American-style capitalism is cruel, exclusionary, anti-Christian in the extreme, and causes wide-scale mental health problems. But we're supposed to fear "Socialism!"

Above: "Doomed," an artwork by Michael J. Gallagher (1898-1965), created while he was in the WPA, between 1935 and 1943. Image from the Free Library of Philadelphia and Julie Redwine of the General Services Administration.

American-style capitalism is a disgrace

--> American-style capitalism is cruel, allowing millions of Americans to die by withholding medicine and medical treatments, in order to increase profits (the Nazi's Aktion T4 program also killed in this manner, and also for financial reasons).

(It is interesting to note, in relation to deaths due to the withholding of medicine and medical care, that the definition of "depraved heart murder" is "Killing someone in a way that demonstrates a callous disregard for the value of human life." Using that definition, I think we could legitimately--and not hyperbolically--call America a "depraved heart murder society.")

--> American-style capitalism is exclusionary because "The wealthiest 1% own more stock than the bottom 90% combined"; and, "While more than half of U.S. adults own stock, most don't own much... The bottom 50% of Americans by net worth own only 1% of stocks" (Motley Fool). This is largely due to the fact that most Americans don't have enough disposable income--mired down by low wages and debt--to invest in any significant way.

--> American-style capitalism is anti-Christian in the extreme - despite many of its adherents beating their chests and demanding that we agree with them that America is a Christian nation (!). The truth is, American-style capitalism shows contempt for Christ. For example, Jesus said, three times, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25). And yet, look at how we worship--or at least, admire--millionaires, billionaires, and now our first trillionaire, Elon Musk. Also, look at how American-style capitalism treats the poor (e.g., low wages, stingy benefits, and the rich using their profits to buy politicians to cut social programs that aid the poor) vs. how Jesus said the poor should be treated - they're exactly opposite.

--> American-style capitalism causes wide-scale mental health problems. According to a 2025 Northwestern Mutual study, "Nearly 7 in 10 Americans (69%) say that financial uncertainty has made them feel depressed and anxious..." A 2025 MarketWatch survey indicated that a whopping "94% [of Americans] say they sacrifice their mental health to get by financially, with 92% saying financial stress has caused adverse physical effects (e.g., loss of sleep, headaches, etc.). A 2023 Experian survey reported "A staggering 68% of U.S. adults feel they have suffered from, or are currently suffering from, financial trauma..."

And yet those in power continue to warn us against "Socialism!" Now, I don't necessarily think socialism is the answer, at least not in its most rigid form. I think we need a healthy mix of private sector, not-for-profit, and government programs (much healthier than the hideous mix we have today, which prioritizes profits over health, well-being, and life itself). But please, we're supposed to be scared of socialism?... even as the capitalists are eviscerating us like vultures on top of roadkill?? That's simply B.S., promulgated by those who stand to lose a little money and power if we adopt a few socialistic policies, such as high-quality healthcare for all, regardless of income.

When will we stop listening to the sociopaths... and start listening to Christ's teachings (or, just our own hearts)? Ever? Or are we destined to be endlessly punched, kicked, clubbed, and mentally persecuted so that the tiniest sliver of the population can live in extreme luxury? If the latter, well, dear God, I'm praying for an asteroid. 

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

--President Franklin Roosevelt, "Inaugural Address," January 20, 1937

Remembering the indomitable Jeff Corey: Brooklyn native... New York, WPA & Hollywood actor... combat veteran... foe of the communist witch hunts

Above: Actor Jeff Corey (1914-2002), in Brute Force (Universal Pictures, 1947). Later photos of Corey--which can be found with a simple Google search--will be instantly recognizable to folks who watched TV or movies made in the 20th century, as he was an extremely prolific character actor (see his IMDB page here). Photo from Universal Pictures and Radio Spirits, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Here we see Jeff Corey, still using his birth name Arthur Zwerling, in the cast of the WPA Theatre production, "Life and Death of an American" - a play about the struggles of the working-class (he is listed as one of the "chanters"). Most of the other people in the cast went on to some degree of entertainment success too (or had been successful before), perhaps most notably John Arthur Kennedy. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

The Indomitable Jeff Corey

Jeff Corey, born Arthur Zwerling, was born in Brooklyn, New York, 1914. He attended the New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn (still operating), became president of its drama club, graduated in 1931, and then attended the Feagin School of Dramatic Art (also in NYC, but no longer open), there winning the "Milward Adams Memorial Scholarship" ("Arthur Zwerling Wins Dramatic Art Scholarship," Brooklyn Times Union, October 16, 1932, p. 8). He then spent the 1930s performing his stagecraft in New York and elsewhere.

Corey participated in the WPA's Federal Theatre Project, but it's not clear how many productions he had a role in. Recall from the second image & caption above that he played in "Life and Death of an American." This play was considered by some to be anti-capitalist and thus anti-American. Back then--and even now to a large degree--anything that was about the working-class and their struggles was considered subversive (apparently, we're supposed to beat our chest and declare American-style capitalism number one, even if it's destroying our lives with low wages, poor benefits, usury, and substandard and unaffordable healthcare).    

