American Nightmare, Brazilian Dream?

Ever increasing prosperity and opportunities for each generation has been the hope and pride of the United States since its inception. As this occurs each generation can be satisfied with the increased opportunities from what their parents had, while also being content to know that their parents had greater opportunities than their grandparents did. And this attitude toward life improving with each generation has continued with each successive generation.

Generations have experienced have experienced huge increases in potential, in: religious freedom, increased industrial capacity, automobile ownership in the early 20th century, educational opportunities post WWII, technological breakthroughs of the 90's and 2o00's. Each generational increase in success is a sort of dream which grows perpetually. Each wave has opened enormous possibilities that were previously not dreamed of.

Debt destroys dreams. The biggest risk which will likely play in the lives of many individuals is the perpetuation of the mistakes of their parents, bringing on more of an "American Nightmare". This nightmare comes with a home never paid for, excessive student loans (and possible defaulting), underemployment for much of his/her career, increasing taxes. Paying more and more to own comparatively less and less than previous generations (studies have shown while we live in bigger homes in the U.S than 50 years ago, we actually own less of these homes).

This lifestyle can stifle the imagination and creativity, of a generation... It's definitely not what dreams are made of.

In Brazil newspapers and magazines constantly feature stories of success. Such as people immigrating from Southeast Asia and starting a successful businesses from nothing, or somebody who grew up in the slums of Rio or Sao Paulo and found a way to make their dream come true. You still find these stories in American publications as well, but they appear less prominently from what they were in previous decades. Perhaps the new American Dream is freeing yourself from debt?