vol. 1 issue 36

Greetings,

How many Stateside readers ate mini-Snickers bars for breakfast because not enough spooky goblins stopped by to empty the Halloween bowl last night? I will put my hand down now.

Here are two far more satisfying bits of fare exploring the american states of mind.

The first report is from The Guardian, a Manchester, UK paper that in recent years has made inroads covering news in the US. It’s an article about a town in the Catskills where residents have decided that when Capitalism fails, they will be ready. Most of the residents are well-educated refugees from cities where they were priced out.

It interests me for two reasons in particular. The first is that next week I will bring you a podcast with economist and Socialist Grace Blakeley who has written a book called Stolen: How to Save the World from Financialization. We discuss her assertion that Capitalism is teetering between autocracy or democracy, and that you and millions of others like you, get to choose which. It all comes down to who is better organized, Blakeley says.

The second reason is because contemplating, much less even considering, the end of Capitalism never occurred to me before this presidency.

Maybe I still wouldn’t be capable of that, were it not for the number of times since 2016 that I have seen dyspeptic looking men stuffed into stuffy suits with one of say, three variations on tie choices, tutting around like ducks as they tell us all what is true and what is real and what is wrong and what is right even though what they say grows every more distant from reality. What’s really telling is when they make preposterous claims about the virtues of this president, crediting him with having created cogent policies on any number of things, when in fact it is their own agenda they are pushing and attaching it to a man who is functionally illiterate…it’s absurd theater. Bonkers, even. Makes me question everything: no status quo is sacred.

It makes me thus consider that the day of the old and clueless is over, even if what comes next is still unclear.

Which leads us to our second read that builds on the first. It’s a New York Times op-ed that urges us to consider the political strength of young voters who, as Grace Blakeley asks, “Why should young people support Capitalism when they never expect to own any capital?”

Happy munching,

Whitney