wanted a piece of that cake.
The American Dream today, however, is nothing but a nightmare, or perhaps a myth. To begin with, the housing market is not for all, lenders are having more restrictions than ever, and homeowners are afraid to sell, big corporations are laying people off and paying lower wages to the ones that stay, medical benefits are not as popular anymore, and social security may disappear sooner than later. Now, we cannot blame the people for aspiring to have a better future as they get older, and for their children to have one as well. However, the so called American Dream today, is a myth.(Whiting, 2004). In addition, The American Dream promised a better future for immigrants, and is still viewed as the American dream by new immigrants, but could it be just a mythical dream? (Partridge, 2001). For many immigrants, including myself, the opportunities that American provided in the past, are now different. Many immigrants are exchanging family tides, love and friends for a better education and freedom in the USA and perhaps insolation (Springate, 2010). Perhaps, for many immigrants, if we want to follow the myth of the American Dream here in the USA, we should ask ourselves if we are capable to exchange what really makes us happy, family, friends, etc, for the land of the opportunities and democracy.
So, what exactly is the American Dream today? Although, many people still believe in the American Dream, statistics show something different. In the last two decades, the middle class has decreased and the poor has increased. Further, we could say that there are winners and losers, it is the law of the jungle, the stronger and the smarter and the greedy always survive. While one single person as the financier Michael Milken earns per day $1.5 million others are losing their homes and many others are homeless. In Contrast, today’s poor comparing to 1972 are in worse shape than what the poor were then. No wonder many people do not believe in the American Dream, because the middle class from the last two decades from 1970 to 1990 because the proportion of the American’s income is 25,000 to 49,000 as it was reported by the Census Bureau in early September, the 14% of Americans are now living below poverty line (Topolnicki & Schnepf, 1992). Whereas unemployment is also worse than in the 1950’s, Today's’ unemployment as April of 2015 and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics is at Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (5.1 percent), adult women (4.9 percent), teenagers (17.5 percent), whites (4.7 percent), blacks (10.1 percent), Asians (3.2 percent), and Hispanics (6.8 percent) showed little or no change in March (Bureau, 2015) and the jobs don’t offer pensions any more and the health insurance is outrages.
Today, we have two aspects of what the American Dream is in reality, but looking back many of us have been slaves to their homes to work to pay only the mortgage. For many americans a better and richer life is to own their own home, but for many it means to go bankrupt. Another fact, is that many American,s that are homeowners feel obligated to stay in one place and to stay in a job that they don’t like. In fact, the rule to own a home should be to pay between 25% to 30% of you income for housing, but the reality is that people actually pay more for housing, without thinking that you also have to count for transportation, clothing, utilities, food and health care etc. Obama proposed to extend mortgage to 40 year term instead of 30 to help reduce the monthly mortgage to 38% of the income and according to Florida this is outrages (Florida, 2009). Far from a naive cliche on the interest to follow the American Dream we can see many foreclosures, students with high debts on student loans and credit cards to survive and many unemployments (Demetri, 2014). The American Dream is nothing but a heritage cliche say (Hauhart, 2015).
So, if you are still believe that the American Dream, for many had died or was never a life, many of us do believe and have a hope that the American Dream is still out there and if we want to reach it. But if you do, make sure that you hold it, or it may go thru your fingers as if it were water. Let’s all hope that the American Dream can be reach to everyone and not just for few, that everyone can make about the same amount of money and not just one person. Let’s all hope that one day the golden dream could be back again as one time existed in California and that everyone can find a job as easy as that and that education can also be reach to our future generations and not just to few. So if you are still believe in the American Dream go for it!
Reference page citation
Demetri, Lallas. (2014). From the People, by the People, to the People’: The American Dream (s) Debut.
Florida, Richard. (2009). Rent Out the American Dream. USA Today.
Hauhart, Robert. (2015). American Dream. American Sociologist. Vol. 46 Issue 1, p65-98. 34p.
Kurutz, S. (2013). Celebrating the Fab in Prefab, 50’s Style: [House & Home/Style Desk]. New York Times.
Patridge, Jeffrey F. L. (2001). Extreme Specialization and the Broad Highway: Approaching Contemporary American Fiction. Studies in the Novel. Winter2001, vol. 33 issues 4, P459-470. 14p.
Springate, Kristine, (2010,August) At What Price the American Dream?. Community College Week. Vol. 23 Issue 1, p4-4. 3/4p.
Starr, Kevin, (1950-1963). Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance. California State: New America Foundation.
Topolnicki, Denise M., & Schnepf, James. (1992). Money. Personal Finance, vol. 21 Issue 10, p98. 16p.
United States Department of Labor. (2015, April 3). Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved May 3, 2015, from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
Whiting, Frederick. (2004). American Dream, American Nightmare: Fiction Since 1960” by Kathryn Hume. University of Alabama.