There are some dangerous trends in the economy of the United States right now. When you get down to it, the people whose stories are being told here are people who are basically being driven into corners. The question that is probably burning in everyone’s minds is why this is happening. There are patterns. Can you name a few? The ones that I noticed are that they all have at least two children, lack college educations, and come from working-class or middle-class families. It’s easy to say that they shouldn’t have had kids until they had an education, or that they should have built up savings before they dragged children into poverty with them, but really, do we know the lives that they seek to live? They have wives and husbands and surely have dreams and ambition, the opportunity they seek to live the lives that they want has simply yet to appear. It’s a breeding ground for powerlessness. Furthermore, the predominantly class-based system of American social stratification is almost showing caste-level rigidity in classes. There certainly is a lot of stress and anxiety associated with the positions that they are in. It’s almost like they are being taunted with false hopes of being able to rise in the hierarchy, like a caste system where you are never officially given a role, which can be considerably psychologically harmful, and contribute to the adoption of false consciousness. Compounding the largely grim situation they are in is the state of the costs of living right now. I’m uncertain whether the costs for housing are unusually high right now, or if the standards set by previous generations were unusually low, but the fact still remains that the cost of housing is often a major factor for poverty in the U.S. right now. There are a lot of factors that influence upwards social mobility in a negative way. -SoarSore789
I like the approach taken here. Rather than talking about what has failed in society to prevent the American dream you are giving examples of what we as Americans do to prolong or even prevent the process of reaching that dream. It is not entirely our faults, obviously, but we definitely do partake in certain self-destructive behaviors that lead to less than positive outcomes from time to time. For example, what you were saying about having multiple children and not being married and whatnot, we can take preventative measures to ensure a better future for ourselves as well as our family.White789
Yes it is the fact that the fact that people is not being equality rewarded for their hard work and dedication to their studies and then they need to pay for their student loans and than the house loans and work three or more jobs because there is not income equality like it was before and now in order to get a decent paying job you need to have an opportunity to start building up experience and have something good to add in the resume. Now the problem is getting to that point while trying to be at float and keeping your head above water is close to impossible. Koi789
The video said 20/20 went around asking what is the American Dream how much of society is middle class, and how much does a family bring in? The average person will say "The American Dream", is the white picket fence, a nice home, decent jobs and a family. In today society 50% of people are middle class and there income for a family of five starts at 54,000 a year. It's harder to get ahead then it was 30 years ago. Fifty-five percent of people are not even bringing in what their parents did. In the past thirty years its just gotten worse the top twenty percent get fourteen times the wealth vs. the remaining eighty percent. That's horrible! One man states we have to state getting the millionaire's and billionaire's to start caring about the working class. Today it is normal for a family to have to work more then one job. Houses that use to be listed as middle class areas the middle class can't afford no more. A firefighter in Pennsylvania use to be able to afford to take care of his family on just that. Now most firefighters say they have more then one job, one man stated he actually worked three jobs. A woman bought a house in 1978 the house was around 60,000 back then today that house goes for 800,000. She said the house built around her use to be nurses, teachers, firefighters. Today they are owned by CEO's and bankers. They tell a story of a man named Ronnie Thomas who is 55 he has a wife and two children. For the past ten years Thomas has had to travel 80 miles for work to afford to take care of his family. Sadly they still can't afford a car. Thomas takes a four hour commute to work everyday. First taking a bike, then a train, and a bus. To work a 8 hour day to take the four hour commute back home. I really makes me wonder what the next 30 years will be like? -Gander789
Yeah, the video focuses a lot on the problem of income decline over the past few decades. Jobs simply not being able to support people like they used to in the past is worrying. Housing prices also seem to skyrocket at a dizzying pace alongside poverty. I have personal experience with someone I know having to take a pretty brutally long drive just to get to his job because of the state of the economy right now. It’s pretty hard to tell if these dangerous economic trends will continue, or if after reaching a fever pitch, they will slow down, or even reverse. Who can say? -SoarSore789
This is why education is important because the cost of living will continue to increase as showcased in the video. Job wages and minimal wage amounts does not help offset such cost. The opportunities/resources are limited in this case depending upon financial/economical status. If your parents have successful careers and nice paying jobs then you may have an upper hand in regards to the “American dream.” In fact you might have lived it as a young child so you aim for that bare minimal. Opposite of that people who aren’t as fortunate have to dig themselves out of an even deeper hole with less help from family, yet the drive to do and become better is motivation enough for those individuals to do whatever it takes to make that dream a reality. The solution is simple invest in the people here in America first, stop outsourcing jobs, offer more community aimed programs for children, raise the minimal wage in bigger cities, and bring down the “guys” at the top who could care less about the people at the bottom whom help keep their business afloat and their pockets phat! When will America be great again? mummyoftwo789
Sadly bringing the guys on the top is nearly impossible because that top dog will raise their child just as they were raised. To worry about being on top and that's all the matters. I see this in the corporation I work in every 2 or 3 years the company standards change to make the stylists more money. Not really its to make more money in his pocket. Everything in the last 3 years that has changed has only not benefited me but made it harder for me to make more money. Education is a huge factor in society. Teaching your children that nothing is handed in life will result in more independence and most likely more successful. There are children that came from money that expect things handed but that more lies on the parents to teach them right from wrong. - Gander789
Growing up the American dream was different for me and I’m sure it was different for my friends. Although we were different families, our parents both had to work very hard to supply for us and make sure we had everything we needed, but that just shows you things have changed over time. People are working twice as hard just to survive instead of living and enjoying life. The American dream has slowly faded out since people are just trying to make ends meet. unknownzeeha789
I believe everyone grows up dreaming about living the American Dream. In this 20/20 clip, Diane Sawyer asked a question using social media, “What is the American Dream?” She stated many would say a “parent with a job, a modest house, education that provided better opportunities, or taking family vacations. Diane felt that her family lived that dream. Growing up on a farm in Southern Kentucky her mom was a teacher and her dad was in the navy. With the benefits of the GI Bill they purchased a bigger house in a subdivision neighborhood, enjoying family picnics and parades. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans do not have the opportunity or the resources they need to achieve that dream. As we see in this video, there is a different reality where many Americans deal with the stress and struggle to reach the American Dream. Some of the comments from social media were “stop the middle class from disappearing”, “meet my bills each month”, “we struggle everyday”. Using the participant observation and existing data sources research methods, as well as interviews, Diane discovered a “Hidden America”. Through interviews, the participants stated that they feel like their “stuck”, can “never catch up”, and living the American Dream is unachievable. One gentlemen stated that “we need to get the millionaires and the billionaires in Washington to start worrying about the working class”. He feels like they have “forgotten”. Over the past 30 years the U.S. economy has been growing, but those at the top are getting more and more of the money. The top 20 percent, who in Karl Marx’s time would be the capitalist, has more than 14 times the wealth of the rest of the 80 percent, which is the largest income inequality on record. For the first time in the past century young people in the middle class are earning 55 percent less than their parents, making it harder to achieve the American Dream. 30 years ago, some people felt the American Dream was achievable. It was possible to own your home, and one parent income was enough to support your family. In 1970 a 1700 square feet home with 3 bedrooms, and more than one-bathroom cost “191,000. Today, with homes being built to cater to upscale incomes, that cost nearly doubles at $360,000 for a 2600 square feet home, with four-bedrooms, and multiple bathrooms. She observed a firefighter in Wilkes-Barres, Pennsylvania, who worked three jobs totaling 28 hours some days, a mother in Maryland, who makes homemade laundry detergent saving $10 a month, a super commuter who travels 80 miles to work which takes 4 hours there and back daily by bike, train, and bus because he is unable to afford a car and house closer to where he works. She also interviewed a microbiologist, social worker, biotechnologist. All of them struggling to enjoy their everyday lives and can no longer afford to live in their homes. Some losing out on time spent with their families. According one of the experts, “being middle class, having middle class security, and saving money for retirement is getting harder and harder to achieve”. Due to the increasingly wide gap between the rich and the poor the ability to cross it has become more difficult and rare. People who are “privileged” and has “intrenched interests” has made it difficult to build low income housing. With the cost of living on the rise as well as other social forces this is hindering those who want to achieve the American Dream. I will end this by stating in the words of another expert “the Solution is within our reach but do we have the WILL to implement it”. Granny 789
