Is the American Dream Possible or Impossible?

[DISUNC]

"(CNN) -- According to a new CNN poll, 54% of the public believes that it is impossible for most people in the U.S. to achieve the American dream. "

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/18/dream.feedback/index.html


So how do us Disers compare! Do you think the "American Dream" is Possible or Impossible to attain in this day & age!

 

[FreshTressa]

It just takes good decision making, IMHO

 

[Aurora63]

I think anything is possible for anyone...but you have to put all of yourself into it to achieve it...I think this is true for most things. So it's not impossible, but you better be ready to work for it if you want it.

 

[Amity 3]

a guy I work with who has the same income just purchased a Lamborghini Gallardo.

no wife, no kids, and a second business. he worked and saved the money to buy it. it cost him close to $200,000... but it's been his dream.

the dream is alive and well.

 

[DisneyCP2002]

Depends on many things, but it is quiet possible to acheive the american dream.

 

[ransom]

It's possible...but appears to be less so than in the 50s and 60s, yet it remains more possible than in the 1800s.

From the Great Depression years through the immediate aftermath of WWII, a lot of things happened politically and economically that made it possible for there to be a huge middle class. Many of those things have changed from the 1970s to now, thus returning us to what has, historically, been the norm in the US (and elsewhere).

But we're still not back to the full political and economic realities of the Gilded Age.

I keep hoping we won't actually go back that far, and that things will turn around soon.

 

[tmt martins]

We are living in a Dream but not sure of the Dream.

Here in Maryland and Baltimore city the cost,taxes and fees ( so they can say they aren't raising taxes) it's just hard to get on top.

Now we are by no means living from paycheck to paycheck but DW has to work as she brings in as much as I do.We are both making more then our parents ever made so we know we are doing OK.

Are we ever going to be more then Middle class NO but thats OK .

DD is haveing a better upbringing then both of us and thats all that really matters.We just hit our 14 ann. this year and thats also better then both of our failies

 

[Charade]

American Dream Defined:
1. Own (w/ mortgage) single family home in nice neighborhood
2. Own one car for each adult member of the family
3. Make enough money to make ends meet w/ a little extra for recreation
Is it attainable anymore? With a college degree in a productive major (e.g., engineering, finance, marketing, hard sciences), yes. Without such a degree, not likely.
Adam White, Santa Clarita, California

Adam needs to get out of California. His "American Dream" is highly achievable without a college degree. Elsewhere.

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm not even sure what the American dream is. is it just owning a house or is it more than that? I don't have kids so I wouldn't get that part of it. I'm not voting unless I know what I'm supposed to be dreaming for.

Thanks whoever posted that right as I was asking...

I have a condo and a car and I go wherever I want when I want to. I guess that's it. I only do that because I'm single though. If I were married and had some kids it would be more difficult on this salary. I don't need a single family home and I wouldn't want one anyway (I don't want to spend time maintaining it) so I would amend the first one to owning a dwelling.

PS my degree is in Communication Studies

 

[Amity 3]

Maslow's Theory of The Hierarchy of Human Needs is out the window on this.

 

[LoraJ]

American Dream Defined:
1. Own (w/ mortgage) single family home in nice neighborhood
2. Own one car for each adult member of the family
3. Make enough money to make ends meet w/ a little extra for recreation
Is it attainable anymore? With a college degree in a productive major (e.g., engineering, finance, marketing, hard sciences), yes. Without such a degree, not likely.
Adam White, Santa Clarita, California

Adam needs to get out of California. His "American Dream" is highly achievable without a college degree. Elsewhere.

Well, I guess I am not living the American Dream.
I own a condo in a yuppy neighborhood just outside of NYC. Although, I could easily trade it in for a nice house in the burbs. We only have one car for now because DFi doesn't really need one. When we get our house in the burbs someday, he'll get one.
I am living my dream though, which I think is important.

 

[JoyG]

I think the American Dream keeps changing as Americans get more and more their dream gets bigger and bigger.

I live in a 3 br single family house that has about 1600 square feet. The mortgage is managable, we are a single car family, dh owns his own business.

I think we are living the American Dream. But to some my dream is the dream people had in the 50's. Today in 2006 the American Dream consists of McMansions, multiple family cars, etc. etc.

 

[eclectics]

To many variables to say yes or no, not to mention the varied definitions of what exactly the American Dream actually is.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Still possible, but less probable than it was iin the past and harder to achieve. Far less upward mobility.

 

[DISUNC]

To many variables to say yes or no, not to mention the varied definitions of what exactly the American Dream actually is.

Good point!!!!

Is the American Dream something "real" that CAN BE be defined or SHOULD be defined?

Is the 'American Dream 2006' the same as 1936, 1956, 1976?

Or is it just a "Marketing" ploy?

 

[LukenDC]

It is certainly possible to attain the American dream. It requires optimisim, belief in oneself, and hard work. I grew up in a lower middle class family and experienced a couple of years of poverty as a child. We were even homeless for three months and had to sleep on the floors of friends and relatives who would take us in. I worked hard in school, received a generous financial aid package to an Ivy League school, and now hold a great job. I am so grateful for the opportunities that this country has provided me.

The American dream is more than owning a home and other material goods. I regard it as being able to achieve your full potential as a human being, to indulge in the luxury of always looking ahead and taking advantage of opportunities to improve oneself and one's lot in life.

 

[Cool-Beans]

Not really. The American Dream was to have a great idea, work hard and get filthy rich. We were the land of opportunity and all that crap.

With all the taxes now, the filthy rich part is pretty hard to obtain. I doubt we'll be seeing many more Biltmores.

 

[Planogirl]

I think that sometimes things happen beyond people's control too. Illness, job loss, accidents and so on can effect attaining that American dream.

 

[smartestnumber5]

I assume whatever the American Dream is something like being comfortably middle class (at the very least), but probably more than middle class. This would seem to require making a middle class income. I would think almost by definition that it would be impossible everyone or almost everyone to acheive the American dream defined in this way (At least not in a capitalist economy.) I mean, someone has to work at McDonalds and clean up the diapers of nursing home patients. Given what such jobs pay, how are the people working at that supposed to acheive a middle class income?

Sure, sure, you can talk about how some people manage to build themselves up. (Stastics, however, on socio-economic class mobility show that in fact very few people do make significant changes in their class status over their lifetime.) But even if a good number of people could move up, everyone cannot. Would all of these high paying jobs just emerge out of thin air? And what, we'd employ robots for all of the minimum wage jobs?

The only way I can see this happening is a huge restructuring of the economic system--putting reasonable caps on income and redistributing that money to those who fall below the income necessary for the "American Dream." Not that that will ever happen.

 

[Charade]

Good point!!!!

Is the American Dream something "real" that CAN BE be defined or SHOULD be defined?

Is the 'American Dream 2006' the same as 1936, 1956, 1976?

Or is it just a "Marketing" ploy?

Actually, I think it's pre-election manipulation.