Fly Into the Mystery

My other half is very interested in economic theory and history. This settling down business has had an educational side effect. There are a lot of enjoyable and accessible books and blogs that give various strategies and ideologies. My favorite right now is Mr Money Mustache’s blog. He is a very silly superhero who is trying to get confused wealthy people to stop being mindless corporate spendbots and instead care for their bodies, families, planet, and themselves.

It is a useful perspective because the reason most people behave in the spendthrift thoughtless ways they do is that they desperately want to belong, to be like those around them. And there are billions and billions of dollars spent to make people uncomfortable in their skins so they will buy something to feel better. So, if you make a whole community of people who are striving for a simple life and shamed by their peers for owning a car, or driving when they could bike, you are working with our collective psychological weakness. Better for a positive goal than in servitude to oil companies.

Unfortunately our country is full of poor people acting like rich people, underwater, in debt, throwing their lives under the bus of our planet incinerating consumer culture. MMM approaches his work of waking people up with a refreshingly light heart.