The Life of a Millennial: How the Economy, Politics, and Money Have Changed Me

I’ve recently read some interesting articles about Millennials – it seems, while there are still the nasty articles that talk with certainty we will never amount to anything, more and more people are talking about the real issues we face and how it’s changing us. For me and many of my friends, we are becoming more alike to our grandparents than our own parents – despite still being extremely close with our parents.

Additionally, we are increasingly cynical about politics and economics – this NYT article points to a variety of issues and concerns that are leading many of us away from either political party. It was an article in Alternet, though, that inspired me to write a bit more about my generation and how we’re doing, because I didn’t think it went quite far enough. Continue reading

March Against Monsanto: Stand Up For Your Health on May 25

Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green – The March Against Monsanto is not about political parties. It’s about WE, THE PEOPLE uniting against the corporations and their puppets in Washington, DC that don’t care about the life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness for any one of us. We have rights and we need to stand up for them in the face of greed, corruption, deception, and coercion.  Continue reading

10 Steps to Break Up with Your Big Bank

I hear stories of more and more people wanting to take their money out of corrupt, greedy and law-breaking big banks, and invest their funds into their local communities. However, it still seems that many well-intentioned people are not taking action, and for a long time I was one of them! I recently wrote on my own personal decision to leave Bank of America and move my money to a credit union. Before I decided to do this, I had many doubts, usually focused around hassle of switching, convenience, and the time to research another option.

Having gone through the entire process, I thought it would be helpful to outline in detail how to go about moving your money BACK into your community. It’s not as hard as you think, but it does take some time and planning (just like most other things that are worth doing and worth having!). Continue reading

Bye-Bye, Bank of America!

I did it, I finally did it – I closed my account with Bank of America and opened with a local credit union. It feels so good to have my money in the local community, rather than with a a global bank with no interest in or concern for real people.

I also have an interesting story about what happened when I went into the BofA branch to close my accounts…

Continue reading

Planned Obsolescence: What it is, Why You Should Care, and How to Avoid it

This is a guest post by Jesse Andrews, a person I’ve known since elementary school and with whom I’ve gotten reacquainted over the last couple of years as we’ve shared thinking around politics, economics, military, modern lifestyles, global warming, etc. You can read more about his lifestyle projects/improvements and general observations on his website, The Ripening. He brings a positive perspective to all his thinking, and his research of and knowledge around planned obsolescence is a great addition to my recent posts on reducing, reusing and reorganizing.  Continue reading

3 Easy Ways to Save Money This Year

The Social Security tax credit of 2% has expired. If you’re like me, you feel it in each paycheck – especially since most Americans haven’t gotten a raise at all in the 2 years the tax credit was in effect. This means we are bringing home a significantly lower amount of money. In the interest of being positive in 2013 and trying to take action where I can, I decided to do things on my own to help ease the pain of this lower income. Here are three ways I saved some money on my monthly bills: Continue reading

Who Really Controls America?

I would like to develop a political platform, much like my friend Jesse has, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. However, I keep learning and stumbling across ways of not only thinking, but communicating that are helping me determine what I will eventually write. This particular rant from George Carlin sums up just about all of my thoughts around government, the State, Corporations and the Media – and it was this kind of thinking that freed me from the trap of believing in a two-party system with “elections” of any real consequence. Let’s get it started with this quote, then you can watch and read on: “The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice…you don’t. You have no choice, you have owners.” – George Carlin. Continue reading

Food in America

Quote

If you are not free to choose what you eat — or even know what you are eating — how free are you, America?

In reference to this article/commentary in general: http://gizadeathstar.com/2012/02/monsanto-cafeteria-bans-gmo-foods/ and to Monsanto/Prop37 defeat specifically.