You know that feeling of insecurity? “The spike of shame when a bill collector calls, the adrenaline when the rent or mortgage is due,” says Astra Taylor, an organizer, a filmmaker and an author. “If inequality can be captured in statistics, insecurity requires talking about feelings.” To deal with the stress of instability, “we scramble and strive, shoring ourselves up against potential threats. We work hard, shop hard, hustle, get credentialed, scrimp and save, invest, diet, self-medicate, meditate, exercise, exfoliate,” Astra says. “And yet security, for the most part, eludes us. That’s because the main mechanisms by which we are told to gain security for ourselves — making money, buying property, earning degrees, saving for retirement — often involve being invested in systems that rarely provide the stability we crave.” #capitalism #inequality #debt #nytopinion