It always was a fantasy. You can take the U.S. economy at its historical high point, which is arguably the 1950s or the 1990s, depending on which economists you ask, and the odds were never in favor of the average American becoming rich. Ever. It's always been a long shot. There's nothing wrong with setting it as a goal. But to walk around having it as some sort of inherited expectation, anticipating it being a substitute for things like a secure union job, health insurance, and social security, is clearly a flawed plan. This is not pessimism, this is a conclusion based on the odds, and the odds aren't even close.