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American Dream. Is it going?

With but a few exceptions, I'd have to agree with the general tone of this article.

However, I don't think it's merely competition that is forcing corporations to downsize and operate leaner. If it were, those same corporations would shy away from downsizing since the quality of their product/service typically suffers. It's one thing to 'trim the fat' but the recent trend has been to lay off 20% of the workforce and dump their collective responsibilities on the remaining 80%. Individual greed plays an equal role, I believe. Enron was proof of that.
 
Income gaps can be deceiving if used as a barometer for upward mobility. Suppose an executive making $1 million makes ten percent more one year, as does a man earning $30,000. The income gap widens by $97,000, but both men made gains. The millionaire didn't gain at the expense of the other.

The education inequalities the article talked about are the biggest obstacle the poor have in the US, IMHO. The system of funding public schools in this country is a disgrace, and the politicians don't seem to want to make the hard choices that need to be made to improve it because it will upset the wealthy elite, teachers unions, and entrenched education beaureacracies.
 
It will be back again. Someday, miserable Dilberts across America will rise from their cubicles and take it all back. I'm starting tomorrow. If you don't hear back from me by tomorrow night, I'll be sloshed in Guinness and wondering how I'm going to feed my family.
 
WildCat said:
The education inequalities the article talked about are the biggest obstacle the poor have in the US, IMHO. The system of funding public schools in this country is a disgrace, and the politicians don't seem to want to make the hard choices that need to be made to improve it because it will upset the wealthy elite, teachers unions, and entrenched education beaureacracies.
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I came from Massachusetts, perhaps one of the most liberal states in the US. Making a long story short, when a group of parents and teachers wanted to have a one month exchange of students from the next door hispanic community, one parent stood up at the town meeting and said "I didn't pay 500,000 for a house so my child would go to school with a bunch of (hispanic racial term.)" The town sided with the racist, and the entire program was scrapped. So entitlement is a big problem. Of course, "No Child Left Behind" is another really big probelm too.
 
WildCat said:
The education inequalities the article talked about are the biggest obstacle the poor have in the US, IMHO. The system of funding public schools in this country is a disgrace, and the politicians don't seem to want to make the hard choices that need to be made to improve it because it will upset the wealthy elite, teachers unions, and entrenched education beaureacracies.
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Couldn't agree more. The conservative govt here is trying to go even further than that - they want a complete "user pays" education system instead of public funding. Which means only the thickhead chinless rich kids can afford to be educated as doctors and vets and lawyers, while any intelligent poor kids have to settle with the rest of their lives in shitkicker jobs or being unemployable.

Needless to say, that is NOT going down a treat all round.
 
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