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These hands represent college debt, housing cost, credit cards, wage stagnation
We were raised believing in the American Dream.
This included the notion that every generation aspired to do better than their parents’ generation.
I propose alternative thinking since it’s ludicrous to assume that every generation must become “better off” than the preceding generation. Once everyone has enough food, clothing, shelter and adequate medical care when you get sick (and mitigation of pain in hospice when terminally ill), what more should we be expecting? At the risk of setting the bar too low, I question why we are so obsessed with “bigger and better with each successive generation”. I’m not against scientific and technological advancement, but once the basic material needs of “3 hots and a cot” are met, what more do we really need? To all those who lament that their lifestyle is not exceeding their parents’ generation, I ask the following questions:
When you got up this morning, did your toilet flush?
Was your toilet inside the house?
When you went to bed, was your belly full? Did you have a coat, hat and shoes when you went outside in the cold?
Did you make it through the day without being terrorized by a warlord?
If you answered YES to all of these questions, then you need to “keep calm and carry on” resting assured that “the sky is not falling” and you will live to see another day in reasonable comfort.
How much more stuff do we need? How many more vacations do we need once we are not starving and not freezing. I’m all for enrichment and enjoyment in life but first there must be a fundamental sense of contentment and peace. Our society and the pursuit of the elusive, commercialized, commodified American Dream has us chasing “bells and whistles” rather than the basics.
That said, let me propose 4 areas where ALTERNATIVES might rescue us from the American Dream trap.
College Debt
Establish alternative pathways to higher education that include:
Open-source learning, vocational training, on-the-job training (OJT), peer training, internships, mentoring, apprentices, skill swapping, learning pods on the neighborhood and community levels.
Skills learned and subjects mastered via the pathways described above could be verified by certifications and on-site demonstrations of proficiency. In sum, there could be more “credentialing” grounded on practical knowledge and demonstrated mastery rather than nebulous (and vastly more expensive) diploma tracks via higher education.
Once an alternative route to higher education has been established by creating a more viable and affordable pathway to careers, the higher education institutions will need to adjust their inflated prices or shrink their footprint to match lower enrollment. Students and families will no longer be pressured to plunge into debt just to be able to say they “went to college”. The phrase “good school” will remain in our lexicon and it will continue to be used by those who can afford it. But for the rest of us working class and middle-class chumps, this alternative will redirect us from a life of indebtedness.
When your toilets backed up and guests about to arrive at your house, do you stop the plumber because he or she did not attend a “good plumbing school”? Likewise, in any real-world situation, the primary question to be answered when making a hiring decision is whether the candidate can handle the job and ideally “hit the ground running”. Admittedly, it’s nice to be well rounded with a liberal arts education and be able to converse on a variety of topics. However, with the accumulation of perspective that comes from maturity, life’s experiences and intellectual curiosity, a person can acquire the soft skills and critical thinking skills embodied in the social sciences. Thanks to libraries, YouTube videos, open-source learning, discussion groups and lectures (for example TED Talks), a self-motivated person can become well-read and erudite. In sum, it leads me to believe that for most persons taking a philosophy class fresh out of high school might be a waste of time. I’m embarrassed to admit that even though my undergraduate degree is in political science, it’s only after years of working “in the field” and participating in organizations that I finally grasped “how things really work”. If I had to hire a cop and could only chose between a kid who had a criminal justice degree and spent time on a campus partying OR a kid who spent some years counselling delinquent kids and worked as a mall cop catching shoplifters and breaking up fights, I vote for the candidate from the real-world who is battle tested. This person is more likely to demonstrate familiarity dealing with challenging situations and a diversity of persons be they racial, cultural, and economic.
