How Millennials Are Redefining the American Dream

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“We need to teach the next generation of children from day one that they are responsible for their lives. Mankind’s greatest gift, also its greatest curse, is that we have free choice. We can make our choices built from love or from fear.” -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Nearly 3.7 million American babies born in 1982 were the first members of the new Generation Y, or more affectionately known as millenials (Thompson, par. 1). Many things play into whether a generation is considered to be faring ‘better’ than another one; job opportunities, the state of the environment, whether the U.S. is at peace or at war, income vs. living expenses, the general happiness of the people, and the list goes on. Millenials are part of a special generation because for decades, “The American Dream” has included the belief that the future generation will fare better than the present one; however, millenials are not projected to fare better than the present generation X for many reasons. One major reason millenials are not projected to do as well as the current Generation X is a financial one. According to David Leonhardt of the New York Times, “The typical American household made less money last year than the typical household made a full decade ago,” while the “median household [income] fell to $50,303 last year [2009] from $52,163 in 2007.” (Leonhardt, par 1-2). This is a major problem, considering the cost of living and inflation are continuously on the rise. Millenials are the most educated generation in American History. This may sound like a fantastic prospect for the future; however, the average debt for graduates of public (notice this is not a statistic for private schools, which are even more costly) universities doubled between 1996 and 2006. In f... ... middle of paper ... ...cause they have proven that there is much more to being happy and successful in life than what someone has in their bank account. Works Cited Dykstra, Josh A. "Why Millennials Don't Want To Buy Stuff | Fast Company | Business + Innovation." Fast Company. Buyology, 13 July 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. Leonhardt, David. "A Decade With No Income Gains." Economix A Decade With No Income Gains Comments. New York Times, 10 Sept. 2009. Web. 19 Mar. 2014 Lowrey, Annie. "Do Millennials Stand a Chance in the Real World?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 30 Mar. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. Roos, Dave. "Are Millennials Really the First Generation to Do Worse than Their Parents?" HowStuffWorks. Discovery, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. Schawbel, Dan. "Tag Archives: "Millennials"" Millennial Branding GenY Research Management Consulting Firm. N.p., 24 Oct. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

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