MAIN IDEA:

This book first defines the American Dream mainly via its economic component based on polls:” Ninety-four percent of respondents reported that having a successful career was essential or important to their own view of the Dream. Eighty-eight percent reported the same about having a better quality of life than their parents.”  It also stresses the realistic character of this dream and its basis in typical middle-class values:” If you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead. Your effort will be rewarded. America is a place where you can build a better life for yourself and, in an economic sense, where your children will be better off than you. And in America, going from rags to riches is still possible.”

The statements above are based on statistical data such as these:

MY TAKE ON IT:

This nice little optimistic book provides quite a few factoids in support of this optimism. Compared to typical cataloging of what is wrong with America, it is a really enjoyable staff. However, I would not be overly optimistic because the future now is not what it used to be, just as Yogi Berra once said. The future will be built on AI technology that makes human labor redundant for producing goods and services. Actually, I am optimistic about the long run: something like 50-70 years during which humans will finally understand that the meaning of life is not in producing goods and services. It is also not in consuming them. It is in enjoying life while having all necessary good and services available with minimal effort. The switch from a survival way of life to an enjoyment way of life will be a complex process, requiring a complete change in the structure of societies, their values, and processes. It will not be simple and easy, but it will happen anyway.