Research Paper Example on American Dream

Opportunity, an idea presented to Americans every day. The opportunity allows Americans to become successful no matter the circumstances. Americans have the advantage every day to wake up and choose to be better, not every country can say that. Many people however question if the opportunity is as prevalent as it used to be. An author named Paul Krugman wrote an article entitled, “The Death of Horatio Alger.” where he describes how the gap between the rich and poor is decreasing, and opportunity is dying out. Krugman believes that America isn’t making any economical improvements. However, three authors named: W. Michael Cox, Richard Alm, and Shikha Dalmia, all wrote articles describing how America is not decreasing in opportunity, and it is not losing its ability to provide economic success to Americans willing to work. This brings the ultimate debate on whether the American Dream is prevalent today. After reading Cox and Alm’s article, “By Our Own Bootstraps.” and Dalamias’s article, “ Long Live the American Dream,” it is clearly seen that while Krugman makes some valid points, the American Dream is something that is still very much in effect in America today that is achievable by any American.

The debate over the American Dream comes into effect when people see the widening gaps between the rich and poor. Krugman simply puts it as “ the poor tend to stay poor no matter how hard they work; in which sons are much more likely to inherit the socioeconomic status of their father than they were a generation ago.” Krugman believes that economic opportunity is declining, and the people are struggling to get out of poverty even more than they were generations ago. That no matter how hard they try, they are most likely going to be about as successful as their family was. “Between  1973 and 2000 the average real income of the bottom 90 percent of American taxpayers fell by 7 percent. Meanwhile, the income of the top 1 percent rose by 148 percent, the income of the top 0.1 percent rose by 343 percent.” Krugman here uses a study from the Congressional Budget- Office to present the increase in the economic gap. Krugman believed the rich were getting richer, while the lower-class citizens were failing. Krugman believed the American Dream is something that used to have meaning to all Americans, but over time has become focused on those who were born into wealth. However, Cox and Alm disprove this study by describing how these researchers gather the data for this information. “A static portrait of income shares doesn’t answer the question of whether low-income households are getting better or worse off over time. By definition, there will always be a bottom 20 percent… The sample never stays the same from one year to another, and researchers have no way of knowing what happened to particular members of any quintile.  How many people worked their way up?”  This piece of information is lengthy so in simple terms, these studies are invalid because people who believe that there is a widening gap are only looking at the bottom percentage of people, which no matter how hard Americans try to equal this gap, there will always be the bottom 20 percent. These people are people that while they may not be in extreme poverty will be on the bottom 20 percent compared to how much the top percentage is making. Cox and Alm also are stating in this piece that when researchers curate these studies, they are gathering random people from all aspects of life. Cox and Alm believe that this method is ineffective because not only are researchers not separating them into categories, Ex: education, job, race gender, marital status, and ages, they are also not following up on these clients. Instead of picking one group to follow throughout the periods, the researchers are constantly just picking the lowest 20. Cox and Alm believe that when doing this, people aren’t seeing if there is any economic gain in those certain people, or if the people originally studied have made any progress. While Krugman had a point of the widening gap, he failed to mention if any of the people studied remained the same and if they did what percentage had grown over the time. 

Another point to bring up is what opportunity means. Opportunity is often confused with people feeling entitled to success. Success is not something that comes handed to people, it is something that is earned. Alm and Cox take the true definition of opportunity by comparing it to when immigration and the Gilded Age were occurring. “ Some amassed enormous fortunes—the Rockefellers, the Carnegies, the Fords, etc. Many millions more, descendants of those who arrived… with little more than the clothes on their backs, they improved a lot in life through their talent and hard work.” This goes back to the fact that people think the poor will never get out of poverty. Immigrants who came to America for opportunity took the available job and became successful because they were willing to work for them. People like the Carnegies achieved success by starting small and building an empire. These people didn’t get it handed to them. They had to use their physical labor and their efforts to get to where they were.  Dalmia also presented how this idea is prevalent in America today.  When being compared to China and India and their economic success, seen by others, Dalmia believes that America still has more opportunities for success than those countries ever will. “Americans have a grab-the-bull-by-its-horns quality so that they simply don’t hang around hoping for things to get better on their own.” Dalmia believes that while these other countries have some sort of economic success, it is the American’s determination that keeps America on top of success and is why these other countries will never exceed America. Dalmia believes that India and China settle for whatever is handed to them, but America will keep striving for success and to be the best versions of itself. Instead of sitting and waiting for opportunities to come, Americans face the challenge and work for their success. Not everyone in America wants to fight the challenge, but the ones who do are the reason why America runs so smoothly and has financial gain. 

This brings up the final point on whether or not countries like China and India are on their way to becoming the strongest economic countries. Dalmia believes that while China and India have a lot of jobs available and are constantly making money, their quality of life is nothing compared to America. “Basic facilities in India-roads, water, sewage-remain primitive… China offers no public safety net to the vast majority of village-born.” America is known for keeping its own country safe and protected. America provides necessities to Americans no matter their income, public roads are always paved, water is always filtered and ready to provide for whoever may need it, and America offers Social Security to give money to elders after they retire, and Medicare to provide health insurance to elders who can not afford it. Things that China and India both lack. While there may be employment opportunities, the quality of life and the basic needs that are given to Americans outweigh the employment that these two countries provide. While these two countries also may be seen as economic prosperity, the number of people in these countries far outweighs the amount in America. “The reality is that the per capita GDP-even measured by purchasing power parity-in both is pathetic. America’s is about $47,000, China’s $7,500, and India’s $3,290.” While these countries are offering other jobs, the amount of money per capita (region defined by population) is far more in poverty than America is. These countries’ citizens are making far less than Americans and are living life in poverty, despite employment. 

These articles prove that the American Dream still does exist. The American Dream isn’t centered solely on economic opportunity. It also focuses on achieving a level of happiness, success, and civil welfare. While other countries have opportunities for jobs, they lack happiness for the citizens. These countries are not focused on the well-being of their citizens, unlike America. While America does have a gap, it is not necessarily a bad thing. If there was no wage gap, America would be socialistic. This means that fast-food employees would be making as much as doctors who take out loans and go to college for 8 plus years to be where they are. This truly shows the American Dream, people work hard and make sacrifices to become successful. Dalmia says it best when he says, “This American spirit, ultimately, is the biggest reason to believe that the American dream is and will stay alive in America.”  It is up to Americans to decide if the American Dream will live on through hard work and determination.