How to Restore the American Dream

1. How to Restore the American Dream

2. Fareed Zakaria’s Insights • The American dream for me, growing up in India in the 1970s, looked something like the opening credits of Dallas. The blockbuster TV series began with a kaleidoscope of big, brassy, sexy images — tracts of open land, shiny skyscrapers, fancy cars, cowboy businessmen and the very dreamy Victoria Principal. We watched bootlegged copies of the show, passed around on old Betamax cassettes. America (certainly the CBS soap-opera version of America) seemed dazzling and larger than life, especially set against the stagnant backdrop of India in the 1970s. Time Magazine, Oct. 21, 2010

3. Of course, the 1970s were actually tough times in America — stagflation, malaise, the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate — but they were brutal in the rest of the world. Hyperinflation racked most third-world countries; coups and martial law were familiar occurrences, even affecting staunchly democratic India, where emergency rule was enforced from 1975 to 1977. Set against this atmosphere of despair, the U.S. looked like a shining city on a hill. Time Magazine, Oct. 21, 2010

4. A few years later, when I got to America on a college scholarship, I realized that the real American Dream was somewhat different from Dallas. I visited college friends in their hometowns and was struck by the spacious suburban houses and the gleaming appliances — even when their parents had simple, modest jobs. The modern American Dream, for me, was this general prosperity and well-being for the average person. European civilization had produced the great cathedrals of the world. America had the two-car garage. And this middle-class contentment created a country of optimists. Compared with the fatalism and socialist lethargy that was pervasive in India those days, Americans had a sunny attitude toward life that was utterly refreshing. Time Magazine, Oct. 21, 2010

5. Going GlobalFor a picture of the global economy, look at America's great corporations, which are thriving. IBM, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Intel and Caterpillar are all doing well. And they share a strategy that is becoming standard for success. First, technology has produced massive efficiencies over the past decade. Jack Welch explained the process succinctly on CNBC last September. "Technology has changed the game in jobs," he said. "We had technology bumping around for years in the '80s and '90s, and [we were] trying to make it work. And now it's working ... You couple the habits [of efficiency] from a deep recession [with] an exponential increase in technology, and you're not going to see jobs for a long, long time." Welch gave as an example a company owned by the private-equity firm with which he is affiliated. In 2007 the business had 26,000 employees and generated $12 billion in revenue. It will return to those revenue numbers by 2013 but with only 14,000 employees. "Companies have learned to do more with less," Welch said.

6. Next, companies have truly gone global. The companies on the S&P 500 generate 46% of their profits outside the U.S., and for many of the biggest American names, the proportion is much higher. You might think of Coca-Cola as the quintessentially American company. In fact it is a vast global enterprise, operating in 206 countries. "We have a factory in Ramallah that employs 2,000 people. We have a factory in Afghanistan. We have factories everywhere," explains Muhtar Kent, the CEO of Coke. Nearly 80% of Coca-Cola's revenue comes from outside the U.S., and an even greater percentage of its employees are in foreign countries. "We are a global company that happens to be headquartered in Atlanta," says Kent.

7. America's great corporations access global markets, easy credit, new technologies and high-quality labor at a low price. Many have had to cut jobs at home, where demand is weak, and have added them in the emerging markets that are booming. They are not "outsourcing" jobs. That word makes little sense anymore. They simply invest in growth areas and cut back in places where the economy is weak. None of them will ever give up on the American market — it is too large, too profitable and too central to their businesses — but the marginal dollar is more likely to be invested abroad than in the U.S.

8. Where America ranks America is number one in obesity Number 3 in human development (after Norway and Australia) Number 4 in competitiveness (after Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore) Number 25 in overall infrastructure Number 41 in infant mortality Number 38 in quality of primary education

9. Where America ranks Number 47 in quality of math and science education Number 28 in quality of educational system Number 34 in life expectancy Number 7 in capacity for innovation Number 6 in quality of scientific research institutions (source World Economic Forum)

10. Definition of the American Dream • In The Epic of America written in 1931 by James Truslow Adams, the “American Dream” was defined as follows: • The American Dream is “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with each according to ability or achievement…It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”

11. The Library of Congress website posed some interesting questions: • Might the following excerpt from the Declaration of Independence be considered the foundation of the American Dream? • [Our founding fathers]: “… held certain truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” • Were homesteaders who left the big cities of the east to find happiness and their piece of land in the unknown wilderness pursuing these inalienable rights? • Were the immigrants who came to the United States looking for their bit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their Dream? • And what did the desire of the veteran of World War II - to settle down, to have a home, a car and a family - tell us about this evolving Dream? 

