Click here now<\/u><\/a><\/strong> before this offer expires\u2026<\/p>\n\u2013 Nicole Labra, Senior Managing Editor<\/p>\n\n
A few years ago, I debated Dr. Gregory Clark, a professor of economics at the University of California, Davis, at FreedomFest \u2013 an annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada \u2013 in front of a couple thousand people.<\/p>\n
The resolution? \u201cThe American Dream Is Over for Most Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was an Oxford-style debate. Before we began, the audience was polled to see where they stood on the issue. They were polled again after the debate \u2013 and following a robust Q&A session \u2013 to see if they had been moved one way or the other by our arguments.<\/p>\n
At the beginning, the debate moderator read the resolution twice, once to see a show of hands for how many agreed \u2013 and then again to see how many disagreed. The response was mixed, just like today\u2019s consensus.<\/p>\n
Recent polls show that between half and three-quarters of Americans do not believe in the American Dream.<\/p>\n
I find that astonishing. The Dream is something I have always believed in, beginning long before I took the first steps toward achieving it.<\/p>\n
Having spent 40 years as a research analyst and financial writer, I\u2019ve had a long time to think about this and help thousands of ordinary Americans in their personal pursuit of it.<\/p>\n
Though on paper at least, it seemed Dr. Clark was a formidable debate opponent.<\/p>\n
He was educated at Cambridge University and earned a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. He had written many scholarly articles and essays and was the author of two prize-winning books.<\/p>\n
His credentials were stronger than his argument, however. When he took the stage, he got right to the point, telling the audience, \u201cThe American Dream is a complete myth.\u201d<\/p>\n
He argued that many Americans falsely believe that our unique brand of liberty is responsible for rapid social mobility and creates better living conditions than most \u201csocialized economies,\u201d such as Norway, Denmark, Sweden, or Germany.<\/p>\n
According to Clark, the best measure of social mobility in any society is just how correlated the average person\u2019s economic status is with their parents\u2019.<\/p>\n
If that number is zero, you have complete mobility and could end up anywhere. If that number is one, you have zero mobility \u2013 destined to follow in your parents\u2019 footsteps.<\/p>\n
He said the data shows there is absolutely nothing exceptional or unusual about the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of people\u2019s outcomes are predictable at the time that they are born, whether they live in the United States, whether they live in Sweden, whether they live in Communist China, or whether they live in preindustrial England,\u201d he said. \u201cThe idea of the American Dream just doesn\u2019t hold. It\u2019s an illusion<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\nI find it surprising that someone can study at Cambridge and get a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard and still believe that the typical American is no more likely to rise economically than someone in Communist China or preindustrial England.<\/p>\n
China has a market economy but no democracy. In that country \u2013 and all Marxist nations \u2013 the most successful are generally those who are closest to political power.<\/p>\n
In preindustrial England \u2013 and other agrarian societies \u2013 the richest were those who inherited or seized power.<\/p>\n
To compare those two examples to the present-day United States \u2013 where success is largely determined by talent, hard work and risk-taking \u2013 and find no difference in the average person\u2019s potential to rise, you really have to put on the ideological blinders.<\/p>\n
Yet, according to his book The Son Also Rises<\/u><\/a><\/em>, Clark tracked rare surnames over generations and found no social mobility in any country he examined, including the United States.<\/p>\nI set aside the methodical limitations \u2013 and oversimplification \u2013 of tracking surnames over a period of decades, especially since women have traditionally surrendered their surnames on their wedding day.<\/p>\n
I focused instead on his headlong clash with reality.<\/p>\n
Many readers have had an experience similar to mine. I grew up in a middle-class household and attended public schools. I can look back over the past 50 years and recognize that most of my contemporaries who worked hard, took responsibility for their lives, made good choices, and persisted did well for themselves, regardless of their parents\u2019 economic status a half-century ago.<\/p>\n
Luck \u2013 both good and bad \u2013 has an unquantifiable effect on everyone\u2019s life, of course. And let\u2019s be honest. Some have a lot more of one than the other. (Life really isn\u2019t<\/em> fair.)<\/p>\nMoreover, choices that seemed good at the time can turn out to be very different when we look in the rearview mirror. Still, most Americans do have an almost unlimited opportunity to better their lives and pursue their dreams.<\/p>\n
I pointed out that the American Dream is an aspiration to be achieved over a period of years, not an entitlement to collect at a government office.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll readily admit that many citizens of this country have not achieved the Dream \u2013 nor are they moving toward it. They are stuck.<\/p>\n
In some cases, circumstances beyond their control are to blame. (Although there are millions of Americans who have overcome unfortunate and even tragic circumstances to achieve their more important dreams.)<\/p>\n
But the possibility<\/em> is available to everyone. Unfortunately, many don\u2019t know what to do. Or even how to get started.<\/p>\nClark took the fact that some Americans don\u2019t achieve the Dream to argue that it doesn\u2019t exist. To him, your circumstances at birth \u2013 and dumb luck \u2013 determine your fate.<\/p>\n
He did concede that the U.S. economy is a successful one. But he continually reiterated that there is absolutely nothing exceptional about it.<\/p>\n
He concluded his opening remarks with this summary statement: \u201cThere is no American Dream. And there is no special place in the world that American liberty represents.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it was my turn to take the stage, I pointed out the avalanche of evidence that the American Dream is real\u2026 and how it is open to everyone, regardless of their circumstances.<\/p>\n
When I was done, I felt that I\u2019d only scratched the surface. But I had said more than enough from the perspective of the audience.<\/p>\n
When we polled the room after the debate, not a single hand went up in favor of the resolution that the American Dream is over.<\/p>\n
The conference organizer, Mark Skousen, told me it was the only complete wipeout in the 20-plus-year history of debates at the conference.<\/p>\n
What did I say to change the audience\u2019s mind? That will be the subject not only of the next several columns but of my messages throughout 2025.<\/p>\n
The American Dream is real. It\u2019s available to anyone who wants to pursue it.<\/p>\n
And the first step in achieving it \u2013 the step more than half of Americans have yet to take \u2013 is realizing it exists.<\/p>\n
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