American Dream

In my opinion the American dream has changed through the years, and it has changed a few times as a matter of a fact. At early years of American republic the American dream was closely connected to the adventurous spirit, willingness to explore new lands to the west and often ability to fight for what is discovered.

That adventurous spirit took even more adventurous meaning in gold rush years in California where no laws were established, and the state itself was in transition between being a part of Mexico and becoming a state of the United States.

In the 19th century the most articulate immigrants to the United States were the well-educated refugees who fled the failed revolution in Germany in 1848. They often compared the two countries, laying great stress on the political freedoms in the New World, and the lack of a hierarchical or aristocratic society that determined the ceiling for individual aspirations. One of them explained:

”The German emigrant comes into a country free from the despotism, privileged orders and monopolies, intolerable taxes, and constraints in matters of belief and conscience. Everyone can travel and settle wherever he pleases. No passport is demanded, no police mingles in his affairs or hinders his movements....Fidelity and merit are the only sources of honor here. The rich stand on the same footing as the poor; the scholar is not a mug above the most humble mechanics; no German ought to be ashamed to pursue any occupation....[In America] wealth and possession of real estate confer not the least political right on its owner above what the poorest citizen has. Nor are there nobility, privileged orders, or standing armies to weaken the physical and moral power of the people, nor are there swarms of public functionaries to devour in idleness credit for. Above all, there are no princes and corrupt courts representing the so-called divine 'right of birth.' In such a country the talents, energy and perseverance of a person...have far greater opportunity to display than in monarchies."

Just from this testimony you can tell how much has changed since then, which of course is expected just because over a century has passed.

The term “American Dream” itself was established, however, only in 1931. Historian James Truslow Adams popularized it in his book Epic of America: “The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, also too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is 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.”

Interestingly, at the same time when James Adams has wrote his book, there were people who saw the situation in America a lot differently. Since the 1920s, numerous authors, such as Sinclair Lewis in his 1922 novel Babbitt, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his 1925 classic, The Great Gatsby, satirized or ridiculed materialism in the chase for the American dream. Within 'The Great Gatsby', Gatsby - the character representative of the American dream was killed, symbolizing the pessimistic belief that the American dream is dead.

In 1949 Arthur Miller wrote the play "Death of a Salesman" in which the American Dream is a fruitless pursuit. 20th century stand-up comedian, actor and author George Carlin famously wrote the joke "it's called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it." Carlin pointed to "the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions" as having a greater influence than an individual's choice.

While most people account something more than just material belongings into the American dream, there is no question that materialism is a big part of it. Home ownership is one of the most motivating parts of that materialism. And of course, owning a house is a nice thing, however, driving force to own a house became so important that many people would do anything to achieve it even taking on huge mortgages and putting a burden on themselves for thirty years which financially is not always smart (almost never is). Many business entities, like banks and realtors took advantage of that, giving loans almost to anyone because almost anyone was ready to accept it. That eventually created a bubble and caused the economic crisis in 2007 after which we still have a tough time to move forward.

Let’s look at some statistics of American society today. 45 percent of Americans define themselves as middle class, but in 2010, in the middle of economic crisis, 41% of those were struggling to maintain their lifestyle and social status. 39% of Americans see themselves as working class or less well-off than that, and 14 percent as upper-middle class or better off. Average incomes for people who call themselves middle class are about $55,000 a year, vs. about $35,000 for those who call themselves working class or lower and about $95,000 for those who say they’re upper-middle class or better off.

American class is definitely hit the hardest by the crisis, and here is a bit more statistics to show it:
The sharpest deterioration in middle-class financial security is associated with the cost of a medical emergency. Americanprogress.org estimated that only 33.9 percent of families had enough wealth in 2007 to cover the cost of a medical emergency, down from 35.0 percent in 2005 and 43.7 percent in 2000 (See table on page 3). This deterioration comes as a result of less wealth and higher costs of medical emergencies.

Drops in personal wealth have contributed to the decline in middle-class financial security. Because house prices started to fall and debt continued to rise in 2007, the same organization also observed the share of families who could weather an unspecified emergency equal to three months of income decrease to 29.4 percent in 2007, from 30.5 percent in 2005 and 39.4 percent in 2000.

