##s And Cons Of The American Dream And The American Dream

The forty-first president of the United States, George W. H. Bush, once said, “The American Dream means giving it your all, trying your hardest, accomplishing something…” As the years fly by, so does the American Dream. With busy lives, many Americans tend to forget the purpose of the American Dream. Failing to make ends meet, not being able to afford the new iPhone and the lack of success that is not America’s fault. People create their successes and failures based on what they desire. Through a person creating their own definition, not quitting once things go wrong, and creating opportunities the American Dream still floods the streets of America today.

The American Dream, an idea of what it truly means to be an American in some respects. For many, it is the idea of starting from nothing and making something to look back on in your later years and be proud of what you’ve done. For many in the generations before the millennial generation, the ideal was to graduate college, get married, get a house, and raise a family. For many millennials, this has changed with one key difference. That difference is the importance of having their own house. This was brought about by many factors including the economy, political ideology, and sustainability.

Despite this fact, home ownership in the economic and social landscape of today is a big responsibility. Economically, most millennial most likely cannot afford to own their own home. A mortgage is a much larger payment than rent for an apartment. Similarly, owning a home means paying for gas, electric, water and furniture to fill a house; this also includes any grounds upkeep depending on the home’s location and property taxes. Socially, Millennials seem to be straying away from owning a home because it

The typical series of big events in life include graduating high school, going to college, finding a significant other, graduating college, getting married, and buying a home. Although these events happen in a variety of different patterns nowadays, a major bump in the road is occurring when looking to buy a home, especially in Colorado Springs. This article highlighted the challenges that the millennial generation is facing when reaching this stage in life. "Student loan debt is more than $1.2 trillion, and nearly 70 percent of college graduates have some student loan debt, according to the Federal Reserve (pg 1)." These college graduates now need to add loan payments to their monthly debts, leaving them with even less disposable income. Not

The desire for home ownership is something embedded in our DNA. Claiming property and owning a house is a critical part of the “American Dream.” Home ownership represents more than just a place to rest your head at night. Your home is the environment that serves as a setting for your journey through life. It’s the place of your children’s first steps, family birthdays, barbeques, amongst many other significant events. Your home is the backdrop that describes you and your family. Although many American’s were financially hurt by the trillions lost in the home equity market during the housing bubble, there is and will always be a desire to own a home. The most vital part is that American’s who lost their homes during the crash, learn from their past, so that they do not repeat a foreclosure.

Since the major success that America has gone through its life as a country, many people have dreamed of coming to the U.S. in hope of their dreams succeeding just as other’s have before. Through multiple documents and speeches, people can realize that unlike what other people say, America does want its people to accomplish their dream and proves this through its actions. In the poem, “Africa to America” by Phillis Wheatley, the document, Bill of Rights, the speech, Keynote Address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention by Barack Obama, and the document Declaration of Independence, they all demonstrate that America is willing to continue to make the American Dream possible to all people. The American Dream is still accessible to the people by promising equality and freedom, by offering new opportunities, and through the government’s willingness to help the American Dream.

With the world getting flatter day by day, we are searching for ways to change our educational values and systems to prepare us for this change. Competition within individuals leaves a huge population of undocumented immigrants at an even more disadvantage for the chance at the “American Dream.” How can we compete in a flat world when a plethora of undocumented immigrants populate our nation? The biggest reason being that 11.2 million undocumented immigrants cannot pursue a post high school education because of financial instability and the lack of help from government funding. I believe that by the DREAM Act being put into place would give an opportunity to some of these undocumented immigrants to contribute to

In fact, “During the last ten years, the nation’s rate of homeownership has steadily fallen from nearly 70 percent down to just over 64 percent” (Romerdahl). Homeownership has been seemingly inseparable from the American Dream, yet statistics are now showing that less people are interested in owning a home. Until recently, government intervention has been raising the percentages of homeowners in the US, but percentages have been steadily falling even with lower interest rates and continued effort from the government. This evidences that not only is the American Dream changing, but it is not clearly defined in the first

