Fall 2015
Table of Contents
The Debt Issue
In Depth
Explore SectionFrom the Editors
Why We Did an Issue on Debt
Good debts? We know it sounds crazy. But there’s a quiet revolution brewing in how we move money around, and we want our readers to know about it.
Read more“Don’t Owe. Won’t Pay.” Everything You’ve Been Told About Debt Is Wrong
With the nation’s household debt burden at $11.85 trillion, even the most modest challenges to its legitimacy have revolutionary implications.
Charles EisensteinHero or Coward: Could Skipping My Student Loan Payments Start a Revolution?
A college professor is calling for a massive student-debt strike next year with only one necessity: that as many debtors as possible refuse to pay.
Yessenia Funes
When Energy Bills Skyrocketed, These Neighbors Banded Together to Keep the Lights On—And Won
For nearly 20 years, utility company Central Hudson has operated more or less unchallenged—until Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson came along.
Laura Gottesdiener
Infographic: The Real Reason You Have So Much Debt (It’s Not Crazy Spending)
$11.85 trillion in household debt has more to do with stagnant wages (and predatory banks) than shopping sprees .
Heidi Bruce & Tracy Matsue Loeffelholz
Infographic: A History of Debt Forgiveness and Relief
As long as there has been lending, there have been times when the people’s debt becomes a crisis. Here’s a look at the policy solutions governments have been using, starting in ancient Sumer.
Jennifer Luxton & Lindsey Weedston
Will Government Make Good on Its Promise to Forgive Student Debt?
Up to a quarter of the nation’s workers have spent 10 years working in public service on a promise of student loan forgiveness.
Ava Kofman
I Owed My Parents Everything—But My Son Will Owe Me Nothing
Why family debts shouldn’t be about money or expectations, but about love.
Shin Yu Pai
We Asked Our Favorite Illustrators What Debt Means to Them
Here's what they gave us, from comics to collage.
Goodbye McMansion, Hello Simple Life: What I Learned From Thoreau
The philosopher’s lessons include how to let go and find happiness—even after crippling debt and a heartbreaking divorce.
Kaci Yoh
For These Borrowers and Lenders, Debt Is a Relationship Based on Love
There could be a different financial system, one where debt allows us to honor our freedom rather than our servitude.
Nathan Schneider
Own a Home in Just Four Years? This Co-Op Program Keeps Workers in the Neighborhood
Nearly half of Evergreen’s worker-owners have purchased homes through the program.
Yessenia Funes
The Interest-Free Lending Circles That Help Friends and Families Do DIY Loans
Who needs banks when you have communities? And organizations like Mission Asset Fund have even figured out how to use the system to raise credit scores.
Liz Pleasant
How Creative Finance Launched Worker-Owned Co-ops In Post-Sandy New York
Half of small businesses don’t make it past the first five years, and owners lose everything trying to pay off the loans. The Working World lets co-ops stabilize before repayment even begins.
Araz Hachadourian
Solutions We Love
Explore SectionTerry Tempest Williams: “Survival Becomes a Spiritual Practice”
The author and activist talks with YES! about millennials, climate change, and how she can't imagine being alive at "a more thrilling, challenging time."
Sarah van Gelder
People We Love
When Gamers and Activists Collide, It’s Not About Winning—It’s About Social Change
From computer screens to street play, these three game developers are redefining the medium by revealing a powerful new social potential in games.
Tony Manno
6 Strategies to Make Powerful Social Change—Starting With “Stay Woke”
Bree Newsome’s removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Statehouse reminds us that real change comes from people power.
Mistinguette Smith
The Page That Counts