September 3, 2025 • 8 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, so nobody values hard work anymore.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Yeah, that's a According to a new poll done by
The Wall Street Journal says the American dream is own
life support major shift and belief. Nearly seventy percent of
you as adults say hard work no longer guarantees success.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So seventy percent of adults don't believe that hard work
guarantees success.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, so a very high level of skepticism.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Okay, So a couple of things with this one. I
think it is a it's a reality check of what
we say on this show quite a bit, which is
in this country right now, we are seeing an elevation
of the uber rich. The uber rich are getting richer
and have never been more prosperous, and everybody else is
(00:45):
getting shoved down and countries, a thriving middle class is
a key to a thriving country. I heard this years ago,
and I know I've used this analogy before. In when
I was an elected official, we were together a sign
and zoning ordinance, and part of one of the things
in a sign and zoning ordinance is signs that are
(01:06):
business that are people are allowed to put in front
of their businesses. And a law enforcement person came and said,
whatever you do, do not slow the traffic down, because
they said, what they've found in studies with traffic is
traffic traffic can be moving at a slow rate of speed,
(01:29):
but as long as the traffic is actually moving, there
is hope and optimism. And in cases where even if
you're moving at five miles an hour, there are much
fewer cases of road rage and road incidents than when
traffic is stopped because at a stop, subconsciously, most people
feel hopeless. Right, Yeah, And that always stood with me
(01:50):
about just so many other things, because that the idea
of the American dream isn't that for many people isn't
so much. We all have dreams when we're kids, right,
and then adult that happens and you're like, oh, that's cute.
It's the idea that you can elevate, not someday that
you're going to go from you know, a pauper to
(02:12):
a Rockefeller, but you can elevate yourself to a better life,
a comfortable life, a better existence than you had before.
That there is hope giving the key where there's hope
in your work, there is hope in the effort that
you're putting forward. And what you're finding now because of
let's face it, the way the economy is rigged against
(02:34):
regular people, the way the government has printed us into inflation,
that people just see their monies that they're earning getting
swallowed up. I went to the grocery store yesterday, I
don't know, eight or nine bags of groceries ninety some
odd dollars, and it was like, holy smokes, again, I'm
(02:58):
not buying meat. It's just like basic stuff that even
that refrigerator. Like right, I go to Barton that event
on Sunday night and it was fun, like I love
the people. There was a great event. I always loved going.
I do it every year and made good money. But
there's subconsciously part of you that goes, all this is
going to that fridge. Yeah, none of this is going
(03:19):
back to me. Sure, it's all going towards something that
while you have to have a fridge, a week ago,
I didn't need a fridge. It was like, I have
the same thing I'm gonna havepp before, which is a
refrigerator in my house. It's not even a better fridge,
probably not even as good a fridge.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And so.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
You can extrapolate that out to think about that over
years and years of service, where I'm just talking about
some one off thing, years and years of you know,
working and getting up and going, and people just it
really messes with them if they feel like they're working
hard but they're not getting ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
So the Wall Street Journal has been doing this poll
for fifteen years and they say this is the highest
level of skepticism about the American dream in all of
that time. Only twenty five percent of people believe they
have a good chance of improving their standard of living,
and it's the lowest since nineteen eighty seven. Many older
(04:13):
generations people feel had it easier, especially when it comes
to buying homes or starting businesses or being stay at
home parents. The one thing that I always think about though,
is yes.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
They may have had it easier.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
However, the interest rate was really high for many years,
but the house they were buying was much smaller, and
the older generation wasn't going out to restaurants all the time,
and entertainment was found within the family at home.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Ah, you just hit the thing, which is I think
the life that we valued, or the things that we
valued in life in previous generations made it easier to
believe you were having a better life and elevate yourself.
(05:10):
Like you know, people joke about my lamenting of the
death of the fields and the farmland and stuff. There's
a reason though that I feel that way, because for generations,
that was good, that was sure decent, that meant something
to people, And we've sort of just entered this and
(05:34):
we're all guilty of it, or at least most of
us are guilty of this from me included, where you're
just go, go, go, instant, instant, instant, all the time,
whatever we want.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And a high level of consumerism, and.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
People just people just they I don't know if they forget.