Housing Costs
Everywhere I lived has served me well for that particular point in time. The middle-class suburban colonial that I grew up in was fun but looking back I never realized how much my parents struggled to build it and retain it. The rooming houses that I lived in when I was broke after graduate school provided both shelter and some interesting experiences. Looking back, I appreciate the fact that rooming houses even existed in contrast to skyrocketing housing costs and shrinking housing supply for persons like myself on the first rung of the housing ladder. My ancestors reportedly ran “rooming houses” providing frugal shelter to fellow Irish immigrants. We could benefit today from “rooming houses” providing a first step to all sorts of immigrants.
Looking back, I realize this was the beginning of a life-long journey of paying someone else for my shelter whether it was rents to the landlord, condominium fees to the condo board or mortgage payments for my houses. After 30 years working concurrently at 2 and 3 jobs, I have the privilege of “owning” a fixer-upper that never got fixed up. I’m exhausted both physically and financially after a life of paying rents and mortgages. In my twilight years, I look forward to nothing more than downsizing to a 200 square foot living area enjoying a minimalist lifestyle that is debt free and maintenance free with predictable low overhead costs. Is that too much to ask for? Maybe I have set the bar low, but that’s just my observation after a lifetime on the housing treadmill.
As gloomy as my housing journey has been, my adult children’s housing pathway is much worse in light of skyrocketing housing costs and the speculative, commodification of housing.
Therefore, I propose a whole new approach to housing to get off the merry-go-round lunacy of boom/bust cycles and escalating prices driven by speculative greed.
Alternative: housing cooperatives.
Resources are pooled, participants only pay for what’s needed to maintain the structure (and set aside for replacement) and there is a sense of community among participants. The cooperative housing model gets back to the notion that housing is a necessity rather that a commodity. Cut out the high interest rates driven by speculative pressures. The cooperative housing model, by its very nature, requires a sense of community. When I lived in a condominium there was some sense of community among fellow condo board members and other owner-occupants. However, our sense of community and camaraderie was undercut by the fact that the majority of the complex transitioned to renters who shared none of the values and vested interest of owner-occupants. This coupled with the fact that blight and crime was overwhelming the neighborhood soured my experience.
Even in the single family, owner-occupied, suburban neighborhoods where there is a moderate sense of security and community, I had to spend upwards of 60% of my disposable income for the privilege of calling myself a “home owner”. Waving at neighbors and exchanging pleasantries has been the norm of suburban life but I never got the feeling of “all for one and one for all” that my ancestors fondly described in the neighborhoods of yesteryears. With increasingly hostile and polarizing political and cultural circles, there is reluctance to discuss any topic that runs deeper than the weather and road conditions. Nobody really wants to get too chummy with their neighbors fearing they might find out too much and bite off more than they can chew in terms of empathy. In life in general and suburbia in particular, we give lip service to the phrase “it takes a village” but deep down we are terrified of deep, long-term commitments and entanglements. The suburbs offer superficial friendliness but I crave a community where there exists a sense of solidarity, security and uniformity of purpose where I feel comfortable growing and contributing. Why can’t there be a housing complex or a neighborhood where “everybody knows your name” to paraphrase a line from the sitcom “Cheers”. Maybe the nostalgic sense of camaraderie in that show explains its popularity.
Alternative: Gated, secure, self-sufficient cooperative communities (also known as “intentional communities”).
I suggest that low income and working-class persons should be able to reside in gated, safe, self-sustaining cooperative communities just like their wealthy counterparts. Unlike the wealthy enclaves whose residents are clustered by reason of their wealth and social status, these low to moderate income cooperative communities could be grounded by common goals of safety, affordability and self-reliance. As I transition to what will probably be the last shelter in my life and as my kids launch their housing searches, I suggest this cooperative model as an appealing alternative to the traditional housing market rat race. There’s a reason they built castles in the Middle Ages, surrounded them with moats and created a self-sustaining community. Maybe it’s time for an updated castle with geo-thermal energy for heating/cooling needs and solar panels for energy independence. Sturdy and attractive fencing of the perimeter, video documentation throughout the site with a Welcome Station at the entrance manned by community volunteers on a 24/7 basis might create that sense of security and self-determination that everyone deep down desires. Within the community there could be a community garden contributing to both self-sufficiency and a sense of community. Cross-training of skills, sharing of tools and ideas and mutual support among the cooperative residents could coincide with the alternative paths to education and careers as previously described in the college debt, /college trap section of this blog.
