Comparing images from the depression and recession

                                                                                   

   The Great Depression of 1930 was a result of international debt to Europe, increasing tariffs on imports and exports and most notably the Wall Street Crash. As a result huge amounts of people were made redundant whilst the bank systems failed and many were forced to close. This first image is a newspaper article from thanksgiving 1930. Nowadays the average price for Thangskiving will cost $49.50 for a Texas family of 10. In 1930, $5.50 was enough of a struggle for people in America to afford, equivalent to $71.20 according to the Bureau of inflation statistics. This highlights the perilous position people were in at the time, as although food is selling for its least amount since the war, it is still a real struggle for many to even afford this. 

This next image that I have chosen to use is describing the recent Great Depression that affected so many countries. The image above a caption saying "Its bigger than the election and Olympics put together:its our non-stop coverage of recession 2008. It talks about how everything from the dollar to your net worth to hope has all decreased. In contrast fear and anxiety have risen. The constant coverage of the recession would obviously help to create an increased sense of these emotions. It even says that "markets plunge on media reports that markets plunge" giving us the sense that everything is bad in this situation and that even the things that are not subject to market conjecture and faltering. It firms the point that their is not one sector left untouched my the recession.

In comparison, clearly one was worse than the other, in the world we live in today there are for more opportunities than there were in 1930, so a recession then is likely to have a much more destructive impact. Similarity companies did not have the finical muscle back then to survive such situation in the same way that they do now. Ford Motors was a company hugely threatened by the depression in 1930, in 2008 the recession really did not affect it at all in the same way. The one clear premise one can take from both images in relation to the "American Dream" is that it can be gone in a blink of an eye. You can work so hard to achieve wealth, happiness etc, however this can be taken away instantly, something that had happened all to often during 1930 and 2008. You can almost argue that these images are satirical of this concept. That Americans in the land where opportunity is rife can be struggling to pay $5.50 for thanksgiving is farcical. It stresses the issue that no matter your situation, the "American Dream" is as susceptible to destruction as we the people are.

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My image portrays a demonstration by a group of unemployed men in the 1930s. From the picture you can see that there is a wide range of jobless men who can work various trades. This includes: Firemen, painters, labourers and cooks, which implicates that the great depression of the 1930’s did affect everyone. Most people were affected during this crisis, with many people becoming unemployed, homeless and some on the urge of starvation, especially those in less urban places. Focusing on the urban areas of the 1930s, the cities became a lot more populated with the idea that people living in more rural areas would be able to seek more employability by moving. This made the population denser and therefore there was a lot more competition. John Steinbeck, wrote in an 1936 article that “thousands… [were] destitute and hungry and homeless, ready to accept any pay so that they may eat and feed their children.” People were completely desperate.

My next image portrays the more recent recession of that in 2008.  It is a more comical picture in comparison to my first. It portrays the idea that some people did benefit from this Great Recession, however it is easy to see the contrast between those who were successful and those who were not. The Great Recession saw a huge economic decline and is noted to be the worst since the Great Depression. In 2008 and 2009, the U.S. labour market lost 8.4 million jobs, (6.1% of all pay roll employment).

Interestingly, when looking at these two images, it shows people being put into vulnerable positions due to a money shortage. America is known as the land of opportunity, where anyone with a dream can be seen to thrive. However, realistically, we know that this isn’t always the case. There are a lot of aspects of which are needed in order to achieve. To me, these images show America as weak, and contradict this idea of the “America Dream”. Despite these images nearly being eighty years apart, it indicates that there are still flaws in America.

Urban America

From 1930's america to today the urban sections of america  have changed vastly.
Traditional views that the poor sticks with the poor, in the poor areas while the rich stick with the rich in the wealthy areas both creating their own communities with what they could afford and, in the case of the poorer families, a strong sense of community and  the importance of survival even though they lived in terrible cramped conditions that most of them would never escape. By the 21st Century this reality is largely dead however; in America's individualized culture collective efforts to keep poor people in a single house in probably the best living conditions that they could have hoped for, are a thing of a past. It is every man for himself now on the streets and hidden in the back alleys.
 with more homeless people around everyday lives if civilians as the modern picture suggests, this should make poverty in modern day urban America easier to spot because the poor live among the rich and privileged, only not in the same conditions. People living on the streets in ht numbers that they do  have however lead to (wealthy) people managing to condition themselves to ignore the issue that is staring them so blatantly in the face, which unlike the 30's where the problem was confined to poor areas so much more so and the government did more to directly benefit the poverty stricken than they do currently. the issue is that when the poor were grouped together it was easy to see how many of them there were all at once; action needs to be taken and its clear where to focus. When the homeless and poor are spread out among the cities and rich people its easy to ignore, a single homeless man would hardly affect most people, because they simply can't see the scale of the problem that they are involuntarily encountering and its difficult for the media to judge and report on it.
In both images it shows the utter fail of the american dream, as I don't think its possible for people to be so lazy that they cant even feed themselves and so these people are poor because of circumstance and rotten luck  and none of it had anything to do with how hard they worked or how much they sought after their dreams.

