Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
The UK economy is not like a household, it’s much more like a spaceship with a vat of potato salad instead of a fuel tank and a shark-infested Olympic-size swimming pool instead of sleeping quarters for the crew.
The sooner we all wake up to this reality the better.
#PotatoSaladLens
The sooner we all wake up to this reality the better.
#PotatoSaladLens
December 7, 2025 at 4:05 PM
The UK economy is not like a household, it’s much more like a spaceship with a vat of potato salad instead of a fuel tank and a shark-infested Olympic-size swimming pool instead of sleeping quarters for the crew.
The sooner we all wake up to this reality the better.
#PotatoSaladLens
The sooner we all wake up to this reality the better.
#PotatoSaladLens
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
This is all parallel to the observations and analysis about the ways that Ed Tech has colonized and compromised HBCUs, as detailed in the excellent American Vandal podcast series
theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/hbcus-and-...
theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/hbcus-and-...
HBCUs & The Philanthrocapitalist Swindle
A practical landing page for teachers, students, and scholars.
theamericanvandal.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 6:27 PM
This is all parallel to the observations and analysis about the ways that Ed Tech has colonized and compromised HBCUs, as detailed in the excellent American Vandal podcast series
theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/hbcus-and-...
theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/hbcus-and-...
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
Exciting stuff. Makes me think about the shared investments of the organizer and the historian, who both believe in this essay’s argument that the world is ours to build. Even the financial world.
A critique of David Graeber's work & its lasting influence on contemporary left politics.
The Utopia of Refusal: David Graeber, Debt & the Left Monetary Imagination
by Will Beaman & Scott Ferguson Note: David Graeber leaves behind a rich and complex body of work that remains influential for leftist thought and practice. Since his passing in 2020, however, …
moneyontheleft.org
December 6, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Exciting stuff. Makes me think about the shared investments of the organizer and the historian, who both believe in this essay’s argument that the world is ours to build. Even the financial world.
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
Not to kink shame, but most economists are gravity pervs who disavow their own desire for the playful Looney Tunes pics they love to post in order to justify austerity. Unfortunately, this cuts across left & right orientations. Do better.
December 6, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Not to kink shame, but most economists are gravity pervs who disavow their own desire for the playful Looney Tunes pics they love to post in order to justify austerity. Unfortunately, this cuts across left & right orientations. Do better.
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
Thought-provoking critique
"[T]he imaginary of debt popularized by Graeber and amplified by today’s chorus of left experts threatens to clip our collective wings before we have left the ground."
The Utopia of Refusal: David Graeber, Debt & the Left Monetary Imagination
by Will Beaman & Scott Ferguson Note: David Graeber leaves behind a rich and complex body of work that remains influential for leftist thought and practice. Since his passing in 2020, however, …
moneyontheleft.org
December 5, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Thought-provoking critique
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
Wonderful that Jacobin is supporting the public banking movement. Know, however, that we can go further. Let's push to renew the national Public Banking Act. Let's also create legal conditions for Public Grant-Making Banks, which avoid trapping necessary social programs in loans. See below👇
New York City’s Forgotten Public Bank Plan
In 1975, Wall Street declared war on New York, sending the city into a fiscal crisis. A forgotten public banking proposal in the state assembly could have stopped it — and put both the city and the co...
jacobin.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Wonderful that Jacobin is supporting the public banking movement. Know, however, that we can go further. Let's push to renew the national Public Banking Act. Let's also create legal conditions for Public Grant-Making Banks, which avoid trapping necessary social programs in loans. See below👇
This is very cool! Are there opportunities to connect Ithaca and Cortland to these SIOs? It would also be great to get UUP engaged.
There's a very good chance that the very best article about NYC-DSA you will read this year is this one, by chapter co-chair Grace Mausser.
There are too many good lines to pick just one to highlight here; I recommend reading this one closely all the way through.
convergencemag.com/articles/nyc...
There are too many good lines to pick just one to highlight here; I recommend reading this one closely all the way through.
convergencemag.com/articles/nyc...
NYC-DSA Strategy in Zohran’s Race Shows the Path to Mass Municipal Governance
Establishment campaigns want us to believe they have inimitable skills. Everyday New Yorkers rolled their eyes, rolled up their sleeves, and proved them wrong. Now what?
convergencemag.com
December 2, 2025 at 8:24 PM
This is very cool! Are there opportunities to connect Ithaca and Cortland to these SIOs? It would also be great to get UUP engaged.
