All that Is Certain Is that Nothing is Certain

Among the several jobs I have, secretary to a landlord is one of them. I've been working for this "Uncle Scrooge" before I even started college. Me and this guy go way back. I've seen his business grow tenfold, just as much as he's seen me grow too. My work in his rental business involves writing letters to tenants, mortgage companies, the city, the county, the state, etc.; I also schedule repairs on units, run credit/eviction checks on prospective tenants, and do anything that at all that requires internet access. Uncle Scrooge has little patience with computers and the internet and often complains about technology and the need for live customer assistance. Recently, he received several postcards from the Kern County Assessor's office. These cards were notices informing him of the new value of each property he owns in Bakersfield.
For one property alone, the new market value of the property was 326,000 less than what he originally paid. Overnight he lost several hundred thousand dollars and is still paying the mortgage of the original value, not the new market value.

For me this was disheartening, seeing how this guy was the typical American Dream story, an immigrant who worked hard, pulled himself up from his bootstraps and went from rags to riches. He believed, I mean, believes in this system whole heartedly. He says, you win some you lose some. But to me, I see it as ideas, words, and numbers are not fixed. They are determined by a stronger force--in this case, an economic one: the decline in the housing market that resulted from the Wall Street Bailout and the subprime mortgage crisis. Uncle Scrooge is paying the price for it, but he still hold on to his American Dream.

What should the dreams of the younger generations look like? Do we dream that one day we too can have our OWN home without some entity dictating its worth? or is that dream never possible?