Keep dreaming

Four out of ten people report that they live paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent survey. About one-third of those questioned said that they aren't making enough to live comfortably. Now, setting aside the fact that I am suspect of how some people, in our overindulgent age, define "comfortably," there are a significant number of people in America who legitimately do not have the basics of food, shelter, heat and healthcare. Most of those people probably did not participate in that survey because they don't have a computer and don't have the time to go to the public library to get online because they are busy trying to survive.

That is the US in the 21st century. Hungry children, shivering elderly, people working multiple jobs and still avoiding the hospital because they can't pay. These people don't have time to think about reaching the American dream. They just want to reach next week and next year.

Not everybody, of course, but a significant number. That is the US today, the wealthiest, most powerful nation the world has ever know. That is what capitalism does.