The May 30 2026 (Memorial Day) edition
The May 30 2026 (Memorial Day) edition of The Status Quo: An Electronic Newsletter is like many Memorial Day editions before it except today we remember those who ended their lives because they could not live with the sacrifices made for our country. Some will object to adding them to our prayers this Memorial Day but not this Veteran. For too long, we have allowed our brothers and sisters to suffer while those tasked with their care wash their hands of the inconvenience. Maybe it’s time we wash our hands of them.
This Land is Our Land 2.0
In the immortal words of one of America’s greatest troubadours –
Well, one bright Sunday morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the relief line I saw my people
As they stood there whistlin’ they stood there hungry
Don’t they know that this land was made for you and me?
This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie brought promise and hope to countless Americans in dire straits during the Great Depression. Much like the time when Mr. Guthrie put his words to music, Memorial Day 2026 finds a growing number of Americans celebrating the joy of Irving Berlin’s God Bless America without realizing that the beauty and blessings God bestowed upon our land of the free are being destroyed by corporate greed, elite indifference, and political betrayal. No better examples exist than the growing numbers of Americans who rely on food pantries to feed their families and of course the ever-increasing number of Veteran suicides. Putting aside for today the physical and financial abuses of our elderly and the wholesale abandonment of our children, we must ask ourselves: how different is their treatment today compared to when Veterans returned from Vietnam? While Americans are no longer spitting on them, they are abandoning them all the same by re-electing the same career politicians over and over again knowing that Congress will do nothing to end the suicides.
To this end, the President issued Executive Order 14401(EO 14401), Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness. In the absence of congressional action, and in the hope that previously prohibited drugs can finally be deployed to help desperate Veterans, it is reassuring to see that at least someone in elected office cares enough to act. For that decision, this and many other Veterans thank the President but pray he understands that Executive Order 1440 is only the first step. The next step is to provide Veterans—both past and future—with mental health care outside the struggling Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) system and the parameters of the Compact Act. While the federal government will maintain the existing VA infrastructure for non-psychological illnesses, the VA will no longer serve as the sole provider of Veterans’ care with respect to long-term treatment utilizing the emerging and varied category of psychedelic drugs, which ranges from classic serotonergic drugs to non-classic psychedelics—such as tryptamines, ergolines, and phenethylamines.
The intent of this article is not to highlight the positive or negative aspects of the Compact Act or provide a tutorial on the drugs that can make a difference, but to provide an example of how we can maintain this absolutely needed treatment as the federal government begins to drastically reduce funding at all levels of government. That day is fast approaching. This article offers a new method of care and a new revenue stream to finance that care that falls outside the VA. It’s no secret that this Veteran cares a great deal about the safety of all His little ones and those who served in uniform and as such offers out-of-box thinking to fix a real problem. To finance this transition away from the VA, a state-administred program will be funded by a direct tax on all revenue earned by private equity firms and their stakeholders. Moreover, this revenue stream will not only provide funding for implementation of psychedelic medications, but will lay the foundation for a modernized tax system built to support the Americans, including Veterans, who have been left to fend for themselves while the wealthy enjoy increasingly lavish lifestyles, extended lifespans, and soaring profits driven by the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AAI).
Most Americans who desire to know the predators living amongst us have heard of the financial entities labeled “private equity.” Predatory exploitation (PE) is a more accurate description for these predatory entities so PE will do. It is time for every American to understand exactly how private equity operates, as well as the damage PE inflicts on our economic life. The most common PE strategy is for a PE firm to use a small portion of its own money (capital) and a large amount of borrowed money (debt) to fund the purchase of a target company. The acquired company’s assets and cash flow serve as collateral for the loans, and the target company is responsible for paying off this debt. Pure predatory capitalism and if you think this unbridled form of capitalism isn’t threatening American free enterprise, just ask the voters in New York City what economic system they desire to see their city embrace: predatory exploitation or new ideas to help those who are exploiting the masses.
Like the investment bankers who destroyed countless lives in the last economic crisis, PE is and will continue to significantly impact the middle class through aggressive cost-cutting (layoffs), structural changes (reduce staffing), and financial engineering (pension theft). Critics and economic researchers identify several key ways these investments can negatively affect middle-class stability, including in the case of hospitals—reduced staff and significant declines in patient care. Simply put, PE is destroying not only successful companies but also entire business sectors. PE ruins lives for the sake of a few pieces of silver and we must put an end to these modern-day money-changers, or they will destroy a way of life so many have fought and died to preserve. Let us make them pay, one way or another.
As Veterans across this land of ours gather to remember those who never returned home, this Veteran has a message: Either a comprehensive overhaul of the current economic framework of America (taxation, compensation, obligations) is enacted in the coming years to address the deep-seated inequalities perpetuated by systemic neglect ($39 trillion in debt)—driven by an institutional fixation on short-term gains (political expediency)—or a period of profound social upheaval will become inevitable and exploited by our enemies, both domestic and foreign. Let there be no mistake. The enemies within (career politicians and those they serve) are as great a threat to our way of life (rule of law) as are our enemies abroad. Unless we unite to change the status quo now, we will have betrayed the memory of those who never came home to a land that is and has been our land since 1775.