A Wall Street Journal poll has some interesting questions and answers about what people think about the economy and whether hard work is rewarded. 
Please consider the WSJ/NORC Poll October 2023 conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago.
Only 36% still believe in the American Dream.
Strength of the US Economy
Only 2 percent of respondents believe the economy is excellent but 18 percent rate it poor.
The combined net is 35 percent think the economy is good to excellent but 65 percent think the economy is not-so-good to poor.
Is the Economy Better, the Same, or Worse than 50 Years Ago?
Only 30 percent think life in America is better than 50 years ago.
My first thought was the question is silly. Many respondents have no idea what life was like 50 years ago. For some, even 15 or 20 years ago would be a struggle.
Nonetheless, perhaps the answer is telling. Apparently, things are so bad now that people presume they were better 50 years ago.
Economic and Political Systems
This above question surprised me the most in light of the other answers.
People have given up on the American Dream and think like was better 50 years ago.
Yet, only 50 percent think things are stacked against them. I wonder if age has something to do with the above question.
Demographics in WSJ Poll
- 18-34: 15%
- 35-49: 26%
- 50-64: 23%
- 65+: 36%
The WSJ pool had a massive 36% percentage of respondents in the 65+ age group.
In 2022, about 17.3 percent of the American population was 65 years old or over, according to Statistica.
That’s a pretty bad skew.
Let’s look at this another way. Who is more likely to think the system is stacked against them, someone older or someone younger?
Home Ownership Rates
74.6 Percent of those 55-64 years own their home. 79.5 percent of those 65 and older do.
But only 39.3 percent of those age 35 and under do with home prices soaring out of sight and mortgage rates well above 7 percent.
Biased Questions and Skewed Demographics
The Wall Street Journal article Voters See American Dream Slipping Out of Reach, WSJ/NORC Poll Shows has anecdotes that pertain to younger workers.
However, the Journal failed to detect biased questions or note explain huge demographic sampling issues.
Note the question: Is the system “stacked against people like me?”
Perhaps a better question would have been “Is the system stacked?” A follow-up would ask “against whom?“
In practice, the younger you are, and the fewer assets you have, the more the system is stacked against you. It is very difficult to buy a house now, and a house is a big part of the American Dream.
In contrast, the key question was nicely phrased: “Do you think the American Dream–that if you work hard you’ll get ahead–still holds true, never held true, or once held true but does not anymore?“
Age sampling and the poor wording of questions likely explains the discrepancy between the answers to the “American Dream” question and the “stacked” question.
Those older and wiser can see the system is unfairly stacked, just not against them personally.
This leads back to the same place and other polls.
Why Are Americans in Such a Rotten Mood?
Biden wonders why people are in such a bad mood. For discussion, please see Why Are Americans in Such a Rotten Mood? Biden Blames the Media
In one sentence: People are in a rotten mood because they are struggling with rent and putting food on the table. Those not struggling can easily see others who are.
Meanwhile, despite huge problems at home, Biden wants hundreds of billions more for Israel, Ukraine, and Inane Money-Losing Offshore Wind Projects that now need a bailout.
Nonstop Inflation
Also see Nonstop Inflation: Biden Wants You to Pay More and Get Less
Yes dear reader, Biden blames the media when it’s his policies that are killing the American Dream.
Every day, the simple niceties and rewards of a free market have inflated away under a liberal Fed.
years ago a coworker had this above their desk
“Doing a good job around here is like wetting your pants in your best sunday suit. you get a nice warm feeling but nobody notices.”
Took me a few years before I realized how right it was
NOOOOO IT DOESNT LIVE LIKE IT USED TO!!!
Universities Taken Over by Marxism Leads to Dying Patriotism1A & 2A Infringed DailyUnaffordable HousingFed & Congress Continue to Pick Winners & LosersIllegal Immigration Out the WazooOne-sided MSM & Big TechRigged ElectionsCrooked President Owned by CCPProsecuting Your Political EnemiesRegulation Intruding Into Our Lives, Limiting Our ChoicesAnd that’s just a start. The bottom 50% especially are being screwed beyond belief while the top 10% are just cruising to victory after victory.
No. It began a death by a thousand cuts during the Reagan era starting in 1980. It died by the time of the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. 15 years ago,
May it Rest in Peace.
Wasn’t slick willy with a Billy beer in his hand responsible for that repeal?
It is ‘housing’ that killed the American (and Australian, and country Y) dream.
