"I never can pass by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York without thinking of it not as a gallery of living portraits but as a cemetery of tax-deductible wealth"

This quote by Lewis H. Lapham is a commentary on the wealth inequality in the United States. He is suggesting that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is a sign of the immense wealth of the upper class, which this wealth is tax-deductible. He implies that the rich are able to utilize their cash to buy art and other luxuries, while the less fortunate are not able to do so. He is also suggesting that the museum is a type of cemetery, where the wealth of the wealthy is buried and forgotten. This quote is a suggestion of the need to resolve the problem of wealth inequality in the United States, and to guarantee that everyone has access to the same opportunities.