America's rags-to-riches dream an illusion?
344997
In my opinion the American dream is dieing fast. The reasons. \n\nBig money owns the Gov and corruption is rampent. It always took money to make money but whether it be the old blood liberals or the new blood conservitives the rich today do not want compitition. Taxes make it really difficult to make the jump from making it to wealthy. To really make the jump almost requires breaking the law for a time until you can afford to hire the legions of accountants and tax attorneys to legally keep your money. This means not having wealthy enemies such as the Clintons who use political office to attack foes from the past. Notice how independent political organizations always see the leaders and benifactors in tax trouble? \n\nLending institutions are designed to cater to the wealthy. So it's hard to get start up money. Even once you do, the good ole boy attitude among those who control resoruces in an area mean you fit in or you get crushed by local governments, banks and other organizations. \n\nThere just isn't a lot of money left in the US not in the hands of the rich already. Jobs are exported, wage scales decreased. Who can save enough money to convert a dream into reality? The middle class has almost disapeered. Only the wealthy and the top end of the middle class can save any more. Even many "wealthy" live hand to mouth. Remove their income for a single month and they will potentially lose everything. \n\nFriends help friends. So people with money tend to know each other from schools, colleges and industries they work in. Far more difficult to get a break if you don't know the right people. \n\nThe wealthy cannot afford liquid assets any more. Most are paper wealthy. That is they might officially be rich but what they are rich in is debt. We are fast becoming a nation that has replaced wealth with debt in how we measure success. Few wealthy people could sell everything they owned and actually pay back all of their debt. Most wealthy people think they are actually middle class. \n\nEducation is a huge factor as well. The more wealthy you are the better a school you went too. The better your school the better you tend to do academically. The better you do academically the better chances you have at higher paying jobs, scholarships and such. The wealthy can actually afford to pay for collage. Working your way through college is fast becoming a myth today. \n\nA bigger issue is cultural splitting. Instead of the single culture found in America much of this century various ethnic and economic enclaves have become predominient. They have been there all along but today they find voice in the mainstream media. The message not how to suceed but how to stay in that same poverty ridden cycle. Work ethic is unheard of in some of these cultures. Schools tend to be violence ridden and full of students who have to be there to avoid getting their parents arrested. Exporting the students does not help the cultural attitude towards education. That has to start in the home. There has to be a tangible future attached to getting an education. Hard to motivate somebody to do well in high school when they know college is a pipe dream. This cultural adversity affects students of all races. It is an economic not ethnic issue. \n\nFixing it requires first getting rid of the current corruption. Until the corruption is lifted it will furthor poison the American dream. The second crucial aspect is that  people have to adopt core of the American culture. That is the strong worth ethic, sense of fairness, pride in being American. Without that we are lost no matter what we do. We can combine social compassion with this, there is nothing that precludes such. Without the core ideas though no idea will work.\n\n----\nAdded in response to another response. \nBill Gates came from a wealthy family. He is no rags to riches story.
432456
No, there is still a "middle class" and they are the ones that get the shaft all of the time. We are quickly closing the gap between the poor and middle class though and it WILL become a 2 tier society. I'm not sure the rich are going to like being the ones to have to keep this country afloat when we are reduced to a 2 tier society.\n\nk.m.
885234
you have a great point. you could consider anyone in the middle class(which is disappearing) a slave b/c the national cost of living is exceeding the value of our printed money. everyone knows that the middle/lower class works for the upper class to get rich, history hasn't changed that and i don't think anything will.
373804
Our culture has become one of consumption and materialism.  Americans feel entitled to material wealth, and we value money above almost everything else, although few would admit it!  It's disgusting, really, when you look at the gap between rich and poor in this country.
1033225
No, I don't think It's possible for "ANY" American citizen to acheive Financial success. Or Quote theAmerican Dream. I've worked all my life  and have seen many older people who have also worked all their lives and seen people take everything away from them. People have become victim to their own Governmnt who takes away their pensions, their homes, and even their families. The U.S, is so stressed out from all these hassles. there are many walks of life here in america yet they keep searching for an answer and a place to stay because they just can't afford the things they use to because of this ridiculous inflations. So, yes, it is only a dream not reality.  The reality is "we" work to barely survive.
1108237
The implication is oxymoronic. Like I say to all working class republicans, "You're not rich enough to be a Republican!"
754036
I wouldn't say that is 'Corporate America', but the republicans/Conservatives  who use that propaganda, even though both corporate and Conservatives want an unchecked, uneducated cheap labor pool.\n\n Not poor but middle class.
