Free Essays on The American Dream

What is the American Dream? Is the American Dream still achievable? What is an opportunity and how can we plan for it? The questions remain. Everyone’s dream is to own their own business and to be their own manager. Proper steps and timing must be used in order to reach this so called â€Å"American dream†. However, it is the steps that deter people from achieving their dream. Opportunity is only available for people that desire to achieve. We live in a market economy. A "market" is a place where goods are bought and sold. This also means that the market or marketplace is the possibility of sale. Goods "find a market.† If you have a product, eventually you will find a place in the market where it can be most profitable. There is also a market for services. Services can be bought and sold the same way that commodities are bought and sold. Whether it be a service or a commodity, if there is a demand for it the product and/or commodity will be sold. Markets are opened to those who want to sell their product or commodity. Markets are also available for the convenience of those looking to purchase a particular product or service. The market represents an opportunity for all, buyers, and sellers. A market economy works on market â€Å"pressures† that develop for different commodities. These â€Å"pressures† are defined as an offering of the product, the choice of whether or not the product or service should be bought and time constrai nts. As business owners glimpse the future, decisions are made on the basis of the following factors: (1) Profit (2) Capital Investments (3) Production results. The owner of the business will review what profit has been made from their production and what losses they have incurred through that process. After reviewing the results of the profit margin, the owner must make decisions to increase volume. This process usually involves hiring more people, buying more materials, and often bidding up their prices... Free Essays on The American Dream Free Essays on The American Dream In 1852 when John Henry Newman wrote his essay, â€Å"The Idea of a University,† he wanted to convey that a University’s purpose was to be able to educate first-rate members of the social order. Newman’s theory, although over a hundred years old, still applies to today’s college students; many are seeking higher educations to not only lead to successful careers, but to also become an improved person in society. In a time when human endeavor was being redesigned, as industries, philosophies, and sciences were growing and affecting the world, Newman wrote an essay explaining the ideas and goals for seeking a liberal arts education. He states in his thesis that the function of such education, â€Å"is that of training good members of society† (Newman, 1852). Now two questions come to mind about the definition of, â€Å"training,† which Newman proposed. Is it preparation for someone to obtain a lucrative profession? On the other hand, is it guidance for someone to develop into an impacting member in the social community? Newman suggests both. He writes, â€Å"It is the education which gives a man a clear conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, and an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urge them. It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of though, to detect what is sophistical, and to discard what is irrelevant. It prepares him to fill any post with credit, and to master any subject with facility.† (Newman, 1852). Thus defining a student who has received his degree and is ready to enter a professional field of work, as not only being prepared to perform the work, but also to carry it out at a higher level than expectation s were set to. He is a man well, â€Å"trained,† to overcome any job related obstacles he may encounter. â€Å"He is at home in any society, he has common ground with every class; he is able to listen; he can ask a ... Free Essays on The American Dream What is the American Dream? Is the American Dream still achievable? What is an opportunity and how can we plan for it? The questions remain. Everyone’s dream is to own their own business and to be their own manager. Proper steps and timing must be used in order to reach this so called â€Å"American dream†. However, it is the steps that deter people from achieving their dream. Opportunity is only available for people that desire to achieve. We live in a market economy. A "market" is a place where goods are bought and sold. This also means that the market or marketplace is the possibility of sale. Goods "find a market.† If you have a product, eventually you will find a place in the market where it can be most profitable. There is also a market for services. Services can be bought and sold the same way that commodities are bought and sold. Whether it be a service or a commodity, if there is a demand for it the product and/or commodity will be sold. Markets are opened to those who want to sell their product or commodity. Markets are also available for the convenience of those looking to purchase a particular product or service. The market represents an opportunity for all, buyers, and sellers. A market economy works on market â€Å"pressures† that develop for different commodities. These â€Å"pressures† are defined as an offering of the product, the choice of whether or not the product or service should be bought and time constrai nts. As business owners glimpse the future, decisions are made on the basis of the following factors: (1) Profit (2) Capital Investments (3) Production results. The owner of the business will review what profit has been made from their production and what losses they have incurred through that process. After reviewing the results of the profit margin, the owner must make decisions to increase volume. This process usually involves hiring more people, buying more materials, and often bidding up their prices... Free Essays on The American Dream Throughout the history of our country, the United States of America has often been referred to as the â€Å"land of opportunity.† Though in some situations this may have been the case, for most Americans, especially in the nineteenth century, every day life was an ongoing struggle. Due to several factors, the US had a hard time living up to the expectations of its citizens. The citizens who faced the greatest hardships in this country were immigrants from around the world. Immigrants expected to come to America and find streets paved with gold. They thought that all they would have to do in order to achieve their fortune was chip a piece of gold off the street. In reality, they found obstacles not so dissimilar to those from which they were seeking asylum. Often they could not find employment as easily as the American born citizens. Those who did find work were forced to work long days at a minimal salary. In the book America Firsthand, there is an account written by a woman who migrated from Poland when she was a child. She worked in a Cigar shop in Cleveland, Ohio for nominal pay. The conditions in this were terrible and can easily be referred to as a â€Å"sweat-shop.† The children working in the shop were worked long hours with occasionally defective materials but were driven to produce more at a faster rate. The owner of the shop w as very greedy and unfair. He would look at the work done by the workers and would contest the smallest of imperfections in the cigars that were made. The imperfections would result in a wage penalty even if it was due to poor quality tobacco. As the owner became wealthier, he increased the size of his operation from a shop to a full-fledged factory. The mistreatment continued and the account goes on to describe an ensuing strike organized by the workers. Finally, the owner agreed to higher wages but the mistreatment continued. At the end of the account, the workers formed a small union b...