The pay would be so good because 1 I am an engineer and they get good pay. 2 it would be a contract position instead of a direct hire so the pay would be better because of less job security. Relocation is also included in the pay. Yea sure its still good pay but that is one of the reasons I studied what I studied.

I dont know realy according to the document my company provides me I cost them 62 an hour in wages and benefits, granted I only get to spend 23 somthing an hour.


Personaly I think the best way to keep the Men and Women safe who actualy serve in harms way is to stop fnding and makeing up reasons to attack another country.

I work on avionics. Even if they are not in a war they do training missions and test flights etc. They still need their aircraft to work and be safe but nice try. Politicians start wars not engineers.

I think the American Dream is dead


the days when one could get a good job after college and retire comfortable from that same company 25-30 yrs later in a home they own are gone < so that American Dream is very much gone for most people

If I am ever able to own a home of my own it will be a miracle - yet I have never done anything in my life but all the things I am supposed to do

actually if owning a home is the american dream then more people are living the dream now that never could before. many folks are now qualifying who couldn't before with home prices down as they are and fixed rate thirty year mortgages at sub five percent.

I think home ownership includes all the people who have signed mortgages that the banks own until they are paid in full,,,

the idea of 'ownerhship' seems kind of misnomer in that way

but more people than ever have been able to sign those contracts, that is true,,,

My two best friends from college are 25 and both own a home. Nice ones at that.

I was confused about what the American Dream really was. Growing up I had heard that the American Dream was a Chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. I have recentely discovered that information was slightly in error.

Then the Dream changed as the suburban housing boom exploded. As you can guess home ownership was the new dream. I have made a discovery about this dream too. It seems that when industry was at it height and unions had assured the making of the largest and highest paid middle class the U.S. had ever known, there was a chicken in every pot, and a paycheck large enough to cover the cost of a house and a garage for that car too.

Well, the suburban homeowner dream went bust, and the already floundering industry has since decliened creatign the larges poverty class the U.S. has ever known.

Msharmony had suggested that perhaps we need to redefine the American Dream.

She had a lovely sentiment and in her style she reflects her respect for traditional values. That can a be a good quality but I think, sometimes, change is the better choice.

We have moved beyond the ties that bind Nations of citizens to the fabricated contrivances of the latest maketing campaign, spoon fed to us through the mass media. Supporting the troops no longer fills us with American pride, information is too accessible and our shame is there for all who are willing to look it in the face.

Too many have seen the betrayal of Santa Clause filling, only, the stockings of lawmakers, those good girls and boys who know the meaning of quid pro quo.

It's time Msharmony to move into a bigger playing field; to see the our connection with the rest of the world and to take responsibilty for our failings as a nation. In this we might regain a sense of national pride but we will never regain the Ameican Dream because our sense of community must grow far beyond such small dream if we are ever going to see 'Doctors Without Borders' become a redundant term.

We need a Dream of Nations.

Me? I Lost my job at the beginning of ____ fill in whatever label history will assign to this period.

I expect much of the story will be similar to many others. Auctioned off most of my belongings, after I went through my retirment fund, took in rentors after that becasue my house would not sell. For five years I did the best I could to keep my invenstment, with no assistance from the mortgage company, I was simply told I did not quality for any assistance. Eventually I had to stop making payments. The story after that is a nightmare.

I now live in the inner city in a 680 SF duplex. Part time job can't beat the pay it allows me to get by on about 15 hours a week, and about $23.00 a check for health insurance.

My car seems to be running just fine. I am in the count down phase - 11 more classes to my bachelor degree. About $50,000 in student loans when I'm done. A 10 year old beat up car, a few pieces of second hand furniture, the handi-work of the dental college residence in my mouth, and new opportunities to explore.

I havn't had to stop recycling, I have a great vegetable garden this summer and I've already made deals with some neighbors to share and to get together for some old fashioned canning sessions. JOY JOY - I would never have had this time if all the above had not happened.

I say let's move on, let's make some change happen.

I think the American dream is the freedom to have your own business.

The American Dream makes a better aesops fable. Your dream, like all the others has a moral that perhaps you have not found yet.

That moral is all tied up in pretty 'red tape'. The closest any can get to laissez-faire, in this country, begins with the fortune 1000 and going up clan. Those mega corporations who dictate the law through the puppet-pimps they pay for the favor of a quid pro quo.

Of course it may be possible to fly under the radar. If there's not any publicity and whatever passes between seller and buyer never amounts to more that a humble and comfortable way of life, a person might call him or herself a sole proprietor but very quietly.

whispers (good luck)

--yep--

It, for me, is more like having an occupation where you are doing what you like and being your own boss. It's not about "having" but about being self-sufficient... Working for yourself. Being your own boss.

NOT being an entrepreneur or big business CEO.

I always thought the American Dream was the Freedom of Choice. Being able to do and pursue what you wanted. If you think back when America was founded much of Europe was ruled by Monarchies. That is where the idea of the American Dream originated. Coming to a free country where they could choose their own life. Sure democracy has spread now but that term still remains. I still think immigrants come here to escape much harsher lives in their home country.

Many many plain folk came here as indentured servants or slaves. Many fled the religouse prosecution of the catholik church.

I lothe it when history gets whitewashed.

History always gets whitewashed. That is the way of the evil empire.

Wow slaves are like 1 thing. Most people came here because they chose to. Indentured servants chose to come here under the condition of being servants with no pay to escape w/e they were getting away from. Yes many fled Religious persecution. So they came for freedom of choice. For hundreds of years people came here for their freedom.

I have never earned a wage higher than $13/hr, even when on salary.

I went to a top 20 liberal arts college (Colby College in Waterville, ME). I never finished my degree because I often to drop classes because the bookstore ran out of text books (I even checked the library and all copies were gone for the semester).

I have won a number of academic awards from when I was in school.

I have been a radio DJ, a factory worker, a cook, and an electrician.

My co-workers have always admired my work ethic. Often they felt I deserved higher pay or promotion. A number of times they went to the boss to try to get me a raise, only to have it turned down or be ignored. They even went so far as to say I set a good example for my other co-workers.

I have often worked at least 50 hours and up to 80 hours in a week. I have worked 65 hours for several months in a row. I have even gone an entire month with only one day off.

I have had owners tell me I was their most reliable employee because I rarely called out, I always showed up even in bad weather, and I always covered for others when short-handed.

I don't know if the American Dream is dead, but I have not seen the rewards of merit in my paycheck from any of my employers. I have always worked hard, gone out of my way to learn, and shouldered extra responsibility. I was taught that such a work ethic would be rewarded, and I have been very disappointed by the truth I have experienced.

This is why I would like to move somewhere less expensive to live. Maybe then I could save enough to get schooling or training in another field. Or maybe I could find a job as an electrician where it isn't so feast or famine. Maybe I could even cook as a second job. It's just not happening here.

thats one FALSE version of the american dream

that hard work equals merit and merit leads to success


success comes from networking and working smart, not working hard,,,some of the poorest people in americas history have been some of the hardest 'working' whose work (for whatever reason) didnt earn comparable merit financially to others who didnt work nearly so hard,,,

That is a solid truth and you just earned a

Its not work hard its work smart.

I think George Carlin said it best. It's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.