On May 30, 2015 ABC 20/20 asked what is the American dream? Everyone’s American dream I believe is different since we all are exposed to different things in life. In America today, it is 10x harder to get ahead. In the older days one income was enough to live, now we have people working two or three jobs just to survive. Although the market has grown, the people that fall in the high income are the ones that are seeing the change. The top 20% are 14x wealthier than the bottom 80%. The bottom 80% are the ones that truly struggle, they have children and find every way possible to give for them. Although the struggle is hard, it teaches them that they are stronger than what they believe. It was stated in the video that the gap between the rich and the poor actually wasnt a big gap at one point. Two things have happened, the gap is now bigger than expected and to overcome it is almost impossible. We have many people that struggle. We have a firefighter that normally his income should cover his wife and children but he works around the clock to support and provide for them because one job that is known as good pay leads him to two other jobs because they good pay does not add up when it comes to bills. We had another gal that worked as a aid and her husband did handy work around because he lost his union job. Their situation leads them to 50 dollars extra a month to save but their question was how are they suppose to save? Another lady has taken on four part time jobs while her husband is a microbiologist and you would think a 6 figure job would be living comfortable but those people are trapped considering they are making the money to live where they are to keep their jobs but they arent making money to thrive in the area. The hopes to getting to the other side is rare. Its very hard to get ahead and if you have a savings account, youre considered to be doing decent. unknownzeeha789
The American dream used to be a pretty achievable dream for most average Americans. The ideal dream included a spouse and children, a decent house and a car, financial stability and decent jobs. I may be missing a few details, but for the most part that pretty much sums it up, right? What happened over the years to make such a simple dream so hard to achieve? I could list a few different things, tons of things, actually. The jobs offered to us today demand long hours for little pay, but with there not being enough jobs out there for everyone it can be a challenge to make any income at all. It does not help that our low income keeps getting taxed more and more over the years, this has a lot to do with state and government spending. Another reason we find it so hard to reach this end goal is because of updating technology. Everything in our world is constantly updating and we are constantly coming out with better but more expensive things. As consumers, we have that initial want to keep up with the times and have all the latest fancy gadgets. This keeps us from reaching that dream because if there is always something new coming out, then we are always chasing something, we are only content with what we have when there is not something better out there. While the American dream may mean having the best out there to some people, to people like me it means living comfortably and having the things I need first and the things I want follow after. My own "American Dream" is to be stable and to be alive and well, to be as stress free as I can possibly be. Mental peace of mind is the ultimate dream here, people!White789
We have the same dream, White. In the sake that this is anonymous, I have bipolar disorder and that makes it very hard to work and be in school. However, I know how difficult it is to get a good paying job without a college degree and I know that I must compromise my mental health in order to afford to live, basically. It is a cycle in and of itself. So, I would like to get to a point where I can live comfortably and mentally well, too. Catzfuhdays789
This video had me shaking my head up and down for the majority of it. How true?! It hit straight home for me. In my grandpa’s generation, the “American dream” was very achievable. He had to work quite a bit and did not own the nicest home, but he owned his home in CALIFORNIA and supported his wife and children. The price of owning a home was remarkably lower, about a third or quarter of the homes now. He worked jobs such as manufacturing, the post office, and other pretty good paying jobs that did not require a college education. Nowadays, the number of those jobs is decreasing and the cost of living is increasing. While on college education, this is a big problem with today. To afford an education, usually you need to get student loans to offset the price of tuition. These student loans will haunt you for years to come. I am only about two years into my schooling and I have around 10 thousand dollars in student loans that span 10 years. I will be paying over 100 dollars a month for the next ten years and that is IF I stop going after this semester. Let alone when I go to a two-year college, that will most likely triple. After schooling, though, income can be much higher than without, admittedly. However, as the video showed, even people with degrees and higher incomes had to relocate and move away from their homes and lives because they could not afford the area. It truly feels as though the American dream is something that is not attainable anymore. I want to live in California and when I was younger I thought when I was older I could move and live wherever I wanted, but this is not the reality. I realize that, in California, I will most likely not be able to own a home due to the price, so I must compromise either where I want to live or my dream of owning a house. It is a vicious cycle that I hope to compete with. Catzfuhdays789
Just think about student loan, it already was so scary to me. But it is the unavoidable road for everyone who want to have the degrees to apply for the better job. Better job here are so much different than what we used to believe back then. Now teacher, officer, fire fighter can barely consider the better job because even those can’t afford to living in the middle-class houses. When the world non-stop developing, more and more jobs required their worker to have a specific degrees or license. Everyone dream to have their own house and live as anyplace they want. This is not a reality. This only reality for those top 20% bourgeoisie. Zero789
I completely agree, that idea of the “American Dream” has become so far out of reach that all it has become now is just a dream. The trend of children not being able to break that social status lead by their parents is becoming to be so common. For some, the idea of actually getting a college education goes out the window because of how costly it has become. In order to live a life where it is not a struggle to make ends meet, a college education is mandatory. This system that is being used for the economy with modernized society is not allowing those to thrive and reach that “American Dream.” MelRich895
I completely see where you are coming from. When I was younger (and even today) my dream was to live in Hawaii. To go there and meet the other half of my family, live there, discover my ancestry and be a part of a culture that I feel is missing. I wanted to be a Volcanologist too. Travel the world discover new places and bring my family with me. However, when I was in high school I realized that will not be possible. Living in Hawaii is not an option because it is too expensive. I haven’t even taken a vacation there! To be a Volcanologist you need to have money to start somewhere. I do not have that type of money. Everyone has their own interpretation of the American dream but it stays the same as far as the material things. But mostly my American dream was to be who I wanted to be. Which is also hard to accomplish when most of your life you are told “that’s going to be hard” or “are you sure you want to try and do that?” people respond to situations with a negative tone. Which in turn makes that person feel maybe they are right and I should just settle with what I know. Which is what I have done, settle, and my grandmother always told me to never settle for less than what your worth. -Slimjim789
The video was sad. It was kind of joke when most of wealth of our country were in the hand of only 20% of American. The rest 80% are just fighting to try to survive over the scare resources. In the immigrant perspective, United State is the very wealthy and powerful country that many people all from over the world desire to live. I was so shocked when I hear about the story of the fire fighter men. He had to work three jobs constantly to be able barely maintain his family life. How can the life of the men working to save other life be poor like that? He was not even considering the middle class. In modern today, the mark of income for middle class are much lower than the pass that not many people realized that. Like what were show in the video, many random citizens gave the amount of income which they believe to be middle class are much higher than the actual mark. Another example is many houses that supposed to be buy by the middle classes were now became the house of some of the upper-class. The middle classes today just simple can’t affordable the mortgage to live in those houses anymore. Today, everyone at least has the loan in some place: house loan, car loan, student loan, and credit loan. One job just simply doesn’t give a person enough money to pay off their bill for each month and maintain living. The American dream just feel further and further away. Every American has the American dream, it was so simple but too hard to reach. Has the house, has the good job, has the happy life with our family. Zero789
I agree that the video was sad, but it was also eye opening as to what a large percentage of Americans are living in on a daily basis. The firefighter is in a bad situation. I give him credit for doing the best he can, but at the rate he is going he won't be alive to be with his family. He is stretching himself too thin. But what else is he supposed to do? I can relate to not being able to live in a nicer neighborhood. I currently live in a high crime neighborhood because it's what I can afford. I am proud to say that I am a homeowner, but the thought of moving to a nicer neighborhood scares me because at this point in my life I wouldn't be able to afford it. AnimalLover789
I agree. The American Dream is becoming even harder to achieve. It’s very disheartening seeing everyone that is suffering but knowing that you can’t do anything about it. There is way too many people suffering and dealing without because of how everything has changed today. The people they interviewed were in tragic situations that made life so difficult. And like the person ahead of me said, Chris won’t be able to live for long if he keeps going at the speed he is and what he’s putting himself in. The American Dream is almost impossible to accomplish anymore. Schmidt789
The video was definitely sad. Its crazy how some people inherit being poor and the way society is set up there isn't really much they can do. The video was really an eye opener on just how unfortunate some people really are. only 20 percent of people in this country are "well off" and the rest have to fight just to pay bills and put food on the table. People from the 20 percent don't have a clue what its like to dread checking the mail because of fear of a bill being too high to pay. They will never understand unless they experienced it themselves.-collegekid789-
I agree the video was sad, but it was also eye opening. I never would have thought that a firefighter would have to work three jobs just to barely make ends meet. Trying to figure out college and everything is so stressful because you cannot just go to school and not work anymore. I have to work two jobs and can barely afford to pay all my bills plus pay for college. It is also crazy to think for most people once they get their degree they will be paying off student loans forever, literally. EPIC789
