A few of us still cherish the fond memories of life on the South Side of Butler, during the Great Depression and the Great War that followed. Our parents confronted these extraordinary times, inspired by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s remarkable resolve to “Make America Great.” And, so he did, accompanied by the Greatest Generation of Americans.

America is witness to a besieged middle class being lowered into the abyss of deep despair. Stagnant worker wages, ongoing inflation and lavish tax cuts being hoarded into the coffers of the rich, add to a soaring national debt and widening disparity of wealth.

In December 2017, a federal corporate tax cut intended for employee pay hikes, instead, found companies on track to plow this newfound wealth into buying back their own stock, artificially raising a company’s earnings per share.

Fast forward to December 2024. Fascism has been described as the merging of corporate and government interests. It’s when corporations have taken over the government and the wealthy control the entire country. Sound familiar? Today, industry CEOs are flocking to Mar-a-Lago to meet President-elect Donald Trump, an urgent wake-up call for the working class?

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world ($430.88 billion) will have significant sway over federal spending priorities at the new Department of Government Efficiency. Pope Francis addressed the destructive obsession of those amassing great wealth, “It is the sickness of the rich fools … who believe themselves superior to others, rather than at their service.”

Geno Mariotti, Butler