TROUBL

1. Malia

   Everyone Wants the American dream. But the dream isn’t there anymore. You fall more than you climb. The idea of the American dream, that the next generation will do better than the present one, has now all but disappeared for most workers and youth. America is at a turning point. The ways of the past are no longer working. Conditions keep deteriorating year after year. It is time for an alternative.

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2. TROUBLMan

   MALIA

   America is at a turning point. The question is what way is it turning? I’d like to think the country is moving forward but I’m not sure that’s the case.

   more than America, Americans are at a turning point. Most American are starting to feel the fallacy of the American dream. When the dream dies inside the people what’s left?

   I wonder how times feel for the wealthy?

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3. Malia

   First, as 78 million baby boomers reach retirement age, the costs of Social Security and Medicare will skyrocket, leaving us with unfunded promises of more than $44 trillion in today’s dollars—equal to about three times our entire gross domestic product. Income taxes would have to double to pay for it—an unthinkable burden.

   Second, our current-account deficits are unprecedented, fed by record trade deficits. Such dependence on foreign capital is dangerous. America as a country, and Americans as a people, must be persuaded to save more.

   Third, our health-care costs are metastasizing. We already spend more than twice as much per capita as other developed nations, with no appreciable differences in health outcomes or longevity. These ballooning costs threaten the very competitiveness of American industry.

   These challenges all require sacrifice. That means everyone!!! The wealthy that you asked about will have to pay more taxes. The government will have to spend less. Everyone will have to save more ((which is so hard to do after the bills are paid)). I’m not sure if we remember how to give up something for the long-term general good, we’re all in a state of instant gratification. Nor do we hear calls for sacrifice from our leaders. Our lawmakers are enablers, either joining us in the state of denial or trying to anesthetize us. But if we can learn to face the future realistically, everyone will benefit from a more robust, sustainable economy.

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4. BIG TONE

   Malia

   Thats some straight CNN shit!

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5. "A Mom"

   The american dream is a knit-pick subject for me. The word is not meant for all and has never been. In most cases it’s about the have and the have not. Don’t get me wrong. I do think if we all work hard, educate ourselves and give all we can to bring ourselves to where we want to be. That is a good thing, but what is really The American Dream?

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6. Boosy

   i’m reading this shit on the american dream and looking at a boy from college switching mansions here in NYC…..So def. the wealthy are not affected…The wealthy i will repeat, not the rich, because those fools are looking good losing, playing wealthy..their time will end soon….. The american dream to me is plain and simple, come here go through shit and work ur ass off against insurmountable odds and progress thru society….If thats the case then black niggas should have been progressed, been here what about 200 hundred years, y aren’t we……Chinese are doing it, shit even the mexicans are overtaking black people…

   Plain and simple, black people are lazy, and i’m mad myself because i let that laziness infect me, want to be handed everything, “we deserve it, racism”….pure coonery from my perspective, i just saw videos with people in REAL GHETTOS around the world with no water /electricity…And niggas in the hood can still buy jordans and 40s and blunts, sorry no respect for the hood..no respect for niggas, until people realize heaven heaven helps those who helps themselves..but hey we gotta look fresh…..negator….hate fucking hate fucking hate, till niggas wake up………always bougie, never ignorant…hollla Black

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7. Johnny Haze

   TROUBLMAN-
   I couldn’t agree more. Particularly upsetting is the level to which the government has gotten involved in “preserving” this American Dream of late, mostly by lying. Check out this devastating NYTimes story if you haven’t seen it (yes, it’s 11 pages, but it’s worth it):
   Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand.

   It’s all about how the Bush administration (via the Pentagon) has actually been telling retired Army generals that speak with the mass media what to say about the Iraq war, instead of letting them objectively come to their own conclusions.

   This is all part of the greater effort to sugar coat the truth, to cherry pick certain facts and suppress others to keep certain groups down while the rich get richer. It’s ridiculous, and America needs to wake up. History will condemn this time in America’s existence, and it’s our children that are being sold out. We can kiss the American Dream goodbye– it’s been gone for some time already– America just has been been duped to not realize it yet.

   Get ready for a world led by China and India.

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8. Malia

   The hate is all over the place, yesterday I could understand it becuase male egos came into play…..but today???? LOL—–

   You are making my day Big Tone!!! THANK YOU!!!!

