I've been there once since it was turned into an amusement park. A bad amusement park. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Thirty years ago, it was a cool part of the local ecology. Now, it could be anyplace, and that sucks. I hope that the ******* responsible for that abomination steps in front of a bus while counting his money.
I've attained the American Dream. So have most people I know. My parents attained the American Dream by starting and running a successful business. My wife and I have attained the American dream working for those "evil" Fortune 500 companies. My wife's parents have attained the American dream by running a farm. My sisters in law have both attained the American dream by being teachers. Many different paths, some working for corporations, some running their own businesses, and even some working in the public sector. We all own our own homes that we can afford. We all are able to send our kids to good schools. We are all able to afford a comfortable lifestyle, and all of our kids will most likely have better lives that us. Some of us are even on the verge of being in that evil 1% everyone keeps talking about. I feel so sorry for you that you truly believe the American dream is gone. My wife and I, our families, and most of our friends are testaments that it is not dead. I thought about writing a real snarky comment about you, but then I started feeling sad for you. I guess my only advice is to quit worrying about what other people are doing, saying, how they are living, how bad they SAY it is out there. Filter out all the crap on both sides and have confidence in yourself that you actually can achieve the dream. Good luck to you.
My experience mirrors Supermac34. When I was growing up, all the other immigrant families were completely broke. My siblings either own their own home or make 6 figures after getting an undergrad degree. All the poor kids that I knew either got degrees and moved away for great jobs or ended up starting their own business with commercial and personal loans from family. Supermac34 is right. I shouldn't have been snarky. It's sad, when someone doesn't see the path to the dream. Poor hungry vietnamese immigrants coming to America to attain the American Dream to flee the communist takeover in their home country. People so desperate that they would risk dieing to make it to US soil. I couldn't have grown up with better examples of the American Dream.
Of course there is income mobility. However, such mobility is lower than it was 30 years ago, MUCH lower than it was 60 years ago and far lower than in other countries including such socialist meccas as Denmark and Sweden.
I think Gladiator already responded with the same message more succinctly put than I could have. It is possible, but America isn't the king of social mobility, nor even in the top 5. That didn't used to be the case.
Lost inside the fact that "I made it, so you can too." is the fact that America has one of the lowest poverty mobility rates among OCED countries, and one of the highest relative rates---and if memory serves, an absolute rate that is overshadowed by the Nordic states. If you made it, good for you, but the numbers and facts on the ground suggest you are an exception rather than the rule. (Incidentally, economic immigrants are empirically proven to be the bomb after adjusting to their home countries, often contributing more than native-born citizens---because, after all, economic immigrants are a self-selecting sample willing to put the work in. You would think the data would convince the irrational people so often clustered in the Republican Party, but with some specks in the Democratic one as well about the need for open immigration policy, but when have studies and research such as those showing that "illegals" contribute more in payroll taxes than they get out of benefits ever stopped an irrational ideologue?)
baah baaah. Seriously man. I can tell from the obnoxiously stupid Forrest Gumpish earnestness of this post that I make more money than you. And, dude, com on even I know somethin's up. Ewe got to be kiddin' yo-self. baah baah baah, as they say, em por-toe-ahhh-ley-gray
So is this the conservative propaganda you provide to everyone else around you? "Stop being poor!" "Stop being homeless!" "Stop being born into low-income families!" "Get a job you stupid beggar!" How about you wake up and see how the majority of Americans are in a serious economic crisis, get off your high chair, and come back down to Earth. Just because you made it doesn't mean everyone else can too. The fact that you made it means you just screwed someone else out of making it. It could easily have been the other way around.
Yeah, stop trying to succeed, you jerk. Individual success will not be tolerated in the classless utopia.
"It is the Communists’ intention to make people think that personal success is somehow achieved at the expense of others and that every successful man has hurt somebody by becoming successful."
Funny how fighting for a more democratic system and less oligarchy has somehow become the Communist thing to do. Capitalism is a great system, but it has been exploited. Socialist aspects need to be implemented to curb the corruption.
And the number of people in America who are ACTUALLY "communist" is minuscule. I looked it up for you, the estimated Communist Party USA membership in 2011 was 2,000, for a total of .00065% of the population of the United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_USA
If someone thinks "that personal success is somehow achieved at the expense of others and that every successful man has hurt somebody by becoming successful." Then that person believes in a communist ideal and should be considered a communist.
OK, but there are a grand total of about 2,000 people in the entire country who might believe something like what you have posted. The quote (who were you quoting anyway?) isn't part of mainstream liberal thought. IOW, you have created a straw man and are arguing against something that virtually nobody in this country is arguing for.
I responded to RedRedemption, who said to Supermac34: "The fact that you made it means you just screwed someone else out of making it." - chastising him for his personal success. Is he part of the 2,000? That mindset is quite prevalent now. It's right here on this page.
Present on this page and "prevalent" are very different things. I don't know about RedRedemption's leanings, but there is a strong argument to be made that there are a lot of people who gain their personal success by "screwing someone else," this behavior was front and center during the financial crisis, where people were getting massive bonuses even though they directly caused a $2 TRILLION reduction in wealth in the US alone. I don't believe that everyone who "makes it" necessarily screws over people, but there are certainly a lot of people these days who make a very good living doing just that. Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who is as far from being a communist as Ron Paul.
That's a cop-out. People on this website are clamoring for much to be socialized while demeaning and blasting the personal success of people and their families - including immigrants, claiming it is all done at the expense of others. This sick mindset is more widespread than liberals are, for some reason, willing to openly admit.
No, it is a "cop-out" to make up a straw man because you are bereft of real arguments. And they are presenting a lot of evidence that shows that socializing things is not in and of itself evil or wrong. In fact, socializing some things produces a huge net benefit to society for a relatively small trade off. I realize that your Fox colored glasses won't allow you to see this plain, simple truth, but there it is. While I believe that RedRedemption overstated the problem, there is some truth to what he said as well. There are people out there who will step on anyone, break any rule, stretch any regulation, and do whatever they can to get ahead. Many of these people were at the center of the financial crisis in 2007, caused a $2 trillion loss in wealth in America alone, got bailed out by the taxpayer, and are once again collecting huge bonuses even though the rest of the country is suffering through the economy that they collapsed. I realize you believe this, but I attribute that belief to too much Fox "News."