"Value appears as a common script more than as an enduring process of collective rewriting." I'm ready to do some writing and rewriting! Time to take the next steps in denaturalizing money!
The Utopia of Refusal: David Graeber, Debt & the Left Monetary Imagination moneyontheleft.org/2025/11/29/t...
The Utopia of Refusal: David Graeber, Debt & the Left Monetary Imagination moneyontheleft.org/2025/11/29/t...
The Utopia of Refusal: David Graeber, Debt & the Left Monetary Imagination
by Will Beaman & Scott Ferguson Note: David Graeber leaves behind a rich and complex body of work that remains influential for leftist thought and practice. Since his passing in 2020, however, …
moneyontheleft.org
November 30, 2025 at 3:27 PM
"Value appears as a common script more than as an enduring process of collective rewriting." I'm ready to do some writing and rewriting! Time to take the next steps in denaturalizing money!
The Utopia of Refusal: David Graeber, Debt & the Left Monetary Imagination moneyontheleft.org/2025/11/29/t...
The Utopia of Refusal: David Graeber, Debt & the Left Monetary Imagination moneyontheleft.org/2025/11/29/t...
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
@greenbackbetter.bsky.social and @videotroph.bsky.social are writing among the most visionary pieces today about how we can understand public finance in order to change it, and the trajectory of their vision is one that I hope will someday (soon) win the status of "common sense" on the Left.
✨ New Essay! ✨
@greenbackbetter.bsky.social & @videotroph.bsky.social argue that, while David Graeber remains vital for leftist praxis, his "utopia of refusal" places a ceiling on what we can imagine & accomplish.
Please read & share. 👩💻 🙌
@greenbackbetter.bsky.social & @videotroph.bsky.social argue that, while David Graeber remains vital for leftist praxis, his "utopia of refusal" places a ceiling on what we can imagine & accomplish.
Please read & share. 👩💻 🙌
The Utopia of Refusal: David Graeber, Debt & the Left Monetary Imagination
by Will Beaman & Scott Ferguson Note: David Graeber leaves behind a rich and complex body of work that remains influential for leftist thought and practice. Since his passing in 2020, however, …
moneyontheleft.org
November 29, 2025 at 4:47 PM
@greenbackbetter.bsky.social and @videotroph.bsky.social are writing among the most visionary pieces today about how we can understand public finance in order to change it, and the trajectory of their vision is one that I hope will someday (soon) win the status of "common sense" on the Left.
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
Let’s go all the way through the looking-glass:
Employment should be designed in the image of education as a public good.
Education should never be designed in the image of employment as a scarce private privilege.
moneyontheleft.org/2025/10/10/d...
Employment should be designed in the image of education as a public good.
Education should never be designed in the image of employment as a scarce private privilege.
moneyontheleft.org/2025/10/10/d...
November 19, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Let’s go all the way through the looking-glass:
Employment should be designed in the image of education as a public good.
Education should never be designed in the image of employment as a scarce private privilege.
moneyontheleft.org/2025/10/10/d...
Employment should be designed in the image of education as a public good.
Education should never be designed in the image of employment as a scarce private privilege.
moneyontheleft.org/2025/10/10/d...
We need a global moratorium on data centers until AI can actually demonstrate it’s useful! It is clearly creating so many new costs and known environmental destruction. Stop saying it’s inevitable and let’s start meaningful assessment.
The reckless AI rollout is not only *not* automating away millions of jobs a la the ridiculous fantasy that AI means total automation; it's also undercutting the actual hiring process for real jobs by making inquiry letters unreliable indicators of merit.
The AI Shift: Is hiring becoming less meritocratic?
Use of LLMs encourage more applications but they change the commitment signal of employers and employees
www.ft.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:54 PM
We need a global moratorium on data centers until AI can actually demonstrate it’s useful! It is clearly creating so many new costs and known environmental destruction. Stop saying it’s inevitable and let’s start meaningful assessment.
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
We also mention my talk, originally delivered at MIMA, ‘How Can Novels Help Us Think About Money… and Maybe Even Save the Planet?’
moneyontheleft.org/2024/02/26/h...
moneyontheleft.org/2024/02/26/h...
How can novels help us think about money … and maybe even save the planet? (Guest Lecture)
Can novels and, by extension, other works of art help us to think about money and trust in new ways? Could embracing alternative perspectives on trust and money help us to avoid climate catastrophe…
moneyontheleft.org
November 14, 2025 at 1:24 PM
We also mention my talk, originally delivered at MIMA, ‘How Can Novels Help Us Think About Money… and Maybe Even Save the Planet?’
moneyontheleft.org/2024/02/26/h...
moneyontheleft.org/2024/02/26/h...
