Amid unemployment and inequality, is the American Dream at risk?

On October 26, 2011, Zachary Ross, The Lookout, wrote about the economic results of the Great Recession on the Future of the American Dream. Zachary writes:

For well over a century, the American Dream has acted as a beacon of hope to people around the world: the notion that by working hard and playing by the rules, anyone can build a secure, comfortable life for themselves and a bright future for their kids. But as the country struggles to shake off the Great Recession, amid persistent joblessness and growing inequality, is that idea at risk?

In May, a Pew poll found that just 47 percent of Americans think their kids will enjoy a higher standard of living as adults than they themselves do. As recently as 2009--the height of the economic downturn--that number was 62 percent.

This growing pessimism isn't hard to explain. Fourteen million Americans are officially unemployed, and the number spikes to around 26 million if you count people who have grown discouraged and given up looking for work. The average duration of joblessness is now at a record nine months. Meanwhile, GDP growth has been limping along since the official end of the recession over two years ago.

The young have been especially hard hit. Unemployment for Americans in their 20s has skyrocketed in recent years. And a growing number are moving in with their parents as they struggle to make ends meet.

At the same time, Americans have also been debating the thorny question of inequality--an issue spotlighted lately by the Occupy movement. A CBO report released Tuesday--just the latest in a series of studies to confirm the massive rich-poor gap--found that income for the wealthiest one percent of Americans had exploded since 1979, by a whopping 275 percent. Meanwhile, income for the poorest 20 percent grew by just 18 percent in the same period.

But the heart of the American Dream has always been about mobility. As long as people feel they have a fair shot at building a better life, they've usually been able to put up with periods of economic turmoil, even with relatively high levels of inequality.

Of course, concerns about the flickering of the American Dream are hardly new. Back in the recession of the early 90s, Generation Xers graduating from college were told they'd struggle to do better than their parents had--a prediction that wasn't borne out.

But this time may be different. Economists say that even once growth gets back to normal--whenever that may be--employment will likely come back lower than we've grown used to, thanks in part to increasing offshoring of jobs and automation. And our political system appears even more dysfunctional than it did even back then.

"It's time to reclaim the American Dream," then-Sen. Barack Obama declared back in 2007. At this point, it looks like we've got a long way to go.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/amid-unemployment-inequality-american-dream-risk-200141836.html