‘America needs to have a heart-to-heart about money’
Suze Orman at Newsweek
Many “people are living in financial denial — pretending they can’t afford to save, while spending on things they don’t need,” says Suze Orman. If “you are not saving at least 10% of your income, after taxes, for your future, you are making a dangerous choice.” If we “don’t change course, we’re going to see a generation of elders struggling to survive, not because they were lazy or careless — but because they didn’t get the truth early enough.”
‘The Roman Empire loved by Elon Musk and Steve Bannon never existed’
Honor Cargill-Martin at The New York Times
The “ascendant right wing loves ancient Rome,” says Honor Cargill-Martin. Apart “from the problem of comparing modern America with a Mediterranean empire that flourished before the advent of Christianity, capitalism and mass media,” archaeology has “undermined the idea that there was a consistent pattern of population decline in the late republic or the late empire.” What the “right has captured is a tradition established by the Romans themselves, creating an uncanny hall of populist mirrors that reflects millenniums-old contortions.”
‘African workers are taking on Meta and the world should pay attention’
Mercy Mutemi at Al Jazeera
Meta has “taken a defiant new tone on the question of whether and to what extent it accepts responsibility for the real-world harm that its platforms enable,” says Mercy Mutemi. In African countries, the “post-independence constitution differs from those in the U.S. and Western Europe with its explicit prioritization of fundamental human rights and freedoms.” We are “now beginning to see how these constitutions can be brought to bear in the global technology industry.”
‘We get it, you’re rich’
Alison Green at Slate
At a “time when many Americans are struggling with rising costs of living and worries about their households’ financial stability, many corporate executives are making it clear that they have no idea what life is like for their employees,” says Alison Green. This “betrays a fundamental divide between higher-level management and the people who work for them.” It’s “tough for employees to respect managers who look this out-of-touch and oblivious or to feel that they share a common agenda.”