‘ American Dream’ turns into nightmare

Because “middle class” and “American Dream” are virtually synonymous in the minds of so many people, two recent headlines were arresting in their implications: One read, “Study Finds Middle Class No Longer Majority;” the other, “Poll: Nearly Half of Youth

The former accompanied a story reporting on a new study by the Pew Research Center, which found that middle class households no longer account for a majority of the adult population. The latter appeared over a report about a new survey of America’s youth, which suggested that nearly half of 18to 29-year-olds think living the American Dream is not possible for them.

These studies will no doubt further inform, or inflame, the 2016 presidential race, in which virtually every candidate in both parties has risen to the rhetorical, although not necessarily the material, defense of the shrinking middle class. And with good reason: Membership in a broad, prosperous and stable middle class has always been a foundation of the American project — some might say American myth — that was supposedly attainable to all who were willing to work hard to achieve it. That’s probably why over the years so many Americans have identified themselves as middle class when their actual economic circumstances placed them in lower or higher brackets, and why politicians are anxious to appeal to them.

Of course, as the Pew study points out, middle class and middle income are not necessarily the same thing. Class can en- compass such things as education level, kind of employment, home ownership and social and political values as well as income. But they are close enough to be used interchangeably here.

In any case, the portion of American adults living in middle-income households has fallen from 61 percent in 1971 to just under 50 percent in 2015, Pew found. Meanwhile, the nation’s aggregate household income has shifted markedly from middle-income to upper-income households: In 2014, 49 percent of aggregate income accrued to upper-income households, up from 29 percent in 1970. Meanwhile, 43 percent went to middle-income households in 2014, down from 62 percent in 1970.

The picture is not totally one of gloom and doom, however. The share of upper-income households has grown much faster since 1971 than the share of lower-income households, which accounts for part of the shift in the portion of aggregate income. Still, the documented trend toward increased inequality is troubling to say the least.

The effect apparently is being felt acutely among young people, as their “American Dream: Dead or Alive?” responses indicated, although college graduates expressed more optimism by far than their less-educated counterparts.

This probably reflects a broader societal divide. We are hardly the first to note that the Donald Trump phenomenon is largely attributable to the anger of downwardly mobile workingclass voters whose economic insecurities he expertly exploits. The danger is apparent to anyone familiar with how such discontent was fanned into the hatred that gave rise to extreme ideologies in 20th-century Europe.

The challenge for politicians more responsible than Trump is how to give Americans marginalized by the nation’s changing economy, diversifying demographics and shifting social mores both a reason to believe again and something to believe in — or to put it another way, to channel anger and despair into achieving a productive end. As Joan Walsh wrote recently in The Nation, the creation of a vast middle class following the Depression and World War II was the result of a conscious decision to reduce inequality by, among other measures, investing in education and infrastructure — paid for by rising tax rates — while strengthening protections for unions. Broad prosperity ensued. The nation can make a similar choice now if it can muster the political will. Whether this is an American pipe dream or the revival of the American Dream, only time will tell.