When housing became a vehicle for investment and speculation instead of a roof over our heads, it changed the distribution of where we spend our money. Either excessive debt or an increasing proportion of what used to be disposable income. That’s less disposable income going to non-essential goods and services.
That, in turn, means less incentives for businesses and startups to take risks. Instead, investment dollars plowed into housing and other ‘sure bets’. So called ‘productivity’ collapses.
Low interest rates and low inflation (due to globalization) for a few decades gave the impression that we were more wealthy than we were.
Fix housing (foreign investors, AirBnB’s, crazy regulations, NIMBYisms) and the supply-side constraints and inflation will revert in the medium term. But what I think you will find is spikes around extreme weather events (which will be increasingly ‘uninsurable’). Pretending we aren’t in a new economic epoch is just head-in-sand denial. This will have winners and losers, and I’d imagine the loser category will be growing faster than than winners.
Blame ‘Bidenomics’ less – albeit government and Fed fueled “anti-inflation” inflation that papers over all the broken systems. What about political deadlock? Vested interests? Governments that do popular things instead of the right things?
In Australia, we have hard caps on political contributions and compulsory voting. In the USA, forget it! You can’t even be President without $100m+++. Peak-USA has come and gone.
GOOD LORD
Boomers only come in two varieties:
A. Those who went to college and were indoctrinated by the Frankfurt School
B. Those who did not and were indoctrinated by the Evangelicals
Between the two you have one selfish group who worships mammon and thinks they are gods chosen people while alive and a second group who worships 1000’s of years old fairy tales and believe whole heartedly they will be gods chosen people after they are dead assuming the Temple Mount and all that dreck comes true.
Together they have rigged the game running up the credit card and leaving their descendants to pay the bill, in a redux of medieval debt enslavement where ones descendants must pay the debts of their parents.
Both immoral continents support endless wars and bless Mish for opposing them.
Mish is a rare boomer indeed.
Gen Z knows all of this in spades. They know they will be taxed to death to pay for the boomers murderous indulgences. If the west survives, it will begin to improve in 30 years when the Gen Z’s hold office. They were not programmed by television (programming) and they know most of what’s on the internet is bullshit. The Millennials children are a light coming up behind Gen Z so. Yeah it’s horrible now but it may get better.
So no, almost no young people thinks the future is good unless they were born to a rich family who can lift them up from the rabble. Climbing up for most is an insurmountable task. It a feudal Medieval situation of the landed and the serfs. Two classes of people – with one drifting out to sea on an iceberg and the other firmly on land saying too bad, enjoy the trip and BTW good riddance.
Did any of you see the boomer get immolated when they evicted their nephew. Yeah more of this is likely to happen.
feudalism has always been the highest and best use of capital for a ruling class. better than slavery even.
Horray…. you’ve successfully identified the new villian. Boomers are the new villains and everyone who isn’t a Boomer has fallen victim to the Boomer’s dastardly deeds. Give me a break. The Amerivan Dream is surely dead. It’s been replaced with The American Victim.
Here’s a little history lesson for ya. The Lost, Greatest, and Silent Generations (Boomer’s great grandparents, grandparents, and parents, respectively) gaves us the Federal Reserve (1913), The Great Depression (1929 – 1939), and both WWs (1910s & 1930s – 1945), and somehow all of those generations are held in high esteem. Why is that? One could easily argue that none of this debt fueled growth would be possible without the events set in motion by the three generations referenced above. The truth is, fault can be laid all around the generational wheel.
By the way, I’m Gen X, and was “raised” by Boomers as a latch-key kid. My generation has been largely forgotten (I use that word loosely) since we were born. Despite the moniker of being labeled the “forgotten generation”, I hardly ever hear Gen X’ers bitching and moaning about the Boomers. This complaining seems to predominantly come from younger Millennials and Gen Z.
Focus on improving yourself. The victim card will never bear you any fruit worth eating.
The term “American Dream” was invented in 1931by an historian to promote his book and it became a meme and never had a basis in reality but used to promote patriotism and the like during WW II and the Cold War.
“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream”
‘Claimed’ statements are worthless. If they are an opinion, note such. If sourced info, provide a citation as needed. Be smarter than a 5th Grader. 🔦✝️
For large swaths of our society, Patriotism is not to country but to tribalism & socialist ideologies. Good points, Doug!
