February!

As we continue to collect survey responses for February’s ADCI, we look back over the past several months and wonder what is to come in the near future as it pertains to the American Dream.  After three straight months of decline, the American Dream saw a nearly one point gain in January’s ADCI.  So, as a nation, we moved 1% closer to fully realizing the American Dream.  This is quite a move but is it sustainable?  Based on recent experience, it would not appear so.  In fact, our trend shows that last month’s gain should be marginally reduced in February as we take into account the three month slide ending in January.  Any such correction should be not seen as a set-back, but rather an opportunity for our aspirations to grow gradually as our economy slowly recovers.

The value of the American Dream will prove difficult to predict in 2012 as many social and economic predictions foretell of difficult times ahead (http://www.boston.com/business/gallery/economic_predictions_2012/).  However, as we do recover as a nation, we believe that the American Dream Composite Index^TM will illuminate the areas of strength and weakness in the recovery.