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
For far too many families, the cost of childcare is driving them out of the city they love.
New Yorkers deserve to be able to afford to raise families here.
New Yorkers deserve to be able to afford to raise families here.
November 13, 2025 at 6:34 PM
For far too many families, the cost of childcare is driving them out of the city they love.
New Yorkers deserve to be able to afford to raise families here.
New Yorkers deserve to be able to afford to raise families here.
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
It's accounting gimmicks all the way down--always & forever. The political question is not 'How do we truly get our books in order?' but instead 'How do we design a system that genuinely takes care of everyone?'
November 13, 2025 at 6:30 PM
It's accounting gimmicks all the way down--always & forever. The political question is not 'How do we truly get our books in order?' but instead 'How do we design a system that genuinely takes care of everyone?'
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
“The Public Grant-Making Bank represents a critical mechanism for fiscal insurgency… a profound political act that challenges the hegemonic conception of money as a fundamentally capitalist tool.”
This is excellent. Immediate resistance, in unlikely places, that clears ground to build anew.
This is excellent. Immediate resistance, in unlikely places, that clears ground to build anew.
✨ New Essay! ✨
We argue that loan-based finance perpetuates capitalist interests & constraints that undercut efforts to address social & climate crises. Public banking is vital, to be sure; but we must fight for public banks that are empowered to issue grants, not merely loans.
Please share! 👩💻 🙌
We argue that loan-based finance perpetuates capitalist interests & constraints that undercut efforts to address social & climate crises. Public banking is vital, to be sure; but we must fight for public banks that are empowered to issue grants, not merely loans.
Please share! 👩💻 🙌
Beyond Loans: The Public Grant-Making Bank
By the Money on the Left Editorial Collective Public banking has been gaining traction for years, driven by a growing recognition that our current financial system often fails to serve the public g…
moneyontheleft.org
November 12, 2025 at 2:08 PM
“The Public Grant-Making Bank represents a critical mechanism for fiscal insurgency… a profound political act that challenges the hegemonic conception of money as a fundamentally capitalist tool.”
This is excellent. Immediate resistance, in unlikely places, that clears ground to build anew.
This is excellent. Immediate resistance, in unlikely places, that clears ground to build anew.
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
“The first pillar of this model involves restructuring finance as direct grants, rather than as loans … On this logic, a grant is still debt; only, it is a qualitative obligation to improve social and environmental conditions, rather than a quantitative obligation to repay a financial sum.”
✨ New Essay! ✨
We argue that loan-based finance perpetuates capitalist interests & constraints that undercut efforts to address social & climate crises. Public banking is vital, to be sure; but we must fight for public banks that are empowered to issue grants, not merely loans.
Please share! 👩💻 🙌
We argue that loan-based finance perpetuates capitalist interests & constraints that undercut efforts to address social & climate crises. Public banking is vital, to be sure; but we must fight for public banks that are empowered to issue grants, not merely loans.
Please share! 👩💻 🙌
Beyond Loans: The Public Grant-Making Bank
By the Money on the Left Editorial Collective Public banking has been gaining traction for years, driven by a growing recognition that our current financial system often fails to serve the public g…
moneyontheleft.org
November 12, 2025 at 12:44 AM
“The first pillar of this model involves restructuring finance as direct grants, rather than as loans … On this logic, a grant is still debt; only, it is a qualitative obligation to improve social and environmental conditions, rather than a quantitative obligation to repay a financial sum.”
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
MotL 84 is live! 🔊
✨Democratic Public Finance✨
moneyontheleft.org/2025/11/01/d...
Billy Saas & Scott Ferguson are joined by Will Beaman to discuss Money on the Left’s framework for what we call “Democratic Public Finance."
Please listen 🎧 & share 🙌 !
*Transcript forthcoming
✨Democratic Public Finance✨
moneyontheleft.org/2025/11/01/d...
Billy Saas & Scott Ferguson are joined by Will Beaman to discuss Money on the Left’s framework for what we call “Democratic Public Finance."
Please listen 🎧 & share 🙌 !
*Transcript forthcoming
November 1, 2025 at 6:57 PM
MotL 84 is live! 🔊
✨Democratic Public Finance✨
moneyontheleft.org/2025/11/01/d...
Billy Saas & Scott Ferguson are joined by Will Beaman to discuss Money on the Left’s framework for what we call “Democratic Public Finance."
