For generations, millions of people have come to America to pursue their dreams of freedom. The American Dream has always been a part of our lives, with the pilgrims coming to the New World in search of religious freedom, and Jewish people coming from Europe in search of social freedom. Nowadays, one of the major reasons people are coming to America is for economic freedom, and like millions of others, they move here in hopes of striking it rich and becoming wealthy. Lately, however, reaching that million-dollar goal signifying the upper class that we Americans dream of has become much more unattainable than before with the ever-increasing wealth gap between the different classes of society.

The rich. The privileged. The elite. Known by many names, the upper class of society is what all of us in the lower classes dream of being part of one day. They have obtained vast amounts of wealth through their families’ hard work, and it has benefited both them and the rest of the nation. Their influence drives our nation’s economy by creating more jobs and providing steady incomes for people in the lower classes. Without their wealth, America would not be as powerful and prosperous as it is today. By setting the standards high, the upper class provides an incentive to the average American to work harder and eventually join their ranks.

However, despite the allure of wealth among the privileged, mere incentive isn’t enough for lower and middle-class Americans to ascend to the upper class. One reason it has become harder for the average American to move up into the ranks of the upper class is the enormous wealth gap between the middle and upper classes. The wealth gap between the middle class and the rich is constantly increasing and has put a stop to the average American’s pursuit of wealth. According to CNN Money, reports from the Pew Research Center have shown that from 2010 to 2013, the median middle-class household income stayed at $96,500 per year while the upper-class household income soared from $595,300 to $639,400. Recently, the potential for the middle class’s economic growth has been stunted, while the rich are just getting richer. With the income of rich households continually increasing, we as the lower and middle classes have no chance of ever climbing up the social ladder. This growing economic imbalance in America’s economy prevents the middle class from further moving their way up in society, leaving them stuck where they are.

Even though a wealth gap is to be expected between each class of society, the current size of the wealth gap between the middle class the and upper class is so large right now that some people are even calling this era “The New Gilded Age.” In 2014, the richest one percent of families in America owned 39.8% of all wealth distributed in the country, while the bottom ninety percent only owned 25.6%, according to FeelTheBern. The 16,000 families that own the top 0.01 percent of America’s wealth possess over $6 trillion, which is about the same as what the bottom two-thirds of Americans own. With only one percent of the nation holding onto more wealth than the bottom ninety percent, our economy is severely unbalanced, tipping in favor towards the rich. The amount of wealth owned by the richest 0.01 percent of Americans in 2014 is higher than it was during the “Roaring Twenties,” a period during which America underwent enormous economic prosperity and fortune. The upper class of the Roaring Twenties was characterized as being very materialistic because of their excess amount of money and wealth. With the rapidly increasing wealth gap, our society’s class system would be too out of balance, with the rich gaining the upper hand over the lower classes.

In today’s society, even though we all aspire to becoming millionaires, having a few million dollars in our bank accounts still might not be enough to be considered part of the upper class. Those who fall into this category of low-end millionaires are nicknamed, “middle-class millionaires.” Laurel Touby, the founder of the website Mediabistro, considers herself to be one of these middle-class millionaires. In 2007, she had sold Mediabistro for $23 million, which to many us, including Touby, would be considered as a lot of money. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” she admits. “I guess I thought I’d wake up the next morning and be a different person or something.” A while after acquiring what she thought was a life-changing amount of money, Touby realized the truth about the huge wealth gap even between the rich and the super rich. When she asked some of her wealthy friends for advice on how to spend her newfound millions, one friend advised her to invest in a jet. “I later discovered he had hundreds of millions of dollars,” Touby states, “and he had no conception of someone like me and what you can and cannot afford. So it was kind of absurd.” Even though Touby had surpassed the million-dollar we all dream of achieving, she still had not succeeded enough to afford the amenities of the upper class. The reality is that for Touby and many other middle-class millionaires, despite their surplus amounts of wealth, there is still a whole other level of rich above them in our society, one that may seem impossible to reach even in a lifetime.

The wealth gap in America today needs to be smaller. Despite the amount of wealth owned by the few members of the upper class, the lower and middle classes, which make up most of America’s families, own considerably less wealth. Even middle-class millionaires, although possessing a significant amount of wealth, find that their own fortunes are not necessarily enough to maintain the rich and comfortable lifestyle of the upper class. If the long sought-after American dream of striking it rich cannot even be considered a dream anymore, then perhaps sooner or later we will no longer be able to consider America itself as a symbol of freedom for those of us who pursue our American dreams.