In this video, it starts out with describing the all-time American Dream. The American Dream is having a wife or husband, have kids, and also have a nice home with the white picket fence. Back then, several decades ago, it was much easier to have that achieved. Even with the wife at home taking care of the home and the kids, and the father was out every day at his job. That was enough back then. But now a lot has changed. Both the mother and father will have up to three different jobs and they still can’t catch up on bills. Research shows that the top twenty percent has fourteen times more wealth than the other bottom eighty percent. Which is record beating. Majority of people in middle class earn less than their parents. They make a stop in Pennsylvania and discover that forty out of sixty-eight full time firefighters have no other choice but to get a second job due to paying off remaining bills. However, a generation ago, being a firefighter was more than enough for you and your family at home. As they continue on through this video, it goes on to talk about the sacrifices people have to make in order to just get along. Some save up money by collecting coupons whenever they get the chance, only go out to eat on special occasions, only purchase items they absolutely need, make things from scratch, etc. What Tracy suggests is to get a college degree. Education is very important if you want to succeed in life. They, then go along the streets of neighborhoods to look at homes. Back then, decades ago, teachers, police officers, firefighters people in that facinity could afford those types of homes. But in today’s economy, you simply can’t. Home ownership in America is at a fifty year low, sadly. At one point in time, the gap between the rich and the poor wasn’t all that big of a difference, but that has changed drastically. Schmidt789
It is a fact that in America exist income inequality and I think it is the result of many things combined. There are several reasons of income inequality; the lack of knowledge in “technology” because many jobs today are more technology based which required coming back to school to get new skills. For instance many jobs required computer skills as a plus. It’s a fact that if a worker has the education, the training, and the skills, he or she can improve opportunities to get a better pay job, and rank much better in the social class position. A skilled worker may find better opportunities, and an unskilled worker fall behind in terms of income. The “moving of manufacturing jobs to overseas” is another reason because it caused that many factory towns could not provide more jobs to the local community, the “tax policies” of the governments that favor the wealthy to pay less taxes, the high cost of many product and services we need to consume, and the high interests of mortgage that make hard to pay off a house. but I think that the big reason is the “lack of financial education”, the “lack of financial literacy” which means that it is very important to develop a set of skills and knowledge to master the management and control of all the financial resources as earnings from work, savings, and investments. We need to be careful who wants to take our money, because as a worker we need to protect our single wealth, our salary. I think that college education and financial education are good elements to reduce the gap between poverty and riches. “Your income can grow only to the extent that you do” –T Harv Eker, American entrepreneur and motivational speaker” the_soccer_league789
For those in high school or in college trying to figure out how to make a living in this world, is stressful, intimidating, and terrifying. There are so many similar stories to those that were told in this video, where parents or single parents are working two to three different jobs just to make ends meet or to come close to making ends meet. This world’s economy has been growing for the past thirty years and will continue to grow. With how fast it is growing, it is creating almost a cultural lag. The economic system that has been used for years to regulate the way things are spent and or managed has not caught up with how rapidly society is developing. The population that is considered to be “well-off,” takes up twenty percent of the population and acquires fourteen times the wealth than the other classes. In the past, the ideal “American Dream” was achievable and could easily be in reach. The mother was able to stay at home and take care of things at home if she wanted to, while her husband would go to work and was able to support the family in a beautiful home. This modern generation earns fifty-five percent less than what their parents would have been earning, when they were children. Today, there is about fifty percent of population listed at middle class. A family of five just barely makes it through that middle-class door by earning a whopping fifty-four thousand dollars. Presently, earning enough to home is becoming more and more rare. Homeownership is at a fifty-year low because the housing market has become so expensive that it is unrealistic for a family to finally have some place to call theirs. If things do not change in the economic world, it may just go downhill from here. It is starting to get harder and harder for every generation to come to make a living for themselves and their future families, and it is incredibly alarming. MelRich895
This was put incredibly well. Society is developing so fast, and yet we haven't developed our current economic system to suit it. This leaves the modern generation running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. On fire. What do we do? How do we do it? How do we make money? The only advice we're getting is from our parents, and that system just don't cut it no more. So we have to wing it. Rapid development plus a recession plus unemployment on the rise means that everyone is scrambling looking for a foothold. We look for a job to camp out in until everything blows over, and then we get stuck in a nine to five that we hate. Marx would call that alienation. I think we saw a lot of alienation in this video. People being alienated from their families, from each other, from their past hopes and dreams. And I can only hope that one day that is rectified. Buwowski222
In this video it was very evident how the gap between the rich and poor has widened significantly. Kids in high school have no clue whats waiting on them in this cold world of unfairness and inequality. The sad part is it only takes one bad stroke of luck to lose everything you have worked for your whole life,poof its gone!!! No one knows when and if something like that will ever happen to them but if it does what do you do?? The guy in the video made 6 figures before he lost his wife and job,and was reduced to food banks ,i could only imagine !!!!! -collegekid789-
The American Dream is just a dream. We all have different opinions of it but they all come down to be the same. All of these people are trying to make ends meet. They are doing everything they can to make their children’s life better and seem to be getting nowhere. The firefighter has an education and still works three jobs to support his family, the woman who works at the school she is trying to get a degree to help get a better job, and the woman whose husband is a marine biologist he’s a marine biologist for crying out loud and they cannot afford where they live because of the economy. Each of them are trying to achieve a better life for their children and are doing everything they can to achieve that dream. The American dream, where one parent works, nice house in a nice neighborhood, nice car, bills paid, and savings made. This is not entirely their fault, it is not entirely societies fault. The American dream is harder to achieve because of the cost of living. That is how I see it. That woman’s husband is a marine biologist and they cannot afford a life where they are in California because the cost of living has gone up but I guarantee you his pay did not. So, she has to work part-time jobs to help. A household is not going to stay above the “line” if only one parent is working anymore. Both have to work to create that American dream. However, I also feel as though us as humans it is natural to want more. For example, a man is a lawyer his wife is a teacher they made a combined income of 230K a year. They live in a nice neighborhood already but one of them decide that they want a bigger house, a better car, another baby. With doing that their cost of living goes up but their pay does not and now they find themselves, even making 230K/year, struggling. How is that possible? Because they want more. We as humans take things for granted and are greedy. Sometimes it is the economies fault, sometimes it is our own. -Slimjim789
When live in a different country like Russia or other countries that are poor, most of the people think that Americans have the ideal American dream of living which would look like, having a big house, vacations, non-stop trips to the mall, eat very well, almost everyone goes to college but little do they know, only 50% Americans are considered to be in the middle class, what about the other 50%? I noticed most people they interviewed had two kids, and they grew up in the middle class with their parents as they were growing up. Not only that, but they didn’t have enough education to get them secure jobs rather than working 3-5 jobs just to provide for their family. It would be nice if some Americans planned their and waited to have kids until they were financially stable, because one family in the video said they didn’t even have money saved for their two kids to go to college just because they don’t have enough money and also the couple who went out once a year, the husband who owned a pair of fancy shoes for 10 years, him and his wife can’t buy anything for themselves because they just can’t afford it. Middle class neighborhoods were much cheaper to buy a house back in the day but now days; you pay double the amount to buy a house that is newly built in a middle class neighborhood. But you have people who are in the upper class who spend money carelessly like money grows from a tree without having a consideration that others do not have that much. People who have a lot of money would spend so much money per day knows that same amount of money per day someone can spend it for a month. I found it really sad about the guy who worked 80 miles away from his home because he can’t afford to live near his job and he would not afford to buy a car so he rode his bike for five miles to the train station, then 60 minutes ride on the train and then 30 minutes ride on the bus and he would wake early in the morning before anyone else is up, but he had the encouragement to do so because he had to do it, take care of his wife and kids. Ria789
When asked 'what is Middle class', we see smiling people on a sidewalk holding up signs. One of which says 300,000 dollars. The reality was less than 54,000. 54,000 is middle class. 23,000 is poverty. Rich? Rich is everything above that. And as we all know, the rich hold the majority of our wealth. The famous one percent, with their billions upon billions. Middle class. I've always scoffed a little at that term. Watching this, however, was painful. A father working three jobs, a mother explaining to her children why it was so hard to save the same way my mother explained it to me. And these are the people in the middle? Making it there only because of blood sweat and tears? Is that the American dream, then? Capitalism, brutally exploiting its workers until they just can't work any more, any harder? They want the best for their family, same as anyone else, and they'll do anything to ensure that their family gets what they can give them, but here's the thing. They shouldn't have to. It's like those articles you read about how 'A teen crowd funded for her lifesaving surgery' or 'This pregnant woman worked fifty hours a week to provide for her family and then this miracle happened!' And everyone oohs and aws and niggling in the back of your head you wonder- but shouldn't that surgery have been provided for that sick teenager in the first place? Why did that pregnant mother have to work fifty hours a week to begin with? Why was our society so focused on independence and our personal ability to provide for ourselves or gain something from others that we forgot that we could be giving and providing towards those in need? You shouldn't have to wake up three hours early to go to work and drive past a ghost of who you wanted to be. You should be able to spend time with your family. You should be able to buy McDonalds and not worry about the gas tank. And you should hear middle class and think comfortable, not 'barely hanging on'.
