Anya Kamenetz Generation Debt

A recent "USA Today" poll showed that, given the worsening economy, high prices for energy, and the housing crisis, Americans are more pessimistic about their lives than at any time in the past half-century. Most worrisome is that just 45 percent believe their children will be better off financially than they are, which caused reporter David Lynch to ask if the American Dream was, if not dead, then at least wounded.

I've been asking the same question since I started writing the original Generation Debt series for "The Village Voice" back in 2004. Back then the economy was booming, but the long-term data were already clear -- young men were earning significantly less than their fathers had 30 years ago (given inflation); young women were barely making progress on the gains in the workforce that their mothers had worked so hard for; and both were saddled with record prices for housing, health care, and education, as well as rising student loan and credit card debt.

Well, now I think it's time to take a fresh look at the issue. Maybe the American Dream is dead or wounded -- or maybe it's just outdated.

Perhaps the strongest symbol of the traditional American Dream is the single-family home in an automobile-dependent suburb. Today, in many places, those houses are unaffordable for the middle class.

With gas prices soaring to an average above four dollars a gallon, the car commute is unaffordable, too -- and no one is expecting gas to come back down to the 99-cent range anytime soon.

Furthermore, even if house prices continue to decline and cars get more fuel-efficient, it turns out that the driving commute itself cuts into people's happiness -- so much so, one pair of researchers found, that someone commuting an hour each way would have to earn 40 percent more to compensate for the decreased quality of life.

Another piece of the American Dream that we're saying goodbye to is lifetime employment with a single corporation that offers health care, a pension, and a gold watch upon retirement. Manufacturing has moved overseas, and large corporations simply don't operate like that anymore.

For high-school educated workers, the middle class job is all but kaput. GM was the largest employer in the country in 1970, with an average wage of $17.50 an hour. Today GM is all but bankrupt, and Wal-Mart is the nation's largest employer, with an average wage of $9 an hour.

But what about the most fundamental assumption of the American Dream, the idea that standards of living, as measured by money and ownership of material things, ought to keep rising steadily year after year, generation after generation? That one is looking to be on the shakiest ground of all.

First of all, by most measures, our country has long since passed the point where adding more income and more stuff will make us happier. Once a nation has a per capita income above $12,000, for example, there is little correlation between wealth and happiness.

And in the U.S., researcher Daniel Gilbert found, once an individual passes $50,000 a year in income, more money has little effect on his or her happiness on average.

In fact, not surprisingly, the top earners have far less free time than the poorest fifth of Americans, and their average mood is not much better.

Secondly, indications are mounting that the planet just can't take all this constantly increasing driving and shopping and fast-food eating. If the entire world consumed the way Americans do (China and India are the most obvious examples of countries headed in this direction), we would need six Earths full of resources.

So for those of you who, like me, hope to be living another 60, 70, or 80 years in this unique nation, it might be time to ask: What is our new American Dream? If it's not a house, a car, a lawn, a lifetime of job security, and a constantly rising standard of living, what are we looking for? What should we be looking for?

I don't have the definitive answer. But I have three suggestions and observations.

Young people prize flexibility with their time. More likely to be raised by working mothers than any generation in history, we've seen the tradeoffs and don't want to fall into the "two-income trap" where both partners work more and more hours, barely seeing each other or their kids, just to keep up with the Joneses.

Both young men and young women say over and over in employment surveys that they want time to take care of their families and their health, to be involved in their communities, and to "have a life."

As we weather this economic downturn, I predict that even more young people are going to choose -- or be pushed into -- a smaller-scale, downshifted lifestyle where they make do with less stuff and trade more money for more time.

People are already planting more gardens, driving less and riding their bikes or public transportation more, canceling their cable subscriptions, and spending more time at home. This is a perfect example of making a virtue out of necessity -- all these changes save money, but they also mean a slower, healthier lifestyle that for some is its own reward.

There are even reports in the media of young families going to the extreme with the trend of taking out a "Selling All Worldly Possessions" ad on Craigslist and taking to the road.

Money and security are important, but research says young people really want meaning in their jobs, too.

This includes finding a personal passion and getting a chance to do something important for the world.

One employment trend that attracts young people is self-employment and entrepreneurship. This ties in to our interest in individuality and flexibility. Nearly a fifth of the workforce can be classified as non-standard in some way, and non-standard workers are twice as likely to be under 25.

Going out on your own has its tradeoffs. This part of the workforce faces greater risk, and under our current laws, they have inadequate access to benefits such as health care and nondiscrimination protection. Yet it turns out many independent workers are more satisfied with their jobs than salaried employees at an equivalent level. That's in large part because autonomy is a major key to job satisfaction.

A second popular direction for young people seeking meaning in their employment is in public service. Teach for America, where college graduates go into underserved public schools for two years, is a top entry-level employer at many elite colleges.

And last year's College Cost Reduction and Access Act established a slew of new student loan forgiveness programs for young people who go into professions including social work, nursing, law enforcement, and firefighting, which should entice even more young people into these lines of work.

And they may well find satisfaction there. In one huge employer survey, the three job categories where employees were most likely to say they had their "Dream jobs" were, in order, teacher, police officer, and firefighter.

This part is more political than personal. The old American Dream included a social safety net that provided a baseline of security. As noted, this is no longer being provided adequately by employers or the government.

Young people are the largest and fastest-growing group of Americans without health insurance, we lack access to pension plans, and the future of programs like Social Security and Medicare is threatened by current budget positions. Young Americans in polls hold a more favorable view of government solutions than older Americans, and we are calling for new government investments in portable, flexible benefits that will restore the social safety net while controlling rising costs.

These are scary times. But after Hurricane Katrina hit my hometown of New Orleans, I learned from the courage of people struggling to rebuild. I saw that pessimism is a luxury for easy times, while optimism is a necessity for times like these. The new American Dream may be smaller and less flashy than your father's Oldsmobile, but it's more sustainable -- and maybe it can take us farther.