When the circus-like House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC, led by Congressman and carnival barker Martin Dies) skewered the Federal Theatre Project in 1939, "Life and Death of an American" was one of the plays that came under its scrutiny. A witness--a former WPA employee--said that the play was communist because there was a scene where the audience hissed at a policeman. Congressman Clarence Cannon (D-Missouri), one of the sane members of HUAC, a fairly good supporter of the New Deal, and a "crotchety, cranky, and cantankerous" man who once punched Republican Congressman John Taber (R-NY) in the mouth, was flabbergasted and raked the witness over the coals:

"So because in a play an audience gets up and hisses a policeman, you think that is sowing the seeds of communism? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. If that is sowing the seeds of communism, then we have communism all over this country... Cite us some play, read us a passage from a play, or give us some specific instance that the Federal Theatre Project was intended to disseminate communism." (Witness: "That is my general observation.") "Sure, but based on what? Give us some facts." (Witness: "I was asked on what information I had, and my opinion, and I gave it.") "That opinion is wholly worthless unless it supported by some facts. The gentleman does not cite a single thing in support of such an astounding statement" (Hallie Flanagan, Arena, New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1940, pp. 350-351; the exchange was also widely reported in newspapers).

After the Federal Theatre Project ended in 1939, Jeff Corey continued his acting career, especially in the movies. When World War II came, he became a Navy combat photographer, served on the aircraft carrier Yorktown (CV-10), and earned citations for putting himself in danger to capture battle footage. One of his citations read: "His sequence of a Kamikaze attempt on the Carrier Yorktown, done in the face of grave danger, is one of the great picture sequences of the war in the Pacific, and reflects the highest credit upon Corey and the U.S. Navy Photographic Service."

After the war, Corey returned to acting, but it wasn't long before he got caught up in the second communist witch hunt orchestrated by HUAC, this time assisted by the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a group of fanatics led by the likes Ayn Rand and also self-appointed super-patriots like John Wayne and Ronald Reagan. Folks like Wayne and Reagan, who either didn't serve or never saw combat, felt perfectly comfortable going after those who did, such as Jeff Corey and Purple Heart recipient Russell Johnson (of Gilligan's Island fame). Johnson recalled of Reagan (who he co-starred with in a western), as well as the time period generally:

"Back then, Reagan saw Red every time he turned around... He was suspicious of everyone-unless you were a John Wayne-like, ultra 110 percent American conservative... You have to realize that that was a dangerous time in this country. People's freedoms were being inhibited and challenged, and in those years you were guilty by association or accusation - unless you proved yourself innocent. Reagan was a part of that... This whole period in America made me sick. I remember that later I did a guest spot on 'The Real McCoy's and Walter Brennan approached me one day and asked me to sign some kind of loyalty oath he was holding in his hand. I refused. I thought, 'Why do I have to prove to anybody that I'm a patriot?' I had served my time overseas during World War II. I was shot down and earned a Purple Heart, risking my life. Hell, I understand Reagan never even left the country during the war. He was stationed at 'Fort Roach,' making military training films at the old Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, California" (Russell Johnson with Steve Cox, Here on Gilligan's Isle, New York: Harper Collins, 1993, pp. 12-14). 

Jeff Corey was similarly rebellious, refusing to "name names" when he was called to testify before HUAC in 1951, and he even mocked the hearings. For this, he was blacklisted by Hollywood executives for about ten years. But Corey took his exile in stride, worked construction jobs to support his family, earned a college degree at UCLA, and opened an acting studio where he taught stars and future stars, such as James Dean, Jack Nicholson, Jane Fonda, and Richard Chamberlain (see, e.g., "Jeff Corey Comes Back," Associated Press, in the Daytona Beach Morning Journal (Daytona Beach, Florida), January 18, 1961, p. 4; and "Banned actor became coach to stars," The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), August 26, 2002, p. R7).

When the communist witch hunts in D.C. and Hollywood subsided, Corey was allowed to return to acting and appeared in tons of TV shows and movies over the remaining decades of the 20th century (again, check out his IMDB page, listing 242 credits overall).

For his voluminous acting roles (spanning 70 years on stage and screen), his teaching of so many Hollywood stars, his resistance to Red Scare bullying, and most importantly his service during World War II, Corey should receive some sort of posthumous lifetime achievement award. If no award fits, one should be created, for example, "The Jeff Corey Award for Grit and Determination."

The 1% are using hospice and nursing homes to abuse the elderly and cash-in on our tax dollars

Above: "The Farmer's Kitchen," an oil painting by Ivan Albright (1897-1983), created while he was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project, 1933-1934. Image from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

How the 1% profits from the neglect and abuse of elderly and dying Americans

The greed of the 1% knows no bounds, and we can clearly see that in its increasing involvement in hospice and nursing homes. Their business model is essentially: take it over, reduce services and staff, and pocket the difference. And in the wake of that sociopathic business model is the neglect and abuse of our elderly.

