Receipts & Perspective

Source Bank

Every data point. Every study. Every government database. Organized by series and deck — in presentation order. Fact-check anything, anytime.

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How to Use This Source Bucket

Every source listed here links directly to the original document — a government database, peer-reviewed study, or nonpartisan institution. To fact-check a specific stat from a deck, use the Jump to Deck nav above to find that deck's sources, then click ↗ Fact Check next to the relevant entry.

Link shows a 404? Government and institutional sites occasionally reorganize their pages. Try searching the source title + institution name to find the updated URL. If a stat feels alarming — that's the point of checking it. Scrutiny is welcome here.

Contested areas are flagged at the bottom of each deck section — these are places where the science or data is still actively debated. That context matters. This library does not present contested findings as settled fact.

Research Series · Vol. 1

The Convergence — Water · Sun · Survival · The Root

Deck 01

Thirst & Power — Water & Energy

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Deck 02

The Sun Knows — Space Weather & Health

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Deck 03

The Bare Minimum — Food, Water, Shelter

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Deck 04

The Root — Corporate Consolidation & Historical Precedent

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Research Series · Vol. 2

Power & Control — Politics · Technology · Surveillance

Deck 05

Wars & Corps — Project 2025 & Corporate Capture

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Deck 06

The Social Experiment — Social Media, AI & Addiction by Design

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Deck 07

The Surveillance State — Palantir, DOGE & Who Rules America

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Research Series · Vol. 3

Peace & War on The American People

Deck 08

The Next Generation — War on Children

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Deck 09

The Silent Crisis — War on Men

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Deck 10

The Persistent Weight — War on Women

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Deck 11

Why These Programs Matter — Music, Arts & History

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Deck 12

Who Gets to Define Family? — The American Family Unit

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Research Series · Vol. 5

America's Lost Mind -- Mental Health · Addiction · Community

Deck 13

The Sick System -- American Healthcare

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Research Series · Vol. 6

American Pockets -- Money · Credit · Shadow Debt

Deck 15

The Broke Blueprint -- American Finances

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Deck 16

The Pharmaceutical War -- Addiction & the Opioid Crisis

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Deck 17

The Gig Trap -- Gig Economy & Labor

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Research Series · Vol. 4

History · Civic Knowledge · Policy

Deck 18

The Broken Ballot -- American Politics

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Research Series · Vol. 2

Government · Corporations · Surveillance

Deck 19

The Machinery of Power -- Corporate Capture

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Research Series · Vol. 3

Peace & War on the American People

Deck 20

Erased & Legislated -- LGBTQ+ Rights & Data

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Deck 21

Raised by the Screen -- Children, Tech & Mental Health

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Research Series · Vol. 9

The New Age American Diet -- Food · Farmers · Forever Chemicals

Deck 22

Engineered to Eat -- The American Food System

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Research Series · Vol. 2

Government · Corporations · Surveillance

Deck 23

The Border Inside -- Immigration & the American Economy

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Deck 24

Built to Break -- Criminal Justice & Mass Incarceration

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Research Series · Vol. 2

Gov & Corps — Extended

Deck 25

Law Enforcement — Protect and Serve Whom?

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Research Series · Vol. 4

American Education System Under Attack

Deck 26

Student Debt — The Promise That Wasn't

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Research Series · Vol. 6

American Pockets — Money · Credit · Shadow Debt

Deck 27

Housing — Home Was Never the Plan For You

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Deck 28

Military Industrial Complex — The Business of Forever War

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Deck 29 — National Security State
Deck 30 — The Truth About AI

Deck 31

Classroom Crisis — What They’re Stripping From Public Education

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Deck 32

The Unraveling

The Systematic Dismantling of American Community — and the People Rebuilding It

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Gallup2020–2024

Church Attendance Has Declined in Most U.S. Religious Groups

Church membership: 70% (1999) → 47% (2020) — first time below 50% in 83 years of Gallup tracking
gallup.com
Northwestern Medill / Local News Initiative2025

State of Local News Report 2025

~3,500 local newspapers closed since 2005; 213 counties with zero coverage; 50M Americans in news deserts
localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu
U.S. Surgeon General2023

Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation (Advisory)

~50% of U.S. adults report measurable loneliness; loneliness = equivalent mortality risk of smoking 15 cigarettes/day
hhs.gov
AEI / Survey Center on American Life2024

The Decline in American Friendship; Disconnected: The Growing Class Divide in American Civic Life

17% of Americans report zero close friends (up from 3% in 1990); civic life has become “a high-end good”
americansurveycenter.org
Bureau of Labor StatisticsJanuary 2025

Union Members Summary 2024

Union membership hit record low of 9.9% in 2024 — down from 33.5% in 1954. Private sector: 5.9%.
bls.gov
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy2024

Community Land Trust National Survey

308 CLTs in 48 states stewarding nearly 44,000 units — nearly doubled since 2006. Dudley Street: 227 affordable units, 95% crime drop in East Lake.
lincolninst.edu

Deck 33

Natural Medicine vs. Pharma — The War on Healing

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Deck 34

The Federal Reserve Pt. 1 — What It Is & Who It Actually Serves

Six bankers. A private island. Nine days. The 1913 secret that controls your cost of living.

