It’s easy to forget that America once ran on company stores and scrip. Coal miners in Appalachia were paid in vouchers redeemable only at their employer’s shop, and the prices were high enough to keep them permanently in debt. It was a tidy arrangement for the owners: keep your workforce…
Excuse Me, Are You Leaving or Moving In?
I was sitting in my car in a Target parking lot, watching a young woman do everything except leave. She had entered the car a full five minutes ago, and yet, there she sat—head down, thumb scrolling, completely oblivious to the line of hopeful motorists circling her like vultures around…
The Mythology of the Economy and the Enslavement of the Soul
There is a strange piety that governs the modern world, a religion that no one names but that commands greater obedience than any god ever known to antiquity. It is the mythology of the economy. Its rituals are daily performed, not in temples, but in offices, factories, fields, and screens….
Mammon in the Modern Age: Who (or What) Do We Really Serve?
In today’s world, Mammon – once the symbol of wealth and material obsession – has taken on new and less obvious forms. It’s no longer just about chasing money. It’s about chasing more: the dream of success, the pull of consumer culture, the ever-present siren’s call of comfort and distraction….
The End of Passive Economics: Building a Stakeholder Society
In today’s economy, most people are locked into one role: consumer. We buy what’s offered, work in jobs where decisions are made elsewhere, and live in a world shaped by forces beyond our control. The people who make the rules—the ones who decide what gets built, who benefits, and who…
The Addiction to Consumption: What Are We Really Trying to Buy?
Walk into any shopping mall, fast-food restaurant, or social media platform, and you’ll see the same expression on people’s faces—a vacant, almost trance-like engagement with whatever they’re consuming. They scroll, they chew, they swipe their credit cards, all in a loop that feels automatic. It’s not hunger, not necessity, and…
“The Well-Connected Community” by Alison Gilchrist: Why Networks Matter More Than Plans
If you’ve ever been involved in community work—whether organizing a neighborhood event, running a local nonprofit, or just trying to get people to care about something beyond their own front doors—you’ve probably noticed a hard truth: good intentions aren’t enough. Some communities flourish, while others, despite funding and well-meaning policies,…
“Manufacturing Consent: by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman: A Propaganda Model for the Modern Age
In the nearly four decades since its publication, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media has solidified itself as one of the most incisive critiques of American journalism. Noam Chomsky, the linguist turned political dissident, and Edward S. Herman, the late economist and media analyst, do not merely…
The Currency of Showing Up
There’s a woman in my neighborhood who bakes extra muffins every Sunday and leaves them in little paper bags on doorsteps. No note, no fuss. Just something sweet and simple, a way of saying, “I see you.” There’s also a guy down the street—handy with tools—who once spent an entire…
Find Your Place in this World and Make Something of It
There was a man who waited. He waited for the world to tell him who he was, what he was, and why he was here. He waited for a sign. He waited for permission. He waited until the waiting itself became his purpose. And then one day, he looked in…