Well, keeping up with the Joneses is what it was called. And a lot of people measured their success by cars, the cars and the house, the house in the suburbs. But I do think that as the economy contracts, people look for satisfaction and contentment closer to home. And you see -- I mean, all the Internet dating sites are very popular. I think people are looking for relationships. Facebook is reaching out to all these kind of fake friends, but friends nonetheless. -Eleanor Clift

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MAN: (From videotape.) I'm feeling it, I mean, when I shop for food, when I pay my bills, like rent, cable.

WOMAN: (From videotape.) I got a 12.5 percent reduction on my salary, and it's affected me a lot. I bought a brand new car last year and barely can make the payments on it.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: The American dream was once defined in terms of material possessions -- their price, their number. The dream's core elements used to be net worth, asset accumulation, buying power, and, of course, brand -- Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Rolls Royce, gems by Harry Winston, East Hampton second home. Those were the marks of success, the mantra being "He who dies with the most bling wins." Not anymore. During this GM -- great meltdown -- the MetLife survey says that the American dream has morphed before our very eyes. In the new dreamscape, conspicuous consumption is kaput. Personal relationships trump bling -- friends, family, marriage, children. Bling is out. People are in.

Seventy-seven percent, almost four out of five people in this country, say that quality of life is defined by improved relationships. And 87 percent, almost nine out of 10, say they've re- evaluated priorities to put more emphasis on personal relationships. Fifty-eight percent, almost three out of five, define the American dream as having a family and having children.

Question: What do Americans see as the main ingredient of the American dream? Beth Hirshhorn.

MS. HIRSHHORN: They still see financial security still trumping family, although now more out of necessity because they're just trying to hang on.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: They want a safety net.

MS. HIRSHHORN: They do.

MR. BUCHANAN: Well, John --

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah, Pat.

MR. BUCHANAN: -- the idea -- look, where I do disagree -- I agree with the end of your set-up there. I disagree that the whole idea of the American dream is about who's going to make a lot of money and who's going to have a little yacht or a home in East Hampton and stuff like that. It always was a sense of community, a sense of family, a sense of group, friends and things like that, and enough in life really to get along without all this excess stuff.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Do you think --

MR. BUCHANAN: I mean, Harry Winston jewels. I don't know anybody I ever heard of -- (laughs) -- except a couple of people in New York was even interested in that junk.

MS. CLIFT: Yeah, that was --

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Well, that's --

MS. CROWLEY: It's not junk, Pat. (Laughs.)

MS. CLIFT: That was pitched to the ultra-rich, basically.

MR. BUCHANAN: (Laughs.)

MS. CLIFT: Maybe a Louis Vuitton knockoff -- MR. BUCHANAN: Where's Mort Zuckerman when we need him? (Laughs.)

MS. CLIFT: -- is more the average person's style.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Well, we're talking about degrees of success.

MS. CLIFT: Yeah. Well, and I think that always has been an element in American life. It used to be known as keeping up --

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Do you concede that?

MS. CLIFT: Well, keeping up with the Joneses is what it was called. And a lot of people measured their success by cars, the cars and the house, the house in the suburbs. But I do think that as the economy contracts, people look for satisfaction and contentment closer to home. And you see -- I mean, all the Internet dating sites are very popular. I think people are looking for relationships. Facebook is reaching out to all these kind of fake friends, but friends nonetheless.