The American Dream Is Not Birthright, It's Aspirational

The idea that the spoils for working hard and following the standard path is guaranteed entry to the american middle class, a birthright even, is a historical delusion. Maybe we are experiencing a collective expectation hangover. We grew up being told that following this path would deliver us on the doorstep of our affordably priced, white picket fence house. And for many more of us, it played out that way. So how did we get here? And perhaps more importantly, why does America as a whole, keep this idea of the American dream alive?

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Last week to kick off this two-part special, we explored the culture, economy, and education systems that built the millennial generation. If you haven't heard the first episode yet, I recommend going back to start with that first (https://link.chtbl.com/022a2-MX).

Today, we’re digging into how “financial literacy” shifts reality on its axis, who the “winners” and “losers” are in our economic era, and why scamming has become a quintessential millennial pastime (Fyre Festival, anyone?). To top things off, we’ve got a super thought-provoking conversation with Gabe Dunn of Bad with Money fame (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bad-with-money-with-gaby-dunn/id1144712710).

It’s a veritable Magic School Bus ride through the wild terrain of 21st century America: Even the centimillionaire megachurch preachers and girlbosses squeezed into tiny seats and threw spitballs for a few stops.

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Mentioned in the Episode

Gabe Dunn's Stimulus Wreck: https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/576815715/Stimulus-Wreck-Rebuilding-After-a-Financial-Disaster?utm_source=money_with_katie&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=gaby_dunn_originals_june&utm_content=podcast_interview
Malcolm Harris's Kids These Days: https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/will-collyer/kids-these-days/9781478992332/
Study on financial literacy and retirement: https://sjes.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41937-019-0027-5
UC Davis study on poverty: https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/policy-brief/transitions-out-poverty-united-states
Money with Katie blog: The Paradox of Riches, Being Poor is Expensive: https://moneywithkatie.com/blog/the-paradox-of-riches-being-poor-is-expensive
Pitchfork Economics' interview with the author of The Nordic Theory of Everything: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/capitalism-is-working-better-in-finland-with-anu/id1445901378?i=1000536840437
2020 Census data: https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/visualizations/2021/demo/p60-274/figure3.pdf
The Money with Katie Show episode on financial independence: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-money-with-katie-show/id1589146097?i=1000551967021
Jacqui Shine of the Los Angeles Book Review: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/wont-get-fooled-again-malcolm-harriss-kids-these-days-human-capital-and-the-making-of-millennials/
Jia Tolentino's Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/43126457
Trick Mirror review by Miriam Francisco: https://www.michigandaily.com/arts/tolentino-refuses-simplicity-trick-mirror/
Graph on financial inequity in the US: https://realtimeinequality.org/?id=income&incomeend=03012022&incomefreq=monthly&incomegroups=Top%2010%25&incomegroups=Middle%2040%25&incomegroups=Bottom%2050%25&incomegroups=Total&incomestart=01011976&incometype=factor_income&incomeunit=Adults&incomey=growth
CNBC feature on Jeff Bezos and the critique of billionaires: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/20/jeff-bezos-says-critics-of-the-rich-going-to-space-are-mostly-right.html
The Financial Independence Planner: https://moneywithkatie.com/financial-independence-planner
Forbes Advisor study on medical graduate debt: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/average-medical-school-debt/