This was very painful to watch. I also agree that as a college student and having a child in college, that these numbers are scary and disturbing. I am unsure how to coach my daughter into deciding on a career. I always tried to tell my children that money isn't everything. But it some ways....it is! Money means that you can feed your family and have clean clothing. It means that you will have a roof over your head and the means to pay your bills on time. Because I want her to be happy as well. I cannot see happiness when you must work 3 jobs a day to do this. MommaJ789
It seems that we should be able to find the means to bring the gap between the rich and poor closer. How has it gotten this far? Why is our great country allowing this for its people? If only 50% of our people are considered middle class, and they only make an average of 54,000 a year, what are these so called upper class averaging? What is the percentage at poverty level? Did I miss that? I'm wondering if both of the other ends of the spectrum need work. Why are the middle class working so hard to make ends meet? Are the rich and the poor working as hard to make ends meet? I understand that there will always be extreme ends of the spectrum, but maybe this is partially why we, as an American society are so unhealthy. There are so many stressors involved in working so hard to put clothes on our families and food on the table and keeping the lights on! I thought it was beyond ridiculous that the man was leaving 4 hours early just to get to his job at Stanford University. He has no time to take part time classes or enrich his education to be qualified for a position in which he would have better benefits and pay. I would think that the university would have an online program for employees and their families to further their education for free. And the firefighter who is working three jobs almost 24 hour straight to support his family. It's only a matter of time before he is falling asleep on the job and then will be penalized for that... for trying to provide for his family. The housing prices are ridiculous these days. Something has got to give. MommaJ789
The American Dream is no longer the American Dream. This has changed due to wealth distribution being sucked up by the richer. The economy does not allow people to have any quality of life without making terrible sacrifices. Like the firefighter, who works two other jobs and rarely sees his kids. This has been a growing problem since I can remember, which has honestly made me fearful. I want to be a self sustaining human and not support the system. I can not imagine working to the point of no enjoyment, just to feed my family. But, I know a lot of people who are doing this everyday. It also makes me eternally grateful for my parents and all that they have provided it. Honestly, the only reason I am attending classes is because I want some sort of security in the future. If things were different, I would not being going to school, I’d be working on starting a business or practicing something creativity. All I really want is to do something that is fulfilling, sustain myself, to own some property/shelter. That’s my dream, not an American one but a personal one. This vicious choice of choosing where you live or you life is a problem. But the people in control of changing things are living well, so why would they change much? There’s too many people in this country to only worry about the people with a majority of the wealth. The gap between the rich and the poor is large and there’s no way to build yourself up if you are on the poor end. We have solutions, we just don’t have the will to implement. Hopefully things will change, but it’s hard to imagine that happening. QuinkThick789
The american dream is pretty much the same if you ask most people. Nice house or car ,family good jobs ,all that. Nowadays that isn't as easy to obtain. Back when troops would would come and get a house through the GI.Bill those days are over .You have to have two or more incomes to make it or just break even .Most people think because they are successful then there is NO excuse for you not to be,and they isn't always the case. The mom in the video basically couldn't break even with the money she was bringing in. She is in school but she fight to be a better job paid off as she got a higher paying job at the same school she was currently working at. Basically the same people that lived and bought houses back in the 60s and 70s can understand why its so hard to make ends meet because when they where working it was possible to survive on one income.People are having to chose between where you live and your life. Its so much harder to buy property so 'lot of people are renting and finding other ways to invest they're money long term and save. Its almost impossible to have a savings account too. Most people have little or nothing after bills are paid. Its so many people that have advantages in life and dont take advantage of it because they are so used to having everything handed to them.The guy Ronnie in California had to catch the bus,basically 2 hours each way everyday just to get to work. He was just glad to be ale to take care of his family and wasn't bitter at the kids he sees on campus everyday that probably have a pampered lifestyle. He was focused on what he needed to . You have to have a mindset like that to survive.-collegekid789-
This video could not be any more true, the American Dream is no longer the white fence outside your big beautiful house, its being able to feed your family and provide them a place to live. The nice house and such is no longer achievable. Growing up my mom was a stay at home mom with four of us and my dad only worked one job which was enough to support all of us and still have some for vacations but now it would not even be possible. It seems like almost every day everything is going up in price and the wages are not going up. Jobs are also getting harder and harder to find, today at work someone was complain about something and someone’s response to them was “you have a job yet you’re still complaining” and I could not agree with that more. People do not realize how hard it really is to get a good paying job in today’s world. I could not even imagine having to keep up three hours before work and ride a bike and take the bus to get there, you really do not realize how lucky you have it just to be able to drive to your work. It is honestly sad that even firefighters and police officers, the ones who save our lives and are there when a tragedy strikes are not even making enough money to support themselves but the people who get to sit around and tell people what to do are making fourteen times more than them. The video really got me thinking about how much has changed, and it really is upsetting because I feel like it is only going to get worse and worse. EPIC789
This is good way to introduce this video topic, what is the American dream and what the American dream means for us, well the American dream to me means the opportunity of betterment, improvement in education for me and for my future children, cars to be able to go to work, a house, food on the table a sufficient job that can cover all of needs…. The list could be longer for other people, but for me means the basic necessities to be able to provide for my family nothing fancy. According to the video the income has decreased compared to what their parents where making when they where kids meaning that the income hasn’t improved as it would be expected since the U.S. economy has grown significantly since then but the problem is that the money is staying in the hands of the rich 20% of the population to more exact 14 times more of the rest bottom 80%- the poor.
