Recently I have been talking to my kids and they believe that the US is not headed in the right direction. They feel that the “American Dream” is no longer possible. They are not alone.
A recent Wall Street Journal/NORC poll of 1,502 U.S. adults reveals this stark contrast. While an overwhelming 89% of respondents deemed homeownership essential or important to their vision of the future, only 10% felt it was easy or somewhat easy to achieve. Similarly, financial security and a comfortable retirement were viewed as essential or important by 96% and 95% of people, respectively, but rated as easy or somewhat easy by a mere 9% and 8%.
This trend held true across gender and party lines, but was especially pronounced among younger generations, who have faced barriers such as high home prices, interest rates, and student debt that have priced them out of the housing market.
Research by MIT’s Nathaniel Hendren and Harvard’s Raj Chetty found that while around 90% of 1940-born children surpassed their parents’ economic status, only about half of 1980-born children could say the same. Hendren notes that younger generations seem to be in a comparable position based on median income growth, though they may have seen a modest post-Covid increase as wages for lower-income Americans outpaced other earners.
This is truly troubling, I believe in the “American Dream”, I have lived it to an extent.