Bottom Lines Top Dollars

In this episode, we discuss the conflicting leftist desires behind wanting to start or scale a business in order to avoid working for the man – and fearing you might turn into “the man” you’re trying to avoid in the first place. We look at the anxieties that come up: exploiting others, making enough money / charging, earning money feeling somehow inherently wrong, being a good boss not a shit one. We also talk the ways running your own business can still be better than other options: sourcing locally, paying living/thriving wages, creating a workplace that doesn't suck. There is no gold star in capitalism - but there might be ways to create work that doesn't make it worse. Is that good enough? Listen to the episode, and you decide. As always, let us know what you think on Instagram (@bottomlinestopdollars) and if you want to send us questions or episode ideas, email us at bottomlinestopdollars@gmail.com. Bottom Lines Top Dollars is a podcast about all the money things you suspect might be ruining your life, hosted by Hadassah Damien from Ride Free Fearless Money, and Laura Boo MacDonald, CPA. This episode was recorded in March 2022, and edited by Erica Ricketts. More information about us and this podcast can be found at ladieswhocrunch.club.

How do you prepare for a big financial purchase? Besides dreaming you also need to scheme because it’s all about putting yourself in a position to woo the unholy trinity: credit, capital, and income. FUN TIMES. We tell you how to get in the best position to get that sweet bank money – yes, get into debt, on purpose – so you can get that tricked out van/pirate sailboat, cooperative farm, or just a regular house or business loan. Learn how to eat the bran muffin of improving your credit, fancy bankerspeak, and get excited to move from the depressed nothing-will-ever-change hole of capitalist nihilism into a strategic and shiny sea of possibility. Bottom Lines Top Dollars is a podcast about all the money things you suspect might be ruining your life, hosted by Hadassah Damien from Ride Free Fearless Money, and Laura Boo MacDonald, CPA. This episode was recorded in March 2022, and edited by Erica Ricketts. More information about us and this podcast can be found at ladieswhocrunch.club. Please follow us on Instagram (@bottomlinestopdollars) and if you want to send us questions or episode ideas, email us at bottomlinestopdollars@gmail.com.

Bottom Lines Top Dollars third season focuses on Practical Ways to Thrive in Capitalism. First - you don’t have to love work, but you don’t want to hate your life. NOW WHAT? In this episode, we explore Jobs That Don’t Suck. Specifically: what makes a job be awful and not, how to get one of these jobs, and what to think about as you’re on your way to the negotiating table for that job. This episode will be relatable if the idea that you’re going to have a job you’re going to love so much no matter what you do is a horror movie. To be clear, getting a non-suck job doesn’t mean capitalism is ok or feasible - just that you are finding a “middle ground” so you don’t live in misery, which as we all know is the punishment for not being successful and/or privileged under capitalism. Bottom Lines Top Dollars is a podcast about all the money things you suspect might be ruining your life, hosted by Hadassah Damien from Ride Free Fearless Money, and Laura Boo MacDonald, CPA. This episode was recorded in February 2022, and edited by Erica Ricketts. More information about us and this podcast can be found at ladieswhocrunch.club. Please follow us on Instagram (@bottomlinestopdollars) and if you want to send us questions or episode ideas, email us at bottomlinestopdollars@gmail.com.

So it's been a while huh? Well.... let us explain....  In this episode The Ladies Who Crunch talk about how sometimes shit goes a little sideways in life and we cope by doing something that only makes it worse: GHOSTING. When we ghost on part (or all) of our lives, we tend to dig ourselves a hole that is hard to climb out of. In this episode we discuss how to come back from exactly that kind of bullshit, whether that's with your friends, your collaborators or your finances (think taxes, debt and other forms of money-based-boogeymen).  Given that we ourselves are coming back from our own state of "overwhelm", we decided that we just needed to put something out there into the world in the most simple, direct and quick way possible. So this episode is actually completely uncut and un-edited, it's our full and unscripted conversation from start to finish. It's a little different than our previous episodes, but we wanted to publish fast, so here it is.  We will be returning with Season 3 in April 2022!! Until then, please send some love and say hello on social media, even just to let us know that you haven't forgotten us and that you are still excited about the show despite our recent absence. 

