by Frank Holmes, reporter
Dreams are free, but under President Joe Biden the American Dream just got much more expensive.
The American Dream — the promise and birthright of every citizen born into this country — now costs more than $3.4 million, according to a newly released report.
The online finance and economics website Investopedia crunched the numbers for all the things the average American took for granted not long ago: wedding, home, children, etc.
How much does it cost? If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.
First comes love, then comes marriage… but the average wedding alone costs $30,000, according to the marriage website The Knot.
You’ll need a place to live, but a median home with a 30-year mortgage, even after you put 10 percent down, will cost $796,998.
The typical American still wants kids, and raising two children costs about half-a-million dollars — $576,896 — and that’s if they leave home at age 18 and stay gone.
Even a dog and a cat together cost $67,000 if they live for 15 years!
We’re already well over a million dollars—and you haven’t bought a car, gone to the doctor, or even thought about retirement yet.
Healthcare alone will set you back almost $1 million: $934,752 for the usual plan and office visit package.
Don’t forget your funeral: That will cost you $7,848, practically the least expensive item on your itinerary.
Altogether, living will bury you in debt for more than $3.4 million: $3,455,305, to be specific.
One conservative commentator pointed out the impossible nature of the findings.
“The ‘American Dream’ costs $3.4 million to achieve. The median lifetime earnings of a U.S. worker is $1.7 million,” the commentator said. “Big government is hindering economic freedom, and Americans are paying the price.”
The "American Dream" costs $3.4 million to achieve.
The median lifetime earnings of a U.S. worker is $1.7 million.
Big government is hindering economic freedom, and Americans are paying the price.
— The Common Sense Movement (@cs_movement) December 14, 2023
Investopedia actually cites a study from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce that puts the average lifetime earnings of Americans with a bachelor’s degree at $2.3 million…$600,000 more. But that’s still $1.155 million below what they need.
That means the “average American” can afford two-thirds of the American Dream.
The extra million dollars may as well be $100 million; there’s no honest way to make up a deficit that big.
Even if someone is fortunate enough to earn twice the lifetime U.S. median income, wolves can drag down your entire financial dynasty.
“It’s also worth noting one health issue can destroy a family’s wealth,” wrote venture investor Jeremiah Owyang. “Most Americans are dependent on employer for health, and chance of layoffs are high.”
Analysis: Today's parents have to pay $3.4 million to fund the American Dream for themselves and their kids
It’s also worth noting one health issue can destroy a family’s wealth. Most Americans are dependent on employer for health, and chance of layoffs are high.…
— Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang) December 10, 2023
If you read between the lines, it’s easy to see the hand of Bidenflation choking the American Dream until it taps out.
The average mortgage rate for a 30-year loan now comes with 7.2 percent interest. But the same mortgage charged 3.11 percent interest in 2020, under President Donald Trump—and sometimes less.
In January 2021, the month of Joe Biden’ s inauguration, interest rates on a mortgage stood at a puny 2.65 percent.
No wonder only about one out of every three Americans believes the American Dream is still possible.
“The American dream—the proposition that anyone who works hard can get ahead, regardless of their background—has slipped out of reach in the minds of many Americans,” reported the Wall Street Journal. “Only 36% of voters in a new Wall Street Journal/NORC survey said the American dream still holds true.”
That figure was 10 points higher in 2016, the year President Donald Trump won the presidential election.
Less than 30 percent of people under the age of 50, and of all women, believe in that dream, while half of the people over the age of 65 say American is still the Promised Land.
Forget the American Dream: Americans needs tens of thousands of dollars a year just to tread water economically.
This may explain why The Wall Street Journal poll found that about half of those surveyed said Americans were better off 50 years ago, under President Nixon, and that the U.S. economic system is “stacked against” them.
The redistribution of wealth from the productive middle class and small businessmen, to the unemployed and mega-corporations, is the Beltway’s favorite version of Three Card Monte.
After three years in office, it’s time the American people saw whose hands are stacking the cards, and elect a president who will give them a fair deal for once.
The American Dream will return when our long national nightmare at last is over.
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”