Urban America- Great Depression/Great Recession comparison

This photo shows the building of a shack being built in New York during the Great Depression. Considering the term 'American Dream' was first coined at a similar time to when this photo was taken, it is surprising that there was still such a belief in the supposed American Dream, given that thousands of people were living in 'homes' such as that in the photo- Hoovervilles- due to the Wall Street Crash, and the collapse of the stock market. However, the fact that these types of homes were being built in such circumstances, shows that there may have still been hope within the American community. Hope that there were still opportunities for the jobless in the US, perhaps why so many people continued living in, or moved to New York in search of work. 

This image of a tent village in a US city, that was suffering economically due to the recession of 2008. Some viewed this recession as the 'Greater Depression'. And it is easy to see why with images such as this, which show the deprivation that many people suffered, as a result of the collapse of many banks. Millions of people were left jobless, subsequently unable to afford to keep their houses. 

Despite the 80 year time difference, these images both show similar situations, and both question the notion that America is the land of opportunities, and just how realistic the American Dream is. Supposedly, the American Dream is about how happy someone is with what they have achieved, though is it clear from these images just how important material possessions are, in relation to someone's happiness and success, showing that the ideology of the American Dream is flawed.

Comparing Images of Urban America

This first image is of a line for a food bank in California in 2009, a year after the Great Recession hit America. This image portrays the massive impact of the banks collapsing, meaning that the economy fell and many people lost their jobs, leading to families not being able to afford food. With unemployment up to 10% in 2009, it is a real indicator as to how severe the US was
economically hit by the crisis.


This second image is of a line for an employment agency in New York in 1937, a few years after the Wall Street Crash. The fight for any job in the city was a difficult one, being that 19% of America were unemployed and were so badly effected by the Crash.  It shows the desperation that people in the city felt and how important a job meant to them as it was a path to any sort of prosperity.

Comparatively, both these images, even being about 70 years apart, give an insight into the holes of the 'American Dream'. They show that there are limits to the opportunities that are available in America, and even in the US, it can be affected badly economically. These images make people critical of the 'land of opportunity' and questions whether moving or living there would give you any more of an opportunity of prosperity than if you lived anywhere in Europe. Both of these photos show how America has let the people down and that they have to revert to desperate measures just to survive. It must be pointed out however, that the photo taken in 2009 makes the situation of the American citizens look worse than in the photo from the 1930's. This is interesting as the Great Depression was far worse than the Great Recession as there was higher unemployment and there was hardly any welfare to help them at the time.


 

The American Dream

This is a map showing the influx of people into America from different countries. Just from this image alone, it is clear that the "American Dream" still exists. This concept is no myth. People travel from far and wide in order to follow in the footsteps of others who have prospered from the tit provided by the United States of America. This is not to say that it is easy, hard work is required, but it is also key to be in the right place at the right time.. A certain luck and pluck as it is historically referred to as.



http://www.businessinsider.com/american-dream-immigrants-made-a-fortune-in-the-us-2014-2?op=1&IR=T 

This article outlines 12 foreigners who have come from Rags to Riches, a similar concept provided in the book Ragged Dick. The founders of huge companies such as Yahoo, Google, Whatsapp and Forever 21, all immigrants who's family came to America in search of a better life. What a decision that turned out to be. Ragged Dick also put forward the idea that sacrifices must be taken in order to gain success. Dick's sacrifice comes in the form of helping others before helping himself, this is huge personal sacrifice, that eventually pays of for him. In the same way these figures sacrificed to get ahead, Sergey Brin, the co founder of Google dropped out of Stamford University. This image of how to gain success was suggested in Ragged Dick and is constantly being implemented by millions on a day to day basis.


