We're not "well-off" by any stretch. We're happy, we're motivated, but we're all sitting on respective powderkegs of fiscal disaster. I'm uninsured--one slip in the bathroom and I'm bankrupt. We live in a house because we can split rent and utilities super cheaply and it lets us live next to where we like working.
I'll be the first one there with you waving signs about unemployment problems and falling wages--do you have any idea how annoying it can be to get livable rates in my area? Where are you from sir (or madam)?
My point was that some notion of the "American Dream" is far from dead or ailing--it's merely changed to something less materialistic.
This is getting rather silly. Ask any immigrant what "the American dream" is. Take an average of their responses and you'd have a reasonable approximation of the American dream. Nobody in their right minds would redefine the American dream to be 5 uninsured happy motivated apartment sharing guys one bathroom slip away from bankruptcy changing the world with their precious github commits. I lived 5 years in the texas heartland... nobody I know meets that definition. People are living paycheck to paycheck ans there is genuine concern that the American dream has passed them by.
I'll be the first one there with you waving signs about unemployment problems and falling wages--do you have any idea how annoying it can be to get livable rates in my area? Where are you from sir (or madam)?
My point was that some notion of the "American Dream" is far from dead or ailing--it's merely changed to something less materialistic.
EDIT: praptak nailed it.