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White Collar Crime Social Interaction & Conflict Theory

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White Collar Crime Social Interaction & Conflict Theory
Jared Wierda
English 101
Dr. Brouwer
April 10, 2011 Does the American Dream Exist? The American dream exists because everybody has a dream of what they want, or what they want to achieve. Americans achieve success through achieving their goals. The American dream is what gives people hope; it allows them to work hard to achieve happiness, and all the things that come with it. Like gaining all the things you want and need in life (Warshauer). The American dream is a big part of America’s culture. The American dream is based on the freedom of the people to pursue their goals through hard work and free chance (Malone). Maybe the American dream doesn’t exist maybe there was no American dream to start with. “The American dream is dead for the majority of America” say’s financial guru Suze Orman, she believes that the dream of one day owning your own home and working one job till you retire, well and being able to retire will one day be crushed. Orman says we are on a road leading to poverty and there are no roads coming off of it. This is the end of the American dream some say “it has been sold” says (DCraig), but it’s the start of a new American Dream. The new American dream deals with responsibility, quality, ethics, and creativity while money takes its new place as a means. But the American dream changes and changes in the 20th century, the American Dream was summarized as “a single family house in the suburbs with a white picket fence around it,” (Leinberger). So the American dream changes with time, as the world changes so does the American dream.
The us bureau of labor stats that out of 100 people that started working when they were 25, by the age of 65, 1 percent are wealthy, 4 percent have retired, 3 percent are still working, 63 percent are dependent on social security and charity,29 percent are dead. This represents real people who will most likely never make it to the top. This says that only 5% of the people you see will be finically



Cited: DCraig. The Changing Meaning of the American Dream. 17 July 2009. Hare, Francis. What Happened to the American Dream . 1 February 2011. Johnson, Lorie A. THE AMERICAN DREAM DOES NOT EXIST**. 20 january 2008. Leinberger, Christopher B. The American Dream has Changed in the Past and is Changing Again. 23 June 2008. Malone, Katherine. Does the American Dream Exist? 6 may 2009. Stone, Stephen. The dying American Dream. 21 November 2002. Vialpando, Karri. Does the American Dream Still Exist today? 2 October 2008. Warshauer, Matthew. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. 2003.

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