Transcripts

"Commentary"-The American Dream Deferred

JEFF YASTINE: Well, from home ownership to cheap gas prices, tonight's commentator weighs in on the American dream. He's Rick Newman, chief business correspondent at U.S. News & World Report."

RICK NEWMAN, CORRESPONDENT, US NEWS & WORLD REPORT: If you haven't heard the news about the American dream, please sit down while I tell you because the American dream is dead. I keep reading the obituaries. In the old days, when the AD was thriving, people worked hard to improve their lives. They started small businesses that sometimes got bigger. They bought homes and cars and upgraded to nicer homes and cars once they had more money. They had savings accounts in case something went wrong. Now it's all ruined. And here's who did it: CEOs, for starters. Because they take most of the companies' money for themselves and there's hardly anything left for employees who used to get 5 percent raises every year as long as they didn't get fired. Bankers put a stake in the American dream, too, by giving mortgages to people who couldn't afford them. Even worse, now these bankers will only give loans to people who can prove they'll pay the money back. The Mexicans and Salvadorans and Indians and Chinese have robbed us, too, because they've taken a lot of jobs that Americans are fully capable of doing, for more money. What's the point of working hard, if somebody else is willing to work even harder, for less? The Saudis and Kuwaitis are part of the cabal, refusing to pump more oil so we can afford to fill our SUVs. And the biggest villain, of course, is our own government. Where are the gasoline subsidies or the tax breaks that will incentivize us to work harder? How about a bigger mortgage interest deduction, to make owning a home worth all the trouble? Come to think of it, why doesn't the government just send us all some more money, to help restore our work ethic and our quality of life? Now that's what we really need: an American dream backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. I'm Rick Newman.