The American dream is alive if you’re willing to work for it. You get out of life what you put into it. I got married at 18 and bought a new construction condo in 1981 when rates were high. I said I’ll never be a renter. I worked full time my senior year in high school. I worked 2 jobs to come up with my next home. I was a hard worker. I got promoted at my 1st full time job out of high school in 4 days. I always got excellent job reviews and pay raises.
congrats ! Make sure you get buried among the rich on the cemetery one day ….;-
The biggest change over the last 50 years has been the unprecedented inflation of services cost (exception being telecommunications). Insurance (health, automobile, homeowners) being the big one because it’s usually mandated -homeowners if you have a mortgage. Property taxes (and the ZIRP bubble inflation). The rise of monthly subscriptions for music and games, things that used to be one-time purchases. Satellite radio. Replacement services like Apple Care and automobile extended warranties. These things never were really weren’t much of a burden, if at all, and it was pretty easy to consider services like cable a luxury that could be fixed with an antenna and a Saturday afternoon.
Insurance seems to be the most out of control. They say costs are rising because expenses are rising, which causes expenses to rise ever more. People buy more car than they can afford (and in many cases control), and when it is wrecked we all have to pay the cost of repairs, which get ever more expensive as cars become more complicated. And over it all are the lawyers looking for a fast buck.
None of that is measured, and everyone just seems to accept that insurance and services are just a necessary part of living in the United States. Or they propose nationalization.
50 years ago you went to the doctor. And whatever you paid the doctor, largely went to that doctor, his staff and those who made his supplies and equipment. IOW: Your money went to people who contributed something useful in return for it.
Now, most of the money goes to rent,”insurance”, ambulance chasing dregs, “investors”, lobbying etc.,etc. Who, in return, provides exactly nothing of value at all. Instead simply having been inserted as pure leeches, by a totalitarian government and its central bank.
When most, and ever more every year, of what people pay for so-called health care, or anything else for that matter, are instead diverted to keep utterly useless dregs in unearned splendor, those paying for it all are obviously going to get less and less valuable services fort heir money.
It’s hardly rocket science.
Life better 50 years ago? I’m 78 and lived through the 70’s as an adult, life is better now. Few people remember the 70’s, most males born my year are dead. People in their 60’s were probably either in school or very young, not functioning adults. The 70’s were bad news and 1973 was a lousy year. The county I gre up in had 25% unemployment and price inflation.
Yes I remember. In 1970 we had the draft as well and that was not fun since the Vietnam war was going full-tilt. We also has wide-scale riots with the National Guard firing on and killing several university students at Kent State in Ohio. Inflation was out of control and mortgages peaked at 15%. It sucked but on the other hand the music was so superior to what we have today that it was worth it.
“It’s Called The American Dream Because You Have To Be Asleep To Believe It.”.
Would have killed you to add ” — George Carlin” ???
There’s a BLACK SWAN. It’s called the Federal Deficit. The draining of the O/N RRP facility funded both the Treasury’s General Fund Account and the increase in deficit spending. The transfer of funds through the NBFIs also increased the supply of loanable funds. There are finite limits to this funding.
First and foremost, I think you must identify
what the “American Dream” means to most people, and then what most determine on how exactly to get there.
What some have eluded to already, and I feel myself is by far one of the most important elements, and that is “Work Ethic” I honestly can’t find a way to any dream without it. In a free society, where everyone starts off, in theory at an even playing field, you must sport a very solid work ethic. It is one of the top things that sets you apart from others and gets you noticed.
Forget ALL the crap the MSM pushes about race, gender, hair color, hobbies, feelings, and stuff. That is simply drama for those that feel left behind, or left out. Those are the people that Need to take a hard look at themselves in a mirror. While there talk aloud to themselves, and ask themselves one very simple question:
What the F&@# are YOU DOING?
Answer honestly to yourself, and you will be on the bottom stair of a long climb upwards.
From their work ethic, honesty to others and yourself most importantly, and accomplishing Meaningful goals (small achievable ones) that you have now set for yourself, will get you climbing upwards quickly. Others will notice, but most importantly You Will!
Those left behind, will be the ones with their hands held out open, expecting and even demanding, that someone drop something in it for nothing. The ones that have bought the crap “It’s Your Right” but not a clue or understanding what “A Right Is” The ones that feel, for some odd reason, that something is “Owed To Them”
I agree with your sentiment. Unfortunately the culture doesn’t and the rubes have voted themselves bread and circuses.