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Richmond Fed / Federal Reserve History2015

Jekyll Island: Where the Fed Began (Econ Focus, Q1 2015)

Confirmed by participants in their own memoirs: the Federal Reserve Act was drafted in secret by 6 bankers under assumed names at a private Georgia island in November 1910
richmondfed.org
St. Louis FedOngoing

Who Owns the Federal Reserve Banks? (In Plain English)

Member banks own stock in regional Feds and earn a guaranteed 6% annual dividend. The Fed is “both” public and private — by design.
stlouisfed.org
Wikipedia / Federal Reserve2025

Structure of the Federal Reserve System

12 regional banks organized as private corporations; member banks elect 6 of 9 directors; FOMC = 7 governors + 5 rotating regional presidents (NY always votes)
wikipedia.org
NBC / MS.NowApril 15, 2026

Trump Keeps Pressuring Powell Ahead of Supreme Court’s Fed Independence Ruling

Trump threatens Powell removal; Supreme Court weighing Lisa Cook firing case; Powell’s term ends May 2026; Fed reappointed 11 of 12 regional presidents to block political entry
ms.now
FRED / St. Louis FedOngoing

Federal Funds Effective Rate (FEDFUNDS)

Rate hit near-zero twice (2008–2015, 2020–2022), then spiked to 5.25–5.5% (23-year high) to fight post-COVID inflation before gradual easing in 2024–2025
fred.stlouisfed.org
NPR Planet MoneyDecember 2013

A Locked Door, A Secret Meeting and the Birth of the Fed

Historical account of Jekyll Island: Aldrich, Vanderlip, Warburg, Davison and others wrote the Fed blueprint that became law with only cosmetic political changes
npr.org

Deck 35

Retirement & Pensions — Shadow Debt & Broken Promises

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The 401(k) Turns 40 — Its Creator Has Regrets

The Wall Street Journal · Ted Benna Interview · 2021

Benna, who wrote the 401(k) provision into the tax code, said it was "never intended" to replace pensions and called the system "out of control."

Fact Check ↗

Retirement in America: How the Pension Collapse Created the Savings Crisis

Economic Policy Institute · Monique Morrissey · 2019

Private-sector pension coverage fell from 38% in 1979 to under 13% by 2019 — a 66% collapse in traditional retirement security.

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Survey of Consumer Finances — Retirement Savings by Age

Federal Reserve Board · 2022 Survey

36% of non-retired Americans report having zero retirement savings. Among workers aged 55–64, the median retirement account balance is $87,000 — roughly 1–2 years of living expenses.

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Social Security Trustees Report 2024 — Trust Fund Projections

SSA Office of the Chief Actuary · Annual Report · 2024

The combined Social Security trust funds are projected to be depleted by 2033 — at which point benefits would be cut automatically to 79 cents on the dollar without legislative action.

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Private Equity's Pension Raid — How Firms Drained Worker Retirement Funds

Retirement Security for America · 2023 Report

Private equity firms have extracted billions from underfunded multiemployer pension plans while leaving workers and taxpayers with the shortfall — the PBGC has absorbed over $50B in failed plans.

Fact Check ↗

The Looming Retirement Crisis — 40 Years in the Making

The Atlantic · Alicia Munnell, Boston College CRR · 2023

Half of working households are at risk of having insufficient income in retirement. The shift from DB to DC plans transferred all market risk onto workers who had no training to manage it.

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Deck 36

Hollywood — The Industry Behind the Illusion

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Deck 37

The Music Industry

Streaming economics, label monopolies, AI-generated music, and what artists actually take home. Three companies own 84% of recorded music. The artist gets $0.004 a stream.

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$0.004
Deck 38

American Farmers

Farm collapse, land consolidation, corporate capture of the food supply from seed to shelf.

Deck 39

Forever Chemicals

PFAS in your blood, your water, your children. 3M and DuPont knew in 1961. They decided your life wasn't worth the cost of stopping.

View Deck ↗
97%
Deck 40

Land, Air & Sea

Who owns the ground, who controls the sky, and who claims the sea. Federal land, satellite dominance, deep-sea mining, and indigenous dispossession.

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🔍 How to Fact Check

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The Convergence Project · Sources current through April 2026 · ← Return to Library

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