Leonard Cohen said, “the poor stay poor, the rich get rich, that’s how it goes, and everybody knows”. Well, once you know, then what?  In punk culture, there's a general understanding that the world is fucked up and unfair. But what does that actually mean? If the outcome of the game is predetermined (and you are pretty sure you are a born loser), then what do you do? Do you walk away from the table? Flip it? Set it on fire? Try to cheat? If winning this game makes you a capitalist pig but losing means you don't have enough resources to get by, is there a third option that isn't winning or losing?  In this episode of Bottom Lines Top Dollars, we go deep into confronting a key concept in punk culture that kept both of us from engaging with money for a long time: the idea that capitalism is un-winnable for most and a golden ticket for the few. And though we don't disagree with that idea, we discuss how this dichotomy can result in social norms that discourage understanding the fundamentals of money and economics and may not be helpful in finding ways to survive (both as individuals and as a world falling over the edge of crisis). You already know that both of The Ladies Who Crunch are queer punks who made careers in finance, but this episode really digs into how doing this required breaking away from the dichotomy of "drop out or sell out" to carve out new paths for ourselves. It is clear that we have more questions than answers, but this episode is all about that process of finding new ways to engage with money (& how we earn it & the stuff it buys) that allows us to personally thrive while still being in alignment with our values.    --- This episode is part of our second season. We are calling this season "Punks Not Dead and Capitalism Still Sucks" and it explores the question: how did 90s and 2000’s punk intersect with money, and what can that teach us today? What if you don’t “Live fast die young,” but have to meet needs over the course of your longer-than-expected life instead? Listeners will hear stories -- from “the punkest way I ever made money,” to “the worst minimum wage job I ever had,” to “magic bullshit I did to try to avoid working” -- as well as learn facts about how the financial systems around us operate. The show is written and produced by the Ladies Who Crunch: Queer femme artist/organizers turned financial professionals Laura and Hadassah, who explore the alternative ways of being that crafted the bedrock of who they are today to understand what they learned - and had to unlearn - from punk in order to figure out their money lives and to understand financial systems. ------- The Ladies Who Crunch are Hadassah Damien and Laura Boo. More information about us and this podcast can be found at ladieswhocrunch.club. Please follow us on Instagram (@bottomlinestopdollars) and if you want to send us questions or episode ideas, email us at bottomlinestopdollars@gmail.com.

In this episode the Ladies Who Crunch reflect on the coolest and best paid jobs that we all worked (or wanted to work) in our punk days, which were all strangely gigs that involved earning tips (bartenders, strippers, fancy restaurant workers), and ask, "was that shit actually as good as we thought?" And from that starting point, we go deep into the economics of tipping cultures: the good, the bad, the inequitable! In this episode we discuss:  How jobs compensated by tips create income precarity for the worker in the present and (potentially) in the future How employers use labor models like this to off-load risk from themselves onto their workers How handing over responsibility for part of your wage to customers invokes the curse of the million bosses How racism and sexualization impact earnings more blatantly when workers receive tips How these jobs have been impacted by the economics of COVID-19, including “maskual harassment” [pull down your mask and I’ll give you a tip], lowered sales volumes and decreased tips rates. How these models of variable pay rates are being replicated throughout the economy.  ---- This episode is part of our second season. We are calling this season "Punks Not Dead and Capitalism Still Sucks" and it explores the question: how did 90s and 2000’s punk intersect with money, and what can that teach us today? What if you don’t “Live fast die young,” but have to meet needs over the course of your longer-than-expected life instead? Listeners will hear stories -- from “the punkest way I ever made money,” to “the worst minimum wage job I ever had,” to “magic bullshit I did to try to avoid working” -- as well as learn facts about how the financial systems around us operate. The show is written and produced by the Ladies Who Crunch: Queer femme artist/organizers turned financial professionals Laura and Hadassah, who explore the alternative ways of being that crafted the bedrock of who they are today to understand what they learned - and had to unlearn - from punk in order to figure out their money lives and to understand financial systems. ------- The Ladies Who Crunch are Hadassah Damien and Laura Boo. More information about us and this podcast can be found at ladieswhocrunch.club. Please follow us on Instagram (@bottomlinestopdollars) and if you want to send us questions or episode ideas, email us at bottomlinestopdollars@gmail.com.

How do you value your time? Especially when we’re also forced to value our labor time: does anyone really have a grasp on what “enough” money is, when it’s our lives we are trading it for? This episode grapples with ways to approach understanding whether what we are earning is "enough" (or maybe even too much?) to sustain what we want and need in life, especially if you are struggling to transition from a punk/artist/non-profit or otherwise alternative economic lifestyle to one that doesn't force you into unhealthy precarity. The Ladies Who Crunch walk you thru a bunch of different hands on activities to help you see this problem from different angles so that you can re-set your sense of monetary scale to help empower you to advocate for an income that makes more sense for you in the here and now. And yes, these activities are inclusive of both wage earners and the self-employed! This episode lays essential groundwork to shift your thinking about your income goals when you and everyone you know has always made very little, so that in future episode(s) we can tackle the issue of actualizing those goals.  Plus! In this episode you'll hear lots of punk stories and random chatter, such as: What’s the punkest thing you did to avoid spending money? When you were a dirtbag, what did you think was "a lot of money"? Is garbage picking really better than a job? How can we reframe “know your worth!” without having to financialize our every moment of time on the planet as human beings? Tips for making a realistic budget that doesn't omit important shit and results in you ending the year broke and pissed off ---- This episode is part of our second season. We are calling this season "Punks Not Dead and Capitalism Still Sucks" and it explores the question: how did 90s and 2000’s punk intersect with money, and what can that teach us today? What if you don’t “Live fast die young,” but have to meet needs over the course of your life instead? Listeners will hear stories -- from “the punkest way I ever made money,” to “the worst minimum wage job I ever had,” to “magic bullshit I did to try to avoid working” -- as well as learn facts about how the financial systems around us operate. The show is written and produced by the Ladies Who Crunch: Queer femme artist/organizers turned financial professionals Laura and Hadassah, who explore the alternative ways of being that crafted the bedrock of who they are today to understand what they learned - and had to unlearn - from punk in order to figure out their money lives and to understand financial systems. ------- The Ladies Who Crunch are Hadassah Damien and Laura Boo. More information about us and this podcast can be found at ladieswhocrunch.club. Please follow us on Instagram (@bottomlinestopdollars) and if you want to send us questions or episode ideas, email us at bottomlinestopdollars@gmail.com.

