The Arsenal
Facts, Comebacks, & Dialogue Igniters
Every good rebellion needs tools. Ours just happen to be facts. The Arsenal is your stockpile of reality-checks, quick hits of data, and uncomfortable truths you can drop like well-aimed grenades in a debate.
PLUTOCRACY, PLAINLY
Money doesn’t need a crown. It just buys lawmakers, tax breaks, and headlines.
Source: OpenSecrets; OECD
🔹Ask: If policy follows donors, who’s really writing your future?
Source: OpenSecrets; OECD
🔹Ask: If policy follows donors, who’s really writing your future?
🎯IN A NUTSHELL
Fact: In 1973, U.S. CEOs earned about 30× the average worker's pay. By 2024, the average S&P 500 CEO made 285× their median worker's pay.
Starbucks' CEO'S compensation package stood out—earning 6,000× the typical barista's wage.
Source: AFL-CIO Paywatch, 24/7 Wall St.
🔹Ask: How is it that one paycheck used to support a family, while today families scramble while the top gains more and more?
Starbucks' CEO'S compensation package stood out—earning 6,000× the typical barista's wage.
Source: AFL-CIO Paywatch, 24/7 Wall St.
🔹Ask: How is it that one paycheck used to support a family, while today families scramble while the top gains more and more?
⚡FAST FACT-CEO PAY
The average S&P 500 CEO made ~$64,000 per day in 2022. That’s more than the typical U.S. worker earns in a year.
Source: BLS; AFL-CIO Paywatch
🔹Ask: Why is “hard work” only rewarded at the top?
Source: BLS; AFL-CIO Paywatch
🔹Ask: Why is “hard work” only rewarded at the top?
🎯 CO2 BY THE YEARS
1700–1900 → ~280–295 ppm
1900–1950 → ~295–310 ppm
1950–1980 → ~310–340 ppm
1980–2010 → ~340–390 ppm
2010–Present → ~390–421+ ppm
As of 2023, global CO₂ concentration surpassed 421 ppm, the highest in at least 800,000 years — a direct result of fossil fuel combustion and deforestation.
Source: NOAA (2024), NASA (2023), EPA (2023), Scripps (2023), EEA (2023), CO₂.Earth (2024), IPCC AR6 (2021).
🔹Ask: 421 ppm and counting. Who’s keeping score — and who’s cashing in?
1900–1950 → ~295–310 ppm
1950–1980 → ~310–340 ppm
1980–2010 → ~340–390 ppm
2010–Present → ~390–421+ ppm
As of 2023, global CO₂ concentration surpassed 421 ppm, the highest in at least 800,000 years — a direct result of fossil fuel combustion and deforestation.
Source: NOAA (2024), NASA (2023), EPA (2023), Scripps (2023), EEA (2023), CO₂.Earth (2024), IPCC AR6 (2021).
🔹Ask: 421 ppm and counting. Who’s keeping score — and who’s cashing in?
🥘 FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Fact: About 40% of all food produced in the U.S. is wasted each year. At the same time, 38 million Americans struggle with food insecurity.
Source: USDA – Food Waste FAQs, Feeding America
🔹Ask: How can a nation throw away nearly half its food while millions go hungry?
Source: USDA – Food Waste FAQs, Feeding America
🔹Ask: How can a nation throw away nearly half its food while millions go hungry?
💰 UNSUSTAINABLE PROFITS
Amazon, Walmart & McDonald’s rake in billions, in PROFIT—while U.S. taxpayers cover billions more in employee Medicaid and food assistance.
Source: Nevada Public Records; USDA
🔹Consider: Who’s subsidizing who?
Source: Nevada Public Records; USDA
🔹Consider: Who’s subsidizing who?
📈 WEALTH SHIFT
The richest 1% of Americans now own more wealth than the bottom 90% combined.
Source: Federal Reserve, 2023 🔹Consider: When wealth pools at the top, democracy runs dry at the bottom.
Source: Federal Reserve, 2023 🔹Consider: When wealth pools at the top, democracy runs dry at the bottom.
💰THE TOP 1% VS EVERYONE ELSE
Since 1979, wages for the top 1% have grown by roughly 182%, while wages for the bottom 90% rose only about 44%.
The divide is still staggering—nearly four times faster growth for those at the top.
Source: Economic Policy Institute.
🔹Ask: When growth only lifts the very top, whose economy is it really?
Source: Economic Policy Institute.
🔹Ask: When growth only lifts the very top, whose economy is it really?
