The American Dream

[Towntalk]

His biography can be found in J. G. Butler's History of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, Ohio – Vol. 2 pgs 151-152.

[Rick Rowlands]

The inventor of our Kling type hot metal car, Fred Kling, emigrated from Germany in 1902 and within a few years was in charge of engineering at the Ohio Works and in the teens designed the layout of the McDonald Works.  He also held numerous patents.  When I entertain visitors at the Tod Engine Heritage Park I tell the story of Fred Kling, an example of the American Dream at its finest!

[Towntalk]

Good observation Rick. If you sift through Butler's book Volume 2 and 3 you'd be amazed at the number of immigrants who came here and made good without wealth. The Warner Brothers are a good example.

[Rick Rowlands]

The American Dream is all about attitude. A great number of Americans are now firmly entrenched with the entitlement mentality. You can notice it in our youth. They want nice cars, fancy cell phones, high paying jobs and a nice place to live, but instead of realizing that they will have to work a long time to afford that stuff they instead want it NOW. 

I wonder if recent immigrants were asked the same question what the results would be.  Since it seems that a lot of the small business growth that we see is driven by immigrants, I will bet that they have not given up on the American Dream.  If a musim immigrant can come to this country, open a gas station and be successful in the post 9/11 era, why cannot a native born American do the same in greater numbers?  Is it because of the entitlement mentality?  Are Americans no longer willing to do what it takes and embrace delayed gratification the same way that immigrants do? 

I think back to the recent post by whytown about the man and his tax refund stereo. People like that are not intellectually mature enough to even comprehend the notion of the American Dream, so of course they would think that it does not exist. 

The entitlement mentality is killing America!

[Towntalk]

Is the American dream over?

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=11662904

Take a look at the poll questions.