Teri Lindeberg, the founder and CEO of Staffwell, an HR firm based in Russia, and a through and through American speaks to us from North Carolina.
Teri starts off by telling us what the American dream is today: that you have a life, a family, are successful, you have material possessions and in general, you are happy, and that you make it through hard work, enjoy good health and good fortune. Teri says that there will always be certain people who are more successful due to their entrepreneurialism, abilities, and talents, and the American Dream is the ability to achieve success coming from nothing because the American system allows that. The idea of the ‘City on the Shining Hill’ is discussed, and Teri says that right now, because of the economic situation, people do believe that idea. She says that the economy is booming, that there are job vacancies everywhere which cannot be filled, and that people are making a lot of money. There are, she says, also towns and cities where things are not going so well with environmental and other issues, but the overall trend is positive.
As regards whether the American Dream still exists for young people, Teri says there is a problem around the world for young people, but if we are talking about America, there seems to be a shift taking place and there are many more opportunities available than before. Teri makes it clear that America is now a split country. The liberal half has been much more vocal, whilst the conservatives are quietly getting on with their lives, and it is hard for people outside of America to really understand what is going on there. In other words, Teri says, the media is simply not representing the true picture.
This program is interesting because the picture which is being portrayed of America is very different from that which we are oh too familiar with. This perspective may sound, paradoxically, almost as if it is a voice from the underground.
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