Yeah, our houses are full of stuff. We buy it, store it, sell it, someone else buys it, stores it… repeat.
That’s not an accident.
Advertising works. Algorithms work. We’ve been studied to the bone and nudged into spending.
But the bigger problem? Skimmers.
Every layer of life has a toll booth now.
You can’t just hand over cash; someone’s skimming the swipe, the processing, the clearinghouse. Interest on top of fees on top of “convenience.” You need high-speed internet to exist, a cell phone to function. That’s the cover charge just to enter modern life.
Meanwhile the human dragons sit on mountains of gold, raking percent after percent off every transaction we make. Everyone’s skimming off the top while regular people are drowning.
This isn’t a “clean your closet” problem. It’s a money in politics problem.
As long as our system is bought, nothing meaningful changes.
Here’s what should be baseline in America:
• Public internet and phone service: free at point of use. Buy your own hardware, fine. But access is a right now. You can’t compete without it.
• Universal health insurance: free at point of care. We already pay, we just pay stupid.
• One income should support a household. Not “living wage.” Thriving wage.
• If a job is essential but the market won’t pay a thriving wage, subsidize the wage, not the corporation.
We don’t need more storage units. We need fewer toll booths.
We don’t need more side hustles. We need one good income to carry a family.
We don’t need better coupons. We need money out of our political system so policy serves people, not skimmers.
Most people aren’t getting to live; they’re being processed.
It’s dumb.
It’s exhausting.
We can do so much better.
