I’m a single woman. The problem with being single is living alone and having the burden of home maintenance fall squarely on my shoulders. The problem with being a woman is that we’re just not really taught DIY as girls. Look, I can cook, clean, sew, and all those other things I was taught growing up. I can organise, plan, coordinate and budget. Basically, if we’re talking successful adulting, “I am woman hear me roar”, and all that. …
So economic theory goes that consumers act rationally at all times. Homo economicus is however largely a myth, especially in light of a sophisticated, multi-billion dollar global marketing industry that influences purchasing decisions, and government regulation which favours businesses over consumers. But, when it comes to the repair of malfunctioning, damaged or broken goods, consumers do tend to act entirely rationally. That is, they don’t bother….the rare exception being those few individuals who place an abnormally high value on mitigating environmental damage and reducing their carbon footprint.
As things stand, it is generally less rational — whether due to higher…
I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions. I’m just not into breaking promises, especially to myself. But I do plan my year ahead — more like a ‘where I am now and where I want to get to’ deal.
There’s actually research about why people set NY resolutions and why they break them. The setting is simple — a new year signals a new beginning, a chance to start fresh, a really clearly delineated marker between who I was then, and who I am now. …
Wake up! Wake up, the country’s on fire!
Find someone in power who isn’t a liar;
The online world, it’s full to the brim
Of bots, and charlatans, and those too dim;
…
Closer & closer, the end draws near,
With animals and plants gone, who’ll still be here?
Amongst the ashes, and wading through the floods,
Life changed forever, there will be blood.
…
We’ve turned on each other, our hearts black with rage;
Armed with research & facts, but not on the same page.
We fight and we curse, we kill and we maim,
Others stand on the…
Despite having worked in the gig economy and experiencing the purported advantages of working outside a full time employee arrangement — or perhaps because of this — I am somewhat hostile to this new form of work because it clearly and unfairly advantages one side (business) over the other (the people who perform the labour) in new and perverse ways.
The lack of regulation, or the slow pace to keep up with labour market innovations leaves a gap for supposed ‘tech companies’ to exploit human resources and make hay while the sun shines. It provides an unfair competitive advantage over…
“What’s your power bill worth?” my neighbour asked me. He lives opposite me across the landing, and I’d just dropped off a newsletter I’d made offering my friendly neighbours my help.
After some information sharing, it turns out he was paying close to $700/quarter — more than double my electricity bill. “I’m a fairly frugal user,” I said. Next he asked me if I kept the heater on all night; and it was then I realised he perhaps didn’t really get what I meant about being frugal.
I hear constantly on the news, in conversations, and across the internet about…
Few people are on the fence about whether capitalism or socialism is the superior economic system. And this quiz isn’t really designed to change anyone’s mind.
It’s plainly obvious in reading most commentary that whilst both capitalism and socialism are demonised for their flaws, what people actually mean when they refer to either system can be vastly different. What’s more, the understanding about the root causes of our troubles— and especially the labels given to those causes — get caught up in the abstract, while ideologues perpetuate (dated) theoretical perspectives that don’t match humanity’s lived experience. …
Surviving on an Insecure, Low Income
As a gig economy worker/freelancer/precariat worker and ABN holder in this brave new world of work, I do a lot of stuff to earn money so I can afford to exist. Because eating is good for health, and shelter is terrific! Some of that stuff is in the context of the regular exchange money for time or skills (like most wage earners), but a lot of it is simply just random. Random in that way people use the word ‘random’ these days, but also random by the literal definition: “made, done, or happening without method or conscious decision.” …
The things we value enough to pay for — whether in cash, our reputation (social capital) or spending our precious time — are all part of an ‘economy’. And in an economy, every decision which requires you to choose one thing over another results in an opportunity cost of all the other things you could have bought or spent time on instead of the thing you chose.
It would be fair to say that if you asked people about their priorities in life — those things they really value and cherish — and rank them according to importance, most people…
…
GiveGet
Reframing what we value — a world which is just, sustainable, and works for all people and planet Earth. Join the conversation!