With respect to hospice...

Dr. Ira Byock, a physician and palliative care expert, who describes himself as "an American and a capitalist," explains: "When the for-profits began in the mid-to-late 1990s, I was actually a champion for them... in the early 2000s, some of the very best for-profit programs went through initial public offerings and became publicly traded. After that we watched the hospice quality spiral down and the attitudes of the new management focus on finances... 

"Today I fear we're seeing the death knell of hospice in America... Many of the for-profits maintain their high profit margins by skimping on services, tolerating unmet need among the dying patients they serve, shifting costs to families, short staffing on nurses, maintaining unreasonably high caseloads, and short staffing doctors. We're watching doctors go away from hospice care. It's such a cruel irony to know that in the beginning we created hospice in part to ensure dying patients had access to physicians. Now a number of hospice programs have themselves become the barriers to dying patients being able to access their doctors" ("Medicare Hospice – Exploding in Size But Riddled with Quality Concerns," University of Pennsylvania, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, March 8, 2024).

With respect to nursing homes...

"As private equity investment in nursing homes continues to soar, studies showing higher mortality rates and lower quality of care in private equity-owned nursing homes have renewed concerns that the tens of billions of taxpayer dollars spent each year on nursing care may, in fact, be lining the pockets of rich private equity investors at the expense of vulnerable seniors" (Melea Atkins, "The Impact of Private Equity on Nursing Home Care: Recommendations for Policymakers," Roosevelt Institute, April 2021).

"Private equity firms have become a growing presence in the nursing home industry, bringing troubling trends in fines and care quality. Research links private equity ownership to understaffing, higher fines, and increased risks of nursing home abuse and neglect" ("Private Equity Ownership Linked to Rising Nursing Home Fines," Nursing Home Abuse Center, January 23, 2025). 

Strangling public funds...

Alongside the 1%'s increasing and malevolent involvement in hospice and nursing homes, is the 1%'s control of government, and the 1% have used that control to give themselves repeated tax breaks; and these tax breaks have starved government of revenue - revenue that could be used for, among other things, better-funded and better-staffed hospice programs and nursing homes. The 1% have also demanded, and received, cuts to the nation's social safety net, for example, Medicaid. They are also, of course, always looking to gut Medicare and Social Security in an effort to ward off any future revenue requests, such as raising the Social Security contribution cap.

The results of underfunding and understaffing, caused by the greed of the 1%...

Underfunded and understaffed nursing homes lead to chronic neglect and higher rates of abuse:

"Current internal structures such as poor patient-staff ratios, poor staff credentials, and staff burnout contribute to the prevalence of abuse and neglect against elderly patients... Care facilities such as nursing homes have the highest reported rates of abuse, with 2 in 3 staff reporting some form of abuse in the past year. Across nine studies conducted in 2019, 64.2% of staff admitted to some form of elder abuse in the past year. Similarly, in a national survey of nursing home staff, 40% admitted to psychologically abusing their patients" (Erica Bassett, "Abuse and Neglect against Elderly Adults in Nursing Homes in the United States," Ballard Brief, Marriott School of Business, Brigham Young University, Spring 2021).

Mass apathy...

That the 1% don't care about our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents who need hospice services or reside in nursing homes, is no surprise. After all, this is the same crowd that invests in mass incarceration, global warming, diabetes-causing "food," cancerous cigarette smoking, disease prolongation (long-term symptom management is much more profitable than curing a disease), and missiles and bombs to obliterate people in one needless conflict after another.

But why do so many of the rest of us tolerate it? Especially when it's our tax dollars (e.g., payroll taxes that fund Medicare and sales taxes that fund Medicaid) that the 1% are cashing in on? I suspect it's due to so much apathy-causing and attention-grabbing distraction, for example, culture wars, celebrity worship, and endless TV shows on endless channels and streaming services. Also, our obsession with work. The 1% have us brainwashed into thinking that work is the most important thing in life--which is a very convenient brainwashing since it builds their fortunes and facilitates their luxury--even more important than spending time with family, enjoying the world around us, and (of course) fighting back against the abuses of the 1%.

A better way...

If we're ever brave and attentive enough to fight back against our 1% bullies, we can draw inspiration from FDR's Economic Bill of Rights, where he advocated for the right to "adequate medical care," "good health," and "adequate protection from the economic fears of old age." We can also draw inspiration from the General Welfare clause of the Constitution, a clause that the 1% would no doubt like to see removed from that founding document.

But will we fight back? That's really the key question.

Regressive taxation is possible because of our limited ability to move. That's not freedom, that's slavery.

"An old English judge once said: 'Necessitous men are not free men.' Liberty requires opportunity to make a living - a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for. For too many of us the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor - other people's lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness."

--President Franklin Roosevelt, "Acceptance Speech for the Renomination for the Presidency, Philadelphia, Pa.," June 27, 1936.

