The American Dream has nothing to do with the Average American attempting to pursue it. The American Dream is a social control mechanism that is meant to keep the population cohesive, marching in line and serving those in power so that THEY are able to realize their very achievable goals of more wealth and power. Take Jordan Pierson's pareto ideas, mix in a little narcissism and voila, you have a recipe for an elitist class that will squeeze the essence out of the workaday folks...if those workadays let them. @byrondallen is right here, choose your path very carefully. Why do you want the material things you want? Where did your goals originally come from? What does independence mean to you? How do you define personal sovereignty? I think there are many people starting to wake up to the illusion of the consumer society. We can live better, more free lives, IF WE CHOOSE TO.