Den amerikanske drøm: opfattelser og opnåelighed

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. First I want to thank you all for having me here today, it’s a big honor. My name is [NAVN A], and I am here to tell you guys about how the American Dream has changed over time. In my daily life, I’m a student here at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. I have divided my speech into two different parts. At first, I will account for and comment on different perceptions of the American Dream and secondly I will like to discuss, what it takes to achieve it in today’s America. After my speech, you guys can ask me some questions and then I will try to answer them as well as I can. I plan to speak for about ten minutes.

I would like to start by telling you about the different perceptions of the American Dream. According to Shawn Carter’s report, no more than one out of five Americans says there are living “the American Dream”, which I find a little worrying, cause America is supposed to be the land of opportunities. In the report, Shawn also makes it clear that the most important factor within the American Dream is to own some land and a house. He tells that almost 40 pct. of the American people don’t even own their own houses, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau nearly 50 pct. of millennials rent before they buy a house. As the most of you guys know, one of the most important elements of the American Dream respondents rated “owning a home I love” higher than they rated other options as “create a successful career”. After the world economy collapse in 2008, the millennials were standing in a really bad situation. A big part of the population lost their job and was not able to purchase a home. Blue-collar -and manufacturing jobs were some of the most hitting jobs. In the meantime, President Trump was willing to give the new tax reform an chance. Trump was fighting on behalf of the American people to create job opportunities for everyone. He wants to make the country attractive for companies that hopefully should “Make America great again”. So basically it is the consumer debt, the financial crisis and low wage growth that are some of the specific threats that put the American Dream at risk.