a slice of cheesecake set to represent the slice of the pie labor makes up

Labor and Wealth in a Slice of Cheesecake: Capital and Extraction in the Modern Economy

Here we examine worker pay, executive compensation, shareholders, and profit margins through a specific example: Philadelphia Cream Cheese, owned by Kraft Heinz. We use this case to explore the widening wealth divide, the structural difference between ancient reciprocal economies and modern financialized supply chains, and what it would realistically take to make the system more equitable without collapsing productivity or retirement systems.

Read More
Sign indicating availability for hire and indicating that more are open in the job market.

The State of the Job Market in 2025: A Look Back

In 2025, millions of workers experienced instability not because companies were failing, but because corporations were reorganizing around scale, automation, shareholder demands, and mergers. Layoffs were not isolated accidents or cyclical miscalculations. They were part of a larger economic realignment driven by consolidation, monopoly power, and financial engineering.

Read More
Dimly lit office with isolated workers, clearly overworked

The Invisible Burden: Overwork, Mental Health, and the Systems That Normalize Exhaustion

In today’s hyper-connected world, busy has become a badge of honor. Long hours and overflowing inboxes are worn like medals, often at the expense of our well-being. But beneath the accolades and hustle lies a far deeper issue: the normalization of overwork—not just as an individual challenge, but as a cultural, legal, and media-driven phenomenon…

Read More
Dollar bill partially buried in soil, showing that shrinkflation is costing us.

How Much Shrinkflation Is Really Costing Americans

Shrinkflation has become one of the most persistent and least transparent forces shaping household budgets in the United States. Unlike rent hikes or interest rate increases, it does not arrive as a single shock. There is no clear moment when it “hits.” Instead, it embeds itself into daily life through smaller packages, shorter product lifespans,…

Read More
Handshake in a in a room with people with hidden faces

Who Really Shapes Policy? The Top Lobbying Spenders of 2025 and the Power Behind Them

Lobbying is often discussed as a background feature of American politics—something abstract, technical, or inevitable. But in practice, lobbying is one of the clearest ways to see whose interests have the most consistent access to lawmakers, regulators, and the policy-writing process itself. Money does not guarantee outcomes, but it determines proximity: who gets meetings, who…

Read More
Person holding laptop next to resume

The November Jobs Report Is Bad — and It Still Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story

Even with October’s missing jobs report, November’s numbers are strange — and they still don’t show the full picture, the November jobs report is bad. Yes, the data is weak. Yes, the outlook is deteriorating. But thanks to the government shutdown, delayed data collection, structural labor shifts, and long-building demographic pressures, this report captures only part of what is actually happening in the economy.

Read More