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Americans Don't Believe in the American Dream-the game is rigged against them

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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-12-07 07:14 AM
Original message
Americans Don't Believe in the American Dream-the game is rigged against them
Edited on Fri Oct-12-07 07:17 AM by babylonsister
Americans Don't Believe in the American Dream

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted October 12, 2007.

More and more working Americans are realizing that the game is rigged against them.


The American Dream is Dead, gone along with the era of good union jobs, comprehensive employer benefits and real upward mobility, and most working people are fully aware of the fact.

That's the takeaway from the latest installment of the American Dream Survey, a study of working Americans' views of the political-economy released in late September.

It paints a picture of an increasingly frustrated working majority who are having a harder time raising their families than the generation before them did, and who believe that things will be even worse for their kids. They have reason to believe it -- a 30-year assault on organized labor, neglected minimum wage increases, fewer educational opportunities and the constant tide of pro-business propaganda being pumped out by right-wing think tanks and business roundtables that enforces the idea that working people are faceless "inputs" -- costs that need to be controlled -- have left Americans with far less social mobility than they had a generation ago. Contrary to common belief, Americans have less opportunity to move up the economic ladder than Canadians and Western Europeans (except for those in the UK).

To some extent the Dream was always a myth, especially for people of color, but in a very real sense we've reached a point in which we're looking at a break in America's implied social contract -- we were supposed to trade security, in the form of the kind of robust safety nets that they have in social democracies, for "dynamism," for supposedly unlimited opportunity. But the fact is that working people are walking a tightrope with little in the way of safety net, and they have less chances of making it big than their counterparts in other advanced economies.

Conservatism killed the American Dream, and most working people understand that on some level. But while they blame the same elite corporatists as progressives have pointed to as the culprits for years, they are also deeply uncomfortable with the idea of class and, after 15 years of Democratic Party "triangulation," aren't sure which political party is responsible for casting them adrift, rudderless, on the currents of the global economy.

The American Dream survey tested working people's views on a range of issues that fit into the frame of what people think of when they contemplate the "American dream." According to the researchers who conducted the survey, that consists of four cornerstone issues: "jobs with pay that can support a family, access to quality health care, chances for your children to succeed, and a secure and dignified retirement." Only full-time, nonmanagerial working adults with a household income of less that $100K were eligible for the study.

more...

http://alternet.org/workplace/64831/?page=entire
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groovedaddy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-12-07 07:17 AM
Response to Original message
1. Corporate globalization has done its part in kicking the shit out
of the "American Dream."
For the rich, it has been a dream, making them richer than ever.
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BlueJazz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-12-07 07:23 AM
Response to Original message
2. This Statement (in the post) angers me some>>
"aren't sure which political party is responsible for casting them adrift, rudderless"

Good Grief, America...Look back and see who has tried to raise the Minimum Wage, who has introduced program to help families, who has tried to bring justice to Blacks, Gays and Women...who has been in favor of Unions...Etc...

True, the Democratic Party is certainly not "All Wonderful" but the other side is the deep, dark reason for your loss of the American Dream.
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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-12-07 07:30 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. Yes, but as witnessed im a recent poll, a majority of Americans
couldn't even remember the name of the VP. The level of apathy and ignorance is staggering. Or, people are so intent on either providing for their families or 'me-me-me' they just don't care. So I'm not surprised if many can't figure it out.
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BlueJazz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-12-07 07:40 AM
Response to Reply #3
5. What you say is sad...but True...
:)
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Ezlivin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-12-07 08:15 AM
Response to Reply #2
6. I can't hear you over the sound of Fox News
They're telling me that it's all the fault of you godless liberals, who want to force my daughter to be gay, get pregnant and then have an abortion on Sunday morning.

And the only "solutions" the liberals have is to raise the taxes on everyone and make peace with terrorists.

:sarcasm:

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hootinholler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-12-07 02:58 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. Take it in context and I actually agree!
The triangulation of the DLC and moving us to the right to 'capture the center' has confused us as to what the Democratic party actually does stand for. I happen to agree with Greenspan in that Bill was a great republican president.

-Hoot
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tekisui Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-12-07 07:40 AM
Response to Original message
4. This and next generations no longer even use that term.
The American Dream is a thing of the past. Now, we just try to advert an American Nightmare.
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robinlynne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-12-07 03:25 PM
Response to Original message
8. In the third world, people have always been extremely skeptical about their government's
honesty and efficacy. (with rare exceptions) They don't trust politicians at all. We have now become third world, both politically and economically. In addition, we now have levels of corruption which match or exceed the corruption in the third world. There is one big difference. In third world countries, people have built protection systems made up of family and community. For example, if you get sick in Brazil, you do not trust the doctor; you have a family member sleeping in the room with you and watching every move the doctor/nurse makes. Because there is no trust of "the system' to protect you. We do not have this family closeness or community closeness here. So, as our government fails us, we have to find new ways to organize.
just rambling, but I find it interesting.
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closeupready Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-12-07 04:07 PM
Response to Original message
9. This is true. I agree that the American Dream is dead, sadly.
It's too hard for too many to make it anymore, and given the levels of government debt, things are only going to get worse.
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