From the years of Ben Franklin and George Washington, to the decades of World Wars, till present day American a small saying has prevailed throughout; The American Dream. The American Dream has inspired generation among generation even before it was issued out in 1931 by James Truslow Adams. This Dream of equal opportunity and gaining the fullest stature attainable based off work ethic and individual achievements proves to be questioned by many of how unwavering this American Dream really is. It is very important to look at both sides of the spectrum of why people believe that the American Dream is both dead and alive, but it is most crucial to also consider the thought that the American Dream has merely just changed. For every positive reason the Dream is alive, there is either a social or economic counterpoint that will shoot it down instantly further proving that it most likely has just changed. The American Dream of opportunity based off capability is alive, but due to an ever-changing socio-economic market economy it is impossible to compare the virtues of the old American Dream to the New American Dream. It is also impossible to hold the same values of this Dream during a different time and expect the same results. It is people out there who refuse to change with the economy and refuse to adapt, that believe that the American Dream is dead. I believe that to see this new American Dream, we as a nation must combat the problems of economic and racial discrimination and implement better resources to help the millennial generation as well as redefine this new changed American Dream to fit the world in which we live in. The American Dream, believed to be dead among much of the country’s population, is not dead but in fact has evolved into a new American Dream whilst still holding the same core values the founding fathers issued it with. Equal opportunity through hard work and perseverance are still self-evident today yet people choose to talk about how it isn’t alive rather than proving how it is. While combating racial and economic discrimination with the addition of reviving and reinstilling a new American Dream I believe this country will not only grow as a country but also inspire other countries around the world to do the same.  

To understand the American Dream one must know the true definition of it. Steve Tobak, writer, states the sobering statistic that half of Americans, from the age of 18 to 29 in a recent Harvard study, said that the American Dream is in fact not alive. Considering that this Dream is thought to be dead by half of what people call “the future of America” sends chills straight to the bones. A generation in which holds the future of the society believes that they are not equal- but luckily this is just a belief. The American Dream is so unique due to it not being defined by one specific entity, but is centralized by the most credible version of it issued in 1931 by writer James Truslow Adams, “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement” (Tobak). The main underlying fact in existence, which is self- evident yet ignored, is that equal opportunity will be given to people with the ability to achieve and achievements itself. A person out of high school will be given the same opportunity as another high schooler due to experience level and life skills just as a college student will receive the same opportunity level as their other college peer. Equal opportunity does not mean that every person will have the opportunity to make millions but will have opportunity to have a fulfilling life in which continuous achievements will yield grand results. The more important part of this egalitarian idea is that the American Dream is an aspiration rather than a promise; hence the word Dream rather than promise- which the youth generation doesn’t understand. The second part of Truslow’s statement, “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" (Tobak), addresses the audience who believes the dream is dead. Gaining this American Dream, which is not given, is only attainable with intelligence, work ethic, personal choice and capability, upbringing, and luck through adversity. For a person to believe that they can achieve the American Dream the person must first realize that they are in complete competition with others. The world today has been built on the American Dream of busting your ass for your family and making a name for yourself yet now people are content with what they have, and rather than working for what they want, they choose to complain and blame others for what they don’t have. The American Dream can and only will be successful if the person is willing to put in the work. The poor may be at a disadvantage in the eyes of the public but without the poor entrepreneurs, huge companies such as Apple and Walmart would not be in existence today. 

The American Dream holds motivation within itself but when one looks at the negatives it is easy to see that this belief may be nothing more than just a belief. Many people today are financially burdened with stress due to never-ending problems such as personal finances, spiking prices at the pumps, scarcity within jobs, and a relentless steady tax increase. Financial guru Suze Orman looks at this new American Dream of only buying what you need, unlike the old materialistic Dream of buying things that you want; in addition to setting and attaining financial goals to further explain this new American Dream is today. The old American Dream of wanting more is no longer alive and for a very good reason. People realized that buying two houses and two cars with no money down, plus vacation time spent with money they could use for bills ultimately dug them into a hole they could not come out of. Orman states that the old American Dream is dead which is not necessarily a bad thing. This old American Dream was an illusion in the eyes of the beholder that vanished and was replaced by a new realistic version of the American Dream. Orman issues in her book “The Money Class”, four ways in which the New American Dream can be achieved. First people must live below their means but within their needs. This solely means that although you can afford a 500-square foot home you buy a 400-square foot home, not because you are cheap but because you are financially planning for your future. Secondly, people must have the same pleasure in saving money as they do in spending it. This idea does not say that you must put all your money away and not buy anything, but to instead put small amounts of money away bit by bit which will yield the same pleasure of spending the sum of the bits at once in the end. Third, people must pay off their mortgages first before anything else, no matter the circumstances. Orman’s last tip is to focus on what will be gained rather than focusing on what will be lost. Stopping things such as unnecessary eating out, going to get manicures and pedicures, and losing your high expensive taste in clothing will give you more money (gain) than what you would have had. Orman issues her new American Dream in this interview to appeal to every American out there struggling with the idea that one day their financial security will soon be too much to handle or not enough at all and to convince people that the American Dream has changed. (Orman 4:32-6:35). 

