American families scramble for groceries, but Trump throws a blowout at Mar-a-Lago. The theme? “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody.” It’s straight-up in-your-face provocation.
Maybe Trump’s not lying. The American Dream—he’s just exposing the ugly truth. In America, only the moguls get to dream. Everyone else? Forget it. That party at Mar-a-Lago? Luxury everywhere, feathered hairpieces sparkling, and champagne flooding the room. Dancers in flapper dresses swirling through the crowd, acrobats splashing inside giant golden martini glasses. It's pure Gatsby—vintage 1920s glitz.
Haruki Murakami, the famed writer did the Japanese version of “The Great Gatsby”, nailed it: 1920s was America’s “Jazz Age”. It was Fitzgerald’s playground, his prime. The book and a string of ten iconic short stories put him in the American classics club. Missed the Mar-a-Lago bash? Catch Leonardo DiCaprio’s Gatsby flick of 2013 and get swept up in that old-school dream.
The point is, Fitzgerald’s classic dropped in 1925. Back then, nobody saw the storm brewing, but the bubbles were stacking up beneath the surface, waiting to explode.
The Great Depression and the New Deal
“From 1929 to 1933, America took a nosedive. Factory output tanked by a third. Prices dropped twenty percent, and debt got even harder to pay off. Unemployment spiked from 4% to a whopping 25%. One-third of workers got shoved into low-wage, temp jobs. By the end, half the country was sitting idle.” Wikipedia spells it out. Sound familiar?
However, Fitzgerald was never there to see the brutality of life himself. After 1930, his writing days faded fast, and he died at the age of 44. “The great American writer” spent his final stretch trapped by booze, anxiety, and heartbreak.
But oh did God bless the United States. Roosevelt steps in during ’32, rolls out the “New Deal” a year later. Let’s call it what it is—Roosevelt gave the USA its first taste of socialism. If you think about it, Deng Xiaoping wasn’t the pioneer of mixing systems after all.
The New Deal rewires finance to block another meltdown like the Great Depression. Social Security comes online, labor standards get locked in, minimum wage, max hours. The SEC and FDIC show up to police Wall Street and protect bank deposits. America goes full “big government,” especially in the economy. Then war breaks out, and the New Deal taps out. That’s when American capitalism catches its second wind.
America and the never-ending War
Eisenhower holds the White House for eight years. Before leaving in ’61, he warns: “This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience… In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.” But look what happened next?
According to Xinhua, between WWII’s end and 2001, there were 248 armed conflicts in 153 regions worldwide. America started 201 of them. Since 2000, the US has unleashed its military everywhere—Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria—selling the world “freedom, democracy, and human rights.” The result? The American war machine sets countries aflame, leaving over 900,000 dead, millions wounded, tens of millions running for their lives.
“A Little Party Never Killed Nobody.” That’s rich—while moguls and celebrities toast behind the velvet ropes of Mar-a-Lago, the rest choke on the fumes of old mistakes. Eisenhower warned about the war machine, but America’s elite ignored the alarm.
So here we are: the evil mist rolls in again, thick with class arrogance and broken dreams. The champions of decadence pick Halloween for their masquerade, parading shamelessly through the wreckage—then call it destiny.
Deep Blue
** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **
Karoline Leavitt uploads a cheerful Instagram snap, showing off her armful of popular Korean beauty products while tagging along with Trump in Korea. Her post goes viral, with fans calling her genuinely relatable. Comments gush: Thank you to this American girl for the free K-Beauty ad! Word is, sales of these brands tripled overnight.
Who’s Leavitt, anyway? She’s the White House Press Secretary, just 28 years old. As Trump puts it, “She's a star, and she's great. I don't think anybody has ever had a better press secretary than Karoline. She's been amazing.” Leavitt also made headlines for becoming the first U.S. government spokesperson to hit reporters with a cheeky “Your mom!” when asked a serious question.
Leavitt’s Korean honeymoon lasted all of three days. Suddenly, she’s under fire—not for another “mom” diss, but because her K-Beauty shopping spree was, apparently, too much. Angry voices thundered: Millions of Americans are still scrambling for their next meal, and you’re a White House bigshot flaunting your haul? Disgusting! Remember, Leavitt’s supposed to be a MAGA missionary—so the critics say, Hey, wasn’t it all about buying American? Why hype Korean brands? Of course, freedom-loving types jumped to her defense: She’s spending her own cash — what’s the problem? Still, it’s hard for some to swallow her snapping up so many high-value goodies abroad.
When “Shopping” Sends Political Shockwaves
Other voices chime in with more nuance: “It’s all Trump’s fault—his short-sighted trade war left no winners. U.S. prices keep climbing, so Leavitt, a White House official, jets off to Korea and snags budget K-Beauty products, while ordinary Americans are stuck with sky-high domestic prices. It’s miserable! Pay attention to how Americans actually feel.”
Former President Obama recently sounded alarm bells on social media: Over 47 million Americans are struggling with food insecurity, including a staggering 20% of children. His worry? The U.S. cost of living is spiraling, more families than ever are relying on relief, yet both major parties are locked in endless legal and political battles over aid. Obama warns: “Millions of kids, seniors, and low-income Americans will go hungry ahead of the holidays.”
Poverty Lines and Power Play
Poverty. It’s the first thing leaders should fix.
Let’s rewind a bit. Back at the start of Lunar New Year in 2021, on the eve of the Lantern Festival, China held a grand celebration. President Xi Jinping declared total victory in the nation’s fight against poverty—a feat he called a “miracle on earth.” When the BBC reported this, their tone was bittersweet. The stats quoted from Chinese officials were staggering: “All 98.99 million rural poor lifted out of poverty, all 832 impoverished counties delisted, all 128,000 poor villages off the map, and regional poverty solved.” The BBC then rolled out every metric and definition under the sun to analyze “poverty.”
But really, why try to read the Western mind? Forget it—let’s shift focus to Europe and America instead.
According to the BBC: “The UK will continue to see a big rise in the number of people living in poverty, a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned. The study said 2.2 million children and two million working age adults were living in absolute poverty in 2009–10. In percentage terms, 17% of UK children were living in absolute poverty in 2009–10. By 2012–13, the IFS predicts this will rise to 21.8%.” The report further explains: It’s all in how you define poverty.
So, what about the United States? There, poverty is measured similarly. American scholars have written that if judged by the UN’s absolute poverty line standard, most Euro-American countries would not have a single poor person. Yet in reality, even America—the world's largest economy—officially recognizes about 17% of its population as poor.
So, why juggle numbers and tweak definitions just to spin a prettier picture for yourself? Start with public sentiment instead. “Leavitt’s K-Beauty episode” is enough to capture America today. Think back—would anyone have cared about White House officials bargain hunting in Korea during the 1990s dot-com heyday?
America’s poverty may need “scientific” measurement, but one fact is obvious: Americans feel poor enough to resent it — wow!
