What is today's American Dream?

Ducimus · 03-28-11, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vendor

"The Dream is to work, to have a home, to get ahead, you can start as a janitor and become the owner of the building."

As i sit here with my first cup of coffee.... lets see now..

"The dream is to work".
Well, yeah, assuming their's work to be had. Rising unemployment, outsourcing, production and industry jobs have or are going away. What's the unemployment rate now anyway? Even the number cruncher's don't really know for sure. At this point i think the dream here has been reduced to just having a dam paycheck so you don't end up out on the street.

"to have a home"
All i can say to that is, In this F'ing state called california? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAH
As long as i live here, i will NEVER EVER own a home. EVER. Last i bothered to look the bottom range of homes here cost around half a million. Everyones so used to citing the number in hundreds of thousands. I prefer to say it for what it is. HALF A MILLION.

"to get ahead, you can start as a janitor and become the owner of the building."
No, that's not how it works anymore. The day of starting in the mail room, and working your way up the company ladder are long gone. They bring someone in from outside the company. The great part is, it doesnt matter if you've been a loyal employee for 2 months, or 10 years, that newbie manager with a fraction of the time in the company that you do, can fire you if he wants to, for any reason he likes. Hasn't happened to me yet, but i've seen it done, multiple times. How's that action for getting ahead huh?

AVGWarhawk · 03-28-11, 11:19 AM

Quote:

"to get ahead, you can start as a janitor and become the owner of the building."
No, that's not how it works anymore. The day of starting in the mail room, and working your way up the company ladder are long gone. They bring someone in from outside the company. The great part is, it doesnt matter if you've been a loyal employee for 2 months, or 10 years, that newbie manager with a fraction of the time in the company that you do, can fire you if he wants to, for any reason he likes. Hasn't happened to me yet, but i've seen it done, multiple times. How's that action for getting ahead huh?

To this I agree. Nothing but a number to the employer in most cases. If the numbers do not add up someone is gone.

August · 03-28-11, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ducimus

No, that's not how it works anymore. The day of starting in the mail room, and working your way up the company ladder are long gone.

It's never worked like that. Nobody has ever gone from the stock room to the board room without getting a college education or perhaps by marrying the bosses daughter.

Gerald · 03-28-11, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ducimus

As i sit here with my first cup of coffee.... lets see now..

"The dream is to work".
Well, yeah, assuming their's work to be had. Rising unemployment, outsourcing, production and industry jobs have or are going away. What's the unemployment rate now anyway? Even the number cruncher's don't really know for sure. At this point i think the dream here has been reduced to just having a dam paycheck so you don't end up out on the street.

"to have a home"
All i can say to that is, In this F'ing state called california? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAH
As long as i live here, i will NEVER EVER own a home. EVER. Last i bothered to look the bottom range of homes here cost around half a million. Everyones so used to citing the number in hundreds of thousands. I prefer to say it for what it is. HALF A MILLION.

"to get ahead, you can start as a janitor and become the owner of the building."
No, that's not how it works anymore. The day of starting in the mail room, and working your way up the company ladder are long gone. They bring someone in from outside the company. The great part is, it doesnt matter if you've been a loyal employee for 2 months, or 10 years, that newbie manager with a fraction of the time in the company that you do, can fire you if he wants to, for any reason he likes. Hasn't happened to me yet, but i've seen it done, multiple times. How's that action for getting ahead huh?

I see that you have read the article, and the course is based on a general idea of the country, as one might have to go far back in time for it to be something relevant in it, btw you mentioned earlier that your job was in jeopardy it is better now?

Catfish · 03-28-11, 11:39 AM

I guess banks and oil companies find it harder than ever to proclaim the american dream to the vanishing middle and increasing lower class, but then - did they ever care ?

Gerald · 03-28-11, 12:22 PM

Shareholders have certain objections to this..

Takeda Shingen · 03-28-11, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ducimus

As i sit here with my first cup of coffee.... lets see now..

"The dream is to work".
Well, yeah, assuming their's work to be had. Rising unemployment, outsourcing, production and industry jobs have or are going away. What's the unemployment rate now anyway? Even the number cruncher's don't really know for sure. At this point i think the dream here has been reduced to just having a dam paycheck so you don't end up out on the street.

"to have a home"
All i can say to that is, In this F'ing state called california? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAH
As long as i live here, i will NEVER EVER own a home. EVER. Last i bothered to look the bottom range of homes here cost around half a million. Everyones so used to citing the number in hundreds of thousands. I prefer to say it for what it is. HALF A MILLION.

"to get ahead, you can start as a janitor and become the owner of the building."
No, that's not how it works anymore. The day of starting in the mail room, and working your way up the company ladder are long gone. They bring someone in from outside the company. The great part is, it doesnt matter if you've been a loyal employee for 2 months, or 10 years, that newbie manager with a fraction of the time in the company that you do, can fire you if he wants to, for any reason he likes. Hasn't happened to me yet, but i've seen it done, multiple times. How's that action for getting ahead huh?

Based on that, I'd say that the American dream is dead.

NeonSamurai · 03-28-11, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

Based on that, I'd say that the American dream is dead.

I would say its been a lie from the start with precious few exceptions

MothBalls · 03-28-11, 02:43 PM

American Dream V2.0. To have a girlfriend (not a wife) with big boobs who'll pay the rent and buy you fast computers and video games, and she has a best friend with big boobs, who likes to get stoned and play strip poker with your girlfriend, and after they take it out on each other and you, they both cook you dinner.

the_tyrant · 03-28-11, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MothBalls

American Dream V2.0. To have a girlfriend (not a wife) with big boobs who'll pay the rent and buy you fast computers and video games, and she has a best friend with big boobs, who likes to get stoned and play strip poker with your girlfriend, and after they take it out on each other and you, they both cook you dinner.

