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Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(108,212 posts)
Thu Feb 8, 2018, 02:45 PM Feb 2018

FBI Warns Of American Dream Scam

WASHINGTON—Noting that millions have already fallen victim to the long-running grift, the FBI warned Monday of the ‘American Dream’ scam. “Reports are coming in all across the country of Americans who were promised great prosperity and success in exchange for a lifetime of hard work, only to find themselves swindled and left with virtually nothing,” said agent Dean Winthrop, who explained that susceptible parties are made to believe that class mobility is possible simply through ability or achievement, despite the fact that innumerable social, economic, and racial barriers prevent the vast majority of U.S. citizens from attaining even marginal amounts of upward movement. “Many even travelled across the world to live in what they were calling ‘The Land Of Opportunity,’ a fictitious meritocratic society where any person can simply work their way up from the bottom. The victims, it appears, were drawn in by wild promises about equitable access to wealth, education, and home ownership, but before they knew it, they got played for suckers.” Winthrop added that they haven’t identified the scheme’s kingpin, but are investigating a number of upper-middle class white men who have suspiciously benefitted from the longtime scam.

https://www.theonion.com/fbi-warns-of-american-dream-scam-1822834360?utm_source=TheOnion_Daily_RSS&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=&utm_term=

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al bupp

(2,191 posts)
3. For the same reason people believe in any religious myth
Thu Feb 8, 2018, 03:33 PM
Feb 2018

Feelings and emotions overrule logic and reason.

 

Hoyt

(54,770 posts)
4. Exactly. Why would anyone believe God is going to take care of you, when good people die
Thu Feb 8, 2018, 04:05 PM
Feb 2018

awful deaths everyday, even the most holy of Christians. And, "god works in mysterious ways" just doesn't cut it.

No one should have believed that you can graduate from high school or even college, go to work in a factory or office, and after 30 years or so you retire with a pension and SS that replaces your income. It didn't work for those before the Depression, and why we -- including me -- believed it, or some of the dream, after the Depression is beyond me.

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