Essay On Does The American Dream Still Exist

Depending on who you speak to, or what pockets of society are examined, the concept of the American Dream is a relative concept. The mantra is depicted as if one works hard and saves money, then one can own a house, a car or two, and have a family with two children. This 1950s invention has proven to be highly reductionist. It paints a picture of the Leave it to Beaver sitcom, where a husband who works from 9 to 5, returns home after a day’s work to be received by a beaming wife, a hot meal and doting children. America is far different than the distortions of television. In fact, differences have always existed between race and class. In this context, the question to be posed is, whose American Dream has been packaged and sold to society?
So and so posits that the American Dream was conjured up by corporate America in the post War context and remains intact today (Perrucci, Robert & Earl Wysong 131). The American economy was booming and millions of men returned home to start or to be reunited with family. Over two million benefited from the G.I. Bill which gave veterans low interest loans to attend college or buy a house. Television soon became flooded with a singular image of white suburban America.
The realities however, were far different. Immigration swelled at the seams, and America was living under the Jim Crow south into the mid 1960s. Many minority groups were prevented from participating in the same opportunities afforded to mainstream America. They congregated in urban centers at a comfortable distance from the shiny new neighbourhoods neatly packaged outside of the city.
Today, oddly, middle class incomes have grown steadily and the so called American Dream has been achieved by millions. Yet, for millions more the dream has become, or remains an illusion. A recent issue of The Economist captures how far the illusion has become a reality. Summarizing a series of studies, the article demonstrates that the gap is larger than was ever imagined and started to widen in the 1980s. From 1986 to 2012 the rise in incomes for the top 1% grew 3.4% whereas for the bottom 90% the income growth was 0.7% (Economist 79). Even more alarming, the article notes, is soaring household debt, which was exacerbated during the recession in 2007-2009. The top .1 % (1 in a 1,000) or 160,000 American families own 22% of the nation’s wealth, a figure that is near the peak of the late 1920s before the stock market crash in 1929.
Unreported in the article is why wealth has accumulated for such a narrow grouping. Although there are the savvy entrepreneurs who have risen from Silicon Valley, the established aristocracy owns the lion’s share at the top. They have overseas bank accounts managed by skilled accountants at minimizing income tax levies. There is also the trillions of dollars traded on the stock market that are subject to marginally lower tax rates. This reality entered mainstream consciousness during the 2012 presidential race between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. Romney’s income was over 13 million and he had paid 14 % income tax far lower than the average rate of 30 % for most Americans.
The reality that wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few means there is less wealth to be shared among the middle class. As home ownership becomes increasingly unaffordable as a result of rising personal debt, the American Dream is an aspiration for fewer families. Fixing the corporate income and personal income tax codes is one way to redistribute the wealth of America.
Perrucci, Robert, and Earl Wysong. New Class Society: Goodbye American Dream?. Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. Print.
Exchange, Free. "It is the 0.01% who are really getting ahead in America" The Economist 8912 (2014): 79. Print.