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The Hill reports only 1-in-4 see the American Dream as still attainable for everyone in the U.S. Do you think it is?

 

 

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This country has sold out to the Chinese,which they are not responsible for our leaders that can't manage this country check book! There is NO real decision on anything such as DADT, abortion, health care, Iraq/Afgan,and especially relegion! What and where can we fly the flag this country is so divided on every issue! As a veteran one could assume that Vets from previous wars must be dissappointed because it looks like it was all for nothing....!

Submitted by Sooners61 : Oct 21, 2010 12:47pm

Ordinarily the Dream would be still available to all,
but if we continue under the current direction it will
be lost for all. To gain it back may take years if
at all.

Submitted by cal2910eng : Oct 21, 2010 2:30pm

I'm thinking that those that don't believe the American dream is attainable are un-educated loosers that expect other's (the government) to hand them a life.
the American dream is obtainable - you have to work for it. YOu have to get a college education (GI bill is how I did it) and work your butt off for many years. I got a BS in Civil Engineering and am now a self-made millionaire! Hard work, delayed gratification and discipline are what's needed. No credit cards and save 50% of your paycheck. Do this for 25 years and your set.

I have a nice home, small mortgage, live in girl friend and a Ferrari in the Garage. Stop whinning already.

Submitted by Mike_747 : Oct 21, 2010 2:55pm

Mike
You're an ass with a face to match. If you were a veteran you wouldn't have said that because you would know what it takes to get the things you drean about having. Most of us will never see the American Dream fulfilled because the greedy corporate morons who control the wealth in this country are not going to let it happen.

Submitted by grunt27 : Oct 21, 2010 3:15pm

Grunt27
I think you're being a bit harsh on Mike. He probably doesn't need to brag so much, but I think he's just trying to make a point. Work hard, save, get educated and in this country you can attain your dreams.
Your comment about greedy corporate morons is so dumb I find it hard to believe you even said it. If anyone is stealing the future from us, its the government. Now we have a government that is turning people into couch potatoes who won't take a job unless it pays $20/hr. and then have no qualifications to do it. So they are therefore destined to a life of welfare, which we are so eager to provide. This growing mass of breeders will only grow causing the government to impose more tax on the rest of us or (as recently the case) print enormous amounts of debt that our children, grand-children.......will have to pay. The current administration is leading us down the path of socialism and an alarming rate and we must stop them.

Submitted by cb2620 : Oct 21, 2010 6:23pm

College is not for everyone and doesn't guarantee a good paying job allowing one to afford a mortgage on a house.

I lost my job twice in 20 years, losing my last job in June and finding it difficult landing a new job. Banks don't care about that, they just forclose on your house when you can't pay it back.

And Mike, it has nothing to do with being an "un-educated looser." And just so you know, both words were misspelled.

Submitted by BlueCordSoldier : Oct 21, 2010 3:31pm

The American Dream is primarily just that. It evolves only upon one's own aspect of moral/ethical standards. Mainly based from Life's Role Models and Examples that were set forth, during the Influential Development Years. However, many very successful people literally have a Rags to Riches Story/Background. Also the opposite Riches to Rags.
This Economic Breakdown, in the form of "Trickle-Up Poverty", which has plagued ALL Income Brackets of Our Nation has diminished this interpretation/perspective of One's view of the American Dream.
FACT= We the People, Legal American Citizens and yes even the Veterans, have drifted away from this for several decades. We have come to cherish luxuries more and take necessities for granted. Humbleness vs. Covetous ! Ask yourself then, why is it that so many choose to Immigrate here ?
My advice is to seek out and implement a Self-Sustainable Living style, whenever possible. Live Healthy, Wealthy of Moral Turpitude and Wise, in choices.

Submitted by Tim Foor : Oct 21, 2010 4:06pm

The problem is that many people want the American Dream right NOW. They are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary (ie. drop the cell phone, cable TV, overpriced house, fancy car, eating out every meal, Xbox, etc.) to lay the foundation for making the Dream a reality. Too many of my generation (Gen X) want all the stuff their parents had as soon as they moved out of the house. Now that we have kids of our own, too many of us are living beyond our means and setting a bad example for the next generation(s). Blame corporations or the government if it makes you feel better, but it starts with self-discipline…

Submitted by sbwilson : Oct 22, 2010 10:49am

A dream is just a dream. You have a real good one, then you wake up and before you know it, you can't remember what it was. We encourage our children to follow thier dream, but no one every tells them how achieve it.

SBWilson hit the nail on the head when he said we are not willing to give up all the technologies available to date and put money away for a rainy day. People today want to buy and have everything now; or have it given to them free!

