Analysis | What does the American Dream mean in 2025? — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00The American Dream It's a phrase we've
2. 0:02all heard before and for decades
3. 0:03Americans largely agreed on what it
4. 0:06meant well now new data suggest that
5. 0:08among young people the American dream
6. 0:11may not be defined the same way as older
7. 0:13Americans do nbc10 political commentator
8. 0:16Su Connell is here she walks us through
9. 0:18the data so what is the American dream
10. 0:21in a historical sense and what do
11. 0:23Americans dream of now Sue well Glenn as
12. 0:26long as America has been a country we've
13. 0:28had the American dream the prin
14. 0:29princible of the American dream equality
15. 0:32liberty and the pursuit of happiness you
16. 0:33know those words they're in the US
17. 0:35Constitution and for decades most of us
18. 0:37believed it meant that if you worked
19. 0:39hard followed the rules you can get a
20. 0:42job own a home raise a family but that
21. 0:45was then this is now consider the
22. 0:47results of a new survey completed by
23. 0:49howdy. comom 76% of gen Z and
24. 0:53Millennials believe the dream is
25. 0:56workplace portability meaning work from
26. 0:58home and it turns out young people may
27. 1:01not even need America to realize their
28. 1:04American Dream 77% of those surveyed say
29. 1:08they believe their lives would be better
30. 1:10outside the US and 51% say just leaving
31. 1:14the country is the new American Dream
32. 1:17now you may think there's some
33. 1:19anti-American sentiment in those answers
34. 1:21and perhaps there is but the study makes
35. 1:24it clear young people want a job and
36. 1:27they prefer to work for an American
37. 1:29company they just don't want to have to
38. 1:31come into the office every day and would
39. 1:33prefer to live everywhere as opposed to
40. 1:36owning a single home in a single place
41. 1:39some would Define that as freedom I mean
42. 1:42sue you talk about you know working
43. 1:44maybe on Zoom but you're on a beach
44. 1:46somewhere and you just don't show the
45. 1:47video that sounds like the American
46. 1:49dream but okay but we seriously when we
47. 1:52do say you know work from home it became
48. 1:54popular we know because of the pandemic
49. 1:56are we to believe the Corona virus has
50. 1:59had this big of an effect well in a way
51. 2:02priscilia yes the pandemic obviously
52. 2:04proved that some members of the American
53. 2:06workplace could work from home or from
54. 2:08anywhere but the definition of the
55. 2:11American dream always changes and was
56. 2:14already changing consider this in 1940
57. 2:1892% of children could expect to earn
58. 2:21more than their parents today only about
59. 2:2450% of Americans earn more than their
60. 2:27parents did now that means that's a
61. 2:29dramatic decline in economic mobility
62. 2:32and housing costs right talk about it
63. 2:34all the time traditional home ownership
64. 2:36which was the Cornerstone of the
65. 2:37American dream is becoming increasingly
66. 2:40unattainable so the elements that
67. 2:42defined what the American dream was for
68. 2:44decades are no longer available to most
69. 2:46Americans and so I know for some people
70. 2:48having a family would be the American
71. 2:50dream so how does the fertility rate
72. 2:53factor into all of this so the fertil
73. 2:55fertility rate refers to how many
74. 2:57children are being born per woman and
75. 3:00the US here and across the country
76. 3:03across the country in the world
77. 3:05obviously the fertility rate has been
78. 3:07declining for several years it's now at
79. 3:10a historic low of 1.64 expected births
80. 3:14per woman's lifetime for comparison in
81. 3:161960 when I was born it was 3.5 children
82. 3:20per woman so there are many reasons why
83. 3:23including affordability but many people
84. 3:25will tell you Glenn like you said a
85. 3:27driving force to buy a home or put down
86. 3:30Roots is starting a family so when
87. 3:32people are delaying children and having
88. 3:35smaller families the need to stay put
89. 3:37decreases and that means it's easier to
90. 3:40be a digital Nomad all right really
91. 3:43interesting data coming out of that Sue
92. 3:45OK Connell thanks so much very
93. 3:46interesting because you know at the top
94. 3:47level it's shocking but when Sue peels
95. 3:49back the layers it makes all the sense
96. 3:51in the world I know the American I mean
97. 3:53the American dream can mean so many
98. 3:54different things but work from home on a
99. 3:56beach I like that I think you're stuck
100. 3:58on that one that's a good one h