You are not The Problem

We’ve all been told that our own decisions are the reason we’ve ended up in whatever financial situation we’re in. Specifically, the financial struggles of working-class people are always our own fault. It’s because we buy too much coffee, too many avocados, whatever the latest thing is now. When prices go up, we’re told to cut back. Never mind the surging corporate profits or the tax cuts for the rich or the subsidies for their companies. What you need to do is cancel Netflix, or stop eating out so much, or skip breakfast.

Yes, that Wall Street Journal headline is real. And there’s a lot more where that came from. Just yesterday the CEO of Kellogg went on TV and proudly said that his company will be advertising more cereal for dinner, especially to families who are strapped for cash, because it’s hard to beat the price. Compared to a full, healthy dinner that is. But even if his interview might have made a few investors happy, ordinary people are fuming. When More Perfect Union sent out a clip of it on social media yesterday, the response ranged from cynicism to outrage to several things I can’t print.

One response I am able to tell you about is people noting how Kellogg themselves have raised prices, making that cereal dinner less and less affordable. In fact, they raised prices over 12% last year alone. And it’s not just Kellogg. It’s Coca-Cola and McDonald’s and Kroger and just about every major cog in the food chain ramping up their prices significantly. After seeing the opportunity to increase prices, and profits, behind the mask of pandemic inflation, corporations ran with it. Now, Americans are spending more of our money on food than we have in 30 years.

So it’s not just you – everyone is feeling that pain at the supermarket. Everyone is paying too much, and corporate profits are just shy of their record highs (which they hit in 2022). Corporations raked in over $3 trillion in just one quarter of 2023. In just three months. So it’s no surprise that food is so expensive. It’s no surprise that rents jumped up 15% between 2020 and 2022, the fastest rent increase in nearly a century. More broadly it’s no surprise that economic mobility is down and frustration with the economy is up.

Now some of these trends are showing some signs of change. And that’s a good thing. Some places are seeing rent increases cool as local governments take action and more housing is built. Inflation appears to be slowing after federal action. But prices of essential goods are still high, and there’s a broader issue at play here.

We’re still being told to think as individuals, we’re still being told to pretend that our economic futures are entirely in our hands, we’re still being told that our decisions alone make us rich or poor. But when groceries cost too much, when the rent is too high, when corporations are raking in record profits, it becomes hard for anyone to continue believing this lie. As an individual I can’t control the biggest companies in the United States, in the world. As an individual I can’t do much about the housing market, whether it’s the cost of rent or the cost of buying a house. As an individual I can’t bring down the cost of food. We can all try to make decent financial decisions, but we can’t get around the cost of survival going up. At least, not alone. 

Our choices in this world matter. They matter quite a lot. But the ever-whirring capitalist propaganda machine doesn’t want us thinking that some of the most important choices we can possibly make are to join collectives, to be a part of organizations and institutions larger than ourselves. Especially organizations that exist largely to challenge the status quo. Capitalists don’t want us joining unions, because when 1,000 coworkers demand something of the boss, it’s a little different than when you or I demand something individually. And when 1,000 tenants demand something of their landlord together, it’s just a little different than when we go alone.

Photo by Saw Wunna on Unsplash

So skipping that one latte won’t do a whole lot. That doesn’t stop a host of publications and outlets from CNBC to Fortune to Barrons to Forbes to much of what’s published in even bigger outlets from telling you that if you don’t buy that coffee, or if you buy the right stock, or if you use this one hack you’ll suddenly be financially free. These choices might do something, if you’re able to make them and if you’re able to keep them up every day, but they won’t bring the rent down. They won’t let you buy a house, at least not in this economy. They won’t get you a double-digit raise. But a union can. And a tenant union could maybe bring that rent down. And a whole movement of us working together to change the world could do a whole lot more.

It’s time to set aside the articles, the videos, the pundits that tell us that everything rests on our shoulders alone, and that whether we’re rich or poor depends on how we spend each penny. Instead it’s time to see ourselves as part of a collective, as part of a bigger whole. Then it’s time to take action, together. We need each other and there’s no shame in that. In fact, there’s power in it. What would happen if you stopped seeing yourself as an island, and individual, and started thinking of yourself as part of a collective, as part of a much bigger working class? And what would happen if we all started acting accordingly? Let’s find out.