This Economist Says The American Dream Is Killing America
This Economist Says The American Dream Is Killing America
In his new book, "The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream," Tyler Cowen argues that Americans' lazy pursuit of comfort and security is causing economic stagnation. Do you agree?
In his new book, "The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream," Tyler Cowen argues that Americans' lazy pursuit of comfort and security is causing economic stagnation. Do you agree?
According to economist Tyler Cowen, author of a new book entitled "The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream," the U.S. economy has grown stagnant for one reason: laziness. Cowen argues that the ease of attaining the American Dream, settling down in a safe, cozy home and starting a family, has caused economic decline and that the economy is suffering because people are too afraid or lazy to take risks or create new solutions to old problems.
Innovation is painful. That's why we don't do more of it.
Tyler Cowen
CNN Money, April 12, 2017
Cowen believes that after the tumultuous 60s and 70s, the American people strove harder than ever to settle, creating what he called "the complacent class." He also points out some alarming statistics about just how complacent America has become, stating that the country is actually more segregated by race and class now than it was in the 80s. In 1988, the percentage of black students in white-majority schools peaked at 43.5% but has dropped currently to 23.2%, less than half of what it was nearly 30 years ago. But Cowen thinks the solution to this issue may come from two surprising sources: Donald Trump, or rather the anger that will follow him if he is unable to create change himself, and the immigrants he's trying to ban from this country.
[If] Trump is seen as an ineffective president, [if] he's checked by Congress and the courts, slowly but surely, the nation wakes up and we acquire a greater sense of urgency.
Tyler Cowen
CNN Money, April 12, 2017
Cowen believes the people best suited to reinvigorate American innovation and reform are immigrants because, unlike "the complacent class," immigrants take risks.
Immigrants are the greatest risk takers of all. They are the least complacent class.
Tyler Cowen
April 12, 2017
But now, what we'd like to know is...
Do you agree with Cowen that the comfort of the American Dream is killing the American economy?
Do you agree with Cowen that the comfort of the American Dream is killing the American economy?