While this new American Dream has been proven to be, alive yet changed, statistics argue against it. The last major recession in the United States ended in 2009 yet we are still feeling the effects from it. Aimee Picchi writes that the American Dream itself regards the same core beliefs of the past such as higher wages than their parents, homeownership, and a healthy bank balance yet none has increased even though the economy has. “While the overall economy has grown since the end of the recession, most Americans aren't capturing their share of those gains” (Picchi). Although individual intelligence due to the demand of a college degree to maintain a job has increased, hourly rates for new workers out of college has decreased, “There's a misconception that college wages must have really risen since the college premium has gone up” (Picchi). The fact of the matter is, is that our economy, even though improved, cannot keep up with the pace of productivity since the last recession. Unfortunately, the only people that can maintain a steady and self-supporting income are the top one-percent of individuals who were already more than fine before. A recent widget implemented by the EPI allows you to enter your current yearly income and spits out what your income would have been if wages kept pace with productivity for the past three decades; an income of $53,000 translates to $77,000. The facts show that our economy accelerated too fast for us as a country to keep pace with. The economy itself is booming but lagging wages, a tough job market, and a greater income only positively affecting the non-one percent, is why this dream is both out of reach and unattainable. Facts are facts and once you see that the American Dream has been crushed due the economy that is supposed to keep it up, it is hard to keep faith. 

The American Dream has inspired small business owners and young entrepreneurs to turn their ideas and dreams into reality is slowly coming to a halt. A new survey conducted found that there is nowhere in the world in which the average wage earner (middle class) is making enough money to align with the characteristics of the American Dream. The United States now has seen a fall in the middle class, consisting of only about 51 % of Americans, in which the middle class, now the minority, is making less than $30,000 a year (Snyder). A huge reason for the American Dream diminishing and why the middle class is slowly adding to the lower class is due to big government and high taxing. While the government chooses to tax us, resulting in a loss of consumer money, they then blame the drop of the middle class to the economy moving too fast when realistically, consumers don’t have the extra money and are often already in the hole as is. With the addition to high taxes, interest rates are consequently rising too as shown by a recent survey; showing that 68% of all Americans had destroyed their credit by the age of 30 (Snyder). With the decrease in annual salary and an increase in high taxes, consumers are not able to venture out and buy things (living the old American Dream) which is directly affecting retailers. Such retailers that were born off of the American Dream of hard work and perseverance are slowly disappearing little by little. Walmart has closed 269 stores in the world while Sears has shut down nearly 600 stores; and the remaining opened stores will soon close as well. The middle class has dropped from 62% of the population to only 43% from 1970 till now and 51% of American workers are making less than $30,000 a year, per the Social Security Administration (Snyder). If these facts weren’t enough, the United States is ranked 19th in the world based off median wealth per individual, yet we are the country in which this Dream is supposed to be alive in. The last bit of information needed to be addressed is that 49% of all Americans now live in a home that receives money and supplements from the government each month based off the U.S. Census Bureau further proving that this American Dream is in fact more dead than we had imagined. The American Dream is hard to see when the facts are put on the table and until these facts are proven to change the American Dream will stay dead.

 The American Dream of making more money than your parents is decreasing and has been decreasing ever since the Dream itself was written. The big reason the American Dream worked so well in such a bad time, post Great Depression, is because the rapid economic growth was distributed among the poor, middle class, and the rich. A research group, led by economist Raj Chetty, linked together decades of tax records, all anonymous, and compared them decade to decade. The results yielded astonishing numbers showing that 92% of children born in the 1940’s were making more money than their parents at the same age, but only 79% of children in the 1950’s were having the same result (Leonhardt). The index of the distribution of people not making more money than their parents is extremely disappointing considering we live in a country where all we hear about is how life gets better. Looking at the data even further the eight percent of 1940 babies not to make more were purely born into affluent families where making more than their parents was merely almost impossible. The American Dream is supposed to be a Dream of hope and happiness yet happiness can’t be achieved when one is constantly comparing themselves to their own family standards. Not being able to make as much money as your parents in an economy that is supposedly better is quite depressing. Today’s increase in a globalized economy, due to technology, and the rise of corporate power can only be countered with giving the middle and low income children the tools and resources they need to earn good paying jobs. 

