IMO if there ever existed an "American Dream" it was: the ability for an individual to work hard, assume a high amount of risk, get lucky, and reap the rewards.

IMO if there ever existed an "American Dream" it was: the ability for an individual to work hard, assume a high amount of risk, get lucky, and reap the rewards. There was a time when that was possible in the US, but it hasn't been that way for a long time. It seems that in the 1900s the American Dream shifted to mean: get a job, buy a house, have kids, don't take risks, trust in the system and the system will support you. Now in 2021, it's more like: get a job to ensure you don't go bankrupt from stupid high healthcare expenses, your employer will keep all the profits and shift all the risks onto you, and if you're moderately lucky and live in the right place, you won't be homeless. I don't know how I feel about publicly traded stocks or the stock market, but I can't help but feel like "index funds democratized investing" is like saying "the 9 to 5 job democratized the American Dream".