Ep. 77: Frugality Fables and the Poor-Shaming Grift of Financial Advice Journalism
Added 2019-05-29 15:35:39 +0000 UTC“How this millennial saved $1 million by age 30,” The Washington Post writes. “A Millennial Saved $100,000 With This Simple Habit,” CNBC insists. “How to save for retirement when you're living paycheck to paycheck,” CNN confides in us. Everywhere in American media we are told if only we engaged in simple, no-nonsense discipline we can retire at 35.
But what is the political objective of this popular mode of journalism? More than just generating clicks to sell investment instruments to the credulous, this genre has a distinct ideological purpose: to obscure generational poverty, largely brought on by the legacy of racism and Jim Crow, and make being poor the result of a series of moral failings rather than a deliberate political regime decided on by powerful actors.
This week, we explore the “personal finance” media industry and the corollary, so-called FIRE movement—and how their poor shaming, libertarian ethos has increasingly seeped into our mainstream click-happy online press.
Our guest is writer and editor Miles Howard.
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Guest
Miles Howard is a journalist and editor, covering culture, travel and politics. His work can be found in VICE, NBC News, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation and The Outline.
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Show Notes
Miles Howard | March 23, 2018 | The Outline
Can the Racial Wealth Gap Be Closed Without Speaking of Race?
Emily Badger | May 10, 2019 | The New York Times
Why wealth equality remains out of reach for black Americans
Darrick Hamilton, Trevon Logan | February 28, 2019 | The Conversation
Libby Watson | December 21, 2018 | Splinter
The budget breakdown of a 25-year-old who makes $100,000 a year and is excellent with money
Emmie Martin | December 21, 2018 | CNBC
How an intern’s “money diary” became the latest flashpoint in the conversation about privilege
Eliza Brooke | July 26, 2018 | Vox
Low-income families are getting terrible financial advice online
Laura Lamagna | April 3, 2018 | MarketWatch
Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys
Emily Badger, Claire Cain Miller, Adam Pearce & Kevin Quealy | March 19, 2018 | The New York Times
If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance.
Cornell University arXiv | March 1, 2018 | MIT Technology Review
Why it costs so much to be poor in America
Karen Weese | January 25, 2018 | The Washington Post
Saving for retirement depends on whether you listen to The Beatles or Bon Jovi
Annie Novi | May 14, 2019 | CNBC
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Transcript
A full transcript of this episode is available here.
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Comments
Apologies for the delay on this! Links have been fixed.
Citations Needed
2019-06-23 00:14:37 +0000 UTCLoved this episode. Would love to hear your take on the billionaire worshipping Tim Ferriss and the biohacking / lifehacking luxury industries next.
2019-05-30 22:14:34 +0000 UTCVery OZY Fest indeed! Well said. This reminded me of that.
James Browning
2019-05-30 20:32:14 +0000 UTCLinks are missing colon after "https".
Jasper
2019-05-29 21:27:31 +0000 UTCThis reminded me of this Quartz piece from 2015: https://qz.com/455109/entrepreneurs-dont-have-a-special-gene-for-risk-they-come-from-families-with-money/ It's right sociopathic to use inherited wealth to bash the average young person over the head with. To me, quite a lot of them articles seem to be celebratory of the lucky young person's wealth, as if it's sort of an objective good that someone born into money can retire before 30. Very OZY Fest and Pinker-ish.
Tom Kelly
2019-05-29 18:07:43 +0000 UTCCapitalism must sell the lie in order to justify itself and not be questioned. The blame can't be placed on it but rather the individual is to blame per an economic system or any system for that matter. Just reading the synopsis of this episode has me already intrigued. I'm sure it'll be informative and some old favorite bs will be present. Rebranding has been rampant in recent years since class consciousness is beginning to reawaken among other collective concepts that would threaten the current system for the better of more peopl and society.
James Browning
2019-05-29 17:36:13 +0000 UTCSaw this one today: "Do these five things to get to your first $10,000 even if you have no money" where the piece reveals: You can absolutely get to $10,000 without a side hustle. “It would depend on salary,” Sabatier said. It all comes down to spending habits and aggressively funneling money into investments. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/28/do-these-five-things-to-get-to-your-first-10000-even-if-youre-broke.html
Mike Lewis
2019-05-29 16:29:13 +0000 UTC