In this episode, the Ladies Who Crunch explore minimum wage, living wages, and the idea of maximum wages. Income inequality in the US and Canada is worse than it was in the 90s, and we were mad about it then, when we worked minimum wage jobs. Stories you’ll hear include: what minimum wages jobs we’ve had, who was the last person in your family to make minimum wage, and were they able to live off it? You’ll learn how minimum wage relates to living wages [hint: it’s lower than the basic minimum needed] and how maximum wages have been incentivized in the past, and how they show up today. If you want to learn more about how income inequality negatively impacts society, democracy, and work, check out Season 1 Ep 3, on Billionaires. ------- This episode is the first in our second season. We are calling this season "Punks Not Dead and Capitalism Still Sucks" and it explores the question: how did 90s and 2000’s punk intersect with money, and what can that teach us today? What if you don’t “Live fast die young,” but have to meet needs over the course of your life instead? Listeners will hear stories -- from “the punkest way I ever made money,” to “the worst minimum wage job I ever had,” to “magic bullshit I did to try to avoid working” -- as well as learn facts about how the financial systems around us operate. The show is written and produced by the Ladies Who Crunch: Queer femme artist/organizers turned financial professionals Laura and Hadassah, who explore the alternative ways of being that crafted the bedrock of who they are today to understand what they learned - and had to unlearn - from punk in order to figure out their money lives and to understand financial systems. ------- The Ladies Who Crunch are Hadassah Damien and Laura Boo. More information about us and this podcast can be found at ladieswhocrunch.club. Please follow us on Instagram (@bottomlinestopdollars) and if you want to send us questions or episode ideas, email us at bottomlinestopdollars@gmail.com.

In our final episode of Season 1, we take a hot minute to reflect on the year that was 2020 and what it might mean for our future. Specifically, we dig into the massive wave of grassroots and hyper-local mutual aid responses to the COVID19 crisis and how these events are both tied to a deep and rich history but also potentially to a better future. We discuss how disasters and moments of crisis can create turning points of change, and how that change grows upward from community responses rather than coming from the top down. We connect this back to tensions we see escalating between pro-democratic movements and the continuing rise of fascism backed by racism and mythological calls to go backward into a past that (actually) never existed. Throughout this episode we ask ourselves and listeners to both reflect on what we all just endured together and dream about how we can collectively respond to what is coming, potentially moving away from hyper-individualistic and competitive economies towards economies that are more caring and sustainable, based on gifting and relationship building.   - - -  The Ladies Who Crunch are Hadassah Damien and Laura Boo. More information about us and this podcast can be found at ladieswhocrunch.club.  Please follow us on Instagram (@bottomlinestopdollars) and if you want to send us questions or episode ideas, email us at bottomlinestopdollars@gmail.com.  Special thanks to our researchers Ariel Federow and Handy Levine. ----

In this week's episode of Bottom Lines Top Dollars we discuss  a question that many punks, weirdos, leftists, environmentalists and anti-capitalists ask themselves when they become financially stable: what do I do with my extra money? Investing your excess cash is an important way to save towards retirement, but can it be done ethically? Is it possible to grow your savings without contributing to bad things in the world (massive carbon emissions, pollution, unfair and exploitative labour practices, etc).  Concerns about the ethical implications of investing your money can sometimes keep people from taking action for their own futures. In this episode we discuss all of this and some strategies you can use to feel better about what you do with your savings.   If any of these questions interest you, then you should listen to this episode: Why does investing our money scare us? What is investing and how do you do it? What are stocks and bonds and how do they make you money? What are RRSPs, IRAs, 401ks? Is investing inherently unethical? If you think of yourself as an anti-capitalist, does your participation in profit from property make complicit in all kinds of horrible shit? If you do decide to invest your money, is there a way to do so ethically? Can you use your investment money for good? To invest in green companies or push for positive change? What are impact funds or ESG funds? What is values-based investing? How do you evaluate an investment firm to know whether their funds actually meet your ethical standards? How much time and effort is required to actually invest ethically? Is it a realistic goal for the average person?  ----  The Ladies Who Crunch are Hadassah Damien and Laura Boo. More information about us and this podcast can be found at ladieswhocrunch.club.  Please follow us on Instagram (@bottomlinestopdollars) and if you want to send us questions or episode ideas, email us at bottomlinestopdollars@gmail.com.  Special thanks to our researchers Ariel Federow and Handy Levine. ---- 

