Capitalism, the generation and accumulation of material wealth, is usually considered the primary means to achieve the American Dream of personal success and fulfillment. As Desmond discusses throughout the book, this is not necessarily the case. While life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness may entail making as much money as possible, it doesn’t mean doing so at the expense of other people’s lives. In fact, he believes safe and affordable housing is more of a right embodying the American Dream than enabling a single-minded devotion to increasing monthly cash flow by landlords such as Sherrena Tarver.

While Tobin Charney is a typical landlord—uninterested in anything other than making as much money as possible—Tarver is a peculiar creation existing as a perverted outgrowth of the American Dream. That is, people are told they can be anything they want if they work hard enough. Tarver has taken this to such an extreme, however, she has turned into an unfeeling monster or at least unfeeling about anything other than believing she is put upon by her tenants and wanting as many vacation getaways and fancy baubles as she can afford.

In contrast to this, Desmond presents a different idea of the American Dream: the collective work done by neighbors to create a community for everyone to live in safely and productively.