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9. Q.

   i’m not sure their is an American Dream anymore.. what it used to be, is no longer.. being in business in America is so dang difficult with so many constraints and so much money needed to stay afloat.. shoot, “i sit and think with a drink about how i’ma win”.. it’s hard to be a great employer with these rising healthcare costs and so many dang rules about unemployment, disability, and so many dang other insurances that seems to do nothing but take more money from all of us.. i can write a thesis on this joint, but i’ll spare the details..

   the American Dream as i see it, will be whatever it is we want it to be.. my own dream is probably not an American Dream, because i’m not thinking about America.. i’m thinking more about me and mine, and extending the global reach.. not sure where that falls in line..

   but we just have so many dang issues here.. we have the President telling us that we aren’t in a recession, but over the last 2 months, i’ve watched so many of my friends lose their jobs and homes.. i’m watching businesses go out of business.. i’m seeing myself reinvent the way we work, just to make financial sense out of things.. i’m seeing myself get more and more attitudes over little things.. i’m distancing myself more and more from individuals that just said one slightly negative thing to me.. that’s not my style, but at the same time, i’m focused on surviving.. point blank..

   so, i guess i’m saying that American Dream is more like a nightmare right about now..

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10. "A Mom"

    Q
    I totally feel you. Just when I taught I would be able save to move to New York at the end of the year I lose my job and my medical insurance.

    I see your strengths and I feel the obstacles you are going thru. As a business owner you can become torn, but don’t ignore the little things that may be relevent and some negatives that make life a little more positive in the end.

    I might not make it to New York at the end of this year. So I will be living there in my loft mid 2009. You can bank on that.

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11. RBT

    I feel you too Q, American dream? fuck that Im trying to get my international swag. America dont give a fuck about Americans period but especially Black Americans ie Katrina and the fact that were 5 years deep in a bullshit war, Bush fucked his self people will be making fun of hm and talking about his mistakes for centuries. Also Q do like Obama and just brush it off your shoulders bra!

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12. KP

    Some of you are talking corrupt politics, and other are talking American Dreaming. I’ll tackle the latter b/c a discussion about the governments efforts to conceal truth is not only a lengthy argument, but shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone at this point.

    Someone said “what is the American Dream?”

    The American Dream is a term coined years back, when this country was a baby, and immigration was the way this country was populated. People from different countries hopped on boats to leave their lifestyle of communism and dictatorship for America and it’s democracy. Our parents parents, and their parents, dreamed of a lifestyle where you could do what you wanted to do, say what you wanted to say, be who you wanted to be, have independence. So is the American Dream still real, YES, THE AMERICAN DREAM IS STILL REAL. I’m a black man in America, so no one is saying the American Dream doesn’t come with obstacles. The media has sculpted the American Dream to look like a house with a front yard, S-Tile roof, and white pickett fence with the golden retreiver. To me, the American Dream is the fact that a black man like myself, can graduate high school because I actually gave a damn and worked just enough for my transcript to not look to bad to universities. I can then get a college degree because I was so in love with football that I balled uncontrollably in high school, getting a scholarship to play 1-AA. I can then take that scholly and strategically major in something that statistically pays more then the ‘fluff’ degrees most people get just to get by, like marketing or psychology (don’t be mad if this is you, maybe you got a good job, but statistically, people get these useless degrees and struggle financially b/c you haven’t been taught a speciality skill in high demand). I majored in accounting, where after 5 years the salary pays $100k. Now this isn’t the easiest or most exciting work, but I was serious about my future so I researched average salaries and realized if all else failed, I’d still be making $100k after 5 years on this job, ensuring I won’t be living check to check. I actually left college and jumped around in the business world gaining general business knowledge before hopping into an accounting job.

    So when people say there is no American Dream, you’re saying that there is no opportunity to get ahead in this country, and be financially well off. Well, I (althought not there just yet), as well as many others are the proof that there is an american dream. Just because you put yourself in a field that doesn’t pay shit, or you bought a house you never could afford (or maybe one you could, but ended up unable to afford), doesn’t mean that there is no American Dream. As far as I’m concerned, people born in the US, or people born abroad can still go thru the necessary avenues to become an American, get educated, bust your ass working hard as hell (lets be frank here, nobody will ever acheive shit without working hard, mad hours!, unless you got rich parents like some white folk. This holds black folk back the most b/c we’re LAZY!), YOU CAN STILL ACHEIVE FINANCIAL FREEDOM, live in a country where you have your rights and opinions, speak out against the government if you feel like it (you’d be killed in some countries for this), and live your life however you please (legally).

    SO HOW CAN YOU SAY THERE IS NO AMERICAN DREAM?

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