Is the American Dream in Decline?

Open to Debate

Education, News, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2024

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The American Dream – the idea that anyone can achieve success in the U.S. through hard work and determination – is under scrutiny, and some worry it’s no longer achievable for the broader population. Those who agree say increasing healthcare, education, and housing costs create difficulty in having financial stability. Those who disagree argue that the U.S. still offers more opportunities for personal and financial growth than elsewhere. Now we debate: Is the American Dream in Decline? Arguing Yes: David Leonhardt, Pulitzer Prize-winning Senior Writer for The New York Times and The Morning; Author of “Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream” Arguing No: Michael Strain, Political Economy Scholar and Director of Economic Policy Studies at American Enterprise Institute; Author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It)” Nayeema Raza, Journalist at New York Magazine and Vox, is the guest moderator. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:27.1	say that because I work here. Get started today at banta.com.
0:34.9	This is open to debate. I'm John Donvan. Hi, everybody.
0:37.7	Your moderator in chief.
0:38.9	Today, we are revisiting our discussion about that soaring promise of American life that we call the American Dream.
0:45.9	Journalist and documentary producer Naima Reza is stepping in as moderator for this one, and she will explain more.
0:51.0	So, Naima, it's all yours.
0:53.0	The American Dream.
0:55.5	It's a term that was dreamed up and popularized by the writer and historian James Treslow Adams in his 1931 book,
1:01.3	The Epic of America. Since then, the American Dream has been conflated with home ownership.
1:06.4	It's become synonymous with ideas of upward mobility, meritocracy, and generational progress.
1:13.1	In 2012, 53% of American survey said that they believe the American dream held true.
1:19.0	Today, that number has fallen to just 36%.
1:22.5	Almost 20% of respondents in the same survey said they thought the American dream never existed.
1:28.2	So is the American dream a mythology, some aberration of history, or a reality?
1:33.6	Our debaters today have conflicting viewpoints, and they're here to duke it out, respectfully, of course.
1:39.6	Arguing yes, that the American dream is in decline is David Leonhardt, a senior writer at the New York Times who might show up in your inbox in the mornings with the morning newsletter.
1:49.1	He's also the author of the book, Ours was the Shining Future, the story of the American Dream. Welcome, David.
	...

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