The Next American Dream

Bob Horton, manager of a tool library in Springfield, Mo., talks with Steve Chiotakis about whether we all really need our own stuff. His organization loans out everyday tools like power drills and lawnmowers.

Doodlers and tinkerers, take heart. Design has moved from a decorative sideshow to center stage in the business world and, says commentator Kay Hymowitz, career opportunities abound.

The American Dream is grounded in the idea that all hard-working people can climb the ladder to a better life. But commentator John Morton says that today too many Americans, particularly those on the bottom rung, remain stuck.

America may be called the Land of Opportunity, but growing disparities between rich and poor now limit economic advancement. Alan Milburn, a British government adviser on social mobility, talks with Bill Radke about how the U.K. is dealing with similar concerns.

Home developers are morphing designs to match the needs of homeowners in a new economy. Kai Ryssdal talks to Elizabeth Moule, an architect in Pasadena, Calif., who's using the subprime crisis as an opportunity to re-think how homes are built.

A growing number of young families are rethinking the traditional American Dream of owning a home in the suburbs. They're now considering the advantages of renting a place in the city. Sam Eaton reports.

Dinesh Mohan, a transportation expert at the Indian Institute of Technology, talks with Bill Radke about his country's embrace of the car and what lessons Americans might take from it.

The private automobile helped build suburbia. But cars generate about one quarter of all man-made greenhouse gases. Dick Messer, executive director of the Petersen Automotive Museum, loves his alternative ride -- and it's not electric.

Kathy Journeay, a health-care administrator near Boston, talks with Steve Chiotakis about her experiment with a different kind of suburban living called "cohousing."

In America, owning a home is part of the Dream. In China, it goes way beyond that. Marketplace's Shanghai bureau chief Scott Tong explains.