Broken American Dreams

Whether you want to blame the economy, politicians, war or price of oil; everyone agrees the American landscape has changed in the last few years. As a formerly full-time employed worker who has been on unemployment in the past, I can say from experience things aren't what I expected once I graduated college.

People across the country from all socio-economic backgrounds are facing the same struggles with earning and spending money. Some of us can hide out for a time in grad school, but what are we going to see when we finally get out of the protection of school?

I just heard a story about a young professor I work with who was beat out for a tenure position to a sixty-something professor who should be ready for retirement, but apparently had the connections to get the job. The scale seems unbalanced to me.

Everyone has heard of the American Dream: Get married, find a stable job, buy a house and have 2.5 kids. But is that still happening? What are the changes that are coming with the advent of social media and jobs being redistributed overseas? Are we working more for less money?

I've found in the last few years that I've been having to do several projects just to have what would be considered a normal "salary". Is this the norm these days? What's the opinion out there?