Even Americans earning six figures a year say they’re struggling under the current economic climate, a new study released Sunday by The Harris Poll found. At least a third of those bringing in at least $100,000 say they’re “stretched, struggling, or drowning financially.” Additionally, over half of respondents say the long-cherished “American Dream” of working hard to get ahead feels increasingly unattainable, “revealing a generation of professionals who have achieved everything on paper but feel they’re standing on financial quicksand.” As evidence of that, many pointed to how everyday costs like groceries, housing and healthcare have gone up to the extent that vacations, personal wellness and even saving for retirement feel increasingly like “nice-to-have” expenses rather than a dependable outcome for hard work. “The top 10% are quietly struggling—so what happens to the other 90%?” the report concludes. It follows just two months after a separate Wall Street Journal poll found a whopping 70 percent of people think the nation’s bootstraps have finally snapped, with more people than at any other point in the past 15 years saying the American Dream “no longer holds true, or never did.”
Read it at The Harris Poll
