Another interest of top business owners is to get as much work out of their employees, while paying them as little as possible, making it extremely difficult (almost impossible) for members of the working class to become members of the executive elite class. "As a result, the wealth of America is very unequally distributed. " As a matter of fact, the upper one percent of the American population is so wealthy that it is worth more than the combination of the wealth of the entire lower ninety percent of the people" (Henslin, Society a Down to Earth Approach 260). This is appalling when taking into account that this one-percent of the population would have nothing without the working class that actually makes, sells, and buys the products from the companies owned by these elite capitalists.
As a result, people born into the upper class, unless the entire economy would collapse, are almost guaranteed to be extremely wealthy and powerful while only in extremely rare cases are people able to cross over into this elite group. Many Americans have found ways to bet the odds such as Colin Powell and Abraham Lincoln. Blue and Naden wrote that. Collin Powell was born into a poor, black, immigrant family in Harlem, one of New York City's poorest neighborhoods, to become the highest-ranking military officer in the United States, while it is said that Abraham Lincoln eventually became president despite being raised in a one-room log cabin(315). Stories such as these, where people become greatly successful despite being born in poverty, has been referred to by many as the American dream. These stories are popular because they give hope to all classes of American citizens that through determination and hard work, they too can benefit from similar success. Many Americans find this to be just propaganda. Harlon Dalton, author of "Horatio Alger," argues against this ideal of "The American Dream" because it downplays the roles of race and social class in America.