Alternative: Modular Housing/Micro-Housing/Tiny Housing/Repurposed Housing (i.e, storage containers, etc.)
Imagine if single family suburban neighborhoods had sufficiently deep, large rear yards where one of the aforementioned housing types could be inserted. Understandably, there would still require site plan and design review requirements concerning health, safety, environmental and aesthetic considerations in accordance with local prerogatives and regulations. Advantages to this proposal include more money for the home owner generating a revenue stream while providing much needed housing without adversely impacting the front yard setbacks and without disturbing the pleasant single family suburban atmosphere. Downsizing families, empty-nesters, recent college graduates starting new jobs all might benefit from this scenario.
Alternative: Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU’s) either within the envelope of existing residence or discretely attached to existing residences.
The previously described policy concerning a discrete policy of creating additional and affordable housing also applies to ADU’s. Likewise, ADU’s offer financial advantages to empty-nesters seeking to downsize while not relocating from familiar surroundings and still maintaining their status as owner-occupants. Reconfiguring within existing structures, converting garages, adding dormers and bonus rooms or extending a wing to the structure could utilize existing infrastructure thereby reducing costs and minimizing alterations to the streetscape.
Credit Card/Debt Trap
Reviewing the thousands (yes..thousands) of cancelled checks I’ve accumulated over the years, it’s astounding how much has been spent on the financial treadmill. More depressing is the realization that the vast majority of expenditures were for necessities that included food, clothing, utilities, insurance, taxes, medical costs, day care, purchasing and maintaining vehicles just to name a few. None of these expenses generated capital for me or a retirement nest egg. Despite my frugal lifestyle, it’s only during the twilight years of my life that I can finally claim to be debt free. I daydream about how liberating and calming it could have been to experience a debt free lifestyle. The vexing question remains, how could this have been achieved?
Alternative: Pooling of resources, sharing of talents and adjusting lifestyle
What if I participated in a lending program similar to the way I checked books out of the library?
Rather than buying a riding lawn mower (which is only valuable half of the year and even during the summer it’s only used every couple of weeks), I could have participated in a lawnmower borrowing program paying a nominal participation fee and not worrying about storage and paying annual tune-ups. The same logic and scenario could apply to almost every other landscaping related expenditure (i.e. spreaders, weed whackers, tillers, ladders, etc.) and especially the big-ticket items. I’m ok with acquiring my own household tools and products that are low cost and frequently used (i.e., vacuum cleaners, mops, hammers, screwdrivers) but a lending library might have generated significant savings over my lifetime.
What if I had not tied up my money buying cars, paying interest on car loans, insurance costs, motor vehicle taxes and maintenance/repair costs?
With the advent of Uber, Lift and Zip Cars (Wheels-When-You-Need-Them on a reservation basis) and the Turo app (Airbnb for cars), just think about how much money could have been redirected to saving for retirement, building assets, purchasing property and gaining financial independence. Cars are a convenient luxury but consider the following: They are only useful for 1/3 of your life because you are not driving them when sleeping or when you’re at work. In todays constricted economy, you only use cars when running errands or engaging in planned trips. Long gone are the carefree days when you “just take rides”. With thoughtful scheduling and alternative means of transportation such as scooters, electric bikes and ride sharing, we can be weaned away from costly car ownership.
What if I lived in a self-sufficient, supportive cooperative community where I could avoid paying exorbitant amounts for daycare for my children thanks to an extended support network?
What if I had bought the majority of my clothes at secondary market sources such as Goodwill? I will concede that underwear and shoes are items that need to be bought brand new and it’s probably ok to splurge on one well-tailored suit but consider the savings buying on the secondary market for most other clothing needs. Additionally, consider the reduced carbon footprint and reduced environmental waste if a lifetime of items (clothes, household items, tools, etc.) were all purchased second hand or acquired on a loaned, exchanged basis.
