Saturday, November 08, 2008 Batuhan: In the eye of the storm (part 6) By Allan S.B. Batuhan Foreign Exchange
THE American Dream is an oft-repeated phrase which attempts to describe all that is good about the United States.
The phrase is often mentioned when describing successful people—all the way from Abraham Lincoln’s exodus from a log cabin in Kentucky to the White House, and now Barack Obama’s incredible rise to become the first non-white person to be elected to the most powerful nation on earth.
What it is supposed to mean is that opportunity belongs to those who dare to dream in America. There are few written rules to obstruct progress, and even fewer unwritten ones which, in some other societies, tend to bestow success only on those select few belonging to certain preferred groups – be they rich families, higher castes or the moneyed class.
For years the United States has made the phrase their rallying cry, shouting out to the world that America is a place where everyone has a chance to grab a slice of the pie, if they only work hard and set their hearts on the pursuit of success.
Nothing wrong with this ideal, I suppose. After all, who would not wish to have the chance to rise beyond one’s station in life, to be able to climb the ladder of society, and to ensure a prosperous and secure future for one’s self and one’s family?
Even to non-Americans, the American Dream has also become the rallying cry to describe their aspirations. The only degrees that seem to be worth pursuing in the Philippines these days are those related to nursing and health care. And why?
This is because these are the only ones that would afford their holders the opportunity to immigrate to America, and pursue for themselves the “dream” that they read and fantasize about living all their waking hours.
Perhaps the most significant “trappings” of someone who is living the American Dream is material possessions. Where in Lincoln’s time these may not have been so important, today one’s station in the American journey is measured by material possession. The make and model of one’s sport utility vehicle, the size of one’s house and the brands of one’s clothing have become the proxy measures of how one is living the dream.
In my many trips to the United States, it never amazes me to see so many Filipinos—many of them just newly settled in the country—surrounding themselves in all the material comforts that would normally be affordable only to those who have sacrificed a number of years to acquire enough money to buy such possessions.This phenomenon, however, is not just confined to our countrymen who have made the journey across the Pacific.Everyone in America, it seems, is addicted to this phenomenon. To live the dream is to “live large” as the Americans like to say.
The chance to enjoy a standard of living that would otherwise normally be unattainable given one’s circumstances has often been taken for granted by many Americans. This phenomenon is made possible by the way the American financial system works, and in a way this has been a great contributor to the ills that plague the system today.
To say that the American financial system is normally awash with cash is not an overstatement. It is the truth.
If there is one country in the world that everyone likes to invest in, it is the United States. Petrodollars from the Middle East, surplus corporate funds from Japan and Asia, and investments from wealthy individuals in Europe like to find their way to the United States, to be invested in financial instruments in various forms and descriptions.
For many of them, the United States is their first bank of choice.