For decades Americans couldn’t help but rejoice when they were able to own their very own home. The image of holding the keys and to quickly step foot into their home provided Americans with visons of prosperity. Many Americans whether poor, middle-class, or wealthy could now dream of endless possibilities when owning their very own home, as well as embracing a sense of accomplishment. These accomplishments or feelings were great at first; however, the realty for some Americans was that behind the glitz and glamor was a ticking time bomb. Now imagine the United States of America flourishing in the real estate sector and the US economy from Wall Street to individuals benefiting from the booming housing market. However, while all this was

In the article “How to fix wealth inequality”, Hecht (2014) raises houseownership as a factor to minimise wealth inequality, and brings up an issue over how the poor are more affected than the rich, while listing several factors that deter poor people from getting homeownership. According to Hecht (2014), despite declining house prices and interest rates, homeownership is out of reach for low income families because they are vulnerable financially in post-recessions. Moreover, there is ongoing progress on reducing education fees so that young people could graduate without being saddled with debts which deter them from having houseownership in the future. Throughout this article, he highlighted the importance of houseownership as being an asset which can be passed from one generation to the next thus reducing the economic disparity.

Homeownership is a far in the future goal for many young American and many may never even reach it. The rising cost of living and education puts many into debt. And, the difficulty of finding a job before, during, or after college makes staying above that debt difficult. As a result, for those who want to have kids they could be putting themselves even further into financial distress. Overall, there are many factors that make obtaining a home difficult, so luck and/or hard work may not be enough to achieve the original 1950s American dream. In conclusion, the house in the American Dream seems to be fading

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This statement of declaration holds the founding ideas of the American Dream that “all men are created equal with certain rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. American culture has implanted the idea that we live in a land of opportunity where the American Dream is possible for all citizens. Millions of people from across the globe travel to the United States with the hopes of gaining a piece of the pie (The American Dream). This declaration sounds convincing and easily obtainable, but it is? In his article, “Master of Desire,” Jack Solomon states “The American dream has two faces: the one communally egalitarian and the other competitively elitist…Even as America’s great myth of equality celebrates the virtues of mom and apple pie, it also lures us to achieve social distinction, to rise above the crowd and bask alone in the glory”. Simply put, the American dream promotes the concept of “one for all and all for one” yet entices its citizens with the idea that to succeed it’s every man for themselves. Jack Solomon was right in his claim that the American dream incites competition, yet competition is necessary to achieve success.

Until every home loses value, buying a home will continue to be a good investment for those who can’t buy stocks or bonds. Purchasing my home was a huge milestone in my life as well as an investment I could make for my future. Adalberto Aguirre also believes that “For many Americans, homeownership is synonymous with success, independence, and the achievement of the American Dream.” Homeownership is seen as a pathway to aspects of the American dream; for instance, the ability to pay for a college education, providing start-up capital for a family business, or funding retirement plans (6). Owning a home, like earning a college education, is something I thought we are all supposed to want for ourselves, friends, and family. Helping others attain the American Dream certainly took a backseat to profits in the minds of many mortgage brokers and lenders during the 2000 housing boom.

Imagine a race in which contestants need to climb a ladder in order to win. Now imagine that same race but now make half the contestants climb twice the distance with a broken ladder. Seems unfair to those select contestants right? Well that is how many minorities feel about attempting to rise in social class. In this example and in real life the contestants with a lower playing field need to work twice as hard to go the same distance as the other privileged group. This analogy proves that the American Dream is instead an American Nightmare

Homeownership is a double-edged sword. It is the “American Dream” to one day own a house. Compared to their predecessors, Millennials are seeing the advantages and disadvantages of homeownership at an earlier age.  These early generations believed owning a house was the cherry-on-top to being an all-around American and achieving the “American Dream”. As a cynical generation who grew up with information at our fingertips and the world falling around us, millennials see homeownership differently. “The cautious and conservative approach to home buying displayed by millennials is driven by the fact their outlook on life was shaped by a number of bad things when they were young—the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, the 2008 financial crisis, the housing bust with mass foreclosures and a weak recovery that has so far provided incomes below that of prior generations” (Stowe England, 36). We learned that the world was not fair and that it is time to redefine the “American Dream” to reflect our current economic society.