🏦 CORPORATE PROFITS VS WORKER PAY
Fact: U.S. corporate profits are at record highs, yet median worker pay has stagnated.
In 2023, CEOs of the largest firms earned 258%× the average worker’s pay.
Meanwhile, nearly 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.
Source: EPI Paywatch, LendingClub, 2024
🔹Consider: Who’s really benefiting from “growth”?
Source: EPI Paywatch, LendingClub, 2024
🔹Consider: Who’s really benefiting from “growth”?
HOUSING CRUNCH HITS KIDS
Fact:
Roughly 25 million U.S. children — more than one in three — live in households spending over 30% of their income on housing.
That’s the federal threshold for being “cost-burdened.”
Translation: When shelter eats the paycheck, dinner becomes optional. And childhood becomes collateral in the housing market.
🔹Think Rising rents don’t just squeeze wallets — they shape futures.
Translation: When shelter eats the paycheck, dinner becomes optional. And childhood becomes collateral in the housing market.
🔹Think Rising rents don’t just squeeze wallets — they shape futures.
🍎 HUNGRY KIDS IN AMERICA
Fact: In 2022, about 13 million children — that’s 1 in 6 — lived in food-insecure households.
Behind every statistic is a child facing empty cupboards.
Source: USDA
🔹Consider: In the richest nation on Earth, hunger is still a daily reality.
Source: USDA
🔹Consider: In the richest nation on Earth, hunger is still a daily reality.
DIVIDED ON PURPOSE
Fact:
Across party lines, Americans are losing faith in nearly everything—government, media, and even one another.
62% say the federal government has too much power.
81% believe the nation is more divided than united.
70% think polarization has made the U.S. incapable of solving its major problems.
Research from UC Berkeley finds rising anti-democratic sentiment, as more citizens say they’d accept democratic violations—if it benefits “their side.”
Translation: Divide them. Distract them. Make trust a luxury—truth, a relic. And call the wreckage “democracy.”
Source: NORC; Gallup (Oct 2025); Ipsos (2024); NBC News (2023); UC Berkeley Democracy Study.
🔹Consider: Who really benefits when the system is rigged this way?
62% say the federal government has too much power.
81% believe the nation is more divided than united.
70% think polarization has made the U.S. incapable of solving its major problems.
Research from UC Berkeley finds rising anti-democratic sentiment, as more citizens say they’d accept democratic violations—if it benefits “their side.”
Translation: Divide them. Distract them. Make trust a luxury—truth, a relic. And call the wreckage “democracy.”
Source: NORC; Gallup (Oct 2025); Ipsos (2024); NBC News (2023); UC Berkeley Democracy Study.
🔹Consider: Who really benefits when the system is rigged this way?
💰 MOST EXPENSIVE IN THE WORLD
The U.S. spends ~$12,500 per person on healthcare—double other rich nations—yet life expectancy is lower.
Source: OECD; CDC
🔹Ask: What are we actually buying—care, or corporate profit?
Source: OECD; CDC
🔹Ask: What are we actually buying—care, or corporate profit?
🚨 MEDICAL DEBT IS CRUSHING FAMILIES
Over 100 million Americans carry medical debt.
It's the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the U.S.
Translation: Getting sick shouldn't mean financial ruin — but here, it often does.
Source: KFF
🔹Consider: Who profits when health is treated as a business, not a right?
Source: KFF
🔹Consider: Who profits when health is treated as a business, not a right?
🏥 RURAL ERs GOING DARK
Fact: Since 2010, 130+ rural hospitals have closed, leaving millions without nearby emergency care.
Why it matters: Longer drives mean delays for strokes, heart attacks, and trauma; when a hospital shuts down, maternity and ICU services often disappear with it.
Source: Chartis Center for Rural Health
🔹Ask: What’s the plan to keep critical-access hospitals open—stable funding, fair reimbursements, and real support for rural care?
Source: Chartis Center for Rural Health
🔹Ask: What’s the plan to keep critical-access hospitals open—stable funding, fair reimbursements, and real support for rural care?
💊 THE INSURANCE GAME
Fact: In 2024, U.S. health insurers made $71 billion in record profits while premiums rose 7%.
Fact: Some CEOs pocketed $100 million+ in pay.
Source: KFF (Oct 2024 — Employer Health Benefits Survey), Wendell Potter / HEALTH CARE un-covered (Aug 2025 — 2024 profits analysis), Common Dreams (Aug 6, 2025 — coverage of Potter analysis), Fierce Healthcare (May 2025 — CEO compensation review)
🔹Consider: When care is a business, your health becomes the product.