Stu, I know that you are nowhere near as blind as the above totally insipid pablum would suggest.
Please, please, do not lie like this to children as it will severely disadvantage them.
We have known since the knowledge was made available on 17 August 1945:
“ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS”
If you find yourself at the bottom of a hole, stop digging.
Success comes to those that hustle wisely.
Move to Europe! Stop work and use your time learning how to play the social welfare system, then make out like a bandit! Seriously, I know people who do this who do much better than those suckers that work.
I live in Europe and none of my friends play the welfare system.
Considering how; far and away, to the point where nothing else even registers above background din; the biggest welfare payouts are now, and have since ’71, been made via
“asset” channels such as “home price appreciation” for decaying shacks and stock and bond price appreciation, I somehow doubt that.
But ostrichification of the clueless indoctrinati or not: This is how wealth and purchasing power is redistributed by the state these days. Compared to that, all other “welfare” programs combined, don’t add up to enough to even be noticeable anymore.
Things were not so lopsided a century ago. But today: Welfare, at least 98% of it; IS being handed out in the form of rent; pumped up prices of shacks and paper; and nominal “salaries” and “bonuses” in the so-called “industries” grown up around those.
A century ago things were as lopsided as now. Peter Turchin and his colleges studied it extensively. Go read his books to become enlightened as to how wealth was split a hundred years ago.
Aggregate wealth distribution has very little to do with it.
The problem today is not that Brin and Page has become wealthier than some sofabound lazypants.
But rather that; aside from those two: Everyone else who have any wealth, have simply been handed it; without doing anything whatsoever productive to earn it; by The Fed and government. And that The Fed and government, in order to have this wealth to hand out despite not creating any themselves, have then had to steal it all from people who have created value. Which has hence driven up the cost of doing productive, value-adding work for productive Americans, to the point where they can’t even compete with five-year-planning communists anymore.
There is nothing whatsoever “wrong” nor inefficient about some guy curing cancer, nor revolutionising how the whole world obtains information, making a killing. That is how it should be.
It is the other 98% of wealth obtained in financialized dystopias which is singularly destructive: Wealth being handed out for sitting idle on the couch of a “home”, with or without a stack of paper in one’s safe, without producing anything. No matter what the less-than-literates have been suckered into believing: Neither wall fungus in “home” walls, nor dustmites on stock certificates create any value. Instead, all the so-called “gains” come from The Fed having stolen money from others via debasement. Then handed the stolen wealth to well connected, net-negative, dilettante wall-fungus and dust-mite groupies who have produced a cold hard nothing in exchange for it.
Guys like Page and Brin, have nothing in common with morons “running hedgefunds” and “making money from their home(s).” The former changed the world, and took a cut. The latter live off of nothing but theft. In a free society, people would gladly pay the former. But, unless barred from doing so by laws, regulations,”legal tender” and taxes etc., they would simply route around the latter deadweights, who never have; and likely never will; be able to produce anything of much value. Instead living large solely off of Fed and government redistributed WELFARE payments.
Is that because you have no friends?
=great american dream
i will use George Carlin’s words
“It’s Called The American Dream Because You Have To Be Asleep To Believe It.”.
alx
ps
RIP George ! you will be always remembered.!!
What is the American dream? I always thought dreams were never real because they are after all dreams.
This pretty much sums up what I think it is:
But above all, above all, to have a fair shake
To get a piece of the rock and a slice of the pie
And spit out of the window of your car
And not have the wind blow it back in your face
https://youtu.be/WbFx6tuieoY?si=Xs-R8IzlDhSYhLPA
I was alive and in my 20’s over 50 years ago.
I was in college.
I worked for $2.25 an hour at my College and worked for a very well known Magazine Publisher, Sunset Magazine while at school.
I STILL paid my rent, paid fuel, at lunches out at times, Dated, smoked some rag weed, and saw concerts (many of those Rock Concerts were FREE in SF).
It was a glorious time to be alive but not great to drive a piece of shit car that many times would not start, had a Bad Generator (283cu Inch, ’62 Chevy Impala SS with bucket seats, and a Muncie 4-speed, bored out)…..it BURNED fuel at 9mpg.
Fuel was 20-25 cents a gallon in places.
I got laid, and had a ball, so to speak. LIFE WAS GRAND and I feel lucky to have been alive in the 50’s to the 70’s and on up.
I graduated, eventually owned my own Electronics Company, and retired at 38 years old (nearly 32 years ago and never looked back).