As a perfect example in the video was the example of the firefighter-paramedic working three jobs to be able to pay his student loan, mortgage and provide the basics necessities for his family hoping that unexpected expenses will not get him out of his tight budget. Talking about inequality in this case will be good to mention that houses that where built for meddle income families when they where kids their parents where able to afford it and now those same houses are not priced at $ 60,000.00 as they where before now they are priced at $800,000.00 which are not priced for middle class people. To that we can also take a consideration that the weather is changing in Louisiana making it difficult for fisherman to be able to continue fishing to provide for their families and making it even more difficult the BP oil spill they oyster took a big hit and no longer available to them as a source of income. Koi789
There are some dangerous trends in the economy of the United States right now. When you get down to it, the people whose stories are being told here are people who are basically being driven into corners. The question that is probably burning in everyone’s minds is why this is happening. There are patterns. Can you name a few? The ones that I noticed are that they all have at least two children, lack college educations, and come from working-class or middle-class families. It’s easy to say that they shouldn’t have had kids until they had an education, or that they should have built up savings before they dragged children into poverty with them, but really, do we know the lives that they seek to live? They have wives and husbands and surely have dreams and ambition, the opportunity they seek to live the lives that they want has simply yet to appear. It’s a breeding ground for powerlessness. Furthermore, the predominantly class-based system of American social stratification is almost showing caste-level rigidity in classes. There certainly is a lot of stress and anxiety associated with the positions that they are in. It’s almost like they are being taunted with false hopes of being able to rise in the hierarchy, like a caste system where you are never officially given a role, which can be considerably psychologically harmful, and contribute to the adoption of false consciousness. Compounding the largely grim situation they are in is the state of the costs of living right now. I’m uncertain whether the costs for housing are unusually high right now, or if the standards set by previous generations were unusually low, but the fact still remains that the cost of housing is often a major factor for poverty in the U.S. right now. There are a lot of factors that influence upwards social mobility in a negative way.
ReplyDelete-SoarSore789
I like the approach taken here. Rather than talking about what has failed in society to prevent the American dream you are giving examples of what we as Americans do to prolong or even prevent the process of reaching that dream. It is not entirely our faults, obviously, but we definitely do partake in certain self-destructive behaviors that lead to less than positive outcomes from time to time. For example, what you were saying about having multiple children and not being married and whatnot, we can take preventative measures to ensure a better future for ourselves as well as our family.White789
DeleteYes it is the fact that the fact that people is not being equality rewarded for their hard work and dedication to their studies and then they need to pay for their student loans and than the house loans and work three or more jobs because there is not income equality like it was before and now in order to get a decent paying job you need to have an opportunity to start building up experience and have something good to add in the resume. Now the problem is getting to that point while trying to be at float and keeping your head above water is close to impossible. Koi789
DeleteThe video said 20/20 went around asking what is the American Dream how much of society is middle class, and how much does a family bring in? The average person will say "The American Dream", is the white picket fence, a nice home, decent jobs and a family. In today society 50% of people are middle class and there income for a family of five starts at 54,000 a year. It's harder to get ahead then it was 30 years ago. Fifty-five percent of people are not even bringing in what their parents did. In the past thirty years its just gotten worse the top twenty percent get fourteen times the wealth vs. the remaining eighty percent. That's horrible! One man states we have to state getting the millionaire's and billionaire's to start caring about the working class. Today it is normal for a family to have to work more then one job. Houses that use to be listed as middle class areas the middle class can't afford no more. A firefighter in Pennsylvania use to be able to afford to take care of his family on just that. Now most firefighters say they have more then one job, one man stated he actually worked three jobs. A woman bought a house in 1978 the house was around 60,000 back then today that house goes for 800,000. She said the house built around her use to be nurses, teachers, firefighters. Today they are owned by CEO's and bankers. They tell a story of a man named Ronnie Thomas who is 55 he has a wife and two children. For the past ten years Thomas has had to travel 80 miles for work to afford to take care of his family. Sadly they still can't afford a car. Thomas takes a four hour commute to work everyday. First taking a bike, then a train, and a bus. To work a 8 hour day to take the four hour commute back home. I really makes me wonder what the next 30 years will be like? -Gander789
ReplyDeleteYeah, the video focuses a lot on the problem of income decline over the past few decades. Jobs simply not being able to support people like they used to in the past is worrying. Housing prices also seem to skyrocket at a dizzying pace alongside poverty. I have personal experience with someone I know having to take a pretty brutally long drive just to get to his job because of the state of the economy right now. It’s pretty hard to tell if these dangerous economic trends will continue, or if after reaching a fever pitch, they will slow down, or even reverse. Who can say?
Delete-SoarSore789
This is why education is important because the cost of living will continue to increase as showcased in the video. Job wages and minimal wage amounts does not help offset such cost. The opportunities/resources are limited in this case depending upon financial/economical status. If your parents have successful careers and nice paying jobs then you may have an upper hand in regards to the “American dream.” In fact you might have lived it as a young child so you aim for that bare minimal. Opposite of that people who aren’t as fortunate have to dig themselves out of an even deeper hole with less help from family, yet the drive to do and become better is motivation enough for those individuals to do whatever it takes to make that dream a reality. The solution is simple invest in the people here in America first, stop outsourcing jobs, offer more community aimed programs for children, raise the minimal wage in bigger cities, and bring down the “guys” at the top who could care less about the people at the bottom whom help keep their business afloat and their pockets phat! When will America be great again?
Deletemummyoftwo789
Sadly bringing the guys on the top is nearly impossible because that top dog will raise their child just as they were raised. To worry about being on top and that's all the matters. I see this in the corporation I work in every 2 or 3 years the company standards change to make the stylists more money. Not really its to make more money in his pocket. Everything in the last 3 years that has changed has only not benefited me but made it harder for me to make more money. Education is a huge factor in society. Teaching your children that nothing is handed in life will result in more independence and most likely more successful. There are children that came from money that expect things handed but that more lies on the parents to teach them right from wrong. - Gander789
DeleteGrowing up the American dream was different for me and I’m sure it was different for my friends. Although we were different families, our parents both had to work very hard to supply for us and make sure we had everything we needed, but that just shows you things have changed over time. People are working twice as hard just to survive instead of living and enjoying life. The American dream has slowly faded out since people are just trying to make ends meet.
Deleteunknownzeeha789
I believe everyone grows up dreaming about living the American Dream. In this 20/20 clip, Diane Sawyer asked a question using social media, “What is the American Dream?” She stated many would say a “parent with a job, a modest house, education that provided better opportunities, or taking family vacations. Diane felt that her family lived that dream. Growing up on a farm in Southern Kentucky her mom was a teacher and her dad was in the navy. With the benefits of the GI Bill they purchased a bigger house in a subdivision neighborhood, enjoying family picnics and parades. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans do not have the opportunity or the resources they need to achieve that dream. As we see in this video, there is a different reality where many Americans deal with the stress and struggle to reach the American Dream. Some of the comments from social media were “stop the middle class from disappearing”, “meet my bills each month”, “we struggle everyday”.
ReplyDeleteUsing the participant observation and existing data sources research methods, as well as interviews, Diane discovered a “Hidden America”. Through interviews, the participants stated that they feel like their “stuck”, can “never catch up”, and living the American Dream is unachievable. One gentlemen stated that “we need to get the millionaires and the billionaires in Washington to start worrying about the working class”. He feels like they have “forgotten”. Over the past 30 years the U.S. economy has been growing, but those at the top are getting more and more of the money. The top 20 percent, who in Karl Marx’s time would be the capitalist, has more than 14 times the wealth of the rest of the 80 percent, which is the largest income inequality on record. For the first time in the past century young people in the middle class are earning 55 percent less than their parents, making it harder to achieve the American Dream.
30 years ago, some people felt the American Dream was achievable. It was possible to own your home, and one parent income was enough to support your family. In 1970 a 1700 square feet home with 3 bedrooms, and more than one-bathroom cost “191,000. Today, with homes being built to cater to upscale incomes, that cost nearly doubles at $360,000 for a 2600 square feet home, with four-bedrooms, and multiple bathrooms. She observed a firefighter in Wilkes-Barres, Pennsylvania, who worked three jobs totaling 28 hours some days, a mother in Maryland, who makes homemade laundry detergent saving $10 a month, a super commuter who travels 80 miles to work which takes 4 hours there and back daily by bike, train, and bus because he is unable to afford a car and house closer to where he works. She also interviewed a microbiologist, social worker, biotechnologist. All of them struggling to enjoy their everyday lives and can no longer afford to live in their homes. Some losing out on time spent with their families.
According one of the experts, “being middle class, having middle class security, and saving money for retirement is getting harder and harder to achieve”. Due to the increasingly wide gap between the rich and the poor the ability to cross it has become more difficult and rare. People who are “privileged” and has “intrenched interests” has made it difficult to build low income housing. With the cost of living on the rise as well as other social forces this is hindering those who want to achieve the American Dream.
I will end this by stating in the words of another expert “the Solution is within our reach but do we have the WILL to implement it”.
