Is the American Dream Dead?
J oseph Stiglitz says the American dream is a myth. Joseph Stiglitz is a Nobel prize-winning economist. He states, “the U.S. used to think of itself as a middle-class country – but this is no longer true. Today, a child’s life chances are more dependent on the income of his or her parents than in Europe, or any other of the advanced industrial countries for which there are data.” It would seem that Stiglitz’s solution to this “problem” is to vote Democrat. I don’t agree that the gap between the rich and the middle class constitutes a breakdown in the American dream. Put simply, the American dream is that anyone from any social class has the opportunity to achieve prosperity through hard work. At an extreme, a person born to a crack addict could, through hard work, become the wealthy owner of a company. Granted, some people have fewer difficulties to overcome and having parents who will pay for college helps, but that doesn’t mean the American dream is a myth. There are a couple of ...