Standing on the deck of a lakeside cabin in Rangeley, Maine, Marissa Emanuele looked into her phone’s camera and spoke a truth that resonated with millions of viewers online.
“I don’t know how I’m gonna explain to my child someday that the reason we have access to this lakefront property is not because her mom and dad worked hard,” Emanuele said in the TikTok video from May 25. “No, it is because, in the 1960s, people could work in a factory and afford to buy a vacation home, and I don’t think she’s gonna believe me.”
The moment, intimate and reflective, has since gone viral—viewed more than 3.1 million times and liked over 150,000 times to date. But it is not just the figures that made the video resonate; it is the intergenerational reality that Emanuele, 34, from Dover, New Hampshire, laid bare. For many, her realization cut through both political spin and economic theory to illustrate how profoundly many feel the American dream has shifted.
The post, captioned, “imagine graduating from the 5th grade, working on a factory line your whole life, and being able to afford a ski cabin. RIP to the American Dream,” drew thousands of comments from viewers sharing similar feelings of frustration.
Emanuele told Newsweek that the property she was candidly filming in front of had been in her family for generations—bought in the 1960s by her grandparents, Vicky and Bert Breton, for $12,000.
“They didn’t have heat or running water, and my grandparents and their children spent their lives slowly building up the camps into year-round vacation cottages,” Emanuele said. “We always call these camps their legacy.”
@mar1ssab
Her grandfather was a firefighter and her grandmother a textile factory worker—modest, humble roles that, back then, allowed them to invest in “several” desirable properties and provide a future for their descendants.
“That kind of achievement seems so far out of reach for the average American worker today,” Emanuele said.
Now gainfully employed in the tech sector alongside her husband, Emanuele said that, even with two solid incomes, the prospect of owning a second property is unrealistic.
“Even basic home ownership is no longer part of the ‘American dream’ for many millennials and Gen Zers,” Emanuele said. “Wealth is hoarded by billionaires and corporations, housing is being purchased en masse by private-equity firms, and our lowest-earning workers are being exploited.”
Data largely supports her perspective. The National Association of Realtors found the median existing-home price in the U.S. reached $414,800 in April 2025—up from just over $170,000 in 2012. Meanwhile, real wages for most American workers have remained largely stagnant since the 1970s, as shown in a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
Emanuele’s video sparked a conversation far beyond her own reflections, with TikTok users debating what policies and political forces led to the shift. She said she personally believes the system itself is broken.
“In my opinion, the two-party system is what got us into this situation in the first place,” Emanuele said. “Leadership of both political parties is complicit in creating an economy that works only for the richest people in this country.”
The family camp in Maine, built over decades through the sweat equity of her grandparents, is now a rare inheritance in a country where generational wealth has become increasingly pivotal. Emanuele said it is not lost on her how unusual it is to enjoy such a place.
“If we want to return to the American dream that many of our families idealized, we need to return to policies that prioritize our working class instead of our country’s richest shareholders,” Emanuele said.
Many TikTok users expressed their similar experiences and opinions in the comments.
“My parents owned a boat when I was growing up,” one viewer said. “A boat! On one income they had boat money.”
“My grandpa was a janitor and was able to buy an ocean block beach house in cash in 1966,” another added.
“Literally at my beach house that my wife inherited 10 years ago and we split the maintenance three ways,” a third viewer shared. “We’re both doctors and we rent.”
“My [boyfriend’s] grandpa was accountant. Wife never worked. 7 kids. Both had long-term illnesses before dying (Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s) still had $2.2M to leave to descendants,” one comment read.
Others shared conflicting feelings about the disparity of wealth that Emanuele highlighted.
“The difference is the older generations didn’t spend money on bulls*** they saved every penny,” one viewer said, while another added: “They still worked very hard for everything. They also didn’t eat out everyday or spend $$ on an iPhone.”
“I’m can’t believe the amount of boomers in the comments blaming coffee and takeout,” a different viewer responded.
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