For many of us, the first snow is on the ground, night skies are star-studded, people are getting their gift lists together for their online holiday shopping from Target, Harrods, giftunicorn, etc. and the holiday spirit is in the air. Holidays, as much fun as they are, tend to bring out some of our most entrenched bad habits. The holidays shouldn't be a burden on the … [Read more...]
This Buy Nothing Day #OCCUPYXMAS
You’ve been sleeping on the streets for two months pleading peacefully for a new spirit in economics. And just as your camps are raided, your eyes pepper sprayed and your heads knocked in, another group of people are preparing to camp-out. Only these people aren’t here to support occupy Wall Street. They’re here to secure their spot in line for a Black Friday bargain at Super … [Read more...]
Embracing Buy Nothing Day
I love Buy Nothing Day. I've celebrated it since it was first announced twenty years ago by the same band of merry activists who launched the Occupy Wall Street movement. Why do I like it so much? It's not just the rejection of a massive consumer culture that I relish, though I do find the doorbuster frenzy mentality tacky and dangerous. No bargain is worth taking my life in … [Read more...]
Bringing #OWS home for the holidays
Occupy Wall Street has impressed and inspired many. For those still unaware of its origins, it's a movement in response to corporate greed, corporate socialism, the outsize influence of money on politics and federal policy, and its resulting social and economic inequality. The growing world wide Occupation movement is one signal of end-stage capitalism. People are waking up … [Read more...]
Leave your national bank in 5 easy steps
We've been covering the Bank Transfer Day and Move Your Money Project for the last week and, given that we finally moved our money to a credit union last Friday, I thought I'd share how we did it. One of the articles I wrote explained that banks know there are several disincentives for moving your money. You need the time, the patience, and the will to do it. No wonder I … [Read more...]