What About The Rest of Us?

I’ve written before about the bastardization of the American Dream. It used to be about all Americans having the opportunity to work hard and have a decent life. Now, it’s only about going from rags to riches. That’s actually a joke, because economic mobility is lower in America than it is in just about every other developed country.

Nonetheless, our bastardized American Dream works for a few of us, such as those with big brains, or great athletic skills, or some other great talent. If you’re born with huge talent, you can work hard be one of the lucky ones. Heck, you might even be a one percenter one day.

But where does this bastardized American Dream leave the rest of us, the ones who weren’t dealt any Aces in the poker game of life, and are stuck playing out their hands of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7, all in different suits? After all, not all of us have the smarts to get through college or the ability to throw a 99 mile per hour fastball.

Well, it ain’t pretty. Apologists for the 1% will explain, with a good dose of condescension, how those on the lower rungs of the American ladder are so lucky to be in America, because they’re doing far better than their counterparts in por countries.

I noticed a few seemingly unconnected tidbits that tell us where the rest of us are headed.

First, Joe Stiglitz spoke to the Senate Budget Committee today. His prepared remarks are posted at Truthout, Why Inequality Matters and What Can Be Done About It. The factoid that grabbed my attention was buried in a footnote:

For large segments of the American population, matters are even worse. The inflation adjusted median income of a male worker with only a high school degree has fallen by 47% from 1969 to 2009.

Okay, so if you’re not cut out for college and you’re otherwise average, forget about that decent life in America and sharpen your fingernails, because you’ll be using them to hang on.

Second, there’s this from Kathleen Geier at the Washington Monthly: 460,000 people with college degrees are working in minimum wage jobs. (h/t BlueMeanie). The title of that one tells you what you need to know. Remember, many of these minimum wage earners have to use some of their earnings to pay student loan debt. And they can’t file bankruptcy, because the student loan debt is not dischargeable.

Can college still be a path to a good-paying job? Yes, if you can handle the course material as an Engineering or Accounting major. Many college students can’t.

The bottom line? The paths to a decent life in America are closing. And not just for the “lazy.” We’ve reached the point where hard work by itself is not enough in America. Those who don’t win the birth lottery, either by being born into affluence or with a valuable talent, have no real path to success, no matter how hard they work.

All so a handful of plutocrats can live in obscene wealth.