May 29, 2019
“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.