Fact: Some CEOs pocketed $100 million+ in pay.
Source: KFF (Oct 2024 — Employer Health Benefits Survey), Wendell Potter / HEALTH CARE un-covered (Aug 2025 — 2024 profits analysis), Common Dreams (Aug 6, 2025 — coverage of Potter analysis), Fierce Healthcare (May 2025 — CEO compensation review)
🔹Consider: When care is a business, your health becomes the product.
💀 THE PRESCRIPTION FOR PROFIT
Fact: Drug companies raised prices on 4,200+ medications in a single year, averaging 15% increases — far beyond inflation.
Fact: The top 10 pharmaceutical firms earned over $110 billion in combined profit last year.
Source: Statista, 2024; HHS, 2023
🔹Consider: Every pill has a price — but lately, that price buys more profit than healing.
Fact: The top 10 pharmaceutical firms earned over $110 billion in combined profit last year.
Source: Statista, 2024; HHS, 2023
🔹Consider: Every pill has a price — but lately, that price buys more profit than healing.
💊 WE PAY TWICE FOR EVERY PILL
Taxpayers fund $47B+ in NIH research each year — the foundation for many new drugs.
Yet Americans still spend $450B+ buying them back at full price. Public science for private profit.
Source: NIH, JAMA, CMS
🔹Ask: We fund the science. Why buy it back at full price?
Source: NIH, JAMA, CMS
🔹Ask: We fund the science. Why buy it back at full price?
🏠 EMPTY HOMES, FULL STREETS
In January 2024, over 771,000 people experienced homelessness on a single night in the U.S. — the highest number ever recorded since tracking began in 2007.
The average life expectancy for someone unhoused is just 50 years, compared to 77 for the average American.
Sources: HUD Annual Homeless Assessment Report 2024; CDC Vital Statistics 2023; LA County Medical Examiner Data 2023.
🔹Ask: How can the richest nation on Earth leave this many people out in the cold?
The average life expectancy for someone unhoused is just 50 years, compared to 77 for the average American.
Sources: HUD Annual Homeless Assessment Report 2024; CDC Vital Statistics 2023; LA County Medical Examiner Data 2023.
🔹Ask: How can the richest nation on Earth leave this many people out in the cold?
💸 FRAGILE MAJORITY
Only 41% of Americans say they could cover a $1,000 emergency from savings.
59% can't — many would borrow, cut spending, or scramble.
Public safety net, private panic.
Source: Bankrate; CBS news
🔹Consider: If most can't absorb a small shock, what happens when the crisis is bigger?
Source: Bankrate; CBS news
🔹Consider: If most can't absorb a small shock, what happens when the crisis is bigger?
🚀 RENTS ARE OUT OF REACH
Fact: A full-time, minimum-wage worker in 2025 cannot afford a modest one-bedroom apartment in nearly 100% of U.S. counties. Even local or state minimum wages leave workers far below what's needed to rent an apartment at Fair Market Rent.
Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition NLIHC July 2024: CNBC Published Wed, Jul 14 2021 11:17 AM EDT
Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition NLIHC July 2024: CNBC Published Wed, Jul 14 2021 11:17 AM EDT
📊 CHILDREN & FAMILIES
Fact: In 2024, homelessness among families with children jumped 39% in a single year, the most significant increase of any group.
Fact: Nearly 1.2 million U.S. children experience homelessness annually — far more than most Americans realize. Families now make up about one-third of the homeless population.
Source: HUD Annual Homeless Assessment Report (2024), National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), EndHomelessness.org
🔹Consider: If a nation can build luxury towers faster than it shelters kids, what does that say about our priorities?
Fact: Nearly 1.2 million U.S. children experience homelessness annually — far more than most Americans realize. Families now make up about one-third of the homeless population.
Source: HUD Annual Homeless Assessment Report (2024), National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), EndHomelessness.org
🔹Consider: If a nation can build luxury towers faster than it shelters kids, what does that say about our priorities?
🚨 THE PRICE OF CRISIS
Fact:
The U.S. spends ≈$13,432 per person on healthcare each year — about double what Canada or Denmark spend (≈$7,000 per person).
Yet: Americans still face premiums, deductibles, and co-pays, while Canadians and Danes, get better outcomes and pay nothing at the doctor’s office — it’s funded through taxes.
