Dying American Dream?

      One thing phrase that has popped up during political speeches the last few years (almost exclusively by Democrats) is the "dying American Dream".  Most notably, it was used as the central theme of Joe Biden's DNC speech.  Even if the phrase isn't blatantly mentioned in speeches or town hall meetings, the idea is often present in a latent way.  The idea centers around the idea that wages are dropping, manufacturing jobs are leaving the country (resulting in less jobs overall), and education is becoming more expensive.  The idea is usually pitched to low wage-earners.  Many already believe it, though, so it isn't hard to convince them.  However, I would strongly question this notion.

      I would think that most Americans would be happy about their labor options.  Until a few decades ago the vast majority of the population had two options: farming and manufacturing. Most opportunity was for vertical, not horizontal, promotion.  Meaning that people usually couldn't change careers, they had to move up within their company or be recruited to a better job in the same industry.  Today people can make a living nearly any way they want.  There are literally thousands of career to choose from.  This is certainly not a negative development.  The diversification of the laborforce should not be overlooked.     

Living conditions are not mentioned.  Housing is safe.  Most water and food is safe. Sanitation is good and people are generally well-bathed.  People take those things for granted. But that is only a recent development.  For much of the country's history there was tainted food and water and people couldn't trust that what they were eating was healthy let alone safe. People now have more food options than ever.  In the past living conditions were downright filthy and often dangerous.

      Racial and religious equality is also not included.  American society is more tolerant than ever.  There is no longer outright racial or religious persecution.    

      The availability of college education is frequently mentioned explicitly.  But like labor, there is more opportunity than ever.  There is an incredible and unparalleled diversification.  There are small schools, big schools, private and public.  Religious and secular.  Four years schools, community colleges, and conservatories.   Often times, Democrats seem to want the college of every student in America paid for or somehow subsidized.  However, this is not needed.  The fact is that there are many, many young adults that shouldn't be in college.  For these students there are more options than ever.  Not only are there community colleges, but a tremendous number and variety of technical schools.  Students shouldn't have trouble paying for a college education.  There are of course the option of community colleges, as stated.  But there are also many opportunities for aid.  If you are poor and/or work hard, you will be able to get scholarships or grants.  It just takes some creativity and smart thinking.  Loans are also readily-available and if one is responsible they won't take that long to pay off.

      There is also the issue of manufacturing jobs leaving the country.  Firstly, this accepts the lump of labor fallacy.  But it is not as if the loss of manufacturing jobs is a necessarily a bad thing.  There will always be factory jobs.  It is a natural and positive development for economies to change away from a manufacturing-based economy.  It is a natural progression, societies move from agriculture to manufacturing to service.  This usually means that wages and white-collar jobs are increasing.  Just because jobs from a certain sector are decreasing, that doesn't mean the economy is worse.  It just means it is changing.  This doesn't mean that we should go crazy.  An positive reaction would be accept it and create more job-training and transition centers.

      There would be several key indicators to evaluate this statement.  One would be be the number of college attendees.  If college was really so outrageously expensive, there would be a very low college graduation rate.  However, this is not the case.  There are far more college attendees and graduation than ever before.  The very discussion reflects the change.  It is no longer seen as a privilege but a right.  Another indicator would ask about the unemployment rate.  If there were that many fewer jobs, and jobs were that much harder to come by, then the unemployment rate would be very high.  However, it is actually relatively low.  For much of the great depression the unemployment rate was over twenty percent.  Now it is roughly a third of that.  (Of course a fully-productive, healthy economy will produce an unemployment rate of around five percent.)  More people than ever have an opportunity to pursue their version of the American dream.  The problem is that most people want it to come easily.  But the whole idea is to work hard and have the work pay off.  I would not agree with the idea that the American dream is dying.  I think it is clear that it isn't.  So why would one say it?  Because there are people who believe it, and those people have votes.