What Is the American Dream? Does trading lead to the American dream?

What Is the American Dream? Does trading lead to the American dream?

31 January 2023, 10:55
Sergey Batudayev
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What Is the American Dream?

The American dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone.

The American dream is believed to be achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • The term "American dream" was coined in a best-selling book in 1931 titled Epic of America. 
  • James Truslow Adams described it as "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement."
  • The American dream was aided by a number of factors that gave the United States a competitive advantage over other countries.
  • Homeownership and education are often seen as paths to achieving the American dream.
  • Though the definition of the American Dream has changed to mean different things to different generations, it's undoubtedly part of the American ethos, and likely always will be.

Understanding the American Dream

The term was coined by writer and historian James Truslow Adams in his best-selling 1931 book Epic of America. He described it as "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement."

dams went on to explain, "It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motorcars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."

The idea of the American dream has much deeper roots. Its tenets can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which states: “We hold these 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.”

In a society based on these principles, an individual can live life to its fullest as they define it. America also grew mostly as a nation of immigrants who created a nation where becoming an American—and passing that citizenship to your children—didn't require being the child of an American.

Pros

  • The American dream promises freedom and equality.

  • The ideals of the American dream are motivating, including the freedom to be in charge of one's own life.

Cons
  • The reality of the American dream often falls short of the idea itself.

  • As income inequality has increased, the American dream has seemed less attainable.


“The American Dream” has always been about the prospect of success, but 100 years ago, the phrase meant the opposite of what it does now. The original “American Dream” was not a dream of individual wealth; it was a dream of equality, justice, and democracy for the nation used in the early 1900s The phrase was repurposed by each generation, until the Cold War, when it became an argument for a consumer capitalist version of democracy. Our ideas about the “American Dream” froze in the 1950s.

 Today, it doesn’t occur to anybody that it could mean anything else.

Everything sounds sweet and beautiful, but what is the American dream for you and how do you compare it with your passion in terms of trading?

For example, Alexander Gerchik says that he achieved his American dream, it was through trading. To what extent this correlates with being in America and trading, this is already a question that requires deeper thought. 

This article is not entirely about trading, but I think my reader will be interested in this topic, and yes, I don’t write articles myself, this is 90% copy-paste from other sources, but at the same time it’s like a review of food in a restaurant by bloggers, you don’t expect a blogger will cook this food for you, he just shares information with you, and my blog selections