Granny 789
On May 30, 2015 ABC 20/20 asked what is the American dream? Everyone’s American dream I believe is different since we all are exposed to different things in life. In America today, it is 10x harder to get ahead. In the older days one income was enough to live, now we have people working two or three jobs just to survive. Although the market has grown, the people that fall in the high income are the ones that are seeing the change. The top 20% are 14x wealthier than the bottom 80%. The bottom 80% are the ones that truly struggle, they have children and find every way possible to give for them. Although the struggle is hard, it teaches them that they are stronger than what they believe. It was stated in the video that the gap between the rich and the poor actually wasnt a big gap at one point. Two things have happened, the gap is now bigger than expected and to overcome it is almost impossible. We have many people that struggle. We have a firefighter that normally his income should cover his wife and children but he works around the clock to support and provide for them because one job that is known as good pay leads him to two other jobs because they good pay does not add up when it comes to bills. We had another gal that worked as a aid and her husband did handy work around because he lost his union job. Their situation leads them to 50 dollars extra a month to save but their question was how are they suppose to save? Another lady has taken on four part time jobs while her husband is a microbiologist and you would think a 6 figure job would be living comfortable but those people are trapped considering they are making the money to live where they are to keep their jobs but they arent making money to thrive in the area. The hopes to getting to the other side is rare. Its very hard to get ahead and if you have a savings account, youre considered to be doing decent.
ReplyDeleteunknownzeeha789
The American dream used to be a pretty achievable dream for most average Americans. The ideal dream included a spouse and children, a decent house and a car, financial stability and decent jobs. I may be missing a few details, but for the most part that pretty much sums it up, right? What happened over the years to make such a simple dream so hard to achieve? I could list a few different things, tons of things, actually. The jobs offered to us today demand long hours for little pay, but with there not being enough jobs out there for everyone it can be a challenge to make any income at all. It does not help that our low income keeps getting taxed more and more over the years, this has a lot to do with state and government spending. Another reason we find it so hard to reach this end goal is because of updating technology. Everything in our world is constantly updating and we are constantly coming out with better but more expensive things. As consumers, we have that initial want to keep up with the times and have all the latest fancy gadgets. This keeps us from reaching that dream because if there is always something new coming out, then we are always chasing something, we are only content with what we have when there is not something better out there. While the American dream may mean having the best out there to some people, to people like me it means living comfortably and having the things I need first and the things I want follow after. My own "American Dream" is to be stable and to be alive and well, to be as stress free as I can possibly be. Mental peace of mind is the ultimate dream here, people!White789
ReplyDeleteWe have the same dream, White. In the sake that this is anonymous, I have bipolar disorder and that makes it very hard to work and be in school. However, I know how difficult it is to get a good paying job without a college degree and I know that I must compromise my mental health in order to afford to live, basically. It is a cycle in and of itself. So, I would like to get to a point where I can live comfortably and mentally well, too. Catzfuhdays789
DeleteThis video had me shaking my head up and down for the majority of it. How true?! It hit straight home for me. In my grandpa’s generation, the “American dream” was very achievable. He had to work quite a bit and did not own the nicest home, but he owned his home in CALIFORNIA and supported his wife and children. The price of owning a home was remarkably lower, about a third or quarter of the homes now. He worked jobs such as manufacturing, the post office, and other pretty good paying jobs that did not require a college education. Nowadays, the number of those jobs is decreasing and the cost of living is increasing. While on college education, this is a big problem with today. To afford an education, usually you need to get student loans to offset the price of tuition. These student loans will haunt you for years to come. I am only about two years into my schooling and I have around 10 thousand dollars in student loans that span 10 years. I will be paying over 100 dollars a month for the next ten years and that is IF I stop going after this semester. Let alone when I go to a two-year college, that will most likely triple. After schooling, though, income can be much higher than without, admittedly. However, as the video showed, even people with degrees and higher incomes had to relocate and move away from their homes and lives because they could not afford the area. It truly feels as though the American dream is something that is not attainable anymore. I want to live in California and when I was younger I thought when I was older I could move and live wherever I wanted, but this is not the reality. I realize that, in California, I will most likely not be able to own a home due to the price, so I must compromise either where I want to live or my dream of owning a house. It is a vicious cycle that I hope to compete with. Catzfuhdays789
ReplyDeleteJust think about student loan, it already was so scary to me. But it is the unavoidable road for everyone who want to have the degrees to apply for the better job. Better job here are so much different than what we used to believe back then. Now teacher, officer, fire fighter can barely consider the better job because even those can’t afford to living in the middle-class houses. When the world non-stop developing, more and more jobs required their worker to have a specific degrees or license. Everyone dream to have their own house and live as anyplace they want. This is not a reality. This only reality for those top 20% bourgeoisie.
DeleteZero789
I completely agree, that idea of the “American Dream” has become so far out of reach that all it has become now is just a dream. The trend of children not being able to break that social status lead by their parents is becoming to be so common. For some, the idea of actually getting a college education goes out the window because of how costly it has become. In order to live a life where it is not a struggle to make ends meet, a college education is mandatory. This system that is being used for the economy with modernized society is not allowing those to thrive and reach that “American Dream.”
DeleteMelRich895
I completely see where you are coming from. When I was younger (and even today) my dream was to live in Hawaii. To go there and meet the other half of my family, live there, discover my ancestry and be a part of a culture that I feel is missing. I wanted to be a Volcanologist too. Travel the world discover new places and bring my family with me. However, when I was in high school I realized that will not be possible. Living in Hawaii is not an option because it is too expensive. I haven’t even taken a vacation there! To be a Volcanologist you need to have money to start somewhere. I do not have that type of money. Everyone has their own interpretation of the American dream but it stays the same as far as the material things. But mostly my American dream was to be who I wanted to be. Which is also hard to accomplish when most of your life you are told “that’s going to be hard” or “are you sure you want to try and do that?” people respond to situations with a negative tone. Which in turn makes that person feel maybe they are right and I should just settle with what I know. Which is what I have done, settle, and my grandmother always told me to never settle for less than what your worth.
Delete-Slimjim789
The video was sad. It was kind of joke when most of wealth of our country were in the hand of only 20% of American. The rest 80% are just fighting to try to survive over the scare resources. In the immigrant perspective, United State is the very wealthy and powerful country that many people all from over the world desire to live. I was so shocked when I hear about the story of the fire fighter men. He had to work three jobs constantly to be able barely maintain his family life. How can the life of the men working to save other life be poor like that? He was not even considering the middle class. In modern today, the mark of income for middle class are much lower than the pass that not many people realized that. Like what were show in the video, many random citizens gave the amount of income which they believe to be middle class are much higher than the actual mark. Another example is many houses that supposed to be buy by the middle classes were now became the house of some of the upper-class. The middle classes today just simple can’t affordable the mortgage to live in those houses anymore. Today, everyone at least has the loan in some place: house loan, car loan, student loan, and credit loan. One job just simply doesn’t give a person enough money to pay off their bill for each month and maintain living. The American dream just feel further and further away. Every American has the American dream, it was so simple but too hard to reach. Has the house, has the good job, has the happy life with our family.
ReplyDeleteZero789
I agree that the video was sad, but it was also eye opening as to what a large percentage of Americans are living in on a daily basis. The firefighter is in a bad situation. I give him credit for doing the best he can, but at the rate he is going he won't be alive to be with his family. He is stretching himself too thin. But what else is he supposed to do? I can relate to not being able to live in a nicer neighborhood. I currently live in a high crime neighborhood because it's what I can afford. I am proud to say that I am a homeowner, but the thought of moving to a nicer neighborhood scares me because at this point in my life I wouldn't be able to afford it.
