01 Sep 2026 5 min read

Where to Start

Photo by Muhammad Haikal Sjukri / Unsplash

We've written a lot here, and it isn't organized in any way a reader would guess. So this is a map. Below are the threads that run through the writing so far, each with the posts that belong to it, so you can follow the one you came for instead of starting at the beginning and working forward.

Each section says where we stand in a few sentences, then lists the posts. The first one is the whole argument; after that, follow whichever thread you came for.

1. Start here

Climate, inequality, poverty, and the racial wealth divide are the natural consequences of an economy built to serve shareholders first. To address these global issues we need to first address an economic engine that exacerbates those harms.

2. What "market rate" actually costs

A market rate is the most that can be taken out of workers, communities, and the natural world before someone makes it stop. Markets do not price the harm they cause; last century’s economists named those costs externalities and moved on.

3. Why ESG and impact investing hit a ceiling

The required return to investors still comes first, in the structure and in the priorities. Anything that would create impact but pays less than the market gets ruled out before the social benefit is discussed at all, and phrases like "double bottom line," "win-win," and "doing good while doing well" are what keep that ordering from being obvious. These posts take the counterfeit apart and describe what capital can do when it stops apologizing.

4. Who your advisor actually works for

Most people never see the incentives sitting between them and their money. The wealth advisory model is built to preserve and grow a portfolio, which quietly rules out most of what a client might otherwise want to do with it. This four-part series walks through how that relationship works and what to ask for instead, along with a piece on the language that keeps people out of the conversation.

5. Philanthropy mirrors finance

Both the financial system and our philanthropic system centralize and consolidate power and control rather than enabling the people most poised to solve our problems. Modern philanthropy runs on proposals, deliverables, and reporting cycles designed by the funders, which is a strange way to solve problems you do not live with. These posts look at what philanthropy rewards and who it answers to.

6. The money that never moves

Foundations and donor-advised funds are better at growing balances than at getting money out the door. The law requires a foundation to pay out five percent a year, and a donor-advised fund is not required to pay out anything at all. Meanwhile the endowment earns its return from the same companies causing the harm the grants are meant to repair.

7. The same engine, in the things you use every day

An economy built to maximize returns does not stay on the trading floor. This economy touches our lives every day in tech that we use, stores that we shop at, banks that we rely on, and so much more. When the obligation is to grow returns, harm becomes a cost to manage rather than a reason to stop. As the most senior former Meta employee to publicly criticize the industry and Meta specifically, he’s got an inside look at how this works.

8. Ownership changes who the economy serves

Change who owns the asset and you change who holds the power in the first place. Through predistribution we build wealth and power in from the start, so that more people own, govern, and benefit from the businesses and the homes they depend on. Governing is the part conceded last, because deciding is where the power sits.

9. Equity-washing: the counterfeit

Private equity firms hand workers slivers of equity, keep the value creation, and call it shared ownership. A one-time payout with no board seat and no vote is not ownership. These are our investigations into the schemes and the people selling them.

10. Securing the floor

A wellbeing economy stops harm before it starts. Millions of families already qualify for benefits and tax credits that would prevent the cascade poverty sets off, and never receive them, because the system is a maze. We brought MyFriendBen to Washington State, a screener that connects a family to what they qualify for in about six minutes, with dignity.

11. The economy we are building

The economy we have is a choice, and what was planted can be pulled up. A wellbeing economy, built for people and planet, is already being built in local communities, in nations, and across the globe. These are the two pieces where we describe what we are actually after.

Read more: The World I Want to Live In · Room 12

Also worth reading

One that does not sit under any of the above.

That is the shape of it. We read what comes back, and the sections that have changed most are the ones where a reader pushed. If you think we have something wrong, say so. And if there is a thread you want more of, tell us which one: two of these sections are shorter than they should be, and we know it.