Nothing you can't afford if you work hard

There's nothing you can't afford in America if you work hard."

That's what one of my first friends in Chinatown, a truck driver, told me shortly after I arrived in America. His words had a great impact on me when I just arrived in the United States. I was filled with a fighting spirit at once.

I can still remember the pride on his face as he spoke.

As I got to know him, I realized that he didn't live in New York. He lived in Los Angeles. Because he runs east and west coast freight, every month will be back and forth between Los Angeles and New York, each shipment to New York, will wait in New York for two days.

In the conversation with him, I also learned that truck drivers in the United States can be considered as a high income, four or five long-distance runs a month, and two short runs, a month can earn about 9,000 dollars, if the truck is their own, earn more. You can make tens of thousands of dollars on a long trip during the Christmas holidays! At that time, I was envious and even thought I would become a truck driver if I had to.

Later, he came to New York less and less frequently. The last time I saw him was the last time he went to New York for a long trip in 2014. Several friends had a meal together.

We all thought it was strange, so we asked our brother why he changed his career for no reason. Brother didn't hide anything, but just told us the reason: Before the financial crisis in 2008, the truck driver indeed very make money, but not after the financial crisis, and since 2008, more and more new immigrants (mainly Chinese) to join this industry, since 2008 to fund new immigrants than a strong, almost no buy others drive two years after their trucks, They just came up and bought the truck.

Before the truck industry why the Christmas holiday can earn tens of thousands, is because fewer immigrants do truck drivers, most of them are white and black, Christmas is the Spring Festival for them, so they would rather not take the Christmas holiday work, the market is willing to run fewer drivers, the price is naturally high. The eldest brother has no sense of the festivals in the United States, so for the eldest brother, the Christmas holiday is a good time for him to earn money.

But as more and more new immigrants became truck drivers and owners, and as the financial crisis hit, the industry slowly shifted from car-picking to car-picking. The eldest brother said that the job they hated most was transporting garbage because it was dirty and smelled in the car, so they had to clean the car once they pulled it, with less money and more things to do. The manager of the transportation company had to coax the driver to take this job for a long time. But starting in 2010, with the normal cargo demand decreases, the eldest brother a truck driver free time at home longer and longer, the eldest brotherhood is loaned to buy, if put in the home so losing money, so to let the car cycle, short have to start to pick up the garbage transport, start or two long breaks through to junk transport work, It grew to the point where it took several haulage jobs to get a long haul.

In addition, with the increase of new immigrant drivers, long-distance running during the Christmas holiday can not earn tens of thousands of dollars. According to my brother, in 2013, there is no difference between Christmas and ordinary long-distance transportation, and the price of long-distance freight is not so good. In 2013, my brother can only earn 4 or 5000 dollars a month. Not much more than normal work, but the degree of hardship is far more than office workers. The more he worked, the less he wanted to work. In 2014, he sold his truck, bought a tour bus, and worked as a tour driver with his friends in Los Angeles, mainly for Chinese tourists.

Why am I in the days that Trump was elected President of the United States spend so much space on the eldest brother I think the elder brother of examples is very representative because I think in the true sense of the American dream is not to read the Tsinghua read Harvard, then prospered in silicon valley in the Wall Street took to the peak of life, this is not called the American dream?

Because no matter these elite students, these social elites in which country, with their education and intelligence can get a good income, and live a good life. They don't need to be told to work hard and afford everything. They can afford everything anyway.

The true American dream means that people like this brother, even if they don't have a very high education (he was a sailor) or high ability, can live a good life and "afford everything" just because they work hard in their field.

The idea of the United States is even truck drivers, farmers in farming, give a person to do nail technicians, the waiter of the restaurant relying on their hard work, can afford to buy a general sense of "good", such as BMW Benz car (BMW 3 series in us the lowest price just checked the, to more than $20000, If a truck driver earns 9000 a month, there is no pressure to buy a BMW. Like a big house with a yard, an annual trip abroad, etc.

To put it bluntly, the American Dream is that people without a college education can make the kind of living that white-collar workers in other countries can do with the jobs they find.

Unfortunately, the ideal is full, the reality is very skinny.

Reality is the eldest brother because of the impact of the new immigrants, clever did, if the eldest brother not let's flexible Chinese (plus Chinese identity meet Chinese tour groups have natural advantages, is also a time to catch up with China's economic development), but the south-central states a more simple and honest white driver, so he could face work hard, But the fact that incomes are slowly but steadily declining.

It's hard for a white man who hasn't read many books to understand the lofty explanations of industrial upgrading and transition pains; What he sees is that he is not lazy, he is working hard, but his income is reduced; His first thought must be that there's something wrong with this, but then he thinks, well, it's the government.

It cannot be said that the American economy has not developed in the eight years of Obama. Various TV stations and media in the United States have said that the new economy has developed rapidly in the eight years of Obama.

But the problem is that the new economy is booming, and ordinary people are not benefiting: You send a white guy in his 40s who has been a truck driver for more than 20 years to work as an IT engineer in Silicon Valley because the barriers to entry are so high? That's not realistic at all.

The benefits of the Internet economy have been absorbed by the highly educated in the United States and around the world, while the majority of ordinary Americans have not benefited.

And the worse is the ordinary old beauty not only enjoys the benefits of the new economy, it is to undertake a large number of disadvantages: such as being robbed, new immigrants to supply for the welfare of people (silicon valley elite probably doesn't matter, but it does such a man as I think it took 30% of my income to those people when welfare, indeed feels very unfair.)

According to the Republicans and Trump, a self-respecting person who works hard and refuses to get food stamps to preserve his dignity should not be punished (tax increase).

Eight years of Democratic rhetoric about gay rights have done nothing to save the American dream. Instead, the dream has been eroding in the hearts of ordinary Americans.

Americans are very tolerant of US politicians. Maybe Hillary Clinton is much better than Trump in international politics, diplomacy, and maintaining world peace, but the average American doesn't care about that right now.

What Americans care about now is to come out with someone who will try to save the "American dream". Save the "American dream" above all else!

Why is this man Donald Trump?

Because of the Hillary email scandal and the benefits funneling by Hillary and her wife, the American people have completely lost trust in politicians. Hillary's record is that of an elite politician. The problem is that Americans have completely lost faith in politicians to "save the country", and even think that politicians can only harm the country, not save the country. The American people want change. They want someone to break the mold. It's not Hillary. To be honest, if the Democrats put Sanders on the ticket, it might be because ordinary people are tired of being lectured by elites, who are the beneficiaries of the new economy, and ordinary people are not. The elites may be right, and the American dream of "ordinary people working hard to live a middle-class life" may never be regained, but the people have to elect someone to give it a try.

Now the people have voted to elect a true newcomer to the presidency, Donald Trump, to save the "American dream for ordinary people".

Anyway, I hope the United States enters a new future with Donald Trump as the new president; And Trump can make the saying "if you work hard, there is nothing you can't afford" true again in America.