So growing up, I had this idea that the American dream was about that if you put in an honest amount of work, you would be rewarded with a good life. This would mean you would be able to take care of yourself and your family, afford a car and a house. In my view, working one job would probably be enough.
Nowadays, I get the idea that the American dream has become about working your ass off in order to have a chance to become a millionaire. Somehow glorifying “the grind” appears to be a part of it too now.
The American dream has been slipping out of reach gradually since the 80s, but people just keep hoping real hard about it; poll done about a year ago shows that close to half of Americans think they’ll be billionaires one day.
Edit: The poll more accurately says nearly half of Americans think it’s possible they’ll be billionaires. Which is, for all practical purposes, no less wrong.
Aka people who don’t realize how much a billion dollars is and what you have to do to get it. That is, have rich parents, to start with.
the dream is well and alive for those in the top 10%. They are the ones who are culturally dominate. All the writers in the media, etc. As well as the doctors, lawyers, business people, etc. They live in a exclusive bubble and they don’t associate with the bottom 90%.
They see the rest of us as just lazy idiots who should have ‘worked harder’ like they did, by having parents that can afford to pay for your housing and education into adulthood.
That explains all the writers for popular TV, movies, and book series who are living in quads eating ramen in the their 30s. The reason there’s massive a doctors shortage is because people with money don’t want to go into a low paying position, and people without money can’t afford to make $30k year during their residency as their student loans go into repayment. The only way to become rich as a doctor now is to patent something, which is not why most people become doctors. Lawyers who make top sums all come from 16ish very expensive schools and are often legacies. And the gold rush of getting into tech companies and then falling into success is almost entirely over. If you’re not born wealthy there are fewer opportunities every day to change that.
Reganonomics
Biden is Reagan’s 11th term. But go on believing the gaslighting that the economy is doing well.
I think glorifying the grind has come naturally along with most people not being able to afford all of the previous generation’s big landmark goals like homes and things.
Kind of like how the move towards more employment options for women naturally came with the death of the single-earner household.
That’s just Instagram. The american dream, which is to be a company man and work the same job til youre 65 and live in a house with a nice yard and 2 cars and all that is still around, it’s just out of reach for most people whereas it wasn’t a generation or two ago.
I think the American dream implied that if you put in honest hard work you could be successful.
I found that personally true for myself, transcending from low income to being a millionaire in my 30s. But I know that it has not worked out for some.
Factors that complicated this are numerous. Some are obvious such as the globalizing economy, as well as the increased deviousness of the ultra wealthy in their ability to influence public policy.
One factor I feel like we don’t discuss enough is just the heightened potency and addictiveness that we are able to market and manufacture products. It’s so targeted now that to me it seems that we are preying on the low income and draining them of their wealth by convincing them to spend money frivolously.
The last sentence, I think youre right. Well, not “we” I’m not, but some people are.
When politicians talk about stimulating the economy, stimulating spending, that’s what they’re talking about: incentivize everyone to blow their money and save nothing. Then when it’s time to get elected they say things like “most people can’t afford a $500 emergency without going into debt!”
That’s basically what I was raised to believe too. The American Dream is supposed to be a house, a car, a family and a good job. But at some point, that did change to ‘you could be rich like them one day’ and I’m not sure when.