I don't know. Like I was thinking last night when
my daughter and I went for a walk, and I
was thinking about how all the things that have changed
in my town, and I was thinking like, well, but
I'm basically like the only person left here right like
(06:10):
everybody else leve Ye like the you know, everybody's so different.
I haven't changed. So it's like, well, why would those
people care they're not here anymore. They don't. They didn't
spend all their time here like they go places and
do different things. So I just I just we've got
a serious problem in this country. Though, which is the
inability to elevate classes anymore or your position in the classes.
(06:36):
And there are certain skills, skill sets that will be
able to avoid, at least for a time, artificial intelligence
that'll be able to push that off. But it's not
going to get better. There's going to be more and
more jobs that are going to go away. It's going
to be more and more positions. I mean, I saw
Tony was talking about this this morning, that Salesforce is
(06:58):
laying off a whole bunch of peace because of ai yep, and.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
They're saying twenty thirty four, it's the year where you
won't recognize anything compared to today.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And the older I get, the more I realize quiet
was good, and calm was good, and just having the
thing that you had in the communion in which you
had it, and celebrating those things that made up the
little area in which you lived made people more happy
(07:33):
and more content. And also because they didn't have the
continual pressure and burden of having to have the newest
thing and the best thing, the newest phone and the
newest abutment, whatever right, they were able to find happiness
and the things that matter, and then the things that
they wanted. They put a value in a premium on
and it meant something to obtain it, and so they
(07:55):
were more happy because they could have those things.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
So are you saying the American dream isn't dead, it's
just changed.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
No, I think we're toast. No no, no, no no no
no no no no no no no. I just I think.
And I don't mean to mean mister doom and gloom,
which I never am. Of course, no always so super.
But somebody, somebody explained to me how this gets better
for the middle class. I'm willing to hear it. I'm
willing to hear because education, it used to be an
abduel and I used talk about this for years.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Sure, education would elevate you out of where your skill
sets trades, and now it's a burden with loans.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yeah, and you're whatever position you're in, you're going to
someday become a victim of artificial intelligence. Your position, your education,
no matter how great it might be, unless it's the
very tippy top, people are simply not going to outlast
artificial intelligence.
Okay, so nobody values hard work anymore.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Yeah, that's a According to a new poll done by
The Wall Street Journal says the American dream is own
life support major shift and belief. Nearly seventy percent of
you as adults say hard work no longer guarantees success.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So seventy percent of adults don't believe that hard work
guarantees success.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, so a very high level of skepticism.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Okay, So a couple of things with this one. I
think it is a it's a reality check of what
we say on this show quite a bit, which is
in this country right now, we are seeing an elevation
of the uber rich. The uber rich are getting richer
and have never been more prosperous, and everybody else is
(00:45):
getting shoved down and countries, a thriving middle class is
a key to a thriving country. I heard this years ago,
and I know I've used this analogy before. In when
I was an elected official, we were together a sign
and zoning ordinance, and part of one of the things
in a sign and zoning ordinance is signs that are
(01:06):
business that are people are allowed to put in front
of their businesses. And a law enforcement person came and said,
whatever you do, do not slow the traffic down, because
they said, what they've found in studies with traffic is
traffic traffic can be moving at a slow rate of speed,
(01:29):
but as long as the traffic is actually moving, there
is hope and optimism. And in cases where even if
you're moving at five miles an hour, there are much
fewer cases of road rage and road incidents than when
traffic is stopped because at a stop, subconsciously, most people
feel hopeless. Right, Yeah, And that always stood with me
(01:50):
about just so many other things, because that the idea
of the American dream isn't that for many people isn't
so much. We all have dreams when we're kids, right,
and then adult that happens and you're like, oh, that's cute.
It's the idea that you can elevate, not someday that
you're going to go from you know, a pauper to
(02:12):
a Rockefeller, but you can elevate yourself to a better life,
a comfortable life, a better existence than you had before.
That there is hope giving the key where there's hope
in your work, there is hope in the effort that
you're putting forward. And what you're finding now because of
let's face it, the way the economy is rigged against
(02:34):
regular people, the way the government has printed us into inflation,
that people just see their monies that they're earning getting
swallowed up. I went to the grocery store yesterday, I
don't know, eight or nine bags of groceries ninety some
odd dollars, and it was like, holy smokes, again, I'm
(02:58):
not buying meat. It's just like basic stuff that even
that refrigerator. Like right, I go to Barton that event
on Sunday night and it was fun, like I love
the people. There was a great event. I always loved going.
