I don't think it's necessary to hold on to any sort of facade right now, or to throw trite lines of support and empty aphorisms at anybody as we sit here at the end of August 2026 in America. And I know the rest of the world is struggling on a lot of fronts too, don't get me wrong. But here in America, just about everyone they call, for lack of a better term, "working class," which is what, 99% of us? Just about all of us are struggling financially.
We're scared. We're worried.
We're wondering why billion-dollar companies seem to be making more and more money, and a new billionaire seemingly pops up every quarter, while the rest of us can barely afford gasoline for our aging cars. A new car costs something like $65,000 on average now, I think, but that's a side note.
And those of us in the arts, those of us doing business-to-business, as it were, artists training other artists, creating tools for artists, or simply trying to sell our own art to the general public, it's even harder. I hear you, and I understand. Who's going to invest in art when they're losing sleep at night wondering how they're going to afford groceries? If you have a little extra money, you're probably going to hold onto it right now with the way things are going. Not all of us can cater to the elite 1% who can spend money without thinking twice on artwork, experiences, and other things that are essentially luxuries. I get it. There are people who aren't struggling. Of course there are. But a whole lot of us are, and it's a scary time.
We're all trying to figure out what's possible. We're all trying to remain positive because this is America, after all. When was the last time we had a complete and utter societal collapse? Nobody alive can really remember one. We've had economic collapses. People have lost everything. Some people have died because they lost everything. Individually, there have been significant losses and absolute catastrophes. But overall, the country keeps going. So we try to remind ourselves that somehow or another, I guess we're going to keep going too. Somehow or another, maybe this country figures it out.
But we don't want to reach a point where the billionaires look around and say, "Hey, there's 500 of us!" while literally everyone else can't do anything. That doesn't help billionaires either. They can't keep making money if they destroy the society that makes their wealth possible. Eventually, if things get bad enough, there's going to be a recoiling. I'm not advocating violent rebellion or anything remotely like that. I'm saying that when people get pushed hard enough, they do what they have to do.
And frankly, right now, apart from full-on government takeovers or revolutions, people are already doing what they have to do, and it's not funny. They're working two and three jobs. They're working 16-hour days. None of that is entirely new, but the sheer breadth of how many people seem to be working so much for so little feels like it's at a height, certainly within my lifetime.
And I don't want to be naive about that either. Some of it may be perception. The internet allows us to read about the latest trendy new atrocity every single day, every minute, so maybe everything feels worse because we're exposed to everything constantly. I'm not an economist. I don't know.
But I do know that we, especially those of us in the arts, have to understand that our role as artists is crucial to society, and it always has been. And this isn't some empty pat on the back or some bullshit "Hey, just keep going and somehow we'll all make it!" speech from somebody sitting on high. Not at all. I run an ok business. It goes up and down, and this summer has been a lot of hits. A lot of hits to the temple. A lot of hits to the groin. A lot of hits to the teeth.
And I'm going to continue because, of course, I'm going to continue. I'm here to provide what I provide, which is hopefully training, inspiration, and tools for artists. I'm going to keep doing it because I'm proud to do it, and because I genuinely believe it's important. And then there's my own art, which some amazingly generous souls do, in fact, invest in from time to time, and I appreciate every single one of you.
So to everyone in the arts: It's scary right now. I know. It's terrifying right now. I know. I don't think we're staring down the barrel of complete societal collapse. I don't think so. But I think it's going to be ugly for a little while longer.
Remind yourself that we can do this. And if you have a little bit of money you can shake loose toward another artist for something they make, teach, or provide that genuinely benefits you, give it to them. It will come back around. That's how the arts work. That's how society works.
We can complain about billionaires all day long, and there are valid reasons for it. We can complain about trillion-dollar companies all day long, and there are valid reasons for that too. But we're still the people, and we can still do this.
It won't always be easy. I know we're all scared.
But stay with me, artists.
Stay with me.