Whereas books like Ragged Dick are more applicable to those born in the United States and books such as Double Luck: Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan are more applicable to foreigners. Both uphold very similar ideals, that hard work and the correct behaviour take you places that laziness and rudeness will generally not.                                               


Is this American dream still entainable today? I personally believe so, their is so much innovation left for the world to experience. History dictates that it does not matter what type of background you may come from, it is still possible to be a success in life. So many entrepeneurs starting with nothing but a mere idea, hard work and luck can cause that idea to blossom in a huge enterprise worth millions, just ask Starbucks' Howard Schulz. He has a story not to dissimilar to Ragged Dick, he infact lived in a housing complex for the poor, now he has a net worth of 2 Billion. As if the American dream is dead.....

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Business Insider Article

I believe that the American Dream is still in existence, however not all are successful in making it. Although it is interesting to debate what ‘it’ is. To many having a disposable income is making it, but interestingly, can some people be living this American Dream through happiness. My article presents twelve immigrants who have ‘made a fortune in’ America. Interestingly, it refers to their income and not necessarily their ‘dreams.’ It is definite that the rich do get richer, however, not everyone who is currently rich started off rich. People like Ralph Lauren, who now has a net worth of 7.7 billion (2013), to begin with dropped out of college to join the army. The article includes stories of: Sergey Brin (co-founder of Google), Andy Grove (co-founder of Intel Corporation), Jan Koum (co-founder of WhatsApp), Jerry Yang (founder of Yahoo) and Do Won Chang, (co-founder and CEO of Forever 21).

The article states, ‘13% of the U.S. population is foreign born, for a total of more than 40 million people’. This very much reflects the time that Ragged Dick was living in, where people from all over the globe fled to America to be a success of this idea. Most of these people had the same kind of lifestyle like Dick did. They came from poor backgrounds where their parents didn’t have much money to live off. In contrast to Dick, most seemed to be in the position to gain an education, although some did drop out. In addition to this, many were rather lucky and the opportunities provided to them were successful, unlike many. Andy Grove’s story can be one to relate very much to Ragged Dick. He arrived in America with little money like a lot of European’s and had to work hard to survive. He was fortunate enough to get an education, although worked as a busboy whilst doing this. Where as he was not as good as English, he thrived in other subjects such as Chemistry. Although he made his living in California State and not New York, he was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Much like Dick with the little boy who gets knocked overboard. Here, he became the company’s chairman and CEO of Intel Corporation. He is currently helping it towards becoming a billion-dollar company and is one of the most important drivers of the information economy. Forbes estimates that he is worth $400 million.

To conclude, I believe that the tools of becoming a part of this ‘American Dream’ are still how Horatio Alger Jr. describes in Ragged Dick. As the article writes, the key attributes are of ‘determination, grit and a bit of luck’ in order to achieve this success. Interestingly, eleven out of the twelve people who have been picked for this article are male. Which linking to Ragged Dick, implies that women are still being treated unequally, mirroring the widower and the little girl characters from the narrative.

The American Dream

This song I feel is a positive representation of the american dream despite the lyrics 'what ever happened to the american dream' and 'cause jack left Dianne 30 years ago'. This song expresses the changing nature and flexibility of the American Dream, which inadvertently shows its lasting nature. In our world, as much as we'd like to imagine, nothing stays the same way for long, opinions change, feelings change, economic climates, fashion, architecture, race relations, music, art even the way that people talk change all the time, Nothing man made with out flexibility can continually function in our world even an idea. The american dream is no different.
From simple times when all people wanted to succeed in life was a functioning farm and children to care for them when they got older, the american dream evolved with the world to be a decent job for males in the city with a wife at home to take care of the children in the 50's to what it is today where all genders have dreams and careers of varying natures and not all of them want children or even marriage, the american dream facilitates them in succeeding in their paths and making it 'big time'
In the video we can see five different people (aside from the artists) all from different walks of life, almost all from different ethnicity's each perusing their own dreams, all of which are less often pursued careers, its evident all of the people in this video (Artists included probably) are living and/or working on their dream and doing well to overcome the challenges they have or are facing. For example the first challenge they faced was probably their families telling them to 'do something [normal] with your life' (i.e get a normal job in an office and have a family, the traditional dream Alger's dream) as mentioned at the beginning of the song. The song later includes lyrics like 'we don't want two kids and a wife' and 'say goodbye to the white picket fences' which has the through movement from the traditional dream to the modern one(s)
At the end of each chorus the song says 'so tell me whatever happened to the american dream?' talking about the traditional american dream as depicted in Ragged Dick, the idea that anyone can make it in the only way possible (by getting a normal job and then a house (or a room in Dicks case)and eventually I'm sure Dick would have found a wife and had children then been living the true american dream however we only see him when he is young and thus no marriage takes place in the book.)
the answer to this question of what happened to Alger's American dream truly is 'it evolved' and that is the beauty of the American dream and what the song depicts hence this is why I think it is such an excellent example of the american dream in the modern day.