1000477
Yes it does and this is unfortunate, it goes against my belief that if you lift from the bottom, you lift the whole society. I use the example of three boxes, with the top box being the rich and the middle as just that, and the bottom being the poor. If you lift just the top box that is all that you move leaving the other two behind. But if you lift from the bottom then you lift all three boxes and society benefits as the standard of living goes up for all. This is why I am so against the repuglican agenda of tax cuts for the very rich, or supply side economics. We saw in the Clinton administration an example of consumer driven economics the rich got richer and so did the poor and middle class. The economy boomed. It did not take Bush long to end all of that with supply side economics did it.
221635
It is a theory that has been around for a while.  President Reagan heavily believed in this while his vice presdient Bush called it voo doo economics.\n\nThe theory is that the more you make rich people rich, the more they will increase jobs, spend money which creates a ripple effect in your economy benefiting everyone.\n\nHowever what tends to happen is the gap between rich and poor become greater.  The best solution is for companies to pay people better, not ship jobs overseas and cause unemployement, and not layoff people every quarter to increase bottom line profit margins.  When you do this people have more, spend more, and more is created to meet the demand.
107359
The American Dream is not a single dream.  It includes all the dreams of each person to become what they believe is the best they can be.  \n\nAs a dream it still exists.  Unfortunately it is easier for ruthless bastards who are willing to do anything at the expense of others to succeed than for those who are simply trying to live a fruitful and full life.\n\nIf we can get past the consumerism that is constantly forced down our throats; if we could be a little more caring for others; the American dream would surely be more available to us all.
459286
Capitalism. America will either move towards Socialism or die under the weight of the insane amount of materialism we've created. Rich people want more and more and don't want to share, poor people want what the rich people have, and the middle class are only slaves to materialism. It's been proven the divide between upper and lower classes is quickly increasing. I can walk down any street in my city and see the dirt poor wiping the asses of the wealthy, it's sickening. It can't last much longer though. Just a matter of time before it crumbles.
810068
Wow you have posted this 3 times huh?  But I am in agreement... when middle class America ceases to exist and you only have Poor and Rich..... Then Poor America will have to have a Civil Right Movement.... would serve them right for being so greedy
462640
Yes.\n\nThis administrations sole goal is to make millionaires richer.  Republicans don’t seem to be aware of the chain reaction caused by neglecting the needy, but they end up paying for this neglect with higher crime rates, paying higher medical costs, and paying for higher prison populations.  They appear to be oblivious of the repercussions of having a society with a wide gap between poverty and wealth.\n\nThey tend to be less realistic.  They live their lives in a box; not looking outside of the box to get the big picture.  As long as them and their children have good health care, plenty of food, good educations and a comfortable living, they don’t see anything wrong.\n\nThis narrow view of the world causes America’s needy children to be neglected, people to go without proper housing, educations and health care.  In the long run they pay for this neglect, but can’t see beyond the box.\n\nAs for morality, I’ve never seen so much hypocrisy.  On one hand they claim to be such great Christians while on the other they ignore the teachings of Jesus which commanded we must take care of our neighbor, feed the hungry, and care for the sick.\n\nRepublicans live in a fantasy world and when their house gets broken into or they have to pay outrages hospital bills, they wonder why these things happen.
873817
I would argue it is neither of the last two choices you gave. \n\nEqual rights... far from true. Sure better than a lot of countries but take equal rights for women as an example, the USA is ranked 23 in the world concerning that.\n\nFreedom of Expression... the Republican party has converted our country into a country that now punished you for having a political opinion. IE, the Dixie Chics\n\nFreedom to make money... only if you are born into money or if you get lucky enough to have buddies or family loan you large amounts of money then can you become a grand success. IE, Gates and Michael Dell were both backed by rich uncles. A person that starts with nothing very RARELY makes it out of poverty. At most, they might get lucky enough to be on the bottom spectrum of middle class.
774412
America may be the land of the free but first and foremost its the land of the almighty !!!?dollar  the pursuit of wealth is the driving force in America and the fact that people go hungry in a wealthy society seems to be of little or no concern to most Americans least of all its President who is prepared to spend billions on a war that he cant win and who i believe recently made a cut to  the benefits that the Vietnamese war veterans are receiving,perhaps those soldiers fighting now in a lost cause should take note.
297402
Excellent observation.\n\nPretty soon there will be only very wealthy and poor individuals/families.  There is no job security anymore so how can anyone buy a house or other objects related to the "American Dream"?  The American dream has evolved into a nightmare.
87543
From where I see it most of it has disappeared into one or the other of the two.  We have very little middle ground anymore.  While many people  may be making the trip upward an awlful lot of the middle class has disappeared into the poorer class and have never moved anywhere so they do not even realize that they have done it.  The gap between the Rich and Poor is getting larger and larger with each new day.  Too many people have felt like they are from a throw away economy the way different job's have just disappeared with nothing to replace them with.  We live in a two income economy and wihout two incomes most families are not making it unless they are from the upper half of the scale.  As for me I am retired and have not figured out where I fit in yet.