by Roxanne Cottell

Created on: May 29, 2008

"The American Dream."

Wow. What a marketing ploy, huh? What exactly is the "American Dream" anymore? A generation ago it was to graduate out of high school, go to college, earn a degree, get a job and a life, find your life partner, buy a house, have some kids, be a happy and productive part of civilized society.

If ever there were a concept that were more a crock of bat guano than that, it has yet to be discovered, because the above described scenario happens, but it does not happen all that often anymore. Don't get me wrong, everyone who is anyone in marketing, public relations, whose job is to sell a concept and not a thing, willingly will tell the buying public that this is still possible. OK- it is still possible, but to whom? Take it from someone who has bought into the idea that you go to college, you get a job, a life, buy a house, after you marry, of course, have a small herd of kids, and life is wonderful.

This is only possible for those who were born into money, have perfect credit, are not on some sort of prescription medication for depression, and who also graduated from college. It is very seldom that the regular person who has chosen to forgo someone else's conveniently packaged idea of the perfect and average American Dram can realize this. This is not only an opinion, but if you look around you and at the current situation, not just with the mortgage and housing industries, but also the job market, and if you take a look at salaries versus cost of living, it is obvious to even the dullards of society to see that the old version of the American Dream is only available to those who are not in debt up to their eyeballs, who make better than 75K yearly without the help of a working spouse, who do not have a child, let alone a few children to take care of, and who are not already so jaded about it all that they care just a tiny little bit.

Hello. My name is Roxanne, and I am part of the collision that happens after Wall Street and the banking industries have an even bigger party after the rest of the thinking world has gone completely crazy, obtained loans that they would not be able to afford regardless if it were due to an overpriced ARM loan or job loss or medical problem, and went on through life with the thoughts in our heads that somehow, some way, we would all make it out of it unscathed, homes still over our heads, job still in place, life still intact.

I am now a statistic, and I voluntarily became one about three years ago, believing that

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