Above: "Chain Gang," an artwork by Herbert Alvin Sharpe (1910-1982), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1938. Image from the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Regressive Taxation on a Captive Population

San Francisco Democrats have voted not to endorse the proposed billionaire tax in California, although they (might) back the concept of a national wealth tax. Their rationale is that investment might move away, especially from the San Francisco area (and of course, some San Francisco Democrats eat at billionaire supper table). This fear comes from the long-standing threat that many rich and powerful Americans make when they're asked to pay more in taxes to help fund infrastructure or social programs. The rich and powerful are essentially saying, "Yes, our wealth-hoarding is occurring alongside massive social problems and crumbling infrastructure, but if you attempt to curtail our wealth-hoarding we'll move and make things even worse for you."

Meanwhile, Governor Gavin Newsom (who also opposes the California billionaire tax, and for the same reason) has signed legislation allowing sales taxes--a form of taxation that disproportionately affects the working-class--to greatly increase.

All of this is a great example of a decades-long trend of lowering taxes on the rich and raising them on the working-class - the latter through regressive taxes, tolls, fees, fines, and other revenue mechanisms (see, for example, "The Changing Landscape of State Tax Rates" (7-21-2026) and "Who Pays? 7th Edition" (Jan. 2024), Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy). The Trump Administration has recently proposed accelerating this trend, making one wonder: How in the world can working-class Americans support this? - and yet they do, knowingly or unknowingly, by the tens of millions.

It must be emphasized that the modern neoliberal Democratic Party has pummeled the working-class too (it's not just a Republican thing), e.g., making Medicaid Estate Recovery more ruthless, allowing Social Security to be garnished, sending good-paying American jobs overseas with false promises of prosperity, and making it harder for private student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy. To a large degree, voters are stuck between one bad alternative and another. (Hint: Only progressivism and another New Deal can rejuvenate the working-class... just as it created the strongest working-class to begin with.)

This decades-long and ongoing switch from progressive taxation on the wealthy to regressive taxation on the working-class is possible for one major reason: The working-class cannot easily move, or even move at all. They are tied to their jobs and/or do not have the funds to relocate. Heck, most Americans can't afford a $1,000 emergency, let alone the massive costs associated with moving - which can include moving services or rental vans; hotel, gas, and food; first month's rent plus security deposit at the new location; and the ability to pay one's bills, e.g., credit cards and car payments, during the interval between the old job and the new job (and heaven forbid if something happens with the new job after you've moved, then you're really in trouble).

In sum, the rich and powerful can move fairly easily, if they want to. But the working-class, by and large, is a captive population and can't credibly issue a similar threat, for example, "If you raise my sales taxes, I'm moving!" The answer to this imbalance of power is to tax the rich more at the federal level; then increase federal aid to the states and locals (which, outside of certain healthcare programs, has been stagnant or dropping for decades); begin reducing regressive revenue burdens; and finally, charge a hefty exit tax on any billionaires leaving the country after they've earned their billions with the aid of publicly-funded infrastructure, education, legal systems, and research. Call it, "Billionaire Estate Recovery."

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the majority of working-class Americans are even aware of what's going on, let alone have the gumption to fight back. Instead, we are likely to continue the political ping-pong game of neoliberal Democrats (who disappoint) back to Republicans (who disappoint) back to neoliberal Democrats (who disappoint again), and on and on we go. For half-a-century now, voters have kept voting for the same type of people--the wealthy backed by the super-wealthy--and expected different results. Isn't that the definition of insanity? (FDR was wealthy too, but life experiences made him shun greed and selfishness, which is why he was considered a traitor to his class.)   

It seems to me that the majority of working-class Americans are willing to tolerate any amount of economic pain, if that's what it takes to avoid what made America great in the first place - progressivism and the New Deal (think unions, Social Security, FDIC, limitations on stock buybacks, rural electrification, more education facilities, infrastructure for the economy to expand along, and so on).

Higher prices? "Fine!" Unaffordable healthcare? "No problem!" Inability to afford a home? "Aw shucks, who needs a home?" Stagnant wages for decades? "Sir, yes sir!" No chance at retirement? "I'll dutifully work 'til I drop!" Reduced social and economic mobility? "Yay for the caste system!" Higher taxes on me and lower taxes on millionaires & billionaires? "Sounds good!" But progressivism?... of the type that created the greatest American middle-class we've ever seen? "Oh God, no! That would be terrible!! How would we thrive, as we aren't now?"

I'm being a bit facetious of course, but damn, how many more years (or decades) of economic torture is it going take before the vast majority of the working-class--not just 51.7%--say: "Enough of this neoliberal and billionaire bullshit, we demand another New Deal!"

"When it came to taxes, Roosevelt simply believed that rich people should pay more than poor people. And in emergencies, they should pay a lot more... Roosevelt never wavered... Roosevelt came out firmly against the sales tax in all its forms. Time and again, when asked by reporters to reconsider his position, the president stood firm..." 

--Joseph J. Thorndike, Their Fair Share: Taxing the Rich in the Age of FDR, Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 2013, pp. 45 and 240. 

