The first chapter on “The Betrayal of the American Dream” by Donald Barlett and James Steele, is titled “Assault on the Middle Class”. The chapter begins by telling the story of Barbara Joy Whitehouse, a sixty-nine year old who lives in poverty in a mobile home park for seniors. The story of Joy highlights a main point in the book, which is some of the major issues the middle class has been affected with that has caused them to have a lower socioeconomic status and shift from middle class to poverty. Some of the issues the middle class has faced are policies that caused reduction in benefits, the disappearance of steady jobs, reduced wages, working under contracts, and the introduction of policies in congress that would cause people to work until the minimum age of seventy. The topic following Joy’s story explains that the rich are blaming the economical issues in today’s society as an effect of the recession. However, this is simply a tactic for the rich, Wall Street, and Washington, to keep attacking the middle class while they become even more rich by creating and rewriting rules in the economy that would benefit the privileged and affect the rest. The effect that the rich have in policies is enormous and has been discussed in …show more content…
The book discussed how many workers that lost their jobs at the Rubbermaid plant had a difficult job finding a decent paying job and many times it was difficult to get hired because jobs required experience in a particular area. This is a perfect example on the system should be blamed for the poverty of these individuals instead of using person blaming and saying that these people are unemployed because they are simply
In the article The American Dream: Slipping Away? by Susan Neuman I found many things interesting to read, some even shocking. When Neuman speaks about a study done that found that middle and upper middle class families use a child-rearing strategy called concerted cultivation while working-class and poor parents use the strategy of natural growth, I realized that my mother definitely used natural growth. Neuman states, “These parents generally have less education and time to impress on their children the values that will give them an advantage in school. Their children often spend less time in the company of adults and more time with other children in self-directed, open-ended play” (pp. 166).
In light of the most recent election results I find myself worrying about the countless social and economic injustices that will perpetuate to occur in our country. I dwell on our history, of how our social welfare system created and continues to reinforce discrimination, privilege and oppression. How did we end up like this and where is that “American dream” promised to those within our boarders? Literary works $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn Edin and Luke Shaefer, Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond by Marc Lamont Hill, and Bryan Stevenson’s book, Just Mercy: A story of justice and redemption, seek to describe how social injustices and economic issues manifest
In the book “They Say I Say”, Brandon King writes an essay bringing multiple perspectives on what Americans golden way of living is. The “American dream” is what most American citizens all strive for. Early settlers came in to try to achieve “the dream”. Those who already lived in America choose to stay because of its grand possibilities. The United States of America is the only place in the world where you have the rights to freedom of speech. What is the American dream? It used to be said that you could come to America and go from rags to riches; you could come with nothing and achieve everything you ever wanted. Take a second and think. We all ponder upon, is the so called “American dream” dead or alive? This has been a steamy topic
Throughout history, social and economic affairs have separated people into the rich and poor, with those in authoritative roles struggling to defend their position. Those in power have often taken advantage of those under them. In Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, severe droughts led to massive agricultural collapse in Oklahoma. The Joads were forced to leave their home in search of employment opportunities in California. Migrants often faced prejudice and aggression from the Californians. Landowners, taking advantage of the migrants desperate need for work, often treated them poorly, paying them wages too low to live on and containing them within dirty camps. Workers suffering was not only evoked the failing land, but by human heartlessness towards one another. Large banks and businesses ignored the fact that “… a majority of the people are hungry and cold…” (Steinbeck 238) Large corporations were only concerned with their own financial prospects and not the well being of the people. In Miller’s Deat...
The American Dream provides Americans hope that if they work hard, they will eventually be successful, no matter how penniless the person. To understand the construction of this topic, there is a need to understand the circumstances involved. The Epic of America, The narrative in which the American Dream was constructed, was produced in the nineteen thirties. During this time, the Great Depression was at the height of destruction, and the new president Franklin D. Roosevelt created the “New Deal,” which inspired newly-found hope. In his Second Inaugural Address, he voiced his vision for the expanded role that the government would take in American's lives by stating, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little” (Franklin D. Roosevelt). This began the facade of hope towards the impoverished folks attempting to achieve success. In reality the optimism and dedication given towards this dream is disproportional...
Edward McClelland focuses his essay RIP, the Middle Class: 1946-2013 on how the middle class is no longer able to thrive if the actions of the government continue – or their nonexistent
Reich, Robert. "Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor Poorer." Mountain View College Reader. Neuleib, Janice. Cain S., Kathleen. Ruffus, Stephen. Boston: 501 Boylston Street, Suite 900. 2013 Print.
