The American Dream

Is it still alive and well in the United States?

What is the American Dream?

Work hard and succeed

Own your home

Be famous

Be rich

1. Work hard and succeed at

somethingIf you dedicate

yourself to study, work, then you can

get a secure job (one that won’t be

outsourced to poor country) which will be

able to offer you a comfortable life.

1. Work Hard

A. Learn a trade, apprentice, and become an expert.

B. Go to school, earn a degree so that you can get a job.

C. Identify some economic need and run your own business.

1. Hard Work

The values of Hard Work:

Show up on timeBe dedicated

Work until it is doneCooperate

Be there every day

2. Home Ownership: the

1930’s/40’s/50’s/60’s versus today

In earlier times, people paid off their mortgages, generally long before retirement. It was also harder to get a house and the

time one had to pay off the mortgage was much shorter.

When the Roosevelt administration enacted the

Social Security pension program for senior citizens, one of the underlying assumptions was that people would not still be

paying a mortgage.

Home Ownership:

TodayThe traditional values of

saving for one’s retirement have

changed. Since the 1980’s, the culture in America has been one

of buying several houses in one’s lifetime, always buying a bigger

house.

Home Ownership

TodayUnfortunately, today most people are still trying to pay off their mortgages when they

retire.

1. Home Ownership

This is not because people today are more impoverished, it’s

because of a culture of greed that has taken ahold of this

country. Many people feel they need more and more things to

be satisfied with their lives. Many people are in debt when they retire due to credit card overuse, constant home re-

financing/buying/selling, and an unwillingness to live within the boundaries of their pay checks.

Home OwnershipIn the past, the idea of

“home Ownership” reflected the value of INDEPENDENCE from

debt. Conversely, today, most people do

not own their homes....they continue to

be in debt to a bank.

Home OwnershipGeorge and Lennie wanted their own

place so they could be independent. They could also have all of the profit their land

produced.

3. Be Famous

Be Famous: this is truly an American ethos,

arising from the movie industry.

Generally, in the past, one became famous for an accomplishment. Today, being famous has

descended to getting attention for nearly anything.

Be FamousCurly’s wife was told that she

could be a movie star, but that probably was not true. Yes, she was young and pretty, but she did not have the polish to make

it onto film, nor did she have singing or dancing talent. She also would have had to learn to

change her county accent.

Like Lennie, her own impetuous actions stopped

her from realizing her dream. She married Curly to

spite her parents.

4. Be RichHmmm...how does one become rich?1. Entrepreneurial efforts

2. Work in some type of business and invest your money

3. Inheritance

4. Marry someone who is rich

5. Combinations of these

What is “RICH”?

• How much money makes you rich? According to Americans surveyed recently by Gallup, you're rich if you have $1 million in assets, or $150,000 in annual income.

• Those were the median answers; people with college degrees, those with larger incomes, and those who live in cities and suburbs tended to give higher answers.

• Have you ever wondered, though, "how much money does it take to be rich?" That is the question posed to a group of financial planners from a recent CNN Money publication that caught my eye. Most seemed to believe that it took between $2 million and $12 million to be rich. This would generate roughly $300,000 in annual income and would allow you to afford the following lifestyle all without a job: Pay all taxes, Spend $3,800 per month on housing expenses, Have $12,000 in cash left over each month to spend any way you like

• …… rich is purely a state of mind: it’s having enough money to do whatever you want to do. You can either want a lot and earn a lot, or want a little and earn less. If your idea of doing what you want is living in a cabin in the sticks and fishing all day, you can do it for a lot less that if your trying to live the high life in Manhattan

Do you think the American Dream is attainable today? Can anyone, who perseveres & dedicates themselves to work, achieve the

American dream in the United States? Or are larger economic forces too difficult for the average person to overcome?