The share of families who had enough resources to cover a spell of unemployment has declined since 2000. In 2007, 44.1 percent of families had enough wealth to cover a spell of unemployment, little changed from 44.0 percent in 2005 but still down from 51.0 percent in 2000. Unfortunately, the 2007 data likely reflect only a temporary respite from decline since the labor market has substantially deteriorated in 2008, beyond the time series data presented here.

Here is even more disturbing statistics to show how well – or not at all – middle class is really in doing. 

Source: William Domhoff

(http://www.mybudget360.com/top-1-percent-control-42-percent-of-financial-wealth-in-the-us-how-average-americans-are-lured-into-debt-servitude-by-promises-of-mega-wealth/)

As we see from that graph, 42 percent of financial wealth is controlled by the top 1 percent. Bottom 80% which includes middle class owns only 7% of financial wealth. Is that American Dream? And can it continue that way?

What is the American Dream today? Does it still exist? Interesting to know what majority of people think about that. Results from polls collected by Hanson and Zogby in the past two decades are used to examine trends in attitudes about the American Dream. Most Americans continued to believe that working hard is the most important element for getting ahead in the United States. However, in some surveys, an increasing minority of Americans reported that this hard work and determination does not guarantee success. A majority of respondents believe that achieving the American Dream will be more difficult for future generations, although this majority is becoming smaller. Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the opportunity for the working class to get ahead and increasingly optimistic about the opportunity for the poor and immigrants to get ahead in the United States.

I am an immigrant, I came to the United States of America eleven years ago, in June of 2001. I stayed here mainly because of the American Dream, the countless opportunities I saw in this country. Only in this country I could possibly do anything I could think of and achieve everything I have dreamt of. I would be relatively successful in any country in the world, but I would stop short of my own potential, I would not get a chance to explore all my talents and skills. Only the United States of America could give me that.

The economic crisis started in 2007 has hurt a lot of people, especially middle class, but I believe, American Dream is still alive, although it definitely has changed.

There are a few factors that present in American society today that make me believe in the American dream that anything is still possible:

1. American Constitution – freedom of speech, freedom of expressing yourself and freedom to live your life the way you want are provided to any (legal) resident of the United States. This creates a truly unique situation for people to be able to apply themselves creatively in any legal way.

2. Legal system, including taxes – legal system has been developed in this country in favor of businesses, entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators. While laws protect all people equally, many tax laws, corporate laws, copyright and patent laws create perfect conditions for progress and building fortunes.

3. People with American dream mentality and no judgment towards others – it is not as easy to build your life one way when people around you are building it the other way and expect you to do the same. In short, it is not easy to go against traditions, standards, expectations, cold judgments, envy etc. In America no matter what your dreams are, people can understand, relate and even help you to achieve them. There are successful and happy people in US of different nationalities, races, skin color, sexual orientation, talent level, intelligence, abilities and ambitions. Whatever you want to do, you will find someone else who can relate to that and help you in your journey. It is not a coincidence that there are more self-help and how-to books published in America than any other country. In general, people want not only to be successful themselves, but help others to do the same, and America leads the way. That can’t be underestimated.

4. American history – Americans take pride of their history as they should. There were struggles, as in anything worthwhile. But at the end, American history is full of non-stop development, progress, innovation, discoveries and contribution to the world. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, the Wright brothers, Albert Einstein and many others have changed the world with their work. Bill Gates has changed the world again in the 1980s, and many people today continue to follow the footsteps.

5. Economy – yes, even economy is one of the positive factors. The crisis has changed many things, and the situation is not that great for many people and businesses. However, according to the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. GDP is remarkable $14.870 trillion which constitutes 24% of the gross world product at market exchange rates and almost 21% of the gross world product at purchasing power parity (PPP). It is the world's number one producer of electrical and nuclear energy, as well as liquid natural gas, sulfur, phosphates, and salt. While agriculture accounts for less than 1% of GDP, the United States is the world's top producer of corn and soybeans. The New York Stock Exchange is the world's largest by dollar volume. There are many things to fix and improve in American economy, but it is the biggest consumer market in the world with the great amount of opportunities still in it.

About many of those opportunities we will talk on the pages of this forum.