Source: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; ScienceDirect, 2023
🔹Just a thought: We pay extra to treat preventable emergencies—because profit, not prevention, runs the system.
Yet: Americans still face premiums, deductibles, and co-pays, while Canadians and Danes, get better outcomes and pay nothing at the doctor’s office — it’s funded through taxes.
Source: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; ScienceDirect, 2023
🔹Just a thought: We pay extra to treat preventable emergencies—because profit, not prevention, runs the system.
📊 IMMIGRANTS AND CRIME: THE NUMBERS TELL A DIFFERENT STORY
In Texas (2023), undocumented immigrants had 37% lower conviction rates than U.S.-born citizen.
National data shows that immigrants are overall less likely to be arrested or incarcerated than native-born Americans
Source: Cato Institute, NBER, 2023; AIC, 2024
🔹Ask: If data shows lower crime rates, why does fear of immigrants remain such an effective political tool?
National data shows that immigrants are overall less likely to be arrested or incarcerated than native-born Americans
Source: Cato Institute, NBER, 2023; AIC, 2024
🔹Ask: If data shows lower crime rates, why does fear of immigrants remain such an effective political tool?
🛡️MYTH VS. REALITY: IMMIGRANTS & PUBLIC SAFETY
Myth: “Sanctuary cities are more dangerous.”
Fact: Studies show no link between sanctuary policies and increased crime — in fact, many sanctuary cities report lower violent and property crime rates than comparable areas
Source: Stanford University, 2020; Center for American Progress, 2021.
🔹Consider: If facts show immigrants make communities safer, who benefits from keeping the fear alive?
Fact: Studies show no link between sanctuary policies and increased crime — in fact, many sanctuary cities report lower violent and property crime rates than comparable areas
Source: Stanford University, 2020; Center for American Progress, 2021.
🔹Consider: If facts show immigrants make communities safer, who benefits from keeping the fear alive?
⚡ ADDICTIVE BY DESIGN
Fact: Social apps are built on variable reward schedules—unpredictable likes, comments, and “new” content— the same reinforcement pattern that drives slot machines.
Evidence: Studies show social engagement follows reward-seeking patterns and reinforcement learning dynamics; unpredictability increases checking and time spent on the app
Source: Psychology Today, Royal Society Open Science; Addictive Behaviors Reports; SAGE Public Health.
🔹Ask: If every swipe is engineered to win your time, when do you stop playing their game?
Evidence: Studies show social engagement follows reward-seeking patterns and reinforcement learning dynamics; unpredictability increases checking and time spent on the app
Source: Psychology Today, Royal Society Open Science; Addictive Behaviors Reports; SAGE Public Health.
🔹Ask: If every swipe is engineered to win your time, when do you stop playing their game?
🌐 YOUR ATTENTION: THE BILLION-DOLLAR COMMODITY
Every click, scroll, or pause is tracked, quantified, and sold — fueling a $600B attention economy.
Major platforms earn hundreds per user each year, not by selling products, but by selling you.
Source: Statista (2024), Insider Intelligence/eMarketer (2024), Federal Trade Commission (FTC, 2023)
🔹Consider: If your time, thoughts, and habits are worth billions, why aren't we the ones getting paid?
Source: Statista (2024), Insider Intelligence/eMarketer (2024), Federal Trade Commission (FTC, 2023)
🔹Consider: If your time, thoughts, and habits are worth billions, why aren't we the ones getting paid?
⚙️ ALGORITHMIC AMPLIFICATION
Fact: Engagement-based algorithms on major social platforms amplify content that sparks anger, outrage, and hostility — not accuracy or balance.
Yale research found that users rewarded with likes and shares for expressing moral outrage increased their outrage over time. Studies of Twitter (now X) show its algorithm boosts emotionally charged and out-group–hostile posts more than neutral content.
UCL researchers found algorithms amplify extreme and divisive material, shaping public norms in harmful ways.
Source: Yale University, 2021; PubMed, 2024; UCL, 2024
🔹Consider: If outrage gets the clicks, what happens to truth?
Yale research found that users rewarded with likes and shares for expressing moral outrage increased their outrage over time. Studies of Twitter (now X) show its algorithm boosts emotionally charged and out-group–hostile posts more than neutral content.
UCL researchers found algorithms amplify extreme and divisive material, shaping public norms in harmful ways.
Source: Yale University, 2021; PubMed, 2024; UCL, 2024
🔹Consider: If outrage gets the clicks, what happens to truth?
