Is the American Dream still accessible to the majority of Americans?

         In the first essay “From Nickel and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich, Barbara goes on to tell the story of a company of maids that work there butts off for hardly anything in return. The story shows how hard the women work and how poorly they are treated just to make a paycheck. Essentially Barbara point is to show the “Injustice” in Americas Corporation system and how the underdogs never get recognized. Although the story was interesting and expressed some disheartening things about how she was treated, the one thing that kept going through my mind while reading it was if the maid overheard how much the company was charging and knew they weren’t doing the level of work she knew she could do, then why didn’t she just get some people together and start their own cleaning company for a lower rate? Sure they would have to quit and leave their steady paychecks, but the benefit from making that leap of faith would be so much greater than continuing to go to work and never moving anywhere further. They would be able to make more money and most certainly do a better cleaning job, while also having more freedom instead of basically being a modern day slave. I understand that it is hard for people to imagine leaving something they know is there, but the possibility of the American Dream is still most certainly there. It may take a risk to get there but it is still there and well worth it.

The second essay “RIP, the middle class” shows the regression of the united states economy from the point of view of someone who lived in the 70’s where the economy was very good and the social classes were also very close. The author talked about a time when high school graduates could graduate high school, or not graduate and spring into adulthood with the ability to buy a house and having the ability to support a family. Although it was an interesting essay to read because it reflected a period of time that is completely different then now, I don’t feel as though because we have a middle class that we are stripped away from our ability to have the “American Dream”. Just because kids could drop out of high school and rush into a job and bills doesn’t mean that it was a good idea. Honestly the fact that we are having to wait longer to buy homes and get jobs is a great thing. It has been proven that your brain doesn’t fully develop until your mid 20’s so the fact that we are having to wait until then to have home ownership or gain a job is good because that means when we finally do settle down we have put thought and gained maturity in the decision we are making. Yes, people were able to find jobs easier in the 70’s, but there was a lot of job instability that caused a lot of confusion and disorientation that I feel like we don’t have as much of now. You are still able to find you “American Dream” now, even if it takes longer there are still opportunities available.