There’s a lot of people talking about the stock market these days. I admit that I actually read about the stock market last week because I had zero clue what any of it meant, and I like to understand social movements. I asked a few friends what it meant and they didn’t seem to know much more than I did. Seems the people I do life with are far removed from Wall Street.
The stock market, investing, savings … they’re all lost on me because I have never had the opportunity arise that required learning about it. Do I think that maybe if someone would have sat and talked with me about how $5 here and $5 there would help me later on, I may have listened? I don’t know. Usually what happens in a paycheck-to-paycheck life is that some emergency pops up and any savings are pulled to fix it. I have never had the luxury of not needing whatever money I could access.
One thing I hear a lot is that people living in poverty need to save money. “Stop buying unnecessary things.” “Put that money in the bank instead of buying a new TV.” “Live within your means.”
All of these things reek of privilege and a clear misunderstanding of what poverty is. You can’t save your way out of poverty. There’s no way to save when you’re broke by your next payday.
I didn’t know anything about retirement accounts, for example, and couldn’t afford to have money taken out of my check to match the employer’s. No one ever sat and talked to me about the retirement accounts; rather, they assumed, because of their lived experience and perception of me, that I understood. I didn’t understand and didn’t want my new employer to know. My retirement didn’t last long because I ended up unemployed and struggling to find a job for nine months (over/under qualified) and had to cash it in so my family could survive. It made me incredibly sad because it felt as if I was giving up the little sliver of middle-class privilege I had earned.
It’s the desperation of poverty that forces people to not be able to save. You live your life without, rationing every single thing, and you become so fixed on this moment/this bill/this repair that you can’t even imagine retirement. It’s almost as if the real shame would be struggling while you had money just sitting there. There isn’t any reason to understand the way things like the stock market work because we’re not qualified to be there. Or are we?
Last week, the stock market was turned upside down. The fact that the stories, hashtags, and simple hype about this week’s stock market coaxed me, at 49 years old, to read about it is a big deal. It wasn’t the fact that billionaires are going bankrupt that piqued my curiosity; instead, it’s the fact that someone grew tired of sitting in the bleachers, watching the rich kids dominate the field and decided to challenge them to a quick pickup game. And won. They freaking won. Suddenly, everyday people are beating the rich at their own game and it’s a call to action. Billionaires are going bankrupt and Congress is being asked to referee. They can’t stand the fact that everyday folk broke them … literally.
That, my friends, is organizing at its best. A call went out to like-minded individuals to join the game. A quick explanation of what they were facing with concise instructions for action and off they went, bringing their own friends and contacts to the game, and not stopping until they reached the moon! They totally, and brilliantly, overcame power.
Imagine the changes we could make if we would organize like those folks! We could begin by agreeing on a goal, such as childcare reform or raising the minimum wage, begin inviting our friends and networks, and jump in the game. We could learn who our opposition is, where their funding comes from, and call for a boycott until our demands are met. It only takes a spark to get a fire burning. And people are becoming fed up.
We’ve been in our homes for almost a year. We’re getting antsy, but we’re also getting a fantastic view of what’s wrong in this country, right down to the state and local level. We cannot go back to doing things the way they’ve always been done because it was harmful and inequitable, so this is the time for us to organize and make our demands. What are we waiting for? There are billionaires out there needing livable wage jobs right now. *smirk*
Pick your issue. Invite your crew. And organize like the Reddit crowd.
Onward,
Amy Jo
