How to Revive the American Dream: More Subsidies

This commentary aired recently on the PBS program, Nightly Business 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, people worked hard to improve their lives. They started small businesses that sometimes became bigger businesses. They bought homes and cars, and when they could afford it, they upgraded to nicer homes and cars. They saved money 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 Company's money for themselves, and there's hardly anything left for employees who used to get 5 percent raises every year just for showing up.

Bankers put a stake in the American Dream, too, by giving mortgages to people who couldn't afford them. Even worse, now the sinister 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 American 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 give us the incentive us to work harder? How about a bigger mortgage interest deduction to make owning a home worth all the trouble? And why doesn't the government 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.