By: Katlyn Gahan
What is the American Dream? Many have defined it, each a little bit different than the last. James Truslow Adams defines it as living in “ a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement”, or otherwise, having a better life than their parents. Since the beginning of America, many have come here to have a better life, to succeed, and that holds true today. But is this possible for everyone anymore?
Now, with this having been said, is the American dream really still possible. Many in fact, have argued that it is no longer attainable.That no matter how hard we try, everyone cannot achieve the American dream. That class mobility is becoming more and more rigid, and one cannot always reach their full potential. According to New York Times writer, Bob Herbert argues that wherever you choose to look -- at the economy and jobs, the public schools, the budget deficits, the nonstop warfare overseas -- you'll see a country in sad shape” that the “standards of living are declining.” This shows that the outlook for many is in fact more grim than that of their parents. More people are feeling the gripes of poverty, and resorting to inferior goods. Competition is becoming so extreme between certain companies, that it is making it harder and harder for people to get rich, and live a life of greater prosperity.
In the article “The American Dream, RIP?”, the difficulty to make a large amount of money in life is shown by the statistic “ An elite 10-15% of Americans will have the brains and self-discipline to master tomorrow’s technology and extract profit from it”. This leaves the rest 85-90% of Americans behind, unable to attain their American dream. The United States are technologically moving so fast that many are unable to keep up. Lets take for example the Ipod, made by Apple. The first Ipod was made only in 2001, and has adapted and changed a countless amount of times since. It has evolved from a bulky rectangle only available to play music, to the current Ipod, which has a touch screen and has many other functions such as apps and games. This shows how fast Apple has changed its products in such a fast paced world. This rate of change is one of the major reasons that the American dream cannot be achieved by many, always a step behind.
With the possibility to succeed, and prosper in life shrinking, its is important that we do something to preserve this dream, which has been around for centuries. One thing that could be done to help this, would be tax cuts for small buisnesses, trying to stay afloat, and less regulation to help the private companies succeed. Where this may not be the entire answer, it is undoubtable that something needs to be done to give the future generations brighter futures, in the land of opportunity.
In this video, the relation between the movie “The Great Gatsby” are shown, like the desire for material goods, and then shows the change over time of the American dream, and later a contradictory opinion to the American dream.
http://www.ilounge.com/index.
You had some really good points and ideas in this post. You really helped to portray the fact that modern business is very fast paced with constant improvements. I personally was wondering what you thought about how to fix this issue, but then you addressed this with tax cuts for small businesses. You also mentioned that there might be more that we can do for saving the American Dream; do you have anything specific?
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting topic. Although I do think that the American Dream is definitely possible for whoever wholeheartedly pursues it through by taking many risks and failing often. I think this is why some people no longer believe that the American Dream is attainable; people are not willing to take a risk. It would have been interesting if you provided more information on some of the topics you introduced at the end, such as the excessive regulations. The link was interesting as well.
ReplyDeleteI am too worried about be successful in life and I understand being behind with technology and such and I believe that 90% of Americans are so behind is because of money. It is expensive to keep up with everything so the financial issue could be a huge contributor to this lack of knowledge. All of these facts stating that only 15% have the correct brains to fulfill the “American Dream” is very shocking and scary for myself and my generation. This is the future we are growing up to therefore maybe it’s time we make a new dream.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic that is quite often overlooked. The statement, "The United States are technologically moving so fast that many are unable to keep up." is well put. The constant influence that technology has on life today is much too much for people to keep up with and handle. The fact that only 15% of Americans has what it takes to fulfill the "American Dream" is scary. Maybe the increase and improvement of technology is a bad thing? The links were very interesting.
ReplyDeleteAll of this is very true and there are some very well put facts in here. I don't get why people say the "American Dream." As people come to America, they think of the land of opportunity and success. In reality, all the foreigners coming in are put in the worst jobs and paid little to nothing. The technology is moving so fast most of us Americans can't even keep up. As it advances more and more, will it leave us behind? As you said with the iPod, from 2001 to now, it has changed dramatically to adjust to what people like and keep up with all the other technology. As something comes out, they are already trying to make it even better by updating the features and eventually something even more advanced is the result. Will it always be like this? Or will it be a never-ending cycle of things advancing?
ReplyDelete