I still have my retained earnings in the Bank, invest my own BOOK (options and futures) and teach retired guys how to Read Stock charts and trade options and futures (free, a pay it forward operation on Facebook).
I feel LUCKY. I nearly died 3 years ago to Heart disease and have a second lease on life. I AM LUCKY to have lived then and be alive today.
A great example of someone living the American Dream. And being thankful for the opportunity to make a good life in the US. I like how you help others with investing knowledge. Good post.
.
Well Done and Well Said!
Very nice. I was the same age as you and when you are young life is great even if you don’t have money. Thanks for your life story. I could give mine but it would be giving away too much of my privacy.
With all that free time on your hands you should pay more attention to diet and exercise! But congratulations on your financial success.
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
American Dream – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream 🔦✝️
What a bunch of whiners.
Misery loves company! 🙂
American Dream? Yes, if your idea of a little fun is a Yugoslavian style Hunger Games breakup.
The Useful Idiots are about to discover that diversity is actually not our strength. Fucking Baby Boomers are about to reap what they’ve sown both here at home and with their foreign adventurism funding actual Nazis in the Ukraine and support of BOTH Islamo & Zio Nazis as well. Btw, I’m pro Israel: I just don’t agree with using the Nazi Playbook to genocide people- even if you think you’re justified because you deemed them Untermenschen. Many are just innocent unarmed women & children.
America was a great idea that was murder many years ago…
I’m pro Israel too!
Kill them all and let god sort them out.
I never did like Cathars.
😉
This is an important topic Mish.
I see generational warfare coming and I don’t believe it’s justified.
Younger generations feel victimized by older ones, particularly Boomers.
Anecdotally, I see nearly all young, motivated hard-working people succeed.
But there is a shortage of these. There appears to be many more of the complaining, lazy type. These are the ones filling out surveys.
There must be metrics that truly tell the story.
One metric the Boomer Haters like to use is average US home price – about $415K.
They mention how this is unaffordable.
Yeah, if you want to live in a nice home in a nice neighborhood in warm weather.
But that’s not the average price in Upstate New York!
We need metrics and we need some successful Millennials to confirm the American Dream is still alive.
Those who were caught on the right side of the FED put, feel great seeing the nominal value of their asset skyrocketed.
Deadbeats who have their bad bets made whole, must feel good.
For all those, America is still the best place on Earth.
Still a very good place to be.
So far, so good.
OK, I LIVED through 1973 as a young woman. People are just uneducated and WRONG that “things were better 50 years ago”. Cars were dangerous, no airbags or anti-intrusion beams to protect you. If you got t-boned on a highway, you were dead. The Watergate hearings were going on and Nixon was a crook. The Viet Nam War was still going on; over 50,000 young men’s names are on that wall in Washington DC. And what about the Love Canal disaster? Wall Street was in a bear market, unemployment was 5.6%. The minimum wage was $1.60 per hour. OPEC had the oil embargo and we waited in line for hours to get 10 gallons of gasoline. The Berlin Wall still existed and the Russians were the big, bad enemy. Kids still practiced nuclear war exercises at school. What kind of idiots think things were BETTER? Things are MUCH BETTER now. Look it up!
Thanks 😊
Good points Sue, but, all things are relative. Certainly Americans are spoiled, especially the boomer generation. But we are on a debt fueled, unsustainable course brought about by irresponsible leadership. The complaint is about the impending economic crisis which is closing in. By refusing to take the pain of recessions in the past, the Fed has piled up all that pain for a Greater Depression. Enjoy your whistle past the graveyard!
So is every other country on the planet!
Yes to the above, and the oil shock was just starting up wrecking the economy for the rest of the decade.
in 1983 things were finally looking up after the back to back recessions and Volcker strangling inflation.
Sue, you actually remember 1973. Few do, my home county had depression level unemployment. For most people it was a nasty time, but not all.
1973:
Big Mac $0.65, fries $0.26, chocolate shake $0.35.
Ticket for a movie in a theatre $1.76 (popcorn was lots cheaper too).
Private college tuition, room & board $2700/semester.
A base 1973 Beetle Sedan cost $1780.
Yeah, much better.
It doesn’t make any sense to use 1973 prices!