Trump Administration changes to Section 106 will disenfranchise us from our history. See 22 ways that the New Deal connected us to our history.

Trump's Advisory Council for Historic Preservation (it's an independent agency, but let's be real, almost all of the members are Trump appointees) wants to make changes to regulations related to Section 106 of the Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Among the changes are the ability to exclude the public from being able to comment, "with agencies directed to weigh whether providing opportunities for public involvement is worth the associated costs and delays" ("The End of Section 106 as We Know It?" The National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers, July 20, 2026). This is a blatant disenfranchisement of the people from their nation's history... in favor of authoritarian decision-making. It will facilitate the loss of historic sites, structures, and artwork all across the country when the profit and ego of the rich and powerful come calling.

In contrast, the New Deal sought to preserve and connect us to our history. Here are 22 ways it did that:

1. (above) FDR and the New Deal created the National Archives, which today houses "13.5 billion pieces of paper, 725,000 artifacts... 41 million photographs" and much more. Image scanned from a personal postage stamp collection.

2. (above) In addition to creating the National Archives, there were projects to assist state archives. In this case, we see a brand new state archives building in Springfield, the capital of Illinois, funded by the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA). To get a feel for the enormous size of this building, compare it to the person walking in front of it (under the third window from the left). This building was constructed in 1936-1938 and still serves as the state archives for Illinois. Photo from the National Archives.

3. (above) FDR signed the Historic Sites Act into law on August 21, 1935, making historic preservation a national priority and laying the foundation for much of the nation's subsequent history activities and legislation. Image from an uncredited postcard, scanned from a personal copy.

4. (above) To help preserve America's architectural history, the New Deal created the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). It is still being added-to today, with photographs, architectural drawings, and historical information. As of August 2026, there have been 34,797 surveys carried out. Above, we see a photograph of an Idaho City Schoolhouse, taken for the HABS program. Photo from the Library of Congress.

5. (above) "Gabriel Weather Vane," a watercolor and graphite on paper, by Harriette Gale, created for the WPA's Index of American Design, ca. 1942. The New Deal created the Index--which has over 18,000 artworks / depictions--to preserve designs made in America. Image from the National Gallery of Art.

6. (above) The New Deal had several projects to preserve folk music history, with audio recordings, photographs, technical drawings of instruments, and more. Here, we see "Mary Goshtigian playing the oud [a fretless stringed instrument]... performing Armenian and Armeno-Turkish songs and music on April 17, 1939," Fresno, California (source). This photo was taken as part of Sidney Robertson Cowell's WPA project to record folk music in northern California. The sounds and information gathered by this and other New Deal folk history projects helps us understand the musical background and influences of our elders and ancestors, and thus American music itself. Photo from the Library of Congress.

7. (above) The WPA Graves Registration Project operated across the country and hired veterans to record information from the gravesites of veterans. Above is a WPA worker in Ohio, between 1935 and 1943. This work was important because many of the gravesites, such as the one you see above, were falling apart and wearing away. Mancel Talcott, Chairman of the American Legion, advised all states to take advantage of the program: "If you have no WPA graves registration project in your state get busy at once and request one. It will complete the record of all veterans' graves in your state, enable you to locate and record for future use the name and grave location of every honorably discharged veteran of all wars, and it will put some unemployed veterans to work!" ("Legion Wins 10-Year Fight to Secure Flat Markers for Veterans," Lincoln Veterans' Weekly (Lincoln, Nebraska), May 24, 1940, p. 6). Photo from the National Archives.

8. (above) The New Deal built or improved several national cemeteries. Here is Annapolis National Cemetery, where the WPA carried out several projects, such as "installing utilities, realigning headstones, removing dead trees, and constructing a utility building" (source). Other cemeteries receiving New Deal work included Baltimore National Cemetery (built entirely by the WPA), Antietam National Cemetery, and Arlington National Cemetery. Photo by Brent McKee, 2013.

9. (above) WPA workers organizing and recording birth certificates, Charleston, South Carolina, September 26, 1936. Genealogists have long praised the work of the WPA in preserving family histories by locating and indexing "birth, death, and marriage records... church records... cemetery and burials, military, and naturalization records" (Marjorie Blocher Kinsey, "W.P.A. records could be valuable source for family detective," The Evansville Courier (Evansville, Indiana), January 17, 1993, p. D10). Also see, "Works Progress Administration (WPA)," Ancestry.com (accessed August 21, 2026). Photo from the National Archives.

