Ashley

What happened to the American Dream?

History EN ↓ 4 episodes

Most Americans grew up believing that hard work leads to success. For decades now, wages have stagnated, housing has become unaffordable, and the middle class has shrunk. This series follows the documented history of how that happened, and who made it happen. Each episode breaks down the real economic and political decisions that shaped the America we live in today. Just documented facts, public records, and the names of the people who made the decisions. Whether you voted red, blue, across party lines, or not at all, if you are working harder than your parents did and have less to show for it...

Author

Ashley

Episodes

Naming Names Today 22.05.2026 17:34

Who Really Destroyed the American Dream? In this episode of "What Happened to the American Dream?" I trace the systematic dismantling of worker protections, fair wages, and labor dignity and identify exactly who's responsible. Corporate power driven by maximizing returns to shareholders has exploited and magnified economic inequalities (World Economic Forum) , transforming the Amer...

Investigative Deep Dive: You Were Never Supposed to Know This Part of the Story 26.04.2026 43:56

The federal government ran documented programs that deliberately excluded Black, Native American, Japanese American and Latino communities from the same prosperity being sold as the American Dream. This is not opinion. Every policy covered in this episode is sourced to federal records, congressional documents and the National Archives. This investigative deep dive covers redlining, GI Bill exclusi...

When It Was Real 24.04.2026 18:34

For about 28 years after World War Two the American Dream was genuinely real for millions of working people. One income bought a house. Unions protected wages. The GI Bill built a middle class. But that prosperity was never available to everyone equally. And the documented history of who was left out tells you everything about who designed the system and for whom. In this episode we look at what a...

The Origin 16.04.2026 24:47

What happened to the American Dream? Most of us grew up believing that if you worked hard enough you could own a home, support a family and give your kids a better life. Where did that idea actually come from? Why does it feel so out of reach for so many people today? In this first episode we go back to the origin of the American Dream, what it actually was, when it was real, and when it started d...