American dream Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

American dream - Essay Example Most people who were rendered jobless during recession had education levels of high schools and below. In fact, Georgetown University’s Center on Education (GUCE) had recently claimed that the employment trends for people with no college education were literally flat at the start of the recovery phase. This means that individuals who become jobless during the Great Recession were not in a position to get new jobs. The nature of job loss in the United States during recession was so uneven that it worsened the income inequality trends. In addition, it expanded the gap between wealthy class and the rest of the American population. In a recent statement by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED), they claimed that the income inequality structure in the United States was a threat to their long term socio-economic strength and development (David, 2012). OCED further argued that the education system in the country was not effective in assisting children to re alize their full potential. This was so because the government’s expenditure directed to less fortunate students was quite minimal. The question people are asking is whether American dream is alive or dead? Based on this brief overview, this paper will focus on defending the position on whether dream to achieve a better success from old to near generation is realizable. Based on this view, a thoughtful and critical evaluation will be done on the impacts of socio-economic trends that the country has experienced in the pasts, particularly, on the economic well being of individuals and families in the United States (David, 2012). 1.2 Is American Dream to improve individuals and families economic well being still alive? In answering the above question, the study will examine range of data that address issues of wage, quality of life and community well-being. However, data that were released from various economic sources showed that things are not at all well meaning that serious challenges are affecting realization of improved living standards from one generation to the next (Lawrence, Jared and Heidi, 2009). 1.3 Thesis Statement With regards to the brief overview, thesis statement for this paper is: â€Å"The American Dream of each generation doing better than the previous generation is DEAD. The faults of capitalism, over consumption, adverse economic trends and government policies have contributed to the demise of the dream. The social contract between generations has been broken.† 1.3.1 Supporting the thesis Most data shows that the last decade was practically a lost decade. This is because there was widening of the gap of inequalities in wage and income among American households. Similarly, data shows over 25 year period of wage stagnation and slow growth rate in income that was experienced prior to the lost decade. In fact, the increasing inequalities on wealth, income and wage supported growth among the top class generations (Lawrence, Jared a nd Heidi, 2009). Research showed that these trends were partly fueled by policy response initiated by the federal government that was either wrong, absent or inadequate to address the real problem. 2.0 Defining Well Being No consensus has being reached on how â€Å"well being† concept can be defined. However, National Account of Well being (2009) defined it as â€Å"a dynamic process that gives people sense of how their lives are going, through the