DeleteAnimalLover789
I agree. The American Dream is becoming even harder to achieve. It’s very disheartening seeing everyone that is suffering but knowing that you can’t do anything about it. There is way too many people suffering and dealing without because of how everything has changed today. The people they interviewed were in tragic situations that made life so difficult. And like the person ahead of me said, Chris won’t be able to live for long if he keeps going at the speed he is and what he’s putting himself in. The American Dream is almost impossible to accomplish anymore. Schmidt789
DeleteThe video was definitely sad. Its crazy how some people inherit being poor and the way society is set up there isn't really much they can do. The video was really an eye opener on just how unfortunate some people really are. only 20 percent of people in this country are "well off" and the rest have to fight just to pay bills and put food on the table. People from the 20 percent don't have a clue what its like to dread checking the mail because of fear of a bill being too high to pay. They will never understand unless they experienced it themselves.-collegekid789-
DeleteI agree the video was sad, but it was also eye opening. I never would have thought that a firefighter would have to work three jobs just to barely make ends meet. Trying to figure out college and everything is so stressful because you cannot just go to school and not work anymore. I have to work two jobs and can barely afford to pay all my bills plus pay for college. It is also crazy to think for most people once they get their degree they will be paying off student loans forever, literally. EPIC789
DeleteIn this video, it starts out with describing the all-time American Dream. The American Dream is having a wife or husband, have kids, and also have a nice home with the white picket fence. Back then, several decades ago, it was much easier to have that achieved. Even with the wife at home taking care of the home and the kids, and the father was out every day at his job. That was enough back then. But now a lot has changed. Both the mother and father will have up to three different jobs and they still can’t catch up on bills. Research shows that the top twenty percent has fourteen times more wealth than the other bottom eighty percent. Which is record beating. Majority of people in middle class earn less than their parents. They make a stop in Pennsylvania and discover that forty out of sixty-eight full time firefighters have no other choice but to get a second job due to paying off remaining bills. However, a generation ago, being a firefighter was more than enough for you and your family at home. As they continue on through this video, it goes on to talk about the sacrifices people have to make in order to just get along. Some save up money by collecting coupons whenever they get the chance, only go out to eat on special occasions, only purchase items they absolutely need, make things from scratch, etc. What Tracy suggests is to get a college degree. Education is very important if you want to succeed in life. They, then go along the streets of neighborhoods to look at homes. Back then, decades ago, teachers, police officers, firefighters people in that facinity could afford those types of homes. But in today’s economy, you simply can’t. Home ownership in America is at a fifty year low, sadly. At one point in time, the gap between the rich and the poor wasn’t all that big of a difference, but that has changed drastically. Schmidt789
ReplyDeleteIt is a fact that in America exist income inequality and I think it is the result of many things combined. There are several reasons of income inequality; the lack of knowledge in “technology” because many jobs today are more technology based which required coming back to school to get new skills. For instance many jobs required computer skills as a plus. It’s a fact that if a worker has the education, the training, and the skills, he or she can improve opportunities to get a better pay job, and rank much better in the social class position. A skilled worker may find better opportunities, and an unskilled worker fall behind in terms of income. The “moving of manufacturing jobs to overseas” is another reason because it caused that many factory towns could not provide more jobs to the local community, the “tax policies” of the governments that favor the wealthy to pay less taxes, the high cost of many product and services we need to consume, and the high interests of mortgage that make hard to pay off a house. but I think that the big reason is the “lack of financial education”, the “lack of financial literacy” which means that it is very important to develop a set of skills and knowledge to master the management and control of all the financial resources as earnings from work, savings, and investments. We need to be careful who wants to take our money, because as a worker we need to protect our single wealth, our salary. I think that college education and financial education are good elements to reduce the gap between poverty and riches.
ReplyDelete“Your income can grow only to the extent that you do” –T Harv Eker, American entrepreneur and motivational speaker”
the_soccer_league789
For those in high school or in college trying to figure out how to make a living in this world, is stressful, intimidating, and terrifying. There are so many similar stories to those that were told in this video, where parents or single parents are working two to three different jobs just to make ends meet or to come close to making ends meet. This world’s economy has been growing for the past thirty years and will continue to grow. With how fast it is growing, it is creating almost a cultural lag. The economic system that has been used for years to regulate the way things are spent and or managed has not caught up with how rapidly society is developing. The population that is considered to be “well-off,” takes up twenty percent of the population and acquires fourteen times the wealth than the other classes. In the past, the ideal “American Dream” was achievable and could easily be in reach. The mother was able to stay at home and take care of things at home if she wanted to, while her husband would go to work and was able to support the family in a beautiful home. This modern generation earns fifty-five percent less than what their parents would have been earning, when they were children. Today, there is about fifty percent of population listed at middle class. A family of five just barely makes it through that middle-class door by earning a whopping fifty-four thousand dollars. Presently, earning enough to home is becoming more and more rare. Homeownership is at a fifty-year low because the housing market has become so expensive that it is unrealistic for a family to finally have some place to call theirs. If things do not change in the economic world, it may just go downhill from here. It is starting to get harder and harder for every generation to come to make a living for themselves and their future families, and it is incredibly alarming.
ReplyDeleteMelRich895
This was put incredibly well. Society is developing so fast, and yet we haven't developed our current economic system to suit it. This leaves the modern generation running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. On fire. What do we do? How do we do it? How do we make money? The only advice we're getting is from our parents, and that system just don't cut it no more. So we have to wing it. Rapid development plus a recession plus unemployment on the rise means that everyone is scrambling looking for a foothold. We look for a job to camp out in until everything blows over, and then we get stuck in a nine to five that we hate. Marx would call that alienation. I think we saw a lot of alienation in this video. People being alienated from their families, from each other, from their past hopes and dreams. And I can only hope that one day that is rectified.
DeleteBuwowski222
In this video it was very evident how the gap between the rich and poor has widened significantly. Kids in high school have no clue whats waiting on them in this cold world of unfairness and inequality. The sad part is it only takes one bad stroke of luck to lose everything you have worked for your whole life,poof its gone!!! No one knows when and if something like that will ever happen to them but if it does what do you do?? The guy in the video made 6 figures before he lost his wife and job,and was reduced to food banks ,i could only imagine !!!!! -collegekid789-
DeleteThe American Dream is just a dream. We all have different opinions of it but they all come down to be the same. All of these people are trying to make ends meet. They are doing everything they can to make their children’s life better and seem to be getting nowhere. The firefighter has an education and still works three jobs to support his family, the woman who works at the school she is trying to get a degree to help get a better job, and the woman whose husband is a marine biologist he’s a marine biologist for crying out loud and they cannot afford where they live because of the economy. Each of them are trying to achieve a better life for their children and are doing everything they can to achieve that dream. The American dream, where one parent works, nice house in a nice neighborhood, nice car, bills paid, and savings made. This is not entirely their fault, it is not entirely societies fault. The American dream is harder to achieve because of the cost of living. That is how I see it. That woman’s husband is a marine biologist and they cannot afford a life where they are in California because the cost of living has gone up but I guarantee you his pay did not. So, she has to work part-time jobs to help. A household is not going to stay above the “line” if only one parent is working anymore. Both have to work to create that American dream. However, I also feel as though us as humans it is natural to want more. For example, a man is a lawyer his wife is a teacher they made a combined income of 230K a year. They live in a nice neighborhood already but one of them decide that they want a bigger house, a better car, another baby. With doing that their cost of living goes up but their pay does not and now they find themselves, even making 230K/year, struggling. How is that possible? Because they want more. We as humans take things for granted and are greedy. Sometimes it is the economies fault, sometimes it is our own.
ReplyDelete-Slimjim789
When live in a different country like Russia or other countries that are poor, most of the people think that Americans have the ideal American dream of living which would look like, having a big house, vacations, non-stop trips to the mall, eat very well, almost everyone goes to college but little do they know, only 50% Americans are considered to be in the middle class, what about the other 50%? I noticed most people they interviewed had two kids, and they grew up in the middle class with their parents as they were growing up. Not only that, but they didn’t have enough education to get them secure jobs rather than working 3-5 jobs just to provide for their family. It would be nice if some Americans planned their and waited to have kids until they were financially stable, because one family in the video said they didn’t even have money saved for their two kids to go to college just because they don’t have enough money and also the couple who went out once a year, the husband who owned a pair of fancy shoes for 10 years, him and his wife can’t buy anything for themselves because they just can’t afford it. Middle class neighborhoods were much cheaper to buy a house back in the day but now days; you pay double the amount to buy a house that is newly built in a middle class neighborhood. But you have people who are in the upper class who spend money carelessly like money grows from a tree without having a consideration that others do not have that much. People who have a lot of money would spend so much money per day knows that same amount of money per day someone can spend it for a month. I found it really sad about the guy who worked 80 miles away from his home because he can’t afford to live near his job and he would not afford to buy a car so he rode his bike for five miles to the train station, then 60 minutes ride on the train and then 30 minutes ride on the bus and he would wake early in the morning before anyone else is up, but he had the encouragement to do so because he had to do it, take care of his wife and kids.