I do it every year and made good money. But
there's subconsciously part of you that goes, all this is
going to that fridge. Yeah, none of this is going
(03:19):
back to me. Sure, it's all going towards something that
while you have to have a fridge, a week ago,
I didn't need a fridge. It was like, I have
the same thing I'm gonna havepp before, which is a
refrigerator in my house. It's not even a better fridge,
probably not even as good a fridge.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And so.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
You can extrapolate that out to think about that over
years and years of service, where I'm just talking about
some one off thing, years and years of you know,
working and getting up and going, and people just it
really messes with them if they feel like they're working
hard but they're not getting ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
So the Wall Street Journal has been doing this poll
for fifteen years and they say this is the highest
level of skepticism about the American dream in all of
that time. Only twenty five percent of people believe they
have a good chance of improving their standard of living,
and it's the lowest since nineteen eighty seven. Many older
(04:13):
generations people feel had it easier, especially when it comes
to buying homes or starting businesses or being stay at
home parents. The one thing that I always think about though,
is yes.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
They may have had it easier.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
However, the interest rate was really high for many years,
but the house they were buying was much smaller, and
the older generation wasn't going out to restaurants all the time,
and entertainment was found within the family at home.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Ah, you just hit the thing, which is I think
the life that we valued, or the things that we
valued in life in previous generations made it easier to
believe you were having a better life and elevate yourself.
(05:10):
Like you know, people joke about my lamenting of the
death of the fields and the farmland and stuff. There's
a reason though that I feel that way, because for generations,
that was good, that was sure decent, that meant something
to people, And we've sort of just entered this and
(05:34):
we're all guilty of it, or at least most of
us are guilty of this from me included, where you're
just go, go, go, instant, instant, instant, all the time,
whatever we want.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And a high level of consumerism, and.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
People just people just they I don't know if they forget.
I don't know. Like I was thinking last night when
my daughter and I went for a walk, and I
was thinking about how all the things that have changed
in my town, and I was thinking like, well, but
I'm basically like the only person left here right like
(06:10):
everybody else leve Ye like the you know, everybody's so different.
I haven't changed. So it's like, well, why would those
people care they're not here anymore. They don't. They didn't
spend all their time here like they go places and
do different things. So I just I just we've got
a serious problem in this country. Though, which is the
inability to elevate classes anymore or your position in the classes.
(06:36):
And there are certain skills, skill sets that will be
able to avoid, at least for a time, artificial intelligence
that'll be able to push that off. But it's not
going to get better. There's going to be more and
more jobs that are going to go away. It's going
to be more and more positions. I mean, I saw
Tony was talking about this this morning, that Salesforce is
(06:58):
laying off a whole bunch of peace because of ai yep, and.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
They're saying twenty thirty four, it's the year where you
won't recognize anything compared to today.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And the older I get, the more I realize quiet
was good, and calm was good, and just having the
thing that you had in the communion in which you
had it, and celebrating those things that made up the
little area in which you lived made people more happy
(07:33):
and more content. And also because they didn't have the
continual pressure and burden of having to have the newest
thing and the best thing, the newest phone and the
newest abutment, whatever right, they were able to find happiness
and the things that matter, and then the things that
they wanted. They put a value in a premium on
and it meant something to obtain it, and so they
(07:55):
were more happy because they could have those things.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
So are you saying the American dream isn't dead, it's
just changed.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
No, I think we're toast. No no, no, no no no
no no no no no no no. I just I think.
And I don't mean to mean mister doom and gloom,
which I never am. Of course, no always so super.
But somebody, somebody explained to me how this gets better
for the middle class. I'm willing to hear it. I'm
willing to hear because education, it used to be an
abduel and I used talk about this for years.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Sure, education would elevate you out of where your skill
sets trades, and now it's a burden with loans.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yeah, and you're whatever position you're in, you're going to
someday become a victim of artificial intelligence. Your position, your education,
no matter how great it might be, unless it's the
very tippy top, people are simply not going to outlast
artificial intelligence.
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