CNJ+ November 2025

ENTITLEMENTS By Bryan M. Kuderna “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” - Frederick Douglas Children run to and fro, crisscrossing dusty dirt alleyways. A child pokes his head into a card board tent in search of his mother. His father, like so many others, has deserted, leaving their young family of four essentially homeless. The boy takes a deep breath, feeling lightheaded from the ines capable stench of human waste. “Mommy, is there anything to eat today?” He begs. Today. She looks up at him from a small cupboard tucked away beside the decrepit mattress they all share. Mommy knows the answer, but unable to utter the words or even shrug her shoulders, she changes the subject. “Go play with your friends, it’s sunny out.” Mommy wants so badly to mention the trip she’ll make to the breadline later today but can’t bear offering another false hope to her children. This is not Orangi Town. It is New York City, 1933. America, and the rest of the global economy, is rocked by the Great Depression. 18 million elder ly, disabled, and single mothers live at bare suste nance levels. One out of four working Americans have lost their job. There is no safety net. The term or concept does not even exist. How quickly things change. The Roaring Twen ties are a time a of excess. Wall Street booms and anyone with spare change pours it into the stock market, ready to double their dollar. Behind the curtain, wages are slowing down, consumer debt is rising, banks are over-leveraged, and agricul ture slumps amidst a terrible drought. On October 24, 1929, almost 13 million shares of stock are sold as investors wake up to the reali ty of overvaluation, the day of reckoning is called “Black Thursday”. Five days later, on “Black Tues day”, the rest of the investment world follow suit and sell over 16 million shares. Companies go bankrupt overnight. Anyone who has ever put a dollar in the bank goes running to claim their cash, only to find the banks don’t have it on hand. Bank runs sweep the country. As the US Treasury tries to make emergency

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CNJ+ | FORMERLY THE MILLSTONE TIMES

NOVEMBER 2025