10. (above) These are members of CCC Company 2303, stationed at Camp NHP-5, next to William & Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia, ca. 1937. This company was one of several African American units that restored and developed Colonial National Historical Park (Yorktown, Jamestown, and related areas). One of this company's projects was "the archeological investigation of Jamestown Island [one of the many archeology projects carried out by the New Deal]. It consists of research, landscaping, building workshops and tourist conveniences. The C.C.C. boys, under direction of the National Park Service, are digging up the ruins. Every shovel of dirt and sand is sifted for artifacts and fragments. These are taken to a laboratory, cleaned, labeled and filed" (see source at the end of this caption).Thanks to the extensive and years-long work of the CCC, Colonial National Historical Park is now visited by millions of people every year and contributes mightily to the local economy ("Tourism to Colonial National Historical Park creates over $453 million in Economic Benefits," National Park Service, July 17, 2022). Photo and archeology quote from: Con C. McCarthy (ed.), Civilian Conservation Corps, District No. 4, 1933-1937, Third Corps Area, Harrisburg, PA: The Military Service Publishing Company, 1937; used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

11. (above) The New Deal restored many historic buildings, such as the Henry Whitfield House in Guilford, Connecticut. Here we see the house in 1937, after restoration by WPA workers. Today, the house is on the National Register of Historic Places and is also a National Historic Landmark. Photo from the National Archives.

12. (above) The New Deal created many historic markers, with West Virginia's highway marker program, created by FERA and WPA, being one of the most significant examples. Several hundred were installed during the New Deal years and many others have been added since. Above we see a marker in Hillsboro, West Virginia. Photo by Brent McKee, 2015.

13. (above) The New Deal built, improved, and assisted museums all across the country. Here we see a WPA worker creating models of Seneca Indians for the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Rochester, New York, May 1936. Photo from the National Archives.

14. (above) The New Deal created visual aids for schoolchildren, for example, models of famous buildings, transportation history, and people from past cultures. One of the major ways of preserving history, of course, is to pass it down from generation to generation. In the photo group above, we see a WPA worker in Louisville, Kentucky, painting a model of the Audubon Museum (the actual museum is in Henderson, Kentucky, and was also built by the WPA); then the completed model; next, WPA workers packaging the model (and other models) for shipment; and finally, a schoolteacher and her children examining the model (and others) and no doubt learning about the great woodsman, bird naturalist, and painter John James Audubon (like many other famous people in American history though, Audubon was not the greatest person). Photos from the National Archives.

15. (above) The New Deal's Adult Education program was one of its most ambitious. Here, we see a WPA Adult Education program offering courses in "Current History," "U.S. History," and "World History." Again, we see history preserved through education and the transmission of memory. Newspaper article from The Dayton Herald (Dayton, Ohio), November 25, 1939, p. 12, and newspapers.com; used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

16. (above) The New Deal built or helped install statues, monuments, and memorials. Above we see a New Deal project to relocate a statue of George Washington, at the University of Washington in Seattle, to the top of a WPA-built pedestal, between 1935 and 1943. Photo from the National Archives.

17. (above) The WPA's Federal Writers' Project (FWP) wrote many histories - national, territorial, state, local, and on specific topics, such as Indian culture, African Americans in different regions of the country, oral histories with former slaves, maritime history, stories from the old west, and much more. The FWP's most well-known books are the guidebooks written for all 48 states, Washington, DC, and the territories of Alaska and Puerto Rico (a manuscript was mostly completed for a Hawaii Guide, but seems to have been lost or perhaps even thrown away by someone who didn't approve of public funds going towards such a project). The guidebooks had history sections, and also photographs, tours, and maps that are now historically valuable themselves (for example, showing roads and points of interest as they were in the 1930s and 40s). The WPA guide for Puerto Rico (shown above) was sponsored by the Puerto Rico Department of Education and published in 1940 by The University Society, Inc. (New York). Image scanned from a personal copy.

18. (above) Among the many plays of the WPA's Federal Theatre Project (FTP) were historical dramas, and the most remarkable of these dramas was Paul Green's The Lost Colony. The play, which had a high degree of community management, is still performed annually on Roanoke Island, North Carolina. For just about 90 years now, endless thousands of people have been able to see one of the most famous stories in American history played out on stage. Photo by Brent McKee, from a performance during the 2016 season.

19. (above) Some New Deal artworks preserved history too, such as this WPA mural at George Washington High School, in San Francisco, depicting the life of Washington, even the non-flattering moments, such as slaveholding (the image above is only a small section of the mural). Photo from the National Archives.

20. (above) The WPA's Historical Records Survey located and inventoried government, church, and other records all across the nation. This helped scholars, independent researchers, and genealogists, and also promoted an interest in American history more generally. Above, we see some materials listed in American Imprints Inventory Number 31: A Check List of California Non-Documentary Imprints 1833-1855, from the Northern California Historical Records Survey (WPA, April 1942). These items would be of interest to those looking into California's early development into an American state. Item 83, for example, is a broadside (a flyer or other printed notice) announcing a treaty between the United States and Mexico - a treaty that ceded California to the U.S. after two years of war. The letters "CSmH" showed that the broadside was held at the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery in San Marino, California (and perhaps still is today). Image scanned from a personal copy.

