The American Dream: A Lie Bought on Credit

Paper Summary:

This paper contends that the American dream has long been a dream bought on credit, rather than something substantiated in fact. The writer discusses how the current housing crisis and credit crunch has blown this bubble, disproportionately affected minority borrowers, and shown that happiness ought not to be determined by things such as home ownership. Success has been equated with material possessions, and thus having the right material objects becomes an objective determinant of an individual's moral worth. The paper concludes that the American dream must shift to one of internal, rather than external moral values and take into account the societal, racial, and class injustices that have created the real America today.

From the Paper:

"While credit card companies are partly to blame by marketing to consumers, like college students, who cannot afford to pay even their minimum monthly payments on large balances, the inability of Americans to differentiate between wants and needs is surely to blame as well. America is a nation with no real aristocracy, rather how much you make and your appearance is seen to determine your wealth as a person. Consider perhaps the paradigmatic American novel, The Great Gatsby, where the central bootlegging character creates an image of himself as a great man by buying a house in the right area of Long Island, and wearing the right clothes."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "American dream of home ownership turns sour for many low-income buyers." University of Washington Office of News and Information. 2004. 17 Apr 2008. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=4009
• Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Chapter 5. E-text available 17 Apr 2008 at http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/chapter5.html
• De Sante, Edward. "The Horatio Alger Myth and American Public Opinion." Vanderbilt University. Paper presented at Southern Political Science Association Conference. 8 Dec 2006. 17 Apr 2008. http://www.allacademic.com/one/prol/prol01/index.php?cmd=prol01_search&offset=0&limit=5&multi_search_search_mode=publication&multi_search_publication_fulltext_mod=fulltext&textfield_submit=true&search_module=multi_search&search=Search&search_field=title_idx&fulltext_search=The+Horatio+Alger+Myth+in+the+American+Political+Mind
• Gordon, Ed. "Class Mobility: Is the American Dream a Myth?" NPR. 23 May 2005. 17 Apr 2008 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4662456Schwartz, Joel.
• "Secret History of the Credit Card." Frontline. PBS. 23 Nov 17 Apr 2008. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/view/#rest

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