In the October 10, 2011 issue of Time, there is a feature called “The Great American Divide” that reports on money: who has it, who is spending it on what, and how as a country Americans feel about it. This feature also reports something troubling, how the gap between rich and poor is once again growing wide (Sachs, 2011). Shifts in spending, shifts in money control, and a struggle with how to deal with the great money crisis America and Europe face are all discussed in this feature. This feature pulls together how GDP, unemployment rates, consumer consumption, and pricing affect this era of volatility and the shrinking middle class (Foroohar, 2011). This feature also reflects on inflation, economic growth, political stability in emerging markets and taxes play in as well. The answer to solving this imbalance of wealth and the struggling economy may be found by government action, but will it be too late?
Reich, Robert B. “Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer.” A World of Ideas:
The American dream is an ideal that most people are often left wanting. To be able to essentially rise from nothing and grow to be financially stable and live life in excess after a great deal of hard work. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the American dream is represented in different ways by the characters, though most of the plot centers around Willy’s failed aspirations for the American dream. Miller shows that the American Dream may not actually be reachable by everybody or that it may not even be a relevant dream for everybody in America.
The American Dream is referred to by many people as the reason to come to America. It is, or so they say, the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. Unfortunately they are incorrect, there truly is no American Dream, it is all an illusion given to us by our founding fathers as a reason for the inequality in which people are treated. I have lived in this country for 16 years now and have all the patriotic bullshit about how we give everyone equal opportunity and how everyone is equal in the eyes of the law. I just laugh when I read this. Throughout our country’s 300-year history, it is all about raising one person over the other. It started with the movement of the Native Americans. They were here before anyone else, and they were moved because they did not live with all the violence our ancestors did. The founding fathers continued to push them further and further away because it was beneficial to them at the time. They said if you stay here we will not bother you anymore, then when they decided that area was nice and they needed it for the white man. Then we began to take the black man out of Africa and use them on our plantations so the white man could get more money. The President ended slavery, but there were ways around it and everyone knew it. No one ever said any persecution of the black man is wrong for years and why not, because it was more convenient for us to ignore it. Now the people from Latin American countries have come in homes of freedom, and better lives. We tell them they have to speak English, since they are in America, but I do not recall being taught the language of the Native Americans. Since they were here first should you not have to learn that language?
To do what makes oneself happy. The American Dream is represented in many different ways and every person lives and chases a different version of the American Dream. Chris McCandless lived his American dream by walking alone into the wilderness of Alaska. The song written by Toby Keith, “American Soldier”, shows the price some pay for their dreams and ours to come true. Jay Gatsby died trying to acheive his dream and get the girl he loved, but died happy because he had pursued her until his death. The band All Time Low wrote a song called “The Reckless and The Brave” that brings a new light to how we go about achieving our dreams. So I believe that the American Dream is all about doing what will make you the happiest in the end.
This generation of American teenagers and young adults have the greatest advantage in the history of humankind when to comes to advances in technology, science, and every other field of study. Yet, today’s youth of America is facing obstacles that past generations did not have to deal with. According to Josh Mitchell, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, student loan debt has surpassed one trillion dollars with two-thirds of college students graduating with over thirty-five thousand dollars of debt each. Competition for jobs has made it progressively harder to find a stable job and make a living. According to Hardin’s metaphor of the world being a lifeboat, it is increasingly difficult for people who are not on the lifeboat to find away
The “American Dream” consists of all U.S citizens having the opportunity to obtain success and prosperity through hard work and determination, but, in a capitalistic economy such as the United States the “American Dream” is merely impossible. Low wages are masked as starting points, taught to eventually pay off in the form of small raises or promotions. Competition to obtain unequally shared resources, is used to define an individual’s extent of initiative. In reality, these are all concepts used by the wealthy to deter the poor working class from obtaining upward mobility. Middle class America, the key factor in helping the wealthy stay wealthy, have adapted to these beliefs and concepts, created to keep them far behind. Conflict theorist
The Ending of the American Dream Since the early colonization of America, the American dream has been the ultimate symbol for success. In retrospect, the dreamer desires to become wealthy, while also attaining love and high class. Though the dream has had different meanings over time, it is still based on individual freedom, and a desire for greatness. During the 19th century, the typical goal was to settle in the West and raise a family. However, the dream progressively transformed into greediness and materialism during the early 20th century.