Tag: investing

  • Passing the Buck: Why We Pay More But Make Less Part 11: Who Profits?

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    Following the Money We’ve shown you the costs. We’ve shown you they don’t add up. Now let’s follow the money. Emma from Part 10 pays out $71,564 per year in shifted costs—92.9% of her gross income. That money doesn’t disappear. It goes somewhere. Let’s trace every dollar Emma spends and see who collects it. Emma’s…

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  • Passing the Buck: Why We Pay More But Make LessPart 5: The Auto Trap

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    Forced to Buy What You Can’t Afford Jennifer lives in Phoenix, Arizona. She’s a single mom with two kids, works as a pharmacy technician, makes $42,000 a year. Her shift starts at 7 AM at a CVS 8.5 miles from her apartment. She doesn’t own a car by choice. She owns a car because there…

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  • Passing the Buck: Why We Pay More But Make Less. Part 4: Credit Cards

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    The Debt Trap Jason is a high school teacher in Arizona. He makes $48,000 a year, which is about what teachers make there. He’s 32, married, has a two-year-old daughter. His wife works part-time as a medical records clerk, bringing in another $22,000. Combined household income: $70,000. They’re not living extravagantly. They rent a two-bedroom…

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  • Passing the Buck: Why We Make Less But Pay More. Part 3: Banking Fees

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    The Poverty Tax Maria works two jobs. Monday through Friday, she’s a home health aide making $15/hour. Weekends, she works retail at Target for $16/hour. Between both jobs, she brings home about $2,400/month after taxes. It’s not much, but she manages. Carefully. On Friday, she deposited her paycheck from the home health agency—$680 for the…

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  • Passing the Buck: Why We Make Less But Pay More. Part 2: The Baseline Shift

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    Part 2: The Baseline Shift How “Basic Survival” Got Redefined as Luxury In 1970, Robert worked as a machinist at a manufacturing plant in Ohio. He made $9,400 a year—roughly the median income at the time. His wife, Linda, stayed home with their two kids. On that single income, they: Robert wasn’t exceptional. He wasn’t…

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  • Passing the Buck: Why We Make Less But Pay More. Part 1: The Impossible Math

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    Part 1: The Impossible Math When Median Income Meets Real Costs, America Fails Meet Sarah. She’s 34 years old, works as a registered nurse at a regional hospital, and makes $77,000 a year. That’s well above the median individual income in America ($59,228). She’s single, no kids, lives in a modest one-bedroom apartment in a…

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  • Broken By Design Part 18: The Rigged Tax Code

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    Taxation Without Representation (For the Bottom 90%) Why Billionaires Pay Less Than Teachers, and How We Let Them Write the Rules In 2007, Warren Buffett—then the second-richest person in the world with a net worth of $52 billion—made a bet with his office staff. He offered to pay anyone $1 million if their tax rate…

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  • Broken By Design Part 17: The Systemic Theft Of Our Retirement

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    How Wall Street, Corporations, and Both Political Parties Dismantled Retirement Security for the Bottom 90% Meet Barbara. She worked as an administrative assistant at a manufacturing company for 38 years. In 1985, when she was hired at age 25, her offer letter promised a pension: after 30 years of service, she’d receive 60% of her…

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  • Broken By Design Part 9: Immobility Nightmare: How Three Failed Systems Killed the American Dream

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    Part 9 of the series: How Systems Are Rigged Against the Bottom 90% Here’s something we haven’t talked about yet: why these systems work so perfectly together. We’ve covered healthcare. We’ve covered housing. We’ve covered education and childcare. And each one, individually, is extractive enough to keep most of us trapped. But here’s what makes…

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  • Broken By Design Part 7: The Housing Trap: How Zoning Laws and Investment Firms Stole the American Dream

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    This is Part 7 in our series on systems rigged against regular people. Part 1: Rankings | Part 2: Language | Part 3: Follow the Money | Part 4-6: Healthcare Series The Numbers Tell The Story 1980s: Median first-time homebuyer age: 29 2024: Median first-time homebuyer age: 38-40 (depending on survey) 1985: Home cost 3.5x annual income 2024: Home costs 7.6x annual income Since 1960: Median home price increased 121% (inflation-adjusted) Since 1960: Median household income increased 29% (inflation-adjusted) Translation: Homes have gotten…

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