AVGWarhawk · 03-28-11, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MothBalls

American Dream V2.0. To have a girlfriend (not a wife) with big boobs who'll pay the rent and buy you fast computers and video games, and she has a best friend with big boobs, who likes to get stoned and play strip poker with your girlfriend, and after they take it out on each other and you, they both cook you dinner.

I love this guy!!!

Gerald · 03-28-11, 06:54 PM

Gerald · 03-29-11, 12:50 PM

Is the American Dream still achievable in 2011, amid lingering economic hard times, wars and political discord? Veteran US pollster John Zogby says fewer Americans think it is, but many have redefined what that dream means.

Steadily over the past decade, I have witnessed in my polling a fundamental redefinition of the American Dream, even for that matter, the American character.

While fewer Americans believe that the American Dream still exists for themselves or for the middle class than before (57% compared with 74% just prior to the Great Recession), more Americans say that the American Dream means something different to them than it did before.

Materialism rejected

In the late 1990s, I began probing how Americans define the dream. I discovered in 1999 that about one-third believed the American Dream meant some form of financial success: the acquisition of goods, a bigger house, a home with a piece of land around it and so on. I called them the Traditional Materialists.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12839437

Note: Update Record,29 March 2011 Last updated at 11:29 GMT

Growler · 03-29-11, 12:58 PM

I think the American Dream is just that: The Dream of American(s). We all have our own definitions of what our dream is, and no matter what people on the left, the right, the North or the South might say, we all DO have the option to pursue it. Yes, even today.

Is it hard work? Hell yeah, it is. Maybe even harder than it once was.

But it IS still possible - if people start taking responsibility for their past choices, and start looking at consequences of future ones from the perspective of being solely responsible for them. Instead of the culture of blame, where bad things are always someone else's fault, we need a culture of accountability, where my successes are mine, AND my failures - are mine, too. We have become too success-driven, and don't tolerate failures - even when it is the failures that will eventually create the successes. We're too metric driven and not enough idea-driven anymore.

03-28-11, 12:22 PM	#6
Gerald SUBSIM Newsman Join Date: May 2008 Location: Close to sea Posts: 24,254 Downloads: 553 Uploads: 0	Shareholders have certain objections to this.. __________________ Nothing in life is to be feard,it is only to be understood. Marie Curie

03-28-11, 06:54 PM	#12
Gerald SUBSIM Newsman Join Date: May 2008 Location: Close to sea Posts: 24,254 Downloads: 553 Uploads: 0	__________________ Nothing in life is to be feard,it is only to be understood. Marie Curie

03-29-11, 12:50 PM	#13
Gerald SUBSIM Newsman Join Date: May 2008 Location: Close to sea Posts: 24,254 Downloads: 553 Uploads: 0	Is the American Dream still achievable in 2011, amid lingering economic hard times, wars and political discord? Veteran US pollster John Zogby says fewer Americans think it is, but many have redefined what that dream means. Steadily over the past decade, I have witnessed in my polling a fundamental redefinition of the American Dream, even for that matter, the American character. While fewer Americans believe that the American Dream still exists for themselves or for the middle class than before (57% compared with 74% just prior to the Great Recession), more Americans say that the American Dream means something different to them than it did before. Materialism rejected In the late 1990s, I began probing how Americans define the dream. I discovered in 1999 that about one-third believed the American Dream meant some form of financial success: the acquisition of goods, a bigger house, a home with a piece of land around it and so on. I called them the Traditional Materialists. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12839437 Note: Update Record,29 March 2011 Last updated at 11:29 GMT __________________ Nothing in life is to be feard,it is only to be understood. Marie Curie

03-29-11, 12:58 PM	#14
Growler A long way from the sea Join Date: May 2005 Location: Iowa Posts: 1,913 Downloads: 21 Uploads: 0	I think the American Dream is just that: The Dream of American(s). We all have our own definitions of what our dream is, and no matter what people on the left, the right, the North or the South might say, we all DO have the option to pursue it. Yes, even today. Is it hard work? Hell yeah, it is. Maybe even harder than it once was. But it IS still possible - if people start taking responsibility for their past choices, and start looking at consequences of future ones from the perspective of being solely responsible for them. Instead of the culture of blame, where bad things are always someone else's fault, we need a culture of accountability, where my successes are mine, AND my failures - are mine, too. We have become too success-driven, and don't tolerate failures - even when it is the failures that will eventually create the successes. We're too metric driven and not enough idea-driven anymore. __________________ At Fiddler’s Green, where seamen true When here they’ve done their duty The bowl of grog shall still renew And pledge to love and beauty.

03-28-11, 11:39 AM	#5
Catfish Dipped Squirrel Operative Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: ..where the ocean meets the sky Posts: 17,766 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	I guess banks and oil companies find it harder than ever to proclaim the american dream to the vanishing middle and increasing lower class, but then - did they ever care ?

03-28-11, 02:43 PM	#9
MothBalls Ace of the Deep Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 1,012 Downloads: 20 Uploads: 0	American Dream V2.0. To have a girlfriend (not a wife) with big boobs who'll pay the rent and buy you fast computers and video games, and she has a best friend with big boobs, who likes to get stoned and play strip poker with your girlfriend, and after they take it out on each other and you, they both cook you dinner.