WATCH: Is The American Dream Alive and Well? A Free Press Debate
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
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The “American Dream” is the most important of our national myths. It’s the idea that, with hard work and determination, anyone in this country can achieve middle-class security, own a home, start a family, and provide the children they raise with a better life than they had.
Is that still true?
On the one hand, our economy is the envy of the world. We are the richest country, leading the pack when it comes to innovation. And more people choose to move here for economic opportunity than to any other nation.
And yet, everywhere you look in this country, there is a growing sense of pessimism. A sense that you can work hard, play by the rules, even go to college, and still end up saddled with debt and unable to afford the basics, like a home.
Tyler Cowen, Katherine Mangu-Ward, David Leonhardt, and Bhaskar Sunkara duke it out over the state of the economy.
A dear friend once told me, “the baby boomers climbed the ladder of success…… Then pulled the damn ladder up after them.”
Can’t help but feel that she made a pretty good point. 😂
Probably best not to stereotype, 'cause a lot of us Boomers are not high earners with pensions.
Ozempic is Danish, 😁
The american dream is dead. The audacity! People tell you their live quality is diving hard, they cant afford anything anymore, and these Pro-Dream people just go: Hey look! There is a successful immigrant! You are just grumpy, hihi. That`s just gaslighting.
Yes. Apparently the American dream is dead for Americans and thriving for everyone else.
David Leonhardt - in the NYT and in this debate - espousing endless DNC approved talking points always…not original thought or deep analysis
I do believe the American dream is still very much alive and well. I just personally prefer a more limited government.
What’s the average income in that audience? I bet there are virtually no poor people in it.
These debates are dumb. “Does life suck now?” Yes, yes it does.
"They voted with their feet" - Vladimir Lenin
America attracts immigrants the world over. Based on Lenin's quote, it would say the American Dream is alive and well.
Maybe Lenin said this. But, in context, the idea is attributable to Charles Tiebout regarding public preferences in choosing where to live based on the ‘bundles’ of policies offered
To say that the United States is a more attractive place to live than many countries on earth has and will always be true. There are places on earth No one in their right mind would want to live.
That wasn’t really the point of the debate. The debate was whether or not life had gotten better in America over the last half century, or worse.
@@jaredray7034I tend to agree with you in how you’re framing the purpose of the debate. I think the point of voting with your feet, that Cowen was talking about, was the abundance of diversity and choice afforded to us now, not necessarily many people choose to migrate here. “You could be eating Chinese food with David in Virginia.”
@@jaredray7034 Those people voting with their feet are stating unequivocally that the American dream is alive and well. Americans simply forget the level of effort their grandparents took when they arrived into the US to make the American dream possible. It is this loss in memory that makes people people believe that the American dream is an illusion.
@@EdanSaltz This is such an important comment that people tend to overlook.
It takes a lot of work and the dream doesn’t always feel like a dream.
Leonhardt cherry picks data and is not honest. The average US life expectancy is 2 years higher than it was 20 years ago. There are some slight fluctuations due to covid but he's painting a picture that is not accurate and a good example of cherry picking data. His other comments about housing affordability have deep causes that he does not address...many homebuilders think this is caused by excessive regulation that prevents new homes and keeps prices high. there are very simple solutions to problems like this....
And differences between life expectancy in different countries is also colored by infant mortality. And infant mortality is colored by the definition of when a live person begins.
The same incident in one country may be counted as a stillbirth or miscarriage, and in another country may be counted as a live birth, which then dies.
I did a Google I found two sources corroborating your point. Macro trends and statista.
The biggest problem is that people in America don't need particular people in their lives they just need people in general because of bad morals and high technology, this makes marriage much less likely and less stable than in the 1950s. People can't find people to marry because no one really needs them so much that they will put up with their peccadilloes. You don't need to have a personal relationship with people who do things for you like cops, doctors, farmers, manufacturers, mechanics, etc because you just pay money for those things, before people had no money and had to trade favors with neighbors to get things done so they had to personally know all these people and maintain reputation and now they don't. These speakers are focusing on money, markets, and opinion polls, they are looking in the wrong places. Most people are alone because no one needs us, that is the pain, not 401K and inflation.
Income inequality is the political correct term for envy. Why does it matter how much more money someone else have? It should only matter how much liberty I have to pursue what I want to pursue. Anybody who is envious is the cause of their own unhappiness. People didn’t come to this country for income equality. They came for the liberty (freedom from government coercion) to pursue the things that makes them happy which may or may not be wealth related and also in different degrees. So if the American dream is disappearing, it’s because liberty is disappearing. Not because Jeff Bezos made a lot of money creating a huge amount of consumer surplus for all of his customers.
The notion equity flips the commandment of 'Though shalt not covet' from a sin to a virtue.
What sort of inner peace can a person have when they are taught to be envious. There will always be someone with more. Obsessing over it makes life a hell.
Income inequality isn’t about envy; it’s about survival. The middle class has been dying off for decades and the owner class has gained a crazy amount of wealth and control over the whole nation in that time. It’s class war alright, and the billionaires have been winning. They don’t just sit on their wealth, they use it to influence the government and capture more of the market and among us all pay more.
@@DisposableSupervillainHenchman Seems like the best solution to limit "billionaires influence on government" is to limit government powers and give people back their liberty. As for "capture more of the market" -- unlike the government, private companies and individuals do not have the power of the gun. They can't capture market by force, only via persuasion. Specifically, by offering products and services that will give the purchaser a consumer surplus. In other words, if Amazon is exploiting you, stop buying their products. That will terminate their ability to exploit you.
@@VeniVidiVid I would also discount equal opportunity. Today's outcome is tomorrow's opportunity. For example, the wealth you create for your family today becomes an enhanced opportunity for your children tomorrow. It should be equal treatment under the law only. That's what liberty is.
Well said. No two people have the same ability, desires, experience, goals or ambition. Why in the world would we assume that they have to have equal outcomes?
Equal opportunity and treatment under the law? Absolutely. Equal outcomes? Absolutely not!
"Lies, damned lies, and statistics" - Benjamin Disraeli (?)
Frequently in the debate various statistics are used to prove a point. Using any aggregate number says little. How did that number come into being? Getting good statistics is hard. Data gathered from various sources is subject to differing methods. Life expectancy in different countries has too many moving parts to be useful.
This audience is not very representative of average Americans. I doubt anyone in this crowd struggles economically and I highly doubt any of them have to worry about where they will be living in a year and if they will be able to afford rent or ever have the privilege of owning a home.
The elite audience has spoken. I guess we can all feel good now and go work the pole being shoved behind by the masters of the standing ovations.
As an Albertan God bless America and her dreams....
Bari had the giggles that night. I was wondering what was so funny. 😂
I grew up in abject poverty with absent and alcoholic parents. I am living the American dream. I had some benefits in terms of being a quick study, a risk taker, and a hard worker.
These are so fantastic - the best
1:06:15 all we have to do is expand on all the great things that Biden has done and utopia is ours
Oh, goody, cause I have been waiting for 3 1/2 years. Glad it is almost here.
@@KENTUCKYUSA1Two scoops, remember 😉 🍦🍦