Dick Logan

I was reading this article by Business Pundit that explained how 3 top American icons: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, GM, and Anheuser-Busch have significantly changed in the past week. Although I am saddened by the fact that Anheuser-Busch is no longer an American beer, the news that the SUV, hummer, and easy loans have been wiped off the map has left me optimistic that the United States is on the right path.

If the American dream involved someone owning an SUV and a house that they couldn’t afford, then fuck the American dream. No one’s lifestyle is going to be significantly different by owning a smaller car instead of an SUV. If someone bought a house they couldn’t afford, they simply don’t deserve the house. Houses aren’t free, despite what the bank loans in the last couple of years were making them appear to be.

Whose American dream is this anyway? It certainly isn’t mine. I’m 22 years old and far more concerned about the environment and US economic policies than my parents ever were. I have a feeling this American dream belongs to the Baby Boomers, grown-up hippies and soccer moms who enjoyed the spoils of winning a world war without even having to fight. Now that it’s my generation’s turn in the societal and economic limelight, I’m fucked because of the carelessness and greed employed by my parents.

If that’s what the American dream is like, good riddance to it. We’ll be better off without it. I only hope that when the Baby Boomers are all gone within the coming decades my generation can reverse their ways and proudly say to them: “At an end your rule is… and not short enough it was.”