What if the homes that I “owned” (actually the bank/mortgage lender owned them) were active investments rather that passive investments?
What if the garage was rented out for storage or used as a workshop?
What if a bedroom was rented out when the nest became empty?
What if two large trees located dangerously close to the rear of the house were removed and the wood was used for a wood burning stove in the chimney thereby providing a secondary source of heat. This would lower my heating bill while adding self-sufficiency providing an alternative heating source. Removal of the trees would reduce my insurance costs by eliminating that liability and possibly extend the life of my roof.
What if every backyard had a victory garden providing basic vegetables for the family and possibly some surplus to sell or barter with others? What if garden produce was canned to provide provisions through the winter months?
What if I only had one credit card and paid off the balance at the end of each month thereby beating the credit card cabal at their own usurious interest rate game? This actually describes me.
What if I did not buy Christmas gifts or other presents at holidays? Well, I might have to bend this rule a bit but money saved could have been spent travelling, building relationships, sharing memories and enriching every member of my family without acquiring “stuff” that only has to be donated or disposed of many years later.
All of these suggestions would require adjustments and re-thinking of spending habits. All require lifestyle choices in opposition to the American Dream brainwashing.
Wage Stagnation & Economic Inequity
Every one of my jobs had a honeymoon period (some longer than others). Even in companies where all employees were generally on the same page concerning the mission, there exists a natural tension between management and labor. Every work environment contains anxiety among workers who subconsciously know that layoffs and management changes lurk on the sidelines even in the best of working circumstances.
Alternative: Worker Cooperatives and ESOPs (Employee Stock Option Plans)
As with the prior discussion advocating cooperative housing, there exists a need for worker cooperatives with employees having a vested interest in their business and their futures. This could take the form of employees actually owning the company or having some sort of majority interest on the board of directors or it could be limited to allowing an ESOP (Employee Stock Option Plan). Whatever path is followed, there needs to be more “skin in the game” on behalf of employees. A greater sense of agency and self-determination results when residents in a housing cooperative or employees in a business are “all in”.
A major caveat concerning these proposals for cooperatives in housing, cooperatives in the workplace and mutual aid societies includes the elusive need to start the initiative with full blown uniformity. When I reflect on some persons I have worked with, persons I have lived with and communities I have been affiliated with, I shout a resounding “hell no” if I were to be forced into a cooperative relationship in the housing, business or community realm with some of them. In other words, everybody must start on the same page and continue to trust each other fully if the cooperative venture is to succeed. This is easier said than done. In retrospect, I’m finding it difficult to envision this level of unity in all the housing, work and community settings I have experienced. I’ve worked with and lived with some wonderful persons. However, every workplace has its share of “lazy bees among the worker bees” and “show horses among the work horses”. Every housing and neighborhood have its share of knuckleheads. Every organization has its cantankerous, untrustworthy members. My daydreams include a bringing together of the best individuals in a synergistic relationship where there is a unity of purpose and supportive, nurturing environment. I’ve had fleeting moments of “oneness” in various circumstances whether that was schools I attended, places where I lived, places where I worked and organizations I joined. I hold out hope of finding that elusive sense of unity as an alternative to the dog-eat-dog, divide and conquer, Hunger Games mentality propagated by the top 10% of our society to keep the other 90% busy chasing their tail.
Alternatives proposed in this blog require collaboration among participants. There also needs to be allowance for participants to enter and exit relationships as needs, interests and passions change.
The biggest challenge to implementing ALTERNATIVES to the American Dream (aka Nightmare) is to break the indoctrination that it’s attainable and it’s the only path to success. Creating viable alternatives is challenging but it’s worth the effort if we hope to forestall the demise of the working-class and middle-class.
As always, feedback and comments are encouraged. More of my observations and recommendations can be found in my bogs on www.dunnwriteswell.com and in my novel titled Mall Child.
Dunn Writes Well 