Please listen 🎧 & share 🙌 !
*Transcript forthcoming
✨Democratic Public Finance✨
moneyontheleft.org/2025/11/01/d...
Billy Saas & Scott Ferguson are joined by Will Beaman to discuss Money on the Left’s framework for what we call “Democratic Public Finance."
Please listen 🎧 & share 🙌 !
*Transcript forthcoming
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
"[A] job guarantee is the ultimate disenshittifier of work."
The enshittification of labor
Pavlina Tcherneva, getting her peanut butter in my chocolate.
doctorow.medium.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:28 PM
"[A] job guarantee is the ultimate disenshittifier of work."
i'm going to use this! instead of appreciation we often get more do more with less from higher ed leadership.
I was taught that each campaign has 3 phases: preparation, execution, evaluation. Two decades in, I'm now convinced there's a 4th phase: appreciation.
Appreciation is essential because hard work done, if left unappreciated, can poison its doer. That's why I make time to write personal thank-you's.
Appreciation is essential because hard work done, if left unappreciated, can poison its doer. That's why I make time to write personal thank-you's.
November 8, 2025 at 4:12 PM
i'm going to use this! instead of appreciation we often get more do more with less from higher ed leadership.
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
I was taught that each campaign has 3 phases: preparation, execution, evaluation. Two decades in, I'm now convinced there's a 4th phase: appreciation.
Appreciation is essential because hard work done, if left unappreciated, can poison its doer. That's why I make time to write personal thank-you's.
Appreciation is essential because hard work done, if left unappreciated, can poison its doer. That's why I make time to write personal thank-you's.
November 8, 2025 at 4:03 PM
I was taught that each campaign has 3 phases: preparation, execution, evaluation. Two decades in, I'm now convinced there's a 4th phase: appreciation.
Appreciation is essential because hard work done, if left unappreciated, can poison its doer. That's why I make time to write personal thank-you's.
Appreciation is essential because hard work done, if left unappreciated, can poison its doer. That's why I make time to write personal thank-you's.
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
Excellent piece by Nancy Pelosi on Mamdani’s budget challenges in Jacobin this week.
Mayor Mamdani’s Budget Can Add Up
New York’s incoming socialist mayor faces real fiscal constraints — but also real opportunities. With a strong tax base, modest reforms, and a clear political mandate, Zohran Mamdani has the tools to ...
jacobin.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Excellent piece by Nancy Pelosi on Mamdani’s budget challenges in Jacobin this week.
Or better yet moneyontheleft.org/2025/10/10/d...
November 7, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Or better yet moneyontheleft.org/2025/10/10/d...
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
Now that the election is done, I thought it would be nice to share this clip from the field launch back in January. What eventually became a field op with 104,000 people started with about 200. For me, it's a reminder that most great things start small—and that what makes them big is organization.
November 6, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Now that the election is done, I thought it would be nice to share this clip from the field launch back in January. What eventually became a field op with 104,000 people started with about 200. For me, it's a reminder that most great things start small—and that what makes them big is organization.
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
Big thx to @mattseybold.bsky.social for giving us permission to re-publish this urgent piece on the @moneyontheleft.bsky.social website. It's time for big ideas & transformative projects!
✨ New Essay! ✨
@mattseybold.bsky.social agues that the new Mamdani administration ought to fund CUNY to develop its own public, open-source educational technology. The result stands to socialize the means of knowledge production for collaborative use across the entire US higher education system.
@mattseybold.bsky.social agues that the new Mamdani administration ought to fund CUNY to develop its own public, open-source educational technology. The result stands to socialize the means of knowledge production for collaborative use across the entire US higher education system.
Mamdani Win Could Be The First Step Towards Seizing The Means of Knowledge Production (Let CUNY Socialize EdTech for All of Us)
by Matt Seybold This essay originally appeared on Matt Seybold’s The American Vandal Substack. We are grateful for his generous permission to republish it here. An understandable response to …
moneyontheleft.org
November 6, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Big thx to @mattseybold.bsky.social for giving us permission to re-publish this urgent piece on the @moneyontheleft.bsky.social website. It's time for big ideas & transformative projects!
Reposted by Benjamin Wilson
Let’s goooooooo!!!!!
Democratic Public Finance: A Radical Vision for Mamdani’s New York City
Summary This document elaborates an emerging economic paradigm that is already latent in Zohran Mamdani’s plans and practices. The paradigm, which we call Democratic Public Finance (DPF), reframes …
moneyontheleft.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Let’s goooooooo!!!!!