The American Dream

10 Business Icons Who Have Lived The American Dream

This website shows examples of 10 business people in America who are living the supposed 'American Dream'. These people are as follows: Sergey Brin, Ursula Burns, Oprah Winfrey, John Paul Dejoria, Guy Laliberte, Don Thompson, Kirk Kerkorian, Larry Ellison, Sean 'Diddy' Combs and Chris Gardner. Not all of the people listed come from poverty, some having been brought up in quite respectable households. All the people focused upon in this article come from quite different backgrounds, but the main aim of this article is to show people that the American Dream is still very much attainable. However the thing they all have in common is that they are all self-made million and some billionaires. 

The beginning of the article states that 59% of Americans 'say it will be "somewhat" or "much" harder for their children' to live the American Dream. Showing that the belief in the American Dream is not nationwide in America. This could be because of the aspect of luck that is involved in self-success. For instance, in Ragged Dick many of the opportunities Dick is given are situations of coincidence and luck, and this luck is what is realistically needed for anyone to feel as though they have achieved the American Dream. 

The stories of success from Oprah Winfrey and Ursula Burns in my opinion are the one's that are most relatable to the story of success in Ragged Dick. Both Oprah and Ursula come from difficult backgrounds, of poverty and discrimination, and were both raised by single mothers. Both these women overcame the obstacles that their family situations put them in, and used their education to advance in life. Similar to Ragged Dick, Oprah and Ursula understood the importance of education to better their lives, and through this they were able to complete their school educations, and for Ursula, her degree in mechanical engineering, and both became hugely successful African-American women. 

Another aspect of this article that confirms that the American Dream is still very much alive is the number of people stated in this article who, themselves, or their families moved to America, in pursuit of a better life. One key example of this is Sergey Brin, who was born in Soviet Russia, and emigrated to the US with his family due to the Soviet Union being in economic decline at the time. From this, it is evident that there is still a global belief that the USA is the land of opportunities. However, the success of Sergey Brin as the co-founder of Google, can be seen to negate the way in which Alger creates Dick to be successful as Brin dropped out of university to create Google with a friend, and this was a huge risk for him, and it can be seen as mere luck that Google went on to be a global corporation and hugely successful. Though it does affirm the ideology of the American Dream as through hard work and perseverance Sergey Brin has achieved wealth and global success. 

Contemporary Example of the 'American Dream'

The contemporary source is an article called '10 people living the American Dream' from the online magazine 'The Street': http://www.thestreet.com/story/11173382/1/10-people-living-the-american-dream.html

The idea behind the article, is that it give examples of celebrities and wealthy people "whose poor, mundane or troubled pasta didn't hold them back from becoming American success stories". It is trying to show that anyone, who has a dream and the drive to get it, can achieve anything and that the right attitude is key to success, as promoted in Ragged Dick.

The 10 people the article look at is John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Oprah Winfrey, Ursula Burns, John Paul Dejoria, Jay-Z, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Oher, Chris Gardner and Tyler Perry. As you can see they range from film stars to sports stars, so the article is trying to give an overall view of all different pathways to fame, fortune and a better life.

A central theme running through the cases studies written in the article, is that a main part of these peoples success, as well as the right attitude, is the opportunities that they were either given or earned to get to where they are today. This is similar to Ragged Dick as Alger promotes the idea of taking every opportunity that is given to you which could make you go further in life. However, it seems that these opportunities are ones that may happen once in a lifetime, meaning that their success can said to be that of luck. Again, this relates to Ragged Dick as it seems like the events and opportunities that he was exposed to during his adventures are those of coincidences and luck. This could suggest that even if you do work hard for your dreams, it seems like having a 'lucky break' is what sets apart the every day to the super rich and famous.

