Aligning Your Spending with Your Values
Or, how to support your local community instead of billionaires
“Nice people made the best Nazis. My mom grew up next to them. They got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way when things got ugly and focused on happier things than “politics.” They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away. You know who weren’t nice people? Resisters.”
— Naomi Shulman
Normally I’d be posting Part 2 in my Fresh Financial Start series today. And next Tuesday I will. But this past weekend I was away on an overnight trip my husband and I had been planning for some time. We were staying near the Olympic Peninsula and enjoying lunch when I heard that another legal observer had been killed by ICE in Minneapolis.
This time, an unarmed VA nurse was pepper-sprayed and then shot in the back while he was trying to help a woman who had been pushed to the ground. Like many people, I’m sickened and also filled with anger. So I’m writing this post as a way to do something, and to encourage others to resist.
Here’s the deal. If we work for a paycheck, we are trading our time and life energy to an employer in return for money. We’ll trade the money we get for necessities like food, shelter, clothing, and transportation. If we have enough money, we’ll save some of it to spend later and spend some to make life more enjoyable now. But make no mistake. When we spend money earned with our labor, we are spending our time and life energy.
I’d like to suggest some ways you can keep more of your money for yourself, and keep it circulating in your local community, as a form of resistance. It benefits all of us when money stays in local and regional economies instead of lining the pockets of billionaires who seem hellbent on making everyone’s life worse while they destroy democracy along with the planet. It may not seem like your individual dollars make a difference, but when more of us hold our money more closely, it has an impact.
The people and organizations who are funding fascism are motivated by money. One way we can resist is to starve the machine.
Bank locally if you can
In 2025, while many of us experienced job loss, increased grocery prices, and the prospect of losing what little health care we have, the big national banks reported record revenue gains. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America reported revenue gains of 49% and 44% respectively.1 Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMC, just got a 10% pay raise to $43 million.2
Most of these large banks, which are for-profit businesses, offer almost no interest on savings accounts. Credit unions, which are non-profits organized to benefit their members, offer higher interest rates on savings, and lower interest rates on home and vehicle loans. Banking with a local credit union means you won’t only earn more in interest or save on borrowing costs—your money is more likely to stay invested in your local community through mortgages and small business loans. Win-win.
And unlike the megabanks, your local credit union probably isn’t contributing to climate catastrophe by investing in fossil fuel companies.3 Or losing all your money by speculating on crypto.
Spend locally whenever you can
This is how you can keep your favorite coffeeshop, breakfast joint, or other small business alive and thriving, which makes your town a more desirable place to live, which in turn attracts more residents and businesses, which keeps your community more vital.
Buy food at a local farmer’s market or sign up for a CSA (community-supported agriculture). Visit the local hardware store or Ace (local franchises) when you need something tool or home repair-related instead of a big-box chain. You can fight fascism at the same time, as Home Depot has allowed ICE to use its parking lots to target undocumented immigrants looking for work. Large chain stores tend to pay minimum-wage to workers, offer little job stability, and generally suck money out of communities and into the pockets of management and shareholders. The real ‘welfare queens’ are large corporations like Walmart, McDonald’s, and Amazon (of course), that pay such low wages to workers that they need to rely on publicly-funded benefits like Medicaid and SNAP.4
Ditch Amazon Prime and Whole Foods
Introduce a little more friction in your online shopping to do less of it, and at the same time, keep more of your money in your own pocket. Amazon is objectionable on so many levels: AWS forms part of the surveillance structure DHS is building, their ill-treatment of workers is well-documented5, and their predatory business practices take advantage of third-party vendors.6 Cancelling Prime is less radical than going cold turkey on Amazon altogether.
Did you know Jeff Bezos’s picture is next to the term ‘conspicuous consumption’ in the dictionary? He and Lauren don’t need any more of our money. And now there are so many more alternatives to Whole Foods—Trader Joe’s, Aldi’s, Sprouts, even Costco—and most grocery stores have organic produce available. Don’t forget your local farmer’s market for seasonal produce.
Donate locally if you can
The charitable organizations in your local community or county are likely facing major funding challenges right now, as are many of us as individuals. Programs like Donors Choose (shoutout to W. Kamau Bell asks, "Who's With Me?" for turning me on to them) help fund teachers’ supplies and projects in your local schools. Your local domestic violence organization is probably seeing more clients and working to make do with fewer resources. Food banks are experiencing shortages. Look around and do what you can to help. Don’t forget about groups like Buy Nothing and Freecycle. You can help someone in your area and keep stuff you want to get rid of out of landfills. Or score that hard-to-find vintage stereo stand you’ve been looking for.
This is a critical time for building community to keep resisting the fascist takeover of our government. Keeping money circulating in our local communities is one thing we can all do as we are able. Keep calling your representatives. Start attending local school board and city council meetings. Get to know your neighbors. We have more power than the regime wants us to think. It’s time to use it.
I'm planning on closing my Chase credit card next month :) I like using a credit card for some purchases, like when traveling, for the extra layer of security with my money. Do you have a credit card you recommend?
My entire comment just disappeared. Oh well. . .