Redefining the American Dream: From Greed to Compassion

It was an astounding sight to witness. As I braced myself for the possibility of a third round of layoffs at my ailing Northern Virginia telecommunications firm, my wife and I continued our home search, hoping for the best. The tech crash had already decimated the dot-com side of the tech world, and unfortunately, telecom was to be next on the hit list.

Interestingly enough, the tech crash that began in March 2000 didn't cause a major recession, though to many tech workers who were unable to find gainful employment in the following years, it felt like an outright depression. The main reason for this disparity is because much of the money (and many of the jobs) went into the nascent housing boom.

I will never forget seeing the face of President George W. Bush on television circa late 2002 to early 2003 cleverly spinning in the very midst of the tech recession: "This was the shortest and shallowest recession in U.S. history." But then again, it was his father that coined the phrase, "It's the economy, stupid."

If you want to know greed gone awry, look no further than the great housing boom of 2000-2007. Time after time, I was compelled to scrape my jaw up off the floor as my eye caught the sight of multiple competing buyers sitting at the kitchen table drawing up contracts for $10,000+ dollars over the asking price of the home, on the very first open house day no less.

From that point onward, I was astounded as I saw speculative home prices skyrocket as ridiculously fast as the infamous dot-com stocks in the mid-to-late 1990s. Even more perplexing was the enigma of increasing sales in spite of declining affordability, as prices quickly outstripped even the higher echelon of salaries. And then came the infamous flippers and speculators who will become iconic symbols of greed and avarice in the midst of the greatest housing boom in American history.

One Annandale, Virginia townhome my wife and I toured was so completely in need of repair, I simply couldn't see anybody purchasing it. The foundation was cracked; the basement walls were wet from multiple leaks; the hot water heater was leaking all over the floor; the carpeting was half ripped out; the kitchen needed a full remodel; not to mention the fact that the entire place reeked of cat urine. We shook our heads in disbelief; and yet, to our utter shock, that townhome sold the next week, for over $200,000.

Soon, stories of bidding wars broke asunder as buyers worried they'd miss the boat gleefully shelled out well over the asking price of the home. It very much became an exercise in who had the most to spend, who was the most competitive, and who could outbid everyone else on the very first day the house went on the market. It was then that I saw the impending signs of an emerging second market bubble wild speculation, greed, and fear (of missing the boat) in the midst of a certain insanity that makes ordinary people do some really imprudent things.

This is precisely why I refer to the first decade of the twenty-first century as the "Bubble Decade." Never before in American history have we witnessed two massively inflated market bubbles rise, then burst, in such a short timespan.

Ah, the American dream. I guess one could define it as a good job, a luxury single-family estate in the exurbs, a bustling family, and the whole nine yards. As kids, we dream about it and hope it'll be as good as we imagine. But when we're faced with increasing responsibilities and demands as adults, we often step back and say, "American dream? I'm not so sure about that anymore!" This often leads to discouragement, and in some, even depression.

Maybe the American Dream needs to be redefined. Maybe it should be a new dream, based not on the perennial seeking after material wealth, but rather compassion for one another. Maybe it should be a new dream based not on seeking after that which we don't have, but what we can give to others. Maybe we should lower our expectations a bit, and raise our voices in unison against the evils of the world to make our planet a better place for all. Maybe it should be a little less "me," and a little more "my fellow man."

Here's to the new American Dream!