During the early 1990s, up to two-thirds of Americans indicated through opinion polls that America is “on the wrong track.” Many questioned whether the American dream of each generation’s living better than the previous one could continue. Indeed, this dream is being sorely tested by such factors as a declining standard of living, corporate downsizing, global competition, and anxiety over the funding of such entitlements as Social Security and Medicare.

Surveying public attitudes about the future, researchers James Patterson and Peter Kim, authors of The Day America Told the Truth, reported that 77 percent of Americans believe “the rich will continue to get richer and the poor poorer.” The prevailing belief many polls find among Americans is that future standards of living will be lower than those of post–World War II baby...