⚠️ INFORMATION BUBBLES
Fact: Algorithms personalize what users see — showing more of what they already agree with. Studies show this "filtering" can shrink exposure to diverse viewpoints and deepen polarization.
Source: ScienceDirect (2023); PMC (2019); ScienceDirect Behavioral Data Journal (2023).
🔹Consider: When your feed feels like the whole world agrees with you — it's not insight, it's engineering.
Source: ScienceDirect (2023); PMC (2019); ScienceDirect Behavioral Data Journal (2023).
🔹Consider: When your feed feels like the whole world agrees with you — it's not insight, it's engineering.
📡 ENGAGEMENT>TRUTH
Fact: YouTube’s recommendation system is explicitly optimized for watch time—not accuracy.
Fact: On Twitter/X, false news spreads faster and farther than true news—because novelty + emotion drive engagement.
Evidence check: When Facebook reduced engagement-weighting for political content, anger reactions and misinformation dropped—even as visits dipped slightly.
Sources: Google Research, Knight Institute, Science Magazine, Science, MIT
🔹Consider this: If the metric is clicks, what chance does the truth have?
Fact: On Twitter/X, false news spreads faster and farther than true news—because novelty + emotion drive engagement.
Evidence check: When Facebook reduced engagement-weighting for political content, anger reactions and misinformation dropped—even as visits dipped slightly.
Sources: Google Research, Knight Institute, Science Magazine, Science, MIT
🔹Consider this: If the metric is clicks, what chance does the truth have?
🌎 THEORY VS. HYPOTHESIS
Fact: In science, a hypothesis is a testable guess. A theory is a proven explanation backed by mountains of evidence.
Example: Gravity is a theory. Germs causing disease?
Also, a theory.
Truth: Climate change has been tested, measured, and confirmed again and again across every major scientific discipline.
Sources: NASA – Global Climate Change: Evidence, IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (2023), National Academy of Sciences – Climate Change Evidence and Causes
🔹Consider: If we trust the theory of gravity to keep us grounded, why doubt the one warning us our planet’s heating up?
Example: Gravity is a theory. Germs causing disease?
Also, a theory.
Truth: Climate change has been tested, measured, and confirmed again and again across every major scientific discipline.
Sources: NASA – Global Climate Change: Evidence, IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (2023), National Academy of Sciences – Climate Change Evidence and Causes
🔹Consider: If we trust the theory of gravity to keep us grounded, why doubt the one warning us our planet’s heating up?
📉TRICKLE DOWN?
Fact:
The “pro-growth” tax cuts of the 2000s delivered just 2.5% GDP growth per year — one of the weakest postwar expansions on record.
Despite promises of boom times, the Bush-era cuts failed to spark meaningful investment or wage growth.
Translation: They sold tax cuts as rocket fuel. We got fumes and a widening gap.
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis; Worldometer; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (2008).
🔹Ask: If every “pro-growth” policy leaves workers behind, who’s the growth really for?
Despite promises of boom times, the Bush-era cuts failed to spark meaningful investment or wage growth.
Translation: They sold tax cuts as rocket fuel. We got fumes and a widening gap.
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis; Worldometer; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (2008).
🔹Ask: If every “pro-growth” policy leaves workers behind, who’s the growth really for?
📊THE BOTTOM LINE
Fact:
Decade after decade, the numbers tell the same story.
Tax cuts sold as growth enriched the few.
Wages stagnated while profits soared.
Healthcare, housing, and education turned from rights into revenue streams.
And when frustration rose, they fed us outrage to keep us divided.
The result? A public too burdened to rise, too divided to unite, and too distracted to see who built the walls.
Translation: Control isn’t just maintained by power — it’s engineered through exhaustion.
Source: Compiled from The Arsenal — Wasteland Transmission Economic Archive (EPI, BEA, CRS, OECD, Gallup, UC Berkeley).
🔹Ask: If the system keeps failing most of us, why do we keep defending it? The signal’s out there. Find it. Spread it.
The result? A public too burdened to rise, too divided to unite, and too distracted to see who built the walls.
Translation: Control isn’t just maintained by power — it’s engineered through exhaustion.
Source: Compiled from The Arsenal — Wasteland Transmission Economic Archive (EPI, BEA, CRS, OECD, Gallup, UC Berkeley).
🔹Ask: If the system keeps failing most of us, why do we keep defending it? The signal’s out there. Find it. Spread it.