Equality and Inequality in the American Dream

Think about your goals that would lead you to your definition of the American Dream. Would you let economic differences ruin your dream, or work harder? The American Dream would be considered reaching your ultimate goal and having a stable life and job to provide for oneself and their family. Most people in our country think that the main reason why the American Dream is dying is because of income inequality. Income inequality can play a huge role in why people’s financial situations have a toll on their goals.

With the current state of affairs in America, many wonder whether the American dream has become just that: a dream. Gone are the days of mass immigration, when millions left their home countries in search of a better life in the United States. Today, many Americans struggle just to stay afloat while those at the top continue to prosper. This is particularly true for women, who despite having more freedom than ever before, are still subject to discrimination and inequality. Racial minorities are also at a disadvantage, with systematic discrimination making it more difficult for them to obtain jobs and climb the economic ladder. In addition to this, the wealth gap prevents many, regardless of gender or race, from achieving a middle-class life, or anything more than that. Americans cannot still achieve the American Dream because of gender and race inequality, as well as economic inequality.

The American Dream is the idea of having rights and being free to do what you want in America. It means that everyone should have the right to have a decent education, or invest and own any business. The American Dream is to work hard in your life, invent something and come up with ideas to invest and achieve your goal or so called dream. The American Dream is all about how successful you really are because money talks and America is all about your financial status. In order to achieve the American Dream one has to have the right attitude. If they do not have the right attitude then they can not accomplish anything. In order to achieve your dream you need to work your butt off until you retire and spend your money wisely just like your time because time is money. One can achieve there dream if they save as much money as you can and once you come up with a good idea invest, but research as much as you can during your life because you do not want to throw all the money you worked so hard for in the trash.

To achieve the American Dream, one must work hard and have the dedication to be successful. There are myths relating to this dream leaving lower class members to wonder if the dream exists for them. People in lower class are told if they want to be successful they must put in hard work and true effort. Once they do, they see that they are remaining in the same position they started in. In “Class of America-2012,” Gregory Mantsios states the ideas of class in the US and explains them. One myth addressed in this selection is, “Everyone has an equal chance to succeed. Success in the United States requires no more than hard work, sacrifice, and perseverance: ‘In America, anyone can become a billionaire; it’s just a matter of being in the right

King goes on, stating that achieving the American Dream is the key to conquering inequality between the different social classes in the world. He believes that the differences in social class is they key to bringing our country together. In the essay, it pointed out economists and politicians point of view. They believe that the American Dream is dead because of the difference in social classes and because of that the economy cannot flourish and thus will remain fragile. They state that the economy focuses more on the small wealthy minority than the middle and lower classes. The huge income gap between the social classes is one of the reasons the economists and politicians believe that the American Dream is dead because they think the middle and lower classes can’t possibly move up in the economy and thus can't complete their American Dream. King arguments oppose this. He states that “[t]he American Dream,

The book called They Say I say with Readings contains multiple articles. However, chapter nineteen focuses on the American Dream. Chapter nineteen, “What’s Up with the American Dream?” indicates how the article will be focusing on the American Dream. The American Dream changes over the course of time as the income inequality widens between the higher and lower class. Few events occurred that affected the income, which led to a growing gap between the different classes. The income of a person depends on the education that a person possesses, which can affect one’s income. Consequently, causing inequality between the different classes. People believe the American Dream changes over time as situations and circumstances vary. Health care is affected by the income inequality because different choices of insurances and doctors are available to those with specific incomes. The impact of the Income Inequality on the American Dream by the gap increasing between higher and lower class, education, interpretation of the American Dream over time, health care, and gender roles. Various authors from chapter nineteen and others from different resources focus on how income inequality affects the American Dream.

In the first article titled “Class in America” by Gregory Mantsios the discussion on class affecting the United States negatively is brought up. Gregory talks about the fact that people do not choose to be poor but they are put into situations where they cannot move up in class. Due to the fact that class creates an immense gap in communities, there are many issues linked to being categorized as the lower class. In the article Gregory states that “class affects more than lifestyle and material well being. It has a significant impact on our physical and mental well-being as well.” CITE) The author connects the idea that if you are in the lower class than you will also deal with other issues include your mental and physical health declining. Alongside this idea, the author also states “All Americans do not have an equal opportunity to succeed, and class mobility in the United States is lower than that of the rest of the industrialized world. (CITE) This goes along with the idea that once your born into a class, breaking out of it is virtually impossible. The author is also making the point that in the United States class is more problematic than other developed nations and because of this not everyone is given the chance to break free from a poor lifestyle.

