The hypocrisy of the American Dream is as obvious as the Sears Tower in the Chicago skyline. Many people are looking for this so called dream when in reality it is a false misconception. The American Dream is most commonly defined as a life with financial stability, home ownership with a white picket fence, a family and possibly a golden retriever if you’re lucky. Some still believe the American Dream to be alive and well but in reality, that dream is gone. In its place, we find more and more adults of this millennium foregoing having children or living with a partner. Society has grown up and away from the ideals of past generations of the American Dream and now believes it correlates with independence and surviving on their own.
First and …show more content…
Personally, I don’t imagine myself getting married. I find the entire ordeal daunting and slightly ridiculous. About 40 to 50 percent of married couples in the United States divorce. The divorce rate for subsequent marriages is even higher (American Psychological Association). In addition, according to a 2006 article on Forbes.com, divorce proceedings can range from a few hundred to many thousands of dollars, with the average cost of a contested divorce ranging from $15,000 to $30,000. Most of this money is spent on legal fees. (Forbes, 2006). Considering the fact that the average wedding cost in the United States is $26,645, you’re already out roughly $41,645. That’s hardly the American Dream I’m looking for and a lot of millennials seem to agree. We want financial stability, not crippling debt. Diving in further, a new analysis confirms what many already assumed to be true: a sizable number of Americans can no longer afford the American Dream. Inspired by the new book, Chasing the American Dream, USA Today calculated that subsidizing the American Dream costs approximately $130,000 annually, meaning the dream is only within reach for about 1 in 8 American families. (Goff, 2014) Since the American Dream relies so heavily on financial security it’s no wonder so many people are throwing away the notion that the American Dream is …show more content…
It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” While James had a wonderful view of what America could be, the reality is, 85 years later we still haven’t achieved these goals. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. (Stiglitz, 2011). This, in turn, causes the gap between the wealthy and the impoverished to expand beyond control. “Growing inequality is the flip side of something else: shrinking opportunity. Whenever we diminish equality of opportunity, it means that we are not using some of our most valuable assets—our people—in the most productive way possible. Many of the distortions that lead to inequality—such as those associated with monopoly power and
First and …show more content…
Personally, I don’t imagine myself getting married. I find the entire ordeal daunting and slightly ridiculous. About 40 to 50 percent of married couples in the United States divorce. The divorce rate for subsequent marriages is even higher (American Psychological Association). In addition, according to a 2006 article on Forbes.com, divorce proceedings can range from a few hundred to many thousands of dollars, with the average cost of a contested divorce ranging from $15,000 to $30,000. Most of this money is spent on legal fees. (Forbes, 2006). Considering the fact that the average wedding cost in the United States is $26,645, you’re already out roughly $41,645. That’s hardly the American Dream I’m looking for and a lot of millennials seem to agree. We want financial stability, not crippling debt. Diving in further, a new analysis confirms what many already assumed to be true: a sizable number of Americans can no longer afford the American Dream. Inspired by the new book, Chasing the American Dream, USA Today calculated that subsidizing the American Dream costs approximately $130,000 annually, meaning the dream is only within reach for about 1 in 8 American families. (Goff, 2014) Since the American Dream relies so heavily on financial security it’s no wonder so many people are throwing away the notion that the American Dream is …show more content…
It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” While James had a wonderful view of what America could be, the reality is, 85 years later we still haven’t achieved these goals. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. (Stiglitz, 2011). This, in turn, causes the gap between the wealthy and the impoverished to expand beyond control. “Growing inequality is the flip side of something else: shrinking opportunity. Whenever we diminish equality of opportunity, it means that we are not using some of our most valuable assets—our people—in the most productive way possible. Many of the distortions that lead to inequality—such as those associated with monopoly power and