You had to work for 2 hours to afford that movie and big Mac dinner in 1973. I couldn’t afford it. I had a 1966 VW Beetle with bald tires ($200), working my way through college. I learned to tune it up myself, pulling the spark plugs, cleaning them, adjusting the spark gap. Couldn’t reach the one in passenger-side back (you needed three elbows), however, so I mostly ran on 3 cylinders. Between work and scholarships, I managed to graduate anyway. I never felt deprived. I felt lucky to go to college. And that degree was my ticket to a better life. I graduated without debt. My first house had a mortgage of 8%. It was a “starter home”, remember those? Second mortgage was at 11%. Last house was at 8%. I managed. I think many young people today feel entitled to start out in a big, fancy house and a new car. And have someone else pay off their education debt. The American Dream is not easy. You have to work for it.
I was also a young person in 1973. My parents had 8 children under the age of eight. They bought a brand new ranch brick home in 1965 for $12,000. My father worked in a paint factory making paint and EVERY mom stayed at home. No phones or cars. My mom didn’t even drive. They watched the three channels on tv through an antennae. We all knew our neighbors, were well-behaved kids in school and church and EVERYTHING was closed on Sunday…even gas stations. No one was rich but taxes were low, cars were mechanically more simplistic and lasted a long time. Vacations were a trip to a local lake beach with a picnic…not a cruise or Disney anything. We lived as natural minimalists with far, far fewer “things”. Thus, life was simpler and we enjoyed it more. I personally think, despite all the good that came from them, that computers and cell phones have ruined everything. I know any invention can be used for great good or horrific evil but the bad side of electronics has destroyed more than most people think about.
First, note that not long ago it was 20% who thought it was very good or good. So that has almost doubled (note, I’m not a Biden guy and I don’t think empirical data backs this up … but I think as we get closer to elections, some folks are pulling the yellow dog tag (ie: I’m a democrat and democrats are in control, so I better say the economy is doing good). As a landlord who has had 2 turnovers of late, I can say that many more people seem to have low credit scores (I send applications to a 3rd party, I don’t see the credit score, but I get an overall score and a brief explanation … most of the low ratings come from credit issues). So with the economy more empirically NOT doing very well, I think our current moves to increase environmental regulations, bring reparations closer to reality, and offer UBI are great ways to bring the collapse a little sooner. If we are going that way and nobody who supports true fiscal recovery (which would be painful for everyone) is electable … why drag it out.
It will happen and it will be on a global basis
1) 71% of people in their Prime Age are homeowners. Since Trump very few American soldiers were killed in wars. We cut our losses.
2) China barter with MBS, trading oil for Chinese goods, or paying him in deflated Yuan. China and India are buying discounted oil from Putin. Demand for paper oil is down.
3) The spread between the 3M and the 10Y flipped from (-)2.3% to 1.9%. In recession the spread might rise to a new all time high. Cluster #4 is born where the 3M is above the long duration.
4) Trump/Biden ME policy : support the peace block/oppose the war mongers. If the war in Ukraine ends in a ceasefire and the Israeli & Arab peace block wins we maintain our Empire. We aren’t collapsing after 250 years. The world still needs us, b/c the other option is ==> a nuclear war. The nuclear war is on hold !!
Don’t forget we are spinning around on a lava filled orb in an infinite void ever expanding.
So I worry about that.
Mostly.
Ukraine has to hold. If not the US will be drawn further into NATO as the possibility of Russia invading more countries will increase.
The possibility of a nuclear war, even though it is totally stupid, will increase as the US/China conflict starts up and Russia supports China.
The US doesn’t have any friends in the world. It is too nasty to everyone.
The American Dream is still alive. But it is important to understand what the American Dream is and what it is not.
If you work hard, work smart , get a good education, continually acquire the necessary skills throughout your lifetime, save, invest, and look for the opportunities that arise; you can get ahead and build a very good life for yourself here. And you have a better chance to succeed at this dream in the US, versus any other country you care to compare with.
On the other hand, being an American guarantees you nothing more than the chance to succeed. You still need to do all of the above. Your nationality, race, gender, skin color, religion etc don’t count for much. Whining, bitching and complaining get you nothing. Spending too much of your valuable time on politics, hating others and complaining only holds you back.
If you think the opportunities are better elsewhere, or you don’t like it here, then leave and let others have the opportunities.
I, for one, am thrilled to have had the opportunity this country provides. It has allowed me to create a lot of wealth.
Another good day today on markets.
Preach that shit to the next Millennial and get your false teeth slapped right outta your pie hole Papa
Yes!
Feeling micro-aggressed?
Millenials are the most retarded generation ever born.
