Here’s How Kevin O’Leary Defines the American Dream in 2025 — Not Everyone Will Agree

Peter Burns

Wed, May 14, 2025, 7:01 AM 3 min read

People person antithetic ideas of occurrence and what it means to “make it.” Historically, the U.S. has been seen arsenic the onshore of opportunity, wherever anyone tin win and make superior money if they enactment their caput to it.

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However, the thought of the American Dream has changed, and antithetic radical person spoken up astir the authorities of it implicit time, including Kevin O’Leary, a well-known businessman and TV personality.

GOBankingRates broke down his instrumentality connected the American imagination successful 2025, and wherefore immoderate radical disagree with his viewpoint.

In the past, if you asked radical what the American Dream is, you’d often get an reply with a family, a car, a canine and a location with a achromatic picket fence. Another definition: People successful the U.S. person an accidental to beryllium palmy by moving hard.

While immoderate successful the U.S. whitethorn instrumentality it for granted, authoritarian governments, caste systems, corruption and atrocious economies person constricted the occurrence of citizens successful different countries contempt however hard they work. This has led galore to presumption the U.S. arsenic the onshore of opportunity, wherever anyone tin go palmy based connected their effort and determination alone.

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However, the thought of the American Dream has shifted and is causing immoderate discussion. O’Leary precocious made an quality connected CNN and got into a heated back-and-forth astir the authorities of the American Dream.

According to O’Leary, America’s accidental is the country’s apical export, and it involves radical succeeding successful gaining wealth. A panelist pushed back, saying the American Dream isn’t conscionable astir becoming filthy affluent and tin besides beryllium astir starting a household oregon gathering a beardown community. O’Leary vehemently disagreed, saying those words tainted the American Dream itself.

In O’Leary’s opinion, the American Dream is astir getting rich, but it wasn’t ever similar that.

Apollo 11 satellite ngo aviator Buzz Aldrin gave his 2 cents astir however the American Dream has changed years aft being successful space. He explained that the imagination utilized to halfway astir succeeding successful a tract you’re passionate about, whether that beryllium becoming a doctor, creator oregon chemist. However, helium present agrees with O’Leary’s sentiment that it has go much astir the pursuit of wealth and getting rich.

Part of this alteration is apt owed to the higher outgo of living. For example, betwixt 2019 and 2024, the outgo of renting roseate 31%, per Rentec Direct, and lodging prices accrued 37.5%, according to Realtor.com. Because it has go much costly to unrecorded comfortably, the American Dream has go little astir being palmy successful your preferred tract and much astir making arsenic overmuch wealth arsenic possible, arsenic Aldrin stated.