Throughout the years knowledge and culture has been passed down within generations. Elders within the community often teach life lessons to the young adults growing up in the neighborhood. This idea still holds true today, especially in low-income communities. People from different socioeconomic backgrounds live different lifestyles they also have different opportunities made available to them. Because of this idea, people with a higher social standing have an advantage over those in lower class standings. Social classes divide the people of our nation and have existed for as long as we can remember. The American Dream created the American nation that we know today. The dream itself is different for each individual. Money plays a major part in the American Dream because to be successful in America means to bear great wealth. We live in a nation, in which money controls our very existence. “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara creates an argument about society’s unfairness that involves financial opportunities by revealing the differences in living environments between upper class and lower class.

The first problem that obstructs the way to achieve American Dream is income inequality. Krugman explains “The fact is that vast income inequality inevitably brings vast social inequality in its train” (324). The reason why Krugman states this is because a person’s income mostly decides the standard of living. A person’s standard of living contains two parts; one is how many substances he/she can owns, the other one is how much ability he/she can contributes to his/her American Dream, and all these are affected by one factor: income inequality. In most people’s eyes, owning a big house, paying for monthly bills and children’s tuition fees is the most important things in their life, but all these depend on how much money a person can earn. Based on their different backgrounds, the income of different people will be totally different, so income inequality is created, and it makes achieving the American Dream difficult. On the one hand, different purchasing power is decided by income inequality which means people who have high wages can buy a house or pay monthly bills much easier than people who have lower wages do. On the other hand, income inequality causes the rich people can send their children to the best schools in the world, and afford them a comfortable academic and living environment. On the contrary, the families in middle-class and working-class will not be able afford so much

“I love the American Dream. I feel this is the place I was supposed to be in. It’s beautiful. I love it.” (Immaculee Ilibagiza). The American dream to me is a place where everyone has a chance to succeed. Where everyone can live in happiness. The dream is that everyone is happy, safe, and that everyone can make a decent living!

Lonely and afraid. Looking towards the distance to be presented with nothing but despair. The government, the people, all against you in this fight to happiness. It is the American Dream. The dream was successfully followed by the financially struggling citizens for years, leading them to a “richer and fuller land” until recently. This dream has now become a nightmare. To the men and women living below the poverty line, the American Dream is rarely achievable, and as time progresses, the Dream is furthering away from the grasp of the poor. This difficulty in achieving -- “a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” -- is due to one of the growing challenges in America ; income inequality. This suppresses not only a full education, but the ability to climb up the social ladder in society.

Owning a home is emblematic of the “American Dream”. Unfortunately for many Americans, especially Millennials who are entering or have entered the job market, the thought of owning a home still remains a dream. Our unstable job market and fragile economy has made this aspect of the “American Dream” quite difficult, and many Millennials are more content with landing their dream job than owning a home. The wealth gap between the rich and the poor has prevented the poor from attaining the Dream since the Dream has always been within the grasp of those well off. In our modern society, the same unfortunately is true.

Here, in the United States, the “American Dream,” is a popular belief. There is a strong relationship between hard work and success. In this perfect scenario, those who put in multiple hours are on the road to success and can move up the social ladder. Thus stating, one could be thrust into the lowest of the social status, and with some hard work, one can elevate into the world of the social elite. As a demonstration to this global view of the United States, immigrants from all over the globe have made the excursion to the “land of opportunity” in beliefs of better education, employment, government, communities, religious freedom, and lives for not only themselves but the generations that come pursuing behind them. All of this survives based on a game of social stratification – a diagram on how to successfully obtain the American dream. This observation of social class is based on many mechanisms, some of which is bestowed to people at birth, and not rewarded for hard work and dedication. The class system at play in the United States has become incredibly complex – it no longer has the fundamental class values of our forefathers. Those trying to move up in the social ladder of America are often caught replication the actions of the rich and famous, but this alone cannot make them part of the higher social class. Some think that there are simple rules to follow to climb higher into another social class ladder, but there is more to being upper class than just talking the talk or having the right identity.One way to look at class is the model developed by Janny Scott and David Leonhardt's article, “Shadowy Lines That Still Divide,” in The New York Times. They assert that “one way to think of a person’s position in society is to imagine a hand of cards. Everyone is dealt four cards, one from each suit: education, income, occupation and wealth, the four commonly used criteria for gauging class” (Scott and Leonhardt 27). While being sure on these four criteria, a basic understanding of a person’s predicted class can be made. While this model works fine for providing an elementary level of perception, it must be recognized that a person could rate well on this scale and still be in a different class than those

The United States is known as “The land of opportunity”, but does the country still live up to its name as the land of opportunity, for all? The American dream is one the main reasons many choose to move to the United States in hopes of gaining a better life not only for themselves but for their children. But with so many people striving to achieve their dream, the playing field has become more and more competitive making the dream a complete nightmare to achieve. From getting into colleges for degrees to obtaining desired job positions, moving up the social ladder has become a more strenuous task than ever before. This American dream has become more of an impossible dream because of income inequality and opportunity shortages from

Cellini, Don. Article: U.S. Latino Poetry: The 1960’s to the Present. 2012. Web. 1 May 2017. .