Weekend Hot Takes - Economic Bloodsport

Alex Andrews
3 days ago
3 min read

Let’s skip the polite economic euphemisms and call this what it is: we are headed straight for the mountain, and the seatbelt light just came on. Inflation’s not cooling; it’s calcifying. Wages haven’t caught up, rent’s still a blood sport, groceries feel like luxury items, and if you’ve tried to buy a used car lately, you know it’s giving “end times barter system” vibes.

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And yet - corporate profits are fine. Wall Street’s fine. Private equity? Thriving. It’s us - the people who actually make things run - who are about to feel the crush. The “soft landing” fantasy was just that: a bedtime story for investors. The plane’s shaking, the masks are about to drop, and most of us don’t even have a parachute.

Reality Check: Quality of Life Is About to Fall Off a Cliff

For decades, we’ve been told the economy is a delicate ecosystem held together by the invisible hand of the market. Turns out, that hand has been busy picking our pockets. Real wages are stagnating, credit card debt is at record highs, and household savings have flatlined. The average person is one medical bill - or one rent hike - away from collapse.

Meanwhile, the same policymakers who told us to “tighten our belts” bailed out corporations with billion-dollar safety nets. Funny how austerity only ever applies downward.

The Mirage of Prosperity

If you watch the news, you’ll see stock tickers in the green and hear pundits mumbling about “consumer confidence.” But consumer confidence doesn’t pay for childcare, and stock market “growth” doesn’t refill the SNAP benefits that ran out mid-month.

Our so-called “recovery” was built on sand - gig work, credit cards, and wishful thinking. And when the tide goes out (which it’s doing now), it’s not CEOs who’ll be left naked. It’s the rest of us, clutching our DoorDash earnings and trying to decide between insulin or electricity.

What Happens Next

This isn’t fearmongering - it’s pattern recognition. When interest rates stay high, wages stagnate, and people start defaulting on debt en masse, the next phase isn’t a correction. It’s a reckoning.

We’ll see:

Layoffs framed as “efficiency measures.”
Cuts to social programs disguised as “fiscal responsibility.”
A new wave of “anti-crime” rhetoric to manage the fallout of economic despair.

It’s not just about markets. It’s about morality. Who gets to live well when the system breaks - and who gets blamed for the breaking.

So What Do We Do?

We organize. We localize. We get loud. Because when the economy crashes, mutual aid keeps people fed. When politicians hide behind austerity, collective care is revolutionary.

The same systems that criminalize survival work will weaponize this downturn against the poorest among us - sex workers, migrants, people on parole, the unhoused. But we’ve been surviving collapse for decades. We already know how to build something from the wreckage.

This isn’t the first time the mountain’s been in our path. The difference is: this time, we’re not closing our eyes when we hit it.

The Call to Action They Won’t Put on CNBC

Here’s the part no economist will say out loud: when foundations pull their funding, when big donors vanish into “strategic realignment,” when philanthropy decides we’re too messy or too political - it’s sex worker–led organizations who are left holding the line.

We’re the ones feeding people when grants dry up. Writing commissary letters when nonprofits go silent. Building digital tools for survival when tech companies look away.

If you’re bracing for the crash, don’t just stock up on canned goods. Invest in resilience. Donate to the people who have always kept the community alive through collapse.

Because when the economy breaks, sex workers don’t disappear - we build the safety net.