Current Events > Most young Americans now believe American Dream is dead

(+) Yeah! (+)

They're right, but also either several decades out of date or bemoaning the loss of a myth, depending on the group.

StapleGenius posted...

Would you say it's now an American Nightmare?

ADRENALINE, IN MY SOUL
NEVER GONNA OWN A HOME

DnDer posted...

If I remembered all the ex-pats on the board, I would @ them for you.

Moving to another country to live and work is not cheap nor easy. At all.

Ive found that it is, but I wouldnt be so bold as to claim that everybody has the same experience.

Has been for a long time at this point, and never was true at all for many groups of people

Prismsblade posted...

Regardless if someone generally thinks its hopeless and to give up then thats fine and they can be written off. But Ive personally have never heard of anyone rising that possessed a negative mindset on the matter.

That's actually true, barring the case of the fatalist that still buys lottery tickets and gets lucky. But it's irrelevant for public policy. Defending the US "capital uber alles" status quo because defeatism is defeatism is a non-starter.

The relevant public policy problem is how severely opportunities for everyone else are restricted because of the rapacity of the ruling class. The US is rapidly reaching a completely unsustainable situation on that front.

Republicans don't even both trying to hide that their agenda is to have a plutocrat aristocracy, with everyone else being wage-slaves or worse.

It's hard to believe he's truly gone, but I too have come to terms with the passing of the American Dream Dusty Rhodes.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/6721895c.jpg

Ricemills posted...

Affordable housing for one.
Capitalism really screwed us all.

It literally does. Hell it's fucking over the entire world considering the US and other huge corpos are essentially enslaving people from foreign countries to work in sweatshops for pennies and are killing other people for it. This world is insane.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Remember that great George Carlin quote?

itcheyness posted...

Do you know why it's called the American Dream?

Because you'd have to be asleep to believe it.

Big yep

I mean the houses in the thumbnail are not what the american dream houses were in the 1960s. Houses were small ranches 1000-1400 sq ft. A bath, kitchen, living room and 2-3 bedrooms. New houses now can be three times that size.

Small detached homes (not condos) are just not being built anymore.

People talking about Carlin like one of his most famous bits is that he encouraged not voting or participating in elections, so keep that in mind

Cuticrusader09 posted...

I mean the houses in the thumbnail are not what the american dream houses were in the 1960s. Houses were small ranches 1000-1400 sq ft. A bath, kitchen, living room and 2-3 bedrooms. New houses now can be three times that size.

Small detached homes (not condos) are just not being built anymore.

The median price per square foot has gone up considerably as well. New houses being so big is part of the reason housing costs have gone up, but not the whole story.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEDLISPRIPERSQUFEEUS#0

Cuticrusader09 posted...

I mean the houses in the thumbnail are not what the american dream houses were in the 1960s. Houses were small ranches 1000-1400 sq ft. A bath, kitchen, living room and 2-3 bedrooms. New houses now can be three times that size.

Small detached homes (not condos) are just not being built anymore.

Part of the problem with the American dream is people are trying to achieve a 1950s dream while living in the 21st century. Back then homes were cheaper and most people didn't even go to college, but what often gets unmentioned is all the other stuff like having one car for the entire household, fixing and mending everything yourself, always buying used and doing hand-me-downs, not having cable, not having internet, not having a smartphone, no subscription services, etc. When my parents were little it was like one gift for Christmas and a big night on the town was driving to the local flea market and getting fresh soft pretzels. Nobody had their own bedroom. They had to share it with at least one other person because there just weren't enough rooms in the house.

It feels a little bit like we've lost the thread in terms of what living back then was really like in order to keep costs down to make part of that dream affordable, and I don't know that any amount of tweaking tuition prices or building more homes is going to make that life achievable with the monthly expenses that the average person has today.

I just want a house, man. I'm almost 40 and I still live at home with mom. I'm tired of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xo8JRtW_j4

Routine office visits can potentially set you back thousands of dollars, this is like in America now.

Cuticrusader09 posted...

I mean the houses in the thumbnail are not what the american dream houses were in the 1960s. Houses were small ranches 1000-1400 sq ft. A bath, kitchen, living room and 2-3 bedrooms. New houses now can be three times that size.

Small detached homes (not condos) are just not being built anymore.

Sadly, it's illegal in many places to build those smaller types of houses.

s0nicfan posted...

Part of the problem with the American dream is people are trying to achieve a 1950s dream while living in the 21st century. Back then homes were cheaper and most people didn't even go to college, but what often gets unmentioned is all the other stuff like having one car for the entire household, fixing and mending everything yourself, always buying used and doing hand-me-downs, not having cable, not having internet, not having a smartphone, no subscription services, etc. When my parents were little it was like one gift for Christmas and a big night on the town was driving to the local flea market and getting fresh soft pretzels. Nobody had their own bedroom. They had to share it with at least one other person because there just weren't enough rooms in the house.

It feels a little bit like we've lost the thread in terms of what living back then was really like in order to keep costs down to make part of that dream affordable, and I don't know that any amount of tweaking tuition prices or building more homes is going to make that life achievable with the monthly expenses that the average person has today.

Yeah, I don't think many realize that the 1950's had tons of people living a low quality of life.

Though I do think lower housing costs is one of the better ways to decrease the unease people feel. We can decrease costs of lots of things, but high rent and home ownership costs is the one people are just going to focus on more.

261 doom posters are fascinating.

I don't know how they will themselves out of bed every day.

American Dream Stolen By Corporations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEoYJDjfQDg

Gen Z is completely screwed.

emblem-man posted...

Yeah, I don't think many realize that the 1950's had tons of people living a low quality of life.

Though I do think lower housing costs is one of the better ways to decrease the unease people feel. We can decrease costs of lots of things, but high rent and home ownership costs is the one people are just going to focus on more.

Definitely. My point was more that it's not an apples to apples comparison to talk about home ownership now versus home ownership back then if we're not also going to pull in all of the other stuff that we pay for a monthly basis to make our lives far more convenient that homeowners in the fifties simply couldn't afford, even if they existed.

Like, imagine if you offered somebody a home but then you pointed out that they were going to have to take the bus to the local library because that's what people in the 50s did for entertainment on weekends. Or point out that maybe once a month they can have McDonald's as a special treat, but otherwise they're cooking for themselves every night forever. There are so, so many things that we take for granted that I'm willing to bet most people would not give up even if it meant that they could have a home on the other side.

There are probably people in this very topic that if they got rid of every single subscription service, switched back to a landline, traded high-speed internet for cheap dial-up, stuck to public transportation exclusively so that they wouldn't put wear and tear on the car, and started shopping exclusively at Goodwill who could then use all that money saved to afford the very mortgage that they think is out of their price range. It's not a life they would want to live, but that would certainly be the 1950s American dream.

Ask any Gen Z if they would be comfortable with life making only $100,000 most of them would say that isn't enough to live the American Dream

A white picket fence won't keep the Boomers away

Crimson_Corsair posted...

261 doom posters are fascinating.

Not as fascinating as the arrogance of privileged people who think everythings fine.

tremain07 posted...

The American dream is dead and capitalism killed it

To have a comfortable life you need education, education has been completely defunct in this country for a long time now ,Colleges costs have skyrocketed yet the knowledge the bestow isn't worth the costs, but that's okay because it's been a long open secret that you do not go to college to learn how to do things competently you go there to network and socialize with enough people that you're able to use your contacts to get a great position at some already big company right after graduation and in turn yourself can now grant that to other people willing to do anything, legal, non legal, financially, sexually, to entice you to vouch for them all while accumulating more wealth and power for yourself and your connections.

Quality post