The American Dream

by Russ Roberts on March 10, 2009

Here is an hour of me on Wisconsin Public Radio talking about whether the American dream is dead, dying, or still alive.

Comments

{ 8 comments }

Jason O March 10, 2009 at 10:02 pm: Russ,

It is Alive!!!!
Marxism will fail again.

Keep up the good work.
T L Holaday March 10, 2009 at 10:12 pm: Russ, you suggested that sympathy for savers who have lost their savings is misplaced: they had too much in stocks.

Have you seen how the Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 fund has performed?

Are you comfortable arguing that the average saver should have been wiser than Vanguard?
Richard March 10, 2009 at 10:46 pm: Note: you (apparently) need to be a member of WPR to download this podcast.
Matthew March 11, 2009 at 1:54 am: You can click "listen to archive" to stream it in real media. You only need to be a member to download it.
vidyohs March 11, 2009 at 6:02 am: Since no one knows what this American's dream is but me, how can anyone kill it?

Talk about the American dream being dead or alive is just silly rhetoric.

There is no, and never has been a, collective American dream. That is what freedom and individuality is all about.
Ray G March 12, 2009 at 12:13 am: And then an actual hog farmer calls.

Get out! You can't make this stuff up. . .
Stteditor March 12, 2009 at 3:38 pm: While there may not yet be a collective definition for an American Dream, the attempt to define it or at least put it into a framework for discussion is important (Thank you for the insights & the forum, Russ!).

From an immigration perspective, it is certainly relevant. And from an economic progress perspective, it is a powerful concept. I recently read a couple very insightful articles that put the American Dream in a historical, sociological, psychological, & policy perspective:

http://josephcari.com/?p=19

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/04/american-dream200904

If we can come to some kind of consensus on what makes us strong as a country, & map those attributes to sound policy, we will be better off.

To rely on the notion of pure "individuality" & "freedom" as what keeps us together as a country is a bit myopic, IMO.
Methinks March 13, 2009 at 2:21 pm: Great post, Vidyohs.

Stteditor, I can understand why policy makers favour a single dream (end). It's so much easier to herd the sheeple toward a single end and it provides for the excuse to consolidate power in a single entity – the government. I can also understand how it can be interesting to wax philosophical about the general desires of a false aggregate.

However, I can't see why you would think that protecting individual dreams and the right of the individual to pursue those dreams is myopic. Why can't the collective "American Dream" be to live in a country that maximizes liberty? That is what is encoded in the utterly ignored constitution.