I'm pretty sure the average American has close to no saving, the rate of home ownership is falling, and as the article states many well paying jobs are evaporating.
I think it's a fair measure of success to say that a successful person owns a house, has significant savings and a decent job. Perhaps a somewhat superficial success.
I don't think people should build the expectation where they require "success" to be happy - that only precludes them from being happy when they're unable to become "successful", for a variety of reasons outside of their control, for example, a car accident. It matters not whether everyone can enjoy "success", it only matters that everyone feel they have had the opportunity to be "successful" and they had a solid go at it.
With this perspective, "success" can be better than average, which is what it is a lot of the times - most lotto players thinks winning the lotto is "success", and winning the lotto is by definition to achieve a financial outcome that is above the average of all financial outcomes that can occur from playing the lotto.
I think it's a fair measure of success to say that a successful person owns a house, has significant savings and a decent job. Perhaps a somewhat superficial success.