I wish someone, whether it be my parents, school, or the military, would have taught me that the secret to the American Dream was to simply store away 10% of my wages every week. If I had started that when I was 20, I'd be a millionare twice over! Now at 52, having lost my job because I was the highest paid in my division, I'm struggling to find ways to survive in the future.

And before anyone says to get an education, been there, done that, nights and weekends for 8 yrs while in the military.

Submitted by campanaro : Oct 22, 2010 12:41pm

Since Reagan was president, the country's wealth has been concentrated among the top 1% or 2% of wealthy people, and the earning capacity and wealth of the lower 98% has been shrinking. The top 2 % of rich people own more than 60% of all the money, land, stocks, factories, and buildings in America. The rest of us have less and less. That trend accelerated during the Bush years, and with the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, the very rich pay little or no taxes. With an imbalance like that, opportunities for the average guy to advance are sharply reduced. This is not the America the founding fathers envisioned.
Our democracy is becoming a democracy in name only as the very rich few control everything and the rest of us control nothing. The imbalance is worse now than it was in the 1890s. The republicans are also trying to destroy unions, they are trying to eliminate the minimum wage, and they are trying to abolish Social Security and Medicare. Things will only get worse.

Submitted by Joseph McCaffrey : Oct 26, 2010 11:02am

It would be much more attainable if our government would get out tof the way. It has turned into the monster our founders warned us about, the one the constitution was written to prevent. Until we get back to following the constitution, we will see it become more and more unattainable.

Submitted by 377th med co aa : Oct 26, 2010 2:57pm

What? We are not a democracy, the founders wanted a Republic. Not majority rules. We should be divided on every issue, we should follow the constitution and quit forcing our beliefs and philosophies on those who don't agree. The concentration of wealth is broughton by over regulation. Only a very few people will have the talent and stomach to try to wade through all the garbage that prevents the common man from succeeding now. This is why the founders did not want a federal governemtn that tries to control everything.

Submitted by 377th med co aa : Oct 26, 2010 3:03pm

We need to stop choking off capitalism with all this rdiculous micro management by elected officials. Let the smart people go and take chances and you will see rapid growth in this country, 100 years of ever growing regulation has choked off our economy, ingenuity and prosperity.

Submitted by 377th med co aa : Oct 26, 2010 3:06pm

The American Dream is still alive and well. There might be a huge disparity between the rich and poor but we are still able to rise to the top. This current Obama regime is trying desperately to change our country, to take everything from the wealthy and give it to the poor, but this will not work. Smart people will always rule dumb people. That’s just the way it is. The smart people own the company, the dumb people work in the company… the smart people get most of the money and the dumb people get enough to live on. It’s been that way since the beginning of time. If we go to a Socialism society we will fail. Once a person realizes that they can get everything free that the others work for, everyone will stop working, or will work without any drive to succeed. History proves that what I say is truth. People like Reid and Obama are working to destroy our country as it now exists. If we are not able to turn our country around very soon, we are done… dead in the water.

Submitted by Dick Sampson : Oct 27, 2010 1:12pm

is alive and well so long as we stick to the constitution and stay involved as informed citizens. The Obama administration's vision for governing America is to transform it into a secular progressive/socialist government in which case the American Dream will no longer exist. The liberals have this idea of a utopia in which certain gifted experts will run the country and we will all be happy - human nature being what it is this will never happen.
I suspect that one of the reasons for the disparity in wealth is the disappearance of manfr jobs and jobs that require skilled labor like the tool and die makers in years past. It is more diffcult for skilled but not college grads to make good money. Some exceptions are the jobs on the oil drilling rigs. The gov't must get out of the way if we are to regain prosperity. Gov't cannot make jobs, they can only redistribute wealth and they don't do that well.

Submitted by awunsch : Oct 28, 2010 5:54pm

"The liberals have this idea of a utopia in which certain gifted experts will run the country and we will all be happy"

Hmm, funny, that is actually CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN vision par excellence. And hey, theocrats, this IS a secular country. It was funded on secular principles and our Fathers repeatedly denied the non-secular claims. The most poignant to me is the one by the CONSERVATIVE hero James Madison at the Treaty of Tripoli: "America is IN NO WAY a Christian nation". As for the socialist liberal or soon to come republican populist republic, well, that's another bucket of fish. Let's not forget that some 23 REPUBLICANS voted Yes on TARP bailouts,including Mr. Bush and Mr. MacCain, which rewarded the very corporations who caused the economic mess to begin with. In fact, THE ONLY folk who did not get any stimulus money were the ones who got injured the most. And who can forget when Republicans were in charge of ALL branches of government in 2002, how they spent not cut govmnt?

Submitted by imdaemon : Nov 12, 2010 8:54am