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Hello friend,
I keep hearing folks talk about how no one wants to work. Online, I keep seeing photos of signs that say something along the lines of, "Please be patient; we’re short-staffed because no one wants to work." A person who works at Nordstrom Rack told me they had a hiring event where only one person showed up, compared to the 25 - 50 that typically attend. They sighed, "No one wants to work."
I don't have any moral judgments about hourly workers that don't want to work for some of these companies. I understand it; I've felt that way. On the surface, I might have simplified it by thinking that I, too, didn’t want to work. But when I dig deeper, I realize it isn’t that simple. It’s about the quality of my life. It’s about how I was treated by who I was serving. It was about trying not to associate my worth with my pay stub. It was about a desire for even a little bit of autonomy.
It’s hard not to wonder if this is the beginning of the end of capitalism. Instead of starting with a revolutionary bang, maybe it begins with hourly workers pushing back and their employers begging patrons for patience as they scramble to figure it out. Maybe it's not. But whatever it is, I hope it's the beginning of economic dignity for all.
Your favorite finance friend,
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1.🤓 I Thought Owning A Home Would Be A Dream, But It’s A Nightmare. Should I Sell? (Paco for Refinery29) In this month's Taking Stock article, I talk about at what point it just isn't worth owning a house anymore – and what options there are in this market. 🤓
2.🪚 Why is lumber insanely expensive right now? (The Hustle) An illustrated explainer of the factors driving up the market.
3.🏘 The True Cost of Closing the Racial Wealth Gap (The New York Times)
4.💸 How social media leads some users into debt (Vox) “All I was doing was feeding my phone information about my insecurities, and it was dumping back out products that promised to fix them.”5.🥕 A World Driven by Incentives (More To That) “Winston Churchill once quipped, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” Perhaps the same could be same about capitalism as an economic system. This points to the recognition that capitalism employs an incentive system that turns our deepest flaws into drivers of economic and technological growth, which is scary, but it happens to work (for now). After all, self-interest is what created the iPhone, not worldly love. Greed is what powers the stock market, not philanthropy.”6.🤓 A bookkeeping thing: What Are Business Tax Write-Offs and Why Are They Important? (HYG Original) 🤓 What do you mean, ordinary and necessary exactly? 7.🧹 Farewell, Millennial Lifestyle Subsidy (New York Times) “Hiring a private driver to shuttle you across Los Angeles during rush hour should cost more than $16, if everyone in that transaction is being fairly compensated. Getting someone to clean your house, do your laundry or deliver your dinner should be a luxury, if there’s no exploitation involved. The fact that some high-end services are no longer easily affordable by the merely semi-affluent may seem like a worrying development, but maybe it’s a sign of progress.”8.👠 The Suspects Wore Louboutins (Vanity Fair) This is an old story, but I find it fascinating. "The most audacious burglary gang in recent Hollywood history—accused of stealing more than $3 million in clothing and jewelry from Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and other stars—appears to be a bunch of club-hopping Valley kids, motivated by vanity and celebrity-worship."
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