Scrabble tiles spelling 'RECESSION' to talk about the unofficial recession indicators.

Unofficial Recession Indicators: Cottagecore, Lipstick, Strippers, Mosquitoes, and the Economy We Feel

Unofficial recession indicators are everywhere but is the United States in a recession? As of February 2026, the technical answer is no. Real GDP growth remains positive, with current nowcasts for Q1 tracking roughly in the 2.4 to 3.1 percent range annualized. Full-year forecasts cluster near 2.5 to 2.8 percent. Initial jobless claims have ticked…

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Bots in a line doing work, a symbol of bot farms

Bot Farms and the Synthetic Internet: Power, Perception, Labor, and the Philosophy of Attention

Most people know bots exist. They have seen spam replies, suspicious follower spikes, strange comment threads, and engagement that feels artificial. The surprise is not that bots are online. The surprise is how much of the internet they now occupy, and how deeply they shape systems that affect politics, wealth, labor, culture, and even mental…

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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.

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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.

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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…

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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,…

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