This is great writing, Ms. Jenkins. Thank you.

Somewhere between the Industrial Revolution and the Information Age, human community cooperation was murdered by consumerism. I’m just trying to understand exactly how and why, and what people can do when the only two thinking classes are “Too Big to Fail” and “Too Poor to Strike”. In between is the privileged middle of willful ignorance (the white ‘middle’ debt class).

“Banks aren’t for anyone who has less than 100 dollars. My late husband used to say, ‘The only way to make money from poor people is by keeping them poor’.” -Mrs Ladish, “Making Money” by Terry Pratchett

If black communities have so little wealth, what are the marketers taking from them? It must be a lot, when you consider how much marketing is directed at them. How can poor communities keep that value and put it to work locally? Is the worst racism coming from those cynical marketers who don’t care what they are doing to brainwash and hypnotize those who least can afford it (not just black communities)? How do government poverty programs affect the attitudes and roles of local leadership? Are there any effective programs left that couldn’t be replaced with a simple UBI program (without means testing: every citizen gets the same check)? What would local communities do to influence people to self-useful applications of the money? Ban advertising? Pre-K money education? Grow food on the Commons?

Just a few of the things that have come up over the years in the Grow Local/Community discussions.