There are plenty of Retards in America
1776 does have a point. The Boomer generation are a bunch of narcissists. I ride in this crowd. They are all about themselves, their self actualization, and their pleasure. It’s a 1960s hangover. What happened to posterity? This is what happens when fewer people have children. They don’t care about the future. Look at Lindsey Graham and Angela Merkel, two kleptocrats without kids, spoiling the future of their respective nations.
That is funny. Most of the people I volunteer with are Boomers. We never have any young people volunteer. We do taxes for people for free at AARP. Young people also take advantage of our free services, but they think learning about tax software and laws “is too hard” and you have to pass tests to get certified. So it falls to us retired Boomers. My co-workers are still hard working and generous people, no “quiet quitters” among them.
“…The Boomer generation are a bunch of narcissists…”
As opposed to which other modern generation? Have you see a YouTube or Tik Tok video in the last 5 years? It’s nothing but narcissism from predominantly Millennials and Gen Z. Gen X has thier narcissistic tendencies as well.
I’m Gen X (the forgotten generation) and I was a latch-key kid “raised” by boomers. I don’t understand all of this generational bickering and finger pointing. How does bitching, moaning, and blaming someone else (boomers in this instance) for everything wrong in the world improve your life? I’d ask the same question if people here were blaming Millennials. Maybe the boomers did screw everyone younger over and maybe they are narcissistic. Ok, so what? How does repeatedly screaming this make YOUR LIFE better or help you achieve YOUR personal goals?
For someone starting out at the bottom, the United States is perhaps the very best country in which to be greedy.
“American Dream” still possible, but much harder.
Peter Turchin’s “surplus of elites” applies not only to positions like senator (100 senators regardless of population) but also to positions lower on the rung, like college professors (number has hardly changed in the last 50 years and tenured positions much harder to get).
Plenty of jobs in retail and fast food though.
Turchin says that the number of lawyers per capita has exploded something like four or five time what it was in the early ’70s. He also pointed out that many of the worst revolutionaries were lawyers and that as a group they are the most dangerous. I agree.
A decade and a half of free money to the monied class and what did they think would happen? There is so much nonsense and distortion in the economy. The rich got *FREE* money for 15 years! It is a wonder that only 60% feel that they are screwed.
Wanted immediately: bond vigilantes. “Make savers great again!!!”
Most are in a 60 year + 2 day slumber.
I think the character of the American Dream has changed. It used to be that you could get ahead and succeed by hard work and perseverance. Now only saps work hard. Instead they follow the lead of the grifters in the political class.
I would add that people have lost the meaning of what it means to be an American. The Left has weaponized identity politics. Instead of looking at Thomas Jefferson and George Washington as great men, they are castigated as white, cisgender men who were slave holders. This cancerous perspective taught by libtards at Universites is designed go tear down the society. Likewise open borders and mass migration with no interest in assimilation, and a big emphasis on getting what can be gotten from the government give away programs is eroding the foundations of society. Most people know this can’t go on forever and they feel sword of Damocles swing above their head. I suspect in 10 years many people will be a lot poorer as inflation knocks out the rungs of the middle class and the US begins to look a lot more like Mexico.
Uh, call it socialism, communism, whatever makes you happy.
People should take care of each other .
Government is the People?
Lord of the flies?!
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all other forms”
Huh?
Can’t say the Retards are doing much better!
Guilty…
All these results are skewed and spiked. You cant ask questions like these when you allow the richest segment to borrow at 0% for 14 years (2006-2020) allowing them to buy up everything in sight causing immediate supply shortages (higher rents esp) and inevitable inflation (mostly artificial as the money supply increases have been kept away from the general public). What the bigger question is is who in the heck allowed the interest rates to stay at 0% for so long?
Those 0 or near 0 rates allowed a lot of lower income to become homeowners … so it’s not all “the rich are evil” in this story. The difference between renting costs and costs of buying a home are higher than they have been in decades (ie: you’re far better off renting now than buying a home). So while there are evil rich, evil poor, and evil middle class … it’s not all the rich in a conspiracy to make your life he–.
Evil rich kicks evil poor raw bottom all day every day.
Dumb rich evil is in control.
For now…
That big Ole pendulum is swinging our way?
