He means that men aren’t achieving their true desires. He means that people are being suppressed and are chasing vacuous unsatisfying dreams and goals that will not give them any true pleasure. He means that men are going through a perpetual struggle.
Desperation can be quiet if it is not shared, considering that most men go through this despair, this desperation is quiet because it’s not shared. If someone thinks that everyone is feeling this way, they dare not complain.
An example of vocalizing desperation is hunger, many people experience hunger in third world countries and are attended to because they are vocal, because we all believe that everyone is entitled to food. We do not all believe, however, that we are all entitled to pleasure, pleasure of life and the achieving of our goals.
Yes, I believe that his statement is valid. He is analyzing the illusionary goal of Americans to achieve wealth. He shows that Americans want wealth and that it is our goal. Our silent desperation is the pursuit of something not everyone can have, because of the socioeconomic stagnancy that exists in our culture.