Looking at the American Dream throughout the present years it is seen to be alive through many examples countering all thoughts of a dead American Dream. Kimberly Amadeo argues her claim of a still constant and thriving American Dream by looking at economic and political platforms that relate back to what the founding fathers instilled on us when the American Dream was first created. The American Dream of equal opportunity is rooted and protected by the most famous doctrine in United States history, the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration proclaims that all men are created equal and are endowed with unalienable rights such as Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The founding fathers knew while writing the Declaration that one’s desire for the pursuit of happiness is not a luxury for the top one-percent but a necessary driver for all of mankind, no matter their socio-economic status. The pursuit of happiness and there results are seen throughout the history of the United States through an immense number of Presidents and presidential policies. The implementation of the Emancipation of Proclamation by Lincoln to free slaves and the 19th amendment by President Wilson for women to vote as well as President Johnson’s policy for Title VII in the Civil Rights Act in 1964 (protection of workers from discrimination by race, religion, color, gender, or nationality) are all examples of equal opportunity for all, yet is overlooked by so many. The pursuit of individual happiness can also be seen in President Obama’s decision of marriage regardless of sexual orientation in 2015. The American Dream during the 1920’s was driven to an unattainable high due to greed among every individual. People during this time struggled to be happy with themselves but this was quickly changed when FDR issued out an Economic Bill of Rights in 1944 where he redefined the egotistical materialistic Dream to consist solely on: housing, a good job, a good education, and healthcare. Many view the American Dream dead especially after the Great Recession when in fact it has only damaged the materialistic version of the Dream which isn’t achievable in the first place. The Center for a New American Dream issued another new Dream saying that "... a focus on more of what really matters, such as creating a meaningful life, contributing to community and society, valuing nature, and spending time with family and friends"(Amadeo). This new American Dream where you live below your means of living but within your needs rather than spending every penny on unnecessary materialistic possessions is key to gaining true happiness. Rather than starting from scratch, we as a country should not give up on the American Dream but define it within its own suitable limits. This pursuit of happiness which is protected by the federal law issues no specific lifestyle in which to live therefore each individual should implement their own personal vison to what they think the pursuit of happiness is to them. 

The importance of previous generations to help the new incoming influx of millennials to achieve the American Dream is something that although seeming meaningless at first holds a great importance to the aspect of the American Dream. The article written by Christine Yeh and Jean Accius never mentions the words American Dream or Dream itself but alludes to it throughout by urging and introducing the fact that the world in which we are a part of today is vastly different than the world from past generation’s perspectives. Investing into the youth generation will improve life experience as well as personal happiness, which will in return spark back the ideas of the American Dream. Examples ranging from ethnic and cultural diversity, to education, to generational differences, and many more underlying examples that all relate to one key claim; we live in a world in which change is necessary therefore we must change with it. While commending previous generations for their hard work we must simultaneously make sure that they know that their job is not yet done. It is the older generations that must help the new generations (the millennials) achieve what they have set out to achieve. Further looking at the stability of America in relation to the new generation, to meet every attainable goal set- whether it’s economic prosperity, international competitiveness, a clean energy future, or long and healthier lives; we as a nation must adapt to this new era which consists of a new demographic profile much different than any that we have seen before. The new “majority-minority” population, also known as the millennials, is inversely related to the past generation consisting of mainly white non-Hispanics. To restore this American Dream with this new influx of a wide range of ethnic groups we must invest in a renewed commitment to our social contract theory, while eliminating inequality, investing in long term education (educational opportunity for all and an education in which people will not be burdened with debt), eliminating racial and economic inequality, and improving the financial outlook for millennials and generations beyond. (Accius, Yeh). Although these are just ideas, I believe if we as a nation can incorporate these ideas little by little the American Dream could be attainable in everyone’s eyes once again. Ensuring that social policies will be implemented- due to social inferiority being the reason people believe the American Dream is dead- will be the keystone of gaining the ever so alive American Dream back in this demographically diverse nation. 

The American Dream although derived in the United States is not just a dream for one country and one country only. A dream of opportunity and the pursuit of happiness relies on the basics of human nature. Competitiveness within a work place and an equal mindset among people will yield great results but human nature also brings downfalls. With the addition of greed, jealousy, and envy while also looking at a decrease in the economy and an increase in racial and gender inequality the American Dream of course looks dead. Adding up numbers among numbers and only looking at the negatives of the American Dream of course it seems dead. With an ever-changing life-style and economy one cannot rely on what his/her parents did to work for them too. Opportunity is out there for all but it is the mindset that is the only thing holding people back from achieving it. This new American Dream we live in today is not defined by one thing but defined by every person. An American Dream of setting your mind to a goal no matter the circumstances and realizing that in order to reach the top of the hill you will have to make sacrifices is what this Dream is all about. Working together as one unit is the only way we can see this new changed American Dream but if we continue to bitch and moan about the poor circumstances and unfortunate times we will never be able to improve.