The Black Lives movement and other grassroots movements for racial justice have worked tireless to push the issue of reparations for descendants of enslaved people into the spotlight of American politics. In the last year the issue has been hotly debated with some insisting on their necessity and others disqualifying them as impractical or impossible. In most instances when politicians or others don't support reparations, it is for issues of economic impracticality. And this is where the Ladies Who Crunch step into the debate.   In this episode we ask: What are reparations? What is their purpose and goal? How do they come to be enacted? How do we measure or value reparations? Is it better to measure the original harm or the outcome of that harm? What possible forms can reparations take, both monetary and non-monetary? How have reparations been valued and implemented in the past? Must reparations include direct cash payments or can they be entirely composed of in-kind or non-monetary elements such as land, educational programs, employment opportunities, commemorative projects and political representation? How can the government fund reparations? What kind of economic challenges do we face when figuring out how to fund and implement reparations on a nation-state level? Are there other levels at which reparations can occur? Are "individual" or "inter-personal" reparations groups online really engaged in a reparations project or is it something else? Is backlash (race or class war) an inevitable externality of reparations like "The Watchmen" envisioned or can the financial composition of reparations avoid this outcome? Can we truly repair harm through reparations? Can capitalism ever truly address the historical harms of war, colonialism, genocide and other forms of systemic violence?  From inflation to baby bonds and modern monetary theory to  programs to tax profiteers, this episode of Bottom Lines Top Dollars digs deep into the money issues of reparations so that you can engage meaningfully with anyone who tries to end the debate at "that's not economically viable". We try to hit as many points as we can, but we know what we could always go deeper or say more. If you have more questions or want us to come back and address any specific issues discussed in this podcast in more detail, please let us know! Email us at bottomlinestopdollars@gmail.com or find us on FB, IG or Twitter! We will be doing a listener mail episode at the end of the season and we are also taking suggestions for topics to cover in season 2 (spring 2021)!  Although we dig into the issue of reparations from the perspective of accounting, finance and economics, if you are interested in delving into the legal and political issues, please check out our detailed show notes on our website. We have compiled a list of links to podcasts and articles that can fill days on end! Go to ladieswhocrunch.club to dive in!  --- The Ladies Who Crunch are Hadassah Damien and Laura Boo. More information about us and this podcast can be found at ladieswhocrunch.club. Special thanks to our researchers Ariel Federow and Handy Levine. ---- CW - During this podcast we reference various instances of violence and trauma that have resulted in reparations and we discuss how pain and suffering of survivors have been measured economically in the past, which could be painful or difficult to hear. 

A special episode for election day! As you are waiting in endless lines to cast your ballot or obsessively refreshing your browser waiting for the results, tune in to The Ladies Who Crunch as they dig into the money behind the candidates. What is the history of campaign election financing in the United States? How does it compare to other democratic countries? Does the candidate with the most money always win? Or does the flood of big campaign donations just indicate who people think is most likely to win (and therefore who they want to curry favor with)?  Do mega-donors represent a threat to representational democracy? How can "micro-donors" make small donations have the most impact possible? What exactly do candidates spend their money on and does it really impact the outcome of the election?  Added bonus! Damien and LB discuss cross-border perspectives of how the democratic process in Canada and the US are different but similar and get into the classic debate of punks and anarchists everywhere: should we vote at all (spoiler alert: you absolutely should vote in this election if you can).  Extra mini-previews of topics discussed to help search engines find us: The history and present of campaign financing in the US (in particular the presidential campaigns), political donations and tax credits, dark money, PACs, Super PACs, the efficacy (or irrelevance) of advertising in political campaigns, partisan electoral districts (gerrymandering), how American democracy works (primaries, the electoral college, etc), how Canadian elections work (parliamentary democracy), distrust of big government (federalism), Qanon and other conspiracy theories, feeling disempowered by billionaire donors, the temptation to not vote or engage in "voter boycotts", partisan gridlock, and choosing between the lesser of two evils (i.e. the two-party system).  The Ladies Who Crunch are Hadassah Damien and Laura Boo. More information about us and this podcast can be found at ladieswhocrunch.club. Special thanks to our researchers Ariel Federow and Handy Levine.