The American Dream No Longer Exists Essay Example

The American Dream, an ideology based upon a virtually unattainable lifestyle in which can only be seen on the silver screen. A lifestyle that falsely advertises the living conditions of the average American. The American Dream no longer exists because Americans continue to struggle financially due to international rising costs and wage cuts, business owners make decisions based off the best interests of their shareholders and investors, not the employed and people have lost hope in achieving the American Dream itself.

The American dream no longer exists because Americans continue to struggle financially due to rising costs and wage cuts. “Is the American Dream Still Possible?” by David Wallechinsky, paragraph six states, “Half of the employed respondents say that they’ve experienced either increased health-care costs or a cut in health benefits over the last three years, and 39% have had cuts in their overtime, raises, or bonuses.” This highlights how a great deal of Americans have experienced some form of rise in costs or wage deductions. Rises in cost affect people in a multitude of ways such as people simply not being able to afford the costs of healthcare and being denied treatment, furthermore, workers making less money and therefore not being able to support their respective needs. In the same fashion, from the article “Is the American Dream Still Possible?” by David Wallechinsky, paragraphs six and ten lists “Almost two-thirds say they live from paycheck to paycheck, and 47% say that no matter how hard they work, they cannot get ahead. More than a third worry about job loss.” In addition, paragraph ten states “nearly 83% say that there is not much left to save after they’ve paid their bills. Statistics from the Commerce Department bear this out: The savings rate for Americans is the lowest it has been in 73 years.” This, in relation to the previously stated evidence is the acknowledgement that Americans have had troubles keeping up with regular activities such as paying bills and having to rely on their next paycheck and wonder if they are going to survive another week or two on their job. There is also the concern of many Americans’ money and having little left after paying their bills. Americans must deal with the consequences of these increasing costs and the diminishment of wages.

In a like manner, the American Dream is not possible because business owners in the Unites States make decisions in the best interests of their shareholders and investors, not the employed. The Declaration of Independence, paragraph four reads “He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.” This relates to business owners and their negligence to adhere to what the employees need or have interest in, and rather only acting when it is convenient for the improvement of oneself. Business owners in modern times do the bare minimum to keep their business going in gear, if a method works well in the eyes of their shareholder or investor, that is the method that the business will continue to use. If that method is not fitting, then, and only then will it change. Likewise, according to “is the American Dream Still Possible” paragraphs sixteen and eighteen states “Randy Omark, 55, and Cherie Morris, 58, of Stroudsburg, Pa., husband and wife, are former flight attendants for TWA. Cherie took a buyout in the late1990s- before American Airlines bought TWA in 2001. After the acquisition, Randy was put on “furlough” (as were about 4,000 other former TWA flight attendants) and never rehired. After 26 years with the two airlines, his pension was frozen and then taken over by the government. Now he gets $324 a month in payments.” and “It used to be that if you stayed with your job, you would be rewarded.” says Cherie. “Now there is no guarantee.” This shows how businesses only make decisions based on their investors' interest. Despite Randy working on those jobs for over two decades his pension is only a small amount of what someone else would get as their pension. In reference to people living from paycheck to paycheck this would be a correct reflection of the situation at hand.  

The American Dream is not a reality because not everyone has the same idea of the dream. For instance, in “The Two Clashing Meanings of “Free Speech”” by Teresa M. Bejan paragraph two states “The conflict between what the ancient Greeks called isegoria, on the one hand, and parrhesia, on the other, is as old as democracy itself. Today, both terms are often translated as “freedom of speech”, but their meanings were and are importantly distinct.” This can be interpreted as how people have this umbrella term of the “American Dream”, everyone’s meaning and personal interpretation are significantly different from one another. Some people define the American Dream as self-reliance, and others on financial stability. This is clearly evident in “Is the American Dream Still Possible?”, paragraph eleven which reads “Almost three-quarters of the middle-class respondents surveyed say they take responsibility for their own financial destiny and believe that they will succeed or fail based on their own efforts. "As previously mentioned, everyone has a different viewpoint of what the American Dream looks like in the in their life. Which in turn, can be tremendously hard to achieve.

Moreover, the American Dream is no longer reality since it is not a lifestyle that many people strive to achieve anymore.  Everyone has their own definition of what their version of the American Dream is that most Americans simply don’t believe can be reached in the time of their life. It might be for an immigrant from another country, but as for Americans, the “American Dream” is simply dead.