12. Is the American Dream in their definition attainable for you personally? A. Yes B. No C. Uncertain, but worried

13. Is the American Dream in their definition attainable for your children? A. Yes B. No C. Uncertain, but worried

14. Is the Library of Congress correct with the following observation? Some say, that the American Dream has become the pursuit of material prosperity--that people work more hours to get bigger cars, fancier homes, the fruits of prosperity for their families--but have less time to enjoy their prosperity. Others say that the American Dream is beyond the grasp of the working poor who must work two jobs to insure their family’s survival. Yet others look toward a new American Dream with less focus on financial gain and more emphasis on living a simple, fulfilling life. Has the American Dream become the pursuit of material prosperity? A. Yes B. No C. Uncertain, but worried

15. Is the Library of Congress correct with the following observation? Some say, that the American Dream has become the pursuit of material prosperity--that people work more hours to get bigger cars, fancier homes, the fruits of prosperity for their families--but have less time to enjoy their prosperity. Others say that the American Dream is beyond the grasp of the working poor who must work two jobs to insure their family’s survival. Yet others look toward a new American Dream with less focus on financial gain and more emphasis on living a simple, fulfilling life. Has the American Dream become beyond the grasp of the working poor? A. Yes B. No C. Uncertain, but worried

16. Is the Library of Congress correct with the following observation? Some say, that the American Dream has become the pursuit of material prosperity--that people work more hours to get bigger cars, fancier homes, the fruits of prosperity for their families--but have less time to enjoy their prosperity. Others say that the American Dream is beyond the grasp of the working poor who must work two jobs to insure their family’s survival. Yet others look toward a new American Dream with less focus on financial gain and more emphasis on living a simple, fulfilling life. Has the American Dream become an opportunity for living a simple fulfilling life? A. Yes B. No C. Uncertain, but worried

17. Insights from “Are America’s Best Days Behind Us?” by Fareed Zakaria • “But when I look at the world today and the strong winds of technological change and global competition, it makes me nervous. Perhaps most unsettling is the fact that while these forces gather strength, Americans seem unable to grasp the magnitude of the challenges which face us.” (p. 28)

18. In the context of Jared Diamond’s framework for understanding why some societies fail, the observation by Zakaria above contains elements of Failure to Anticipate. • Do you agree that is accurate? A. Yes B. No C. Uncertain, but worried

19. In the context of Jared Diamond’s framework for understanding why some societies fail, the observation by Zakaria above contains elements of Failure to Perceive. • Do you agree that is accurate? A. Yes B. No C. Uncertain, but worried

20. Zakaria singled out decisions made in the 1950s and 1960s to support public education, infrastructure such as the intestate highway system, and investment in science and technology as keys to current prosperity. Those investments are not being made today by governments-- with lack of support for public education starkly evident, witness California now. • 15 year olds are 17th in the world in science and 25th in math; • College graduation rate percentage is 12th, down from 1; • 79th in elementary school enrollment • Infrastructure is 23rd; • Life expectancy is 27th; • Diabetes is 18th; and • Obesity is 1st.

21. Do you see America raising significantly the science and math test scores of 15 yr. olds compared to the rest of the world? • Yes • No • I worry about this

22. Do you see America raising significantly the college graduation rates compared to the rest of the world? • Yes • No • I worry about this

23. Do you see America raising significantly the life expectancy compared to the rest of the world? • Yes • No • I worry about this

24. Do you see America making the lifestyle changes necessary to reduce obesity compared to the rest of the world? • Yes • No • I worry about this