Isms: Views on life in rural America

Living the American dream.

It’s a concept many of us grew up with: a steady job, decent pay, a nice house, 2.4 kids (based on statistical data) and a white picket fence.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the American dream as “the ideal that every citizen of the United States should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination and initiative.”

That “hard work, determination and initiative” costs an American household approximately $4.4 million over the course of a lifetime, according to Visual Capitalist.

That exceeds the average lifetime sal...