ReplyDeleteRia789
When asked 'what is Middle class', we see smiling people on a sidewalk holding up signs. One of which says 300,000 dollars. The reality was less than 54,000. 54,000 is middle class. 23,000 is poverty. Rich? Rich is everything above that. And as we all know, the rich hold the majority of our wealth. The famous one percent, with their billions upon billions. Middle class. I've always scoffed a little at that term. Watching this, however, was painful. A father working three jobs, a mother explaining to her children why it was so hard to save the same way my mother explained it to me. And these are the people in the middle? Making it there only because of blood sweat and tears? Is that the American dream, then? Capitalism, brutally exploiting its workers until they just can't work any more, any harder? They want the best for their family, same as anyone else, and they'll do anything to ensure that their family gets what they can give them, but here's the thing. They shouldn't have to. It's like those articles you read about how 'A teen crowd funded for her lifesaving surgery' or 'This pregnant woman worked fifty hours a week to provide for her family and then this miracle happened!' And everyone oohs and aws and niggling in the back of your head you wonder- but shouldn't that surgery have been provided for that sick teenager in the first place? Why did that pregnant mother have to work fifty hours a week to begin with? Why was our society so focused on independence and our personal ability to provide for ourselves or gain something from others that we forgot that we could be giving and providing towards those in need? You shouldn't have to wake up three hours early to go to work and drive past a ghost of who you wanted to be. You should be able to spend time with your family. You should be able to buy McDonalds and not worry about the gas tank. And you should hear middle class and think comfortable, not 'barely hanging on'.
ReplyDeleteBuwowski222
This was very painful to watch. I also agree that as a college student and having a child in college, that these numbers are scary and disturbing. I am unsure how to coach my daughter into deciding on a career. I always tried to tell my children that money isn't everything. But it some ways....it is! Money means that you can feed your family and have clean clothing. It means that you will have a roof over your head and the means to pay your bills on time. Because I want her to be happy as well. I cannot see happiness when you must work 3 jobs a day to do this. MommaJ789
DeleteIt seems that we should be able to find the means to bring the gap between the rich and poor closer. How has it gotten this far? Why is our great country allowing this for its people? If only 50% of our people are considered middle class, and they only make an average of 54,000 a year, what are these so called upper class averaging? What is the percentage at poverty level? Did I miss that? I'm wondering if both of the other ends of the spectrum need work. Why are the middle class working so hard to make ends meet? Are the rich and the poor working as hard to make ends meet? I understand that there will always be extreme ends of the spectrum, but maybe this is partially why we, as an American society are so unhealthy. There are so many stressors involved in working so hard to put clothes on our families and food on the table and keeping the lights on! I thought it was beyond ridiculous that the man was leaving 4 hours early just to get to his job at Stanford University. He has no time to take part time classes or enrich his education to be qualified for a position in which he would have better benefits and pay. I would think that the university would have an online program for employees and their families to further their education for free. And the firefighter who is working three jobs almost 24 hour straight to support his family. It's only a matter of time before he is falling asleep on the job and then will be penalized for that... for trying to provide for his family. The housing prices are ridiculous these days. Something has got to give. MommaJ789
ReplyDeleteThe American Dream is no longer the American Dream. This has changed due to wealth distribution being sucked up by the richer. The economy does not allow people to have any quality of life without making terrible sacrifices. Like the firefighter, who works two other jobs and rarely sees his kids. This has been a growing problem since I can remember, which has honestly made me fearful. I want to be a self sustaining human and not support the system. I can not imagine working to the point of no enjoyment, just to feed my family. But, I know a lot of people who are doing this everyday. It also makes me eternally grateful for my parents and all that they have provided it. Honestly, the only reason I am attending classes is because I want some sort of security in the future. If things were different, I would not being going to school, I’d be working on starting a business or practicing something creativity. All I really want is to do something that is fulfilling, sustain myself, to own some property/shelter. That’s my dream, not an American one but a personal one. This vicious choice of choosing where you live or you life is a problem. But the people in control of changing things are living well, so why would they change much? There’s too many people in this country to only worry about the people with a majority of the wealth. The gap between the rich and the poor is large and there’s no way to build yourself up if you are on the poor end. We have solutions, we just don’t have the will to implement. Hopefully things will change, but it’s hard to imagine that happening. QuinkThick789
ReplyDeleteThe american dream is pretty much the same if you ask most people. Nice house or car ,family good jobs ,all that. Nowadays that isn't as easy to obtain. Back when troops would would come and get a house through the GI.Bill those days are over .You have to have two or more incomes to make it or just break even .Most people think because they are successful then there is NO excuse for you not to be,and they isn't always the case. The mom in the video basically couldn't break even with the money she was bringing in. She is in school but she fight to be a better job paid off as she got a higher paying job at the same school she was currently working at. Basically the same people that lived and bought houses back in the 60s and 70s can understand why its so hard to make ends meet because when they where working it was possible to survive on one income.People are having to chose between where you live and your life. Its so much harder to buy property so 'lot of people are renting and finding other ways to invest they're money long term and save. Its almost impossible to have a savings account too. Most people have little or nothing after bills are paid. Its so many people that have advantages in life and dont take advantage of it because they are so used to having everything handed to them.The guy Ronnie in California had to catch the bus,basically 2 hours each way everyday just to get to work. He was just glad to be ale to take care of his family and wasn't bitter at the kids he sees on campus everyday that probably have a pampered lifestyle. He was focused on what he needed to . You have to have a mindset like that to survive.-collegekid789-
ReplyDeleteThis video could not be any more true, the American Dream is no longer the white fence outside your big beautiful house, its being able to feed your family and provide them a place to live. The nice house and such is no longer achievable. Growing up my mom was a stay at home mom with four of us and my dad only worked one job which was enough to support all of us and still have some for vacations but now it would not even be possible. It seems like almost every day everything is going up in price and the wages are not going up. Jobs are also getting harder and harder to find, today at work someone was complain about something and someone’s response to them was “you have a job yet you’re still complaining” and I could not agree with that more. People do not realize how hard it really is to get a good paying job in today’s world. I could not even imagine having to keep up three hours before work and ride a bike and take the bus to get there, you really do not realize how lucky you have it just to be able to drive to your work. It is honestly sad that even firefighters and police officers, the ones who save our lives and are there when a tragedy strikes are not even making enough money to support themselves but the people who get to sit around and tell people what to do are making fourteen times more than them. The video really got me thinking about how much has changed, and it really is upsetting because I feel like it is only going to get worse and worse. EPIC789
ReplyDeleteThis is good way to introduce this video topic, what is the American dream and what the American dream means for us, well the American dream to me means the opportunity of betterment, improvement in education for me and for my future children, cars to be able to go to work, a house, food on the table a sufficient job that can cover all of needs…. The list could be longer for other people, but for me means the basic necessities to be able to provide for my family nothing fancy. According to the video the income has decreased compared to what their parents where making when they where kids meaning that the income hasn’t improved as it would be expected since the U.S. economy has grown significantly since then but the problem is that the money is staying in the hands of the rich 20% of the population to more exact 14 times more of the rest bottom 80%- the poor.
ReplyDeleteAs a perfect example in the video was the example of the firefighter-paramedic working three jobs to be able to pay his student loan, mortgage and provide the basics necessities for his family hoping that unexpected expenses will not get him out of his tight budget. Talking about inequality in this case will be good to mention that houses that where built for meddle income families when they where kids their parents where able to afford it and now those same houses are not priced at $ 60,000.00 as they where before now they are priced at $800,000.00 which are not priced for middle class people. To that we can also take a consideration that the weather is changing in Louisiana making it difficult for fisherman to be able to continue fishing to provide for their families and making it even more difficult the BP oil spill they oyster took a big hit and no longer available to them as a source of income. Koi789