… but more through the lens of what your everyday American is starting to wake up and realize.
Not to derail the thread into a political discussion, but I believe Trump and his advisors expertly crafted his 2016 campaign to take advantage of the growing societal distrust of the current system. …
I believe the average American is starting to realize that the 20th century version of the American dream is all but dead. A good work ethic is no longer a ticket to the middle class without careful career moves and training along the way. ...
The student loan crisis is starting to rear it's ugly head and we have a few generations who will be forever indebted because their parents and guidance counselors told them it was always a wise move to go to college. ...
You have an ever widening gap of the wealthy and everyone else (I'd put most aggressive savers from MMM in the wealthy class). The media continues to highlight what the billionaire class does which does nothing but create class envy.
I find it ironic that in the same message you simultaneously declare the American Dream is dead AND point out the existence of gobs of MMM followers who follow TRULY SIMPLE processes to build significant wealth.
The existence of so many successful MMM types is not only proof the American Dream is not dead, it's proof that there is even more opportunity out there than before.
The problem for the middle class isn't that they don't have the financial means to build significant wealth (barring catastrophic medical or legal woes), it's that they don't (or won't) do so.
We have a real problem in that we are not forcing corporations to pay decent wages to many of their employees and we're letting employers pass on many things they should pay for onto the taxpaying public. We have a real problem in that the social safety net for people who are just unlucky is too weak. We have a real problem in that advanced training is expensive instead of inexpensive.
But we don't have a problem with the death of the American Dream. It still works.
I disagree with all but your 4th paragraph though I think we would agree on more than it seems from our two posts.
I'm not arguing that the American Dream is dead for everyone. I'm arguing that it is dead for MOST. And because it is dead for most, we are systematically losing the middle class which is what made this last 100+ year run so unique.
There are not gobs of MMMers when looking at it from a percentage of the entire population. Those who would qualify as Mustachian (relatively frugal with a healthy savings rate) is so laughably small that we wouldn't show up as a blip on a statistical chart.
And even though all of this seems simple to us (the steps to FI), for your average Joe, it might as well be nuclear physics.
I'm guessing you either have a very high achieving while frugal set of friends/family, or you spend a lot of time on these forums and therefore believe that Mustachianism is the norm (or at least a much larger percentage than what actually exists).
Maybe the best way I could make my point would be with a personal example. My grandfather was born in 1926. After serving in the Navy during WWII, he moved his family (wife and young son) to Kansas City in search of better employment opportunities. He had a high school diploma and very few if any job skills.
Within a few weeks, he was hired as an aircraft engine mechanic apprentice (a union position). He and my grandmother had two more kids. He made enough for my grandma to stay home with the kids, to put his kids thru college, and to buy a new car every 5-6 years. They were somewhat frugal, but were financially illiterate by MMM standards and by no means penny pinchers.
He retired at 58 with a full pension, fully paid healthcare until he and my grandma got to Medicare age, a paid off home, some decent savings, and a decent SS benefit waiting for him.
His example was just normal, par for the course for those who were willing to work coming home from the war. Now compare that outcome to the options a 24 year old in the same position would have today. If you think they are even remotely close, then we will just have to agree to disagree.