21. (above) The Lee Cabin at Lost River State Park in West Virginia. The house was built by Charles Carter Lee, older brother of Robert E. Lee, ca. 1820, on land that Virginia had deeded to their father Henry Lee III in 1796. Lee III had been an officer in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The cabin, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places, is a good example of how land preservation can protect history: natural history (think about the giant sequoia trees in Sequoia National Park); human events (e.g., Civil War battlefields); and structures. West Virginia bought the land that now makes up Lost River State Park in 1933-1934, and the Civilian Conservation Corps then came in and developed it into a location for campers, hikers, horseback riders, and other visitors. Through its various land preservation activities--such as the creation or improvement of national parks, national monuments, national wildlife refuges, and assistance to state and local parks and forests--the New Deal helped preserve a tremendous amount of history. Photo by Brent McKee, 2011.

22. (above) The photography section of the New Deal's Farm Security Administration (FSA) was not primarily a history project, but it has certainly aged into one of the greatest history collections of the U.S., especially in relation to rural America, but also for urban areas and, interestingly, events that have ultimately reflected badly on FDR and America more broadly, such as this photo of a Japanese child waiting to be transported (with family) to the Manzanar War Relocation Center in Owens Valley, California, April 1942, as part of the forced removal and confinement of Japanese people on the west coast--including U.S. citizens--during World War II. Photo by Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration, provided courtesy of the Library of Congress.

"To bring together the records of the past and to house them in buildings where they will be preserved for the use of men and women in the future, a Nation must believe in three things. It must believe in the past. It must believe in the future. It must, above all, believe in the capacity of its own people so to learn from the past that they can gain in judgment in creating their own future."

--President Franklin Roosevelt, "Remarks at the Dedication of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library at Hyde Park, New York." June 30, 1941.

Thanks to Republicans and Corporate Democrats, tax revenue from working-class Americans is now increasingly given to the super-rich

Above: "The Middle Class," a lithograph by Elizabeth Olds (1896-1991), created ca. 1939. Olds did several artworks for the WPA, but it's not clear if this is one of them. In any event, it's a great piece that seems to depict the timeless strategy of the wealthy to distract, divide, and get the working-class riled up into a frenzy over this or that issue, while they make off with more and more of the working-class's money. Image from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The rich are stealing our tax dollars to feed their insatiable appetite for money and luxury

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has been making a point lately that is worth repeating - indeed, worth repeating over and over and over again. And that is this: The wealthy used to pay much higher taxes to help fund the government. But in the past few decades, after purchasing politicians and bamboozling the public, they've had their tax responsibility greatly reduced and now increasingly fund the government by lending to the government. This has ballooned the national debt to over $40 trillion!

(Robert Reich, "Who’s Raking it in as the National Debt Explodes? What the wealthy and powerful--and Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent--don’t want you to know," Substack, August 20, 2026.)

And so now, a significant portion of our tax dollars go towards interest payments to the rich, when that money could be going towards infrastructure improvements; increased Medicaid funding (so that, for example, the elderly aren't neglected and abused in nursing homes as much); expanding Social Security (so that maybe, just maybe, we can retire and not have to work for billionaires until we're 95); and so on.

The social safety net has been shredded; our infrastructure has been substandard for decades; the rich have received several rounds of massive tax cuts (Reagan, Bush Jr., Trump I, and Trump II); the working-class has been burdened with more and more regressive revenue systems (taxes, tolls, fees, fines, etc., at the state and local level); the national debt has surpassed $40 trillion; and now we're paying taxes--or should we call them tithes?--to our rich Gods, in order to pay the interest on their lending to the government - a government that was supposed to be We the People but has now been converted into We the Suckers.

As if all this were not bad enough, the rich didn't even fulfill their end of the trickle-down economics bargain: to create so many great jobs, through their magical investments, that it would be like manna falling from Heaven. Instead, they've created a nation filled to the brim with low-paid b.s. jobs, gig work, and jobs with no pension plans (most 401(k)s are not pension plans - they're tools of distraction that most people can't significantly contribute to, because wages have been stagnant since the 1970s).

Republicans are mostly to blame for this economic and social catastrophe, because of their decades-long obsession with tax cuts for the rich. But Corporate Democrats share some of the blame too, for (a) failing to properly message what's going on, (b) failing to aggressively and consistently push for more progressive taxation (as well as other progressive policies), and (c) abandoning their New Deal heritage.

Will the voters ever learn? Or, are we in a continuous downward spiral where the voters will forever have their money siphoned off to the rich, as they're being distracted by one manufactured outrage after another?

Rich Americans are killing working-class Americans--by the millions--but it's been so normalized and systematized that we just don't fight it very much

Above: "Done In," an aquatint etching by Frank Ominsky (1898-1991), created while he was in the WPA, between 1935 and 1943. Image from the Art Institute of Chicago.

How the rich are killing the working-class and poor

In America, being working-class, and especially being poor, means an early death. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders explains, "Being poor or working class in America is a death sentence... For example, if you live in McDowell County, West Virginia, where the median household income is just $27,682 a year, you can expect to live 69 years. Meanwhile, just 350 miles away in Loudoun County, Virginia, where the median income is $142,299, life expectancy is 84 years - a 15-year gap. Why? It’s simple. Day after day, the struggle just to survive takes a horrific toll on a person’s body and mind. Financial stress kills" ("Why Do Working People Die Younger Than the Wealthy?" Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator for Vermont, April 2, 2025).