Another theme in the article is that of these celebrities coming from a poor or dysfunctional background and childhood. It focuses on the fact that they were at a disadvantage as a child, but fought through their hardships to come out on top. This was either through having a talent or having the right genius idea, but then went forward and used that to their advantage to move up in life. This message is put forward by Alger also as he shows Ragged Dick coming from the worst background imaginable; being orphaned from 7, having to live on the streets and having to shine shoes to earn money, but then using the opportunities that present themselves to him and the perseverance to pursue an education which then lead him to bigger and better things. As the book ends on him getting a job that pays $10 a week, it is hard to say whether his life leads him to even better things, but it is assumed that he does as he already has the right attitude to get him there.

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There is a lot of debate in the United States about whether guns should be legal or not. However, it is hard to ignore the fact that there seems to be an importance of guns in American life. Whether this is down to America having a violent History or events such as settlement or slavery, many opinions have not altered over the almost worrying concern for increase of gun crimes.

Pro gun control – http://gunowners.org

There are many pro gun control websites found on the Internet. Many American use their main arguments of gun ownership, of it providing protection for one another and of course, it being on the second amendment. Looking at figures, statistics show that gun use for hunting has declined (2013, three in ten people wanted to use guns for hunting in comparison to 49 per cent of population in 1999.) Looking at the ‘Gun Owners of America’ it is interesting to see guns almost implying a sense of community. There is merchandise available and memberships available in order to try and appeal to audiences. On the front page of their website, interestingly it states “tools to defend your rights.” Interestingly, it talks about politics a lot and seems to keep up to date with what it going on. In addition to this, there are no statistics on gun kill and suicide; all of its stores are forms of when gun helped protect someone in a bad situation.

Anti gun-control - http://theprogressivecynic.com/debunking-right-wing-talking-points/refuting-gun-enthusiasts-anti-gun-control-arguments/

Likewise, there are many websites found on the Internet, which are against gun possession. Interestingly as a majority Americans are in favour of gun ownership due to it being part of their rights – James Q Wilson in his article for the LA Times, brings up an interesting point on politicians not wanting to change laws due to it leading to less support from followers. This article, in comparison, has a lot of statistics to back up the idea of gun possession being a bad idea. Currently in America there are 88 guns for every 100 people, but that is not counting for the illegal weapons of which the government could not begin to account for.

In my opinion, gun ownership will never be illegal in America, simply due to the fact it is what makes their country unique. America has had simply astonishing statistics to prove that gun possession is a bad thing, however if it hasn’t been stopped now, it won’t ever be stopped. I do believe that they should be looking at taking more precautions with selling weapons, for example back up checks and looking at the stability of the person wanting to sell drugs. As well as gun crime, there are a majority of people who use this freedom to take their own lives.

Comparison of Pro and Anti

Pro Gun Control- http://www.bradycampaign.org/
Anti Gun Control- http://www.wagc.com/ (Women Against Gun Control)

This is an issue that is increasing in importance day after day in America. Statistics state that over 30,000 are killed by firearms each year in the USA, 1/3 of them are under the age of 20, and is the primary cause of death amongst African-Americans. Not only are countless numbers of lives being taken but they are usually the young population that are dying far to quickly. Not only does this cite gun control as a clear problem but also delinquency amongst teens aswell which is also rife in the States. 

The Brady Campaign is a website to promote the control of guns. What is important to point out is that they are not clamouring to disallow guns on a whole scale they are taking a different approach. They talk about not wanting to take away anyone Second Amendment Right which is a huge source of debate in America. They also say that Policies such as “universal background checks” on all gun sales would keep guns out of the hands of felons, domestic abusers, the dangerously mentally ill and other illegal purchasers and in doing so prevent the unlawful and preventable killing of innocent people. 

In clear contrast to this when we take the view of the Women against gun control website, the views are slightly different. If you read the women's pledge on guns it is farcical  to the fullest, one of the things that they pledge is that "you don't believe that guns cause crimes". As they say denial isn't just a river in Egypt as events laden throughout the USA past would suggest that this is not true. On the website they also send a message to politicians, particularly females ones. The website carries with the theme "We do not support gun control" and "teach politicians some manners" "the second right amendment is equal rights amendment" these are some outrageous statements, particularly the last two and highlights their feeling on gun control perfectly. It seems to suggest that democratic politicians are being discourteous for wanting to implement gun control measures to prevents the killing of innocent people

To conclude, I don't even think its necessary to state which one I agree with. All I will do is point to the story of Trayvon Martin who lost his life because one man hadn't lost his right to own a gun.