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The American Dream Essay

The document discusses how the American Dream has changed over time due to rising costs. It notes that in the past, the American Dream meant that everyone could live a rich life with abundant opportunities. However, costs have increased significantly in several areas. College now costs over 10 times more than in 1970, leaving many students in large amounts of debt after graduating. Healthcare also costs around 4 times more than it did in the 1950s. Additionally, people now have to worry about saving for retirement since most companies no longer provide pensions. As a result, the modern American Dream has become nearly impossible to achieve as people struggle to pay off debts and costs even while working hard their entire lives.

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403 views3 pages

The American Dream Essay

The document discusses how the American Dream has changed over time due to rising costs. It notes that in the past, the American Dream meant that everyone could live a rich life with abundant opportunities. However, costs have increased significantly in several areas. College now costs over 10 times more than in 1970, leaving many students in large amounts of debt after graduating. Healthcare also costs around 4 times more than it did in the 1950s. Additionally, people now have to worry about saving for retirement since most companies no longer provide pensions. As a result, the modern American Dream has become nearly impossible to achieve as people struggle to pay off debts and costs even while working hard their entire lives.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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James Lin

Block F
7/10/2016

The American Dream Essay


The tale of American Dream was started by James Truslow back in
1931.Acording to James Truslow, The American Dream one where everyone
lives a rich life, where opportunities abound, and barriers of the past arent
hampering progress(Truslow). His idea is very clear that he want everyone live a
good and rich life. However, the American Dream has changed in nowadays
because of the cost of everything increase. Students have to pay more money to
get into college, people have to pay more for their health care, and people have
worries about their retirement.
First, students have to pay more to enable them to finish their college
and get a degree. In 1970, students only have to pay $4070 to attend Harvard.
However, in 2015, it cost $45278 for a year at Harvard, the cost of attending
college increased more than 10 times. After students graduated from college,
most students pay a lot of debt, more than they can handle, but in 1970, students
could pay their debt easily or dont even have debt since the education was 10
times cheaper than nowadays. Therefore, the American Dream has changed
from having a job the students want to having a job that can pay their debt.
Secondly, in the mid-1950s, most Americans had health insurance, which
helps Americans when they have accidents or get diseases and illnesses.
However, it cant decrease the burden because the cost of healthcare increase

very fast and the insurance cant help much. In 1958, Americans had to spend
roughly 15 days of work to pay their health cost, but in 2012, Americans have to
spend roughly 58 days to pay their health cost. It is around 4 times more
expensive than 1958. If peoples jobs dont have benefits to help to pay those
costs, they now have to spend almost a quarter of the year to pay their
healthcare.
Third, Americans now have to worry about their retirement. In the past, if
workers work in the same company for most of their lives, the company will give
pensions to the workers so they dont have to worry about not having money
after they have retired. However, in nowadays, people are living longer than ever,
companies cant give workers pensions anymore because it will be a huge
burden to the company since they have to pay much more benefits than before.
This means that workers have to work longer to save money for their retirement.
In conclusion, the American dream has totally changed from 1931 to
nowadays because the cost of many things has increased. There is no way that
Americans can all have rich and comfortable lives. Most American have to pay
back their debt after they have graduated from college, at the same time, they
also have to pay a lot more money for healthcare than before. After they get
through all of this, they have to start saving money for their retirement because
they wont get any pension. The American Dream is almost impossible to reach
since it is hard for people to pay all of the costs even though they work hard, they
have to work for their entire life to enable them to make ends meet.
Citation:

Bryant, Sean. "What Is the American Dream in 2016?" Investopedia. N.p., 26 Jan. 2016.
Web. 07 Oct. 2016.

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