Is the American Dream DEAD? The Real Reason You Can’t Get Ahead

Forward

Humanity Forward Productions

Society & Culture

4.8 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For most of American history, if you didn’t like your circumstances, you could move somewhere new and reinvent yourself — but that freedom has been slowly stripped away. In this episode, historian and journalist Yoni Appelbaum uncovers how zoning laws, segregation, and discriminatory policies have made mobility a privilege of the wealthy, trapping generations in poverty. Cutting through a century of myth, he reveals how we got here — and how we can get moving again. Watch the episode on YouTube Get your copy of Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity ---- Follow Andrew Yang: https://andrewyang.com | https://x.com/andrewyang Follow Yoni Appelbaum: https://x.com/YAppelbaum | https://www.theatlantic.com/author/yoni-appelbaum/ ---- Get 50% off Factor at https://factormeals.com/yang50 Get an extra 3 months free at https://expressvpn.com/yang Get 20% off + 2 free pillows at https://helixsleep.com/yang code helixpartner20 ---- Subscribe to the Andrew Yang Podcast: Apple | Spotify To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Ready to launch your business? Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs.
0:04.8	Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run and grow your business with easy customizable themes that let you build your brand.
0:12.5	Marketing tools that get your products out there. Integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time.
0:17.5	From startups to scaleups, online, in person, and on the go.
0:22.0	Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you.
0:24.5	Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup.
0:30.4	This week on the Andrew Yang podcast.
0:34.3	America, for 200 years, the gap between the richest and the poorest places in America was narrowing,
0:40.3	because people would move from poor places to rich places.
0:42.3	If you were a janitor in Alabama 50 years ago, and you moved to San Francisco, you'd pay more in rent.
0:48.3	Your cost of living would go up, but you'd make a heck of a lot more as a janitor.
0:52.3	You'd end up way ahead, like 40% ahead. And today, if that same janitor in Alabama tries moving to San Francisco, he'll still make more.
0:59.0	In fact, he'll make a lot more.
1:00.7	But his housing costs won't just cancel it out.
1:03.3	It'll leave him net behind.
1:05.5	The rational choice is to stay making a lot less.
1:08.6	So you talk to people and they're kind of stuck.
1:19.1	It is my pleasure to welcome to the podcast, historian, journalist, deputy executive editor
1:25.8	at the Atlantic, and now author of the brand new book stuck
1:30.1	how the privileged and the property broke the engine of American opportunity. We're going to dig
1:36.5	into all of that. Yoni Applebound. Welcome Yoni. Oh, I'm so glad to be here. Wow. So I was pumped
1:43.8	to read the Atlantic piece that is an excerpt of your book because I have been freaked out about how little Americans have been moving for quite some time. When I ran for president, I even had a policy platform trying to get America moving
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -28 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Humanity Forward Productions, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Humanity Forward Productions and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.