Periodically we like to talk about trends, on a global, national or local scale. With a 7X24 hour news cycle it's easy to get caught up in the flurry of reporting but harder to sort out and understand how what we see and hear will affect our communities in the longer term.
What happens in Vegas...(Vallejo)
One thread that doesn't seem to dissapating anytime soon is the growing anger and frustration of American citizens -at what they perceive as the near total inability of government and other institutions to provide the level of services and entitlements that used to be synonymous with The American Dream.
You know the script: Got\ to school, get a degree, get a decent paying job, buy a house...or some variation of it...But how many people do you know are now living all or part of that script? Visit a highly read online forum, like the Vallejo Topix forum, and you get a real sense that, if there is any pattern to this sound and fury, it's that folks are casting around for new scripts or playbooks and they are just not available.
While there are plenty of media pundits who are trying to capture this national angst, we think few do it as well as NBC News Special Correspondent Tom Brokaw, whose classic book, the Greatest Generation, demonstrates the kind of insightful analysis that his sound byte newscasts often precluded him from doing.
Last week Brokaw joined a number of other well-known personalities at the Washington Ideas Forum, an event presented by The Atlantic magazine, The Aspen Institute and the Newseum. The goal was to bring together some of the most influential names in politics, business and journalism to discuss the major domestic and international issues of the day.
Is this the sequel to the American Dream?
In our embedded video we feature Brokaw in conversation with Meet the Press host David Gregory. Brokaw describes the emerging environment for American's 20-somethings. It's a sober reminder that the social and economic karma these young adults are inheriting is unprecedented in its scope. Is this the sequel to the American Dream?
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