There are some wealthy Americans who want to improve the lives of the working-class and poor (for example, the Patriotic Millionaires). But a much higher percentage of the wealthy couldn't care less - they just want to avoid taxation at all costs, even if it means that an awful lot of people are going to die. In the research study, "Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans" (Perspective on Politics, Vol. 11, No. 1, March 2013), we see that "a solid majority of the public (59 percent), but only a minority of the wealthy (41 percent), said they would be “willing to pay more taxes in order to provide health coverage for everyone" (p. 58) and further, the "wealthy are much more favorable toward cutting social welfare programs, especially Social Security and health care" (p. 67).

(I'm skeptical of the 41 percent of rich Americans who say they'd be willing to pay more in taxes "to provide health coverage for everyone." First of all, how many responded that way just to appear like a good person to the survey-taker - i.e., not wanting to look like Ebenezer Scrooge. And second, how much more are they willing to pay - 20% more, or just 2%?)   

These findings mesh with other things we know about wealthy Americans, such as their tendency to have less empathy and give less to charity. So, if it comes down to your life vs. their sustainable luxury and dynastic wealth, well, you might want to get your affairs in order.

So, how are the rich killing us? Here are six major ways:

1. Withholding healthcare: A 2019 study by Gallup and West Health found that "More than 13% of American adults--or about 34 million people--report knowing of at least one friend or family member in the past five years who died after not receiving needed medical treatment because they were unable to pay for it." The Patriotic Millionaires have noted, "some in America’s healthcare system are earning millions a day and becoming billionaires by denying care to certain patients..." This is reminiscent of the Nazi's Aktion T4 program, where those who were considered "life unworthy of life" were killed off for economic (and other) reasons. And it's important to remember that the Nazi's didn't always use violence to kill, they also killed by withholding food and medical care. Yep, we're doing the exact same thing here... in good ol' "Christian" U.S.A.

2. Controlling politicians and ordering them to stop "Medicare for All": Even though "Medicare for All" would save loads of money (in large part because it would stop the flow of money to wealthy investors and executives) and save over 114,000 lives per year, the rich--and their political marionettes--would rather let those 114,000 die (again, every year). Many wealthy Americans want to keep the healthcare cash cow going, lives be damned.

3. Slow-walking renewable energy: Wealthy Americans are also using their political leverage to block, or at least slow-walk the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner forms of energy. This is killing tens of thousands of Americans every year. This is similar to--but not (yet) up to the level of--cigarette sales, where the wealthy know it's killing hundreds of thousands of Americans every year, but they keep the industry going anyway, in order to secure more wealth and luxury for themselves and their children. It's a dynastic wealth industry built upon culturally-accepted homicide.

4. Financial stress and deaths of despair: Through job off-shoring, wage stagnation, usury, medical debt, and other methods, the wealthy are putting lower-income groups through a type of financial persecution - and this persecution has been shown to fuel deaths of despair, such as suicides and opioid overdoses (see, e.g., here, here, here, here, and here). 

5. Killing the elderly in nursing homes by reducing staffing: Private equity firms are taking over nursing homes, reducing staffing to increase profits, and this is causing increased death rates. So complacent are we--or so enamored by wealth and our holy "Job Creators"--that we are letting the rich abuse our parents and grandparents. We should be ashamed of ourselves. (For more on this problem, see here, here, and here.)  

6. Tax cuts, evasion, and avoidance: The rich use all sorts of schemes to reduce their taxes - buying politicians (and thus, public policy); hiding money in foreign accounts; utilizing teams of lawyers to look for any loopholes; and distracting the working-class with culture wars (the Fox News business model). These schemes reduce revenue that could be used to improve public health, and it also shifts the revenue burden on to the working-class and poor (e.g., instead of more progressive income taxes, we get more regressive sales taxes). (See, e.g., "Inequality and poverty: the hidden costs of tax dodging," Oxfam International, accessed August 19, 2026; and also "Who Pays? 7th Edition," Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, accessed August 20, 2026).  

The six items above, and more, are causing premature deaths for the working-class and poor - by the millions. But here's the thing: This mass murder has been normalized, institutionalized, and systematized to such a degree, that the majority of us don't even think about it; or, if we do, we just sorta shrug our shoulders and say, "Well, it's just the way it is." We don't seem to have much fight left in us, like cattle lined up at the slaughterhouse.

We need a New Deal for our lifespan.

"It is shocking and unacceptable that in the United States in 2025, poverty steals almost a decade of older Americans’ lives. Millions of older Americans who worked hard and played by the rules are dying early simply because they don’t have sufficient financial resources."

--Ramsey Alwin, President and CEO, National Council on Aging, in "Analysis Finds Low-Income Older Adults Die Nine Years Earlier than Wealthier Peers," National Council on Aging, October 7, 2025.