GROW RICH By Reclaiming The American Dream American Families battered financially by the 'Economic Perfect Storm' have lost trillions of dollars in personal and retirement investments. Dealing with an economy that has failed the average American family, many are asking if this is the End of the American Dream? They wonder what does an America with no 'middle class' look like? Many of today's families and individuals are turning to Marketing themselves, products and services through a business model that began in 1886 with Avon Skin Care. Today's Home Based Entrepreneurs have greatly improved upon that model creating personal incomes from Thousands per year to Thousands per month. Could this be an answer to meet your financial needs, apart from the daily 9 to 5 grind? Could this be a pathway to securing your family legacy for you and your loved ones? This book explores the issues and problems facing today's families. Take the brief survey in the Personal Success Journal in Part 2 to see if this option will work for you.
Unlocking the American Dream At a time when deep divisions headline the national discourse on equality, Reclaiming the American Dream: Proven Solutions for Creating Economic Opportunity for All uses real-world examples to illustrate how America can evolve to include everyone in its promise of opportunity. Living Cities President and CEO Ben Hecht has spent decades exploring how leaders take proactive measures to combat growing racial disparity, without relying on slow-moving policies or the whims of Washington, D.C., to make changes in their own backyards. The strategies highlighted in Reclaiming the American Dream offer a blueprint for how communities can rekindle the promise of the American Dream through improving educational opportunities, strengthening civic engagement, and providing a ladder to economic security. Each of us—whether as an elected leader, engaged neighbor, corporate CEO, philanthropist, or investor—can act right now to secure the economic future of our country and help level the playing field for struggling Americans everywhere.
This book was the first to sketch the full dimensions of the nation's voluntary sector, give it a name (the independent sector), explain its unfamiliar metabolism, and imagine its enormous unused potential for defining the central problems of an industrial society accurately and acting on them effectively. Upon publication, George Gallup said the book has sparked "the most dramatic shift in American thinking since the New Deal."
The “American Dream” means many things to many people, but in general it can be said that it connects the idea of freedom to the opportunity for prosperity and upward social mobility. Sandra L. Hanson and John K. White have joined together with a group of social scientists to explore the attitudes, experiences, and expectations of Latinos in their quest for the American Dream. The Latino/a American Dream asks many timely questions, including: how do Latino/as view the American Dream? Has the recent economic downturn affected their hopes of achieving the Dream? What about recent immigrants? What about Latina women? The answers to these questions and more draw on sociology, political science, and history to paint a multifaceted portrait of Latino/a opportunity in America, both real and perceived.
In contemporary America, the racial wealth gap is growing, with families transmitting race and class inequalities from generation to generation. Yet Americans continue to hold deep-rooted beliefs in the principles of individualism, equal opportunity, and meritocracy. Education, the "Great Equalizer," is supposed to level the playing field, ensuring that every child—regardless of family of origin—gets an equal chance at success. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 200 black and white families, The American Dream and the Power of Wealth starkly reveals the enormous extent to which parents defend their beliefs in the values that lie at the heart of the American Dream. Yet the way wealth is acquired and the way it is used categorically puts children from different families on vastly different educational trajectories, leaving them with uneven sets of opportunities.
Awakening From The American Dream… From Crisis To Consciousness… is an expose’ of the American Dream as illusory enculturation. It is a call to awakening to true reality in which happiness is not something to be pursued, but rather innately experienced as one’s birthright. The book invites readers to wake up from the American Dream, rather than trying to make it work or creating a new dream. A dream is a dream… it can never be reality. Part One focuses on the initial stages of awakening, beginning to question Dream beliefs, like the pursuit of happiness (if you’re chasing it you don’t have it!). Part Two uses the Socratic Method to question popular myths about life in America, relative to twelve specific areas of life (like the economy, health, marriage, religion, etc.). Readers are invited to challenge their own convictions and open to new possibilities. Part Three is about what it is like to live wide-awake, taking personal responsibility for the reality you create and being a leader by example for others.
Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith’s new book is an extraordinary achievement, an eye-opening account of how, over the past four decades, the American Dream has been dismantled and we became two Americas. In his bestselling The Russians, Smith took millions of readers inside the Soviet Union. In The Power Game, he took us inside Washington’s corridors of power. Now Smith takes us across America to show how seismic changes, sparked by a sequence of landmark political and economic decisions, have transformed America. As only a veteran reporter can, Smith fits the puzzle together, starting with Lewis Powell’s provocative memo that triggered a political rebellion that dramatically altered the landscape of power from then until today. This is a book full of surprises and revelations—the accidental beginnings of the 401(k) plan, with disastrous economic consequences for many; the major policy changes that began under Jimmy Carter; how the New Economy disrupted America’s engine of shared prosperity, the “virtuous circle” of growth, and how America lost the title of “Land of Opportunity.” Smith documents the transfer of $6 trillion in middle-class wealth from homeowners to banks even before the housing boom went bust, and how the U.S. policy tilt favoring the rich is stunting America’s economic growth. This book is essential reading for all of us who want to understand America today, or why average Americans are struggling to keep afloat. Smith reveals how pivotal laws and policies were altered while the public wasn’t looking, how Congress often ignores public opinion, why moderate politicians got shoved to the sidelines, and how Wall Street often wins politically by hiring over 1,400 former government officials as lobbyists. Smith talks to a wide range of people, telling the stories of Americans high and low. From political leaders such as Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and Martin Luther King, Jr., to CEOs such as Al Dunlap, Bob Galvin, and Andy Grove, to heartland Middle Americans such as airline mechanic Pat O’Neill, software systems manager Kristine Serrano, small businessman John Terboss, and subcontractor Eliseo Guardado, Smith puts a human face on how middle-class America and the American Dream have been undermined. This magnificent work of history and reportage is filled with the penetrating insights, provocative discoveries, and the great empathy of a master journalist. Finally, Smith offers ideas for restoring America’s great promise and reclaiming the American Dream. Praise for Who Stole the American Dream? “[A] sweeping, authoritative examination of the last four decades of the American economic experience.”—The Huffington Post “Some fine work has been done in explaining the mess we’re in. . . . But no book goes to the headwaters with the precision, detail and accessibility of Smith.”—The Seattle Times “Sweeping in scope . . . [Smith] posits some steps that could alleviate the problems of the United States.”—USA Today “Brilliant . . . [a] remarkably comprehensive and coherent analysis of and prescriptions for America’s contemporary economic malaise.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Smith enlivens his narrative with portraits of the people caught up in events, humanizing complex subjects often rendered sterile in economic analysis. . . . The human face of the story is inseparable from the history.”—Reuters
Engaging in a comprehensive examination of reality TV's advertising and promotional strategies, as well as the commodification of viewers, Consuming Reality dissects the unique and startling relation between mediation and consumption.
There is a huge concern in America today that the country is in decline, one of the few sentiments that – nationally – our increasingly polarized political leaders can agree on. Americans fear that the economy and our culture itself are in deep crisis. They are also frustrated that the ruling classes are unable to fix America’s problems. Kim R. Holmes’ Rebound taps into these concerns, taking a fresh look at how America has moved away from the principles and practices that once made it the world’s greatest nation. Far from accepting America’s inevitable decline, as so many today do, Holmes argues that decline is a choice, not an inevitability or destiny. To restore our culture, revitalize our economy, and ensure we return to being the world’s number one power, America must reconnect with its historical DNA: the ingredients of its greatness. This book lays out the vision and roadmap for how America can bounce back, with examples from throughout our nation’s history that prove we’ve always been able to meet the challenges facing us, no matter how largely they may loom.
Redefining the American dream: how to think big and grow rich, is the story of Thomas W. Felder, whose life began as a poor kid in the South Bronx, living in rat-infested, crime-ridden tenements, and even experiencing homelessness. Thomas went on to become a high-powered attorney and key player in one of the largest Television Network mergers in U.S. history. After many ups and downs, struggles and turbulent times, when all hope seemed lost, he was introduced to Network Marketing. In less than 16-months he soared from novice to guru, pulling in extraordinary income and breaking numerous industry records. His Think Big and "get it done" attitude has been an inspiration to anyone seeking to overcome obstacles. If you have ever dreamed of a better life, and creating generational wealth from the comfort of your living room, this book is for you.
