American Dream Still Alive?
American Dream Still Alive? The answer is yes but it is getting increasingly difficult to get started and many have had to step backwards during the journey over the last several years. So with the start of a new year and it being a presidential election year lets assess where the nation is at this time. Official Jobless numbers are just under 9%. The real number is significantly higher and many areas of the county and some segments of the population are disproportionally effected. The official poverty rate is about 15% which represents about 46 million people. The poverty rate has been rising faster over the last three years than another 3 year period since the great depression. About 16% don’t have health health insurance and the population losing coverage the fastest are full time workers. The median household income is about $49,500 down 2.3 % from 2009. Perhaps the most disturbing trend is the concentration of wealth in our society. One percent of the population owns 83% of US stocks and the bottom 50% of of income earners collectively own less than 1% of the nations wealth. The top 1% own twice the corporate wealth they did just 15 years ago. Unless we can find ways to increase the size of the middle class, history dictates that this situation will not end well. It will take strong leadership, changes in how money influences our political system and tweaking of corporate America so all employees benefit more equally from the corporations success. I wish you success in your journey chasing the dream. Happy New Year!