Even though I don’t like many of Biden’s policies, the trends that you cite have been going on for a long time, through both Democratic and Republican administrations. The biggest reasons for these trends are 1) the United States having the reserve currency which makes the dollar stronger than it should be resulting in a loss of industrial capacity and jobs; 2) a lack of anti-trust enforcement and encouraging of a competitive marketplace resulting in increased costs for consumers and lack of bargaining power for workers; 3) poor Federal Reserve policy which tends to bail out the investor class and result in capital flows to wealthier individuals resulting in extreme wealth inequality and individual/corporate purchases of politicians and government policy.
None of the above issues are Republican or Democratic specific and have not been addressed much by either party. Given where the country is now, I would be happy if we had intelligent policy, either conservative or liberal, as long as it made some type of sense. I don’t see that from either side now.
When the Glass-Steagall act was repealed in 1999, it tore the lid off Pandora’s Box as it allowed the big banks (the owners of the Fed) to engage in financial arenas that they had not allowed to participate in since 1933 (for a damned good reason as that behavior was instrumental in bringing about the Great Depression). Those banks wasted no time in bringing about the The Global Financial Crisis that culminated in 2008, and the Fed immediately stepped in to rescue its’ owners to the detriment of main street America and has been backstopping more garbage ever since, especially since Janet Yellen was appointed Treasury Secretary. It also ushered in the current era of the Fed being the end-all, be-all of all things financial.
The repeal of Glass-Steagall was a bi-partisan sellout of America.
Wasn’t slick willy with a Billy beer in his hand responsible for that repeal?
Democrats acting like Republicans!!!!
The world is upside down?
Clinton signed it into law but it was it was bi-partisan as it was Phil Gramm (R) in the senate along with Jim Leach (R) and Thomas Bliley(R) in the house who were the main sponsors of the legislation. The Federal Reserve had already done an end-run on the law in Sept. 1998 before it was repealed when they granted Citicorp a temporary waiver to merge with Travelers Group and form Citigroup (owner of Citibank, which would require one of the largest bailouts in 2008). More info here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass%E2%80%93Steagall_legislation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm%E2%80%93Leach%E2%80%93Bliley_Act
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=8214818&page=1
BTW, both Carter Glass and Henry Steagall whose names were on the repealed act, were southern Democrats. IMO, neither party truly represents the average American any longer, they only ensure that the vested interests that fuel their respective re-election campaigns take precedence in the monetary food chain.
You, are living in dream.
American, I’m guessing?
Sure, but you need to be asleep to believe it.
And incredibly naive.
It would be nice to read serious analysis rather than political cheap shots. It is time to admit that the neoliberal capitalist system is rotten to the core and that the government, as well as all other agencies and institutions, including SCOTUS, have been bought and paid by special interests. You can blame and eliminate the government, but the rot stays.
It is also time to admit that this bs about maximizing shareholders value is a great excuse to keep cutting salaries and benefits.
You work very hard for a company for decades, and all you get is a pink slip as soon as you become a bit older and expensive. No wonder people no longer believe in the American Dream. As George Carlin said, “They call it the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe on it”.
Interesting .
On one hand you complain about “ neoliberal capitalist system is rotten to the core and that the government, as well as all other agencies and institutions, including SCOTUS, have been bought and paid by special interests.”
Then seem to get annoyed when I discuss just that.
I, FWIW, am almost always entertained in my annoyance by libertarian dreamers.
Agree regarding shareholder value.
“..neoliberal capitalist system is rotten…”
It’s not the, never well defined as all such vague platitudes always are, “wokeocabal nitrogasist bumtip” which is rotten.
But rather the very well defined, hence straightforward to logically reason about, Federal Reserve, which is rotten.
It’s not strange, evil’ish sounding abstracts which are robbing people by debasement and transferring the loot to retarded idiots year in year out. But instead perfectly concrete institutions doing those things.
You end the Fed, activity taxes and no-explicit-contract “civil court” shakedowns; and replace them all with a cold, hard nothing at all: And all the evils that lightweights of all stripes love to pontificate about being due to scary-sounding weirdness they can’t even hope to properly define; simply goes away.
It’s not strange and mystical and black sorcery.But rather: You are poor, because someone specific is robbing you.The means by which they are robbing you, are: Debasement; mandates, bans and restrictions; taxes and kangaroo court shakedowns. Nothing more black magic than that. Get rid of those, and you’ll no longer be systemically robbed. Hence get to keep more of what you produce. Hence will be wealthier. That’s it.
Simple, well defined arithmetic. Not weirdo, mystical, ill defined; but always scary-sounding; alchemy.