Why Does the American Dream Seem Impossible and the Math Not Math?

America really sells us two versions of the American dream.

One is the respectable version.

You work hard, get educated, find a good job, save your money, buy a house, build some equity, put something away for retirement.

And if you have children, give your children more opportunities than you had.

The other is the breakthrough version.

The business takes off.

The investment works.

You win something.

The right opportunity comes along at the right time.

Something finally happens that changes everything.

Those sound very different, but I think they come from the same place.

There has to be a way to get ahead.

There has to be a point where you stop worrying about money.

There has to be some amount where you finally feel safe.

Maybe people don't always look for shortcuts, not because they're lazy.

Some people look for shortcuts because the long way doesn't seem to be working.

And there is evidence that the long way actually has become harder.

Researchers at Opportunity Insights looked at one of the simplest ways of measuring the American dream.

Whether children grow up to earn more than their parents did at the same age, adjusted for inflation.

For Americans born in 1940, about 90% did earn more.

For Americans born in the 1980s, it was about 50%.

In the span of a few generations, doing better economically than your parents went from something approaching an expectation to something closer to a coin flip.

I was raised very much inside that older expectation.

My brother and I were supposed to move forward.

We would get more education.