Budget Culture and the Dave Ramseyfication of Money

Where wealth and privilege are the prevailing conditions, and where money defines life and character, the fear of losing it is often profound.

What should not matter in a perfectly rational world? Sale prices or “savings,” or how much we’re spending at the same time on something else (relativity) The classification of our money, where it came from, and how we feel about it (mental accounting) The ease of payment (pain of paying) The first price we see or previous prices we’ve paid for a p

Many of us who have deep misgivings about capitalism also love money or at least want more of it, and this can feel incongruent. It helps to understand money as a resource, an energy. It does not have to be intrinsically good or bad. We project meaning on it.