EoR No. 13: Old woman yells at the media

Fruitless fist-shaking, plus why you might not have to pay your bills, listening to your body, addressing homelessness and more

Top of mind

I went on a bit of a roller coaster ride this week, and I blame it on news consumption.

I was delighted to be tasked by a client with writing a summary of what, exactly, is going on with student loans right now, because, as my editor said, “We're hearing that a lot of people are confused by what's happening.”

No kidding people are confused. Out of professional obligation, attacks on student loans and the Department of Education are the only areas of Trump news I’m following closely in my otherwise news-lite existence. I find myself most often dispelling myths and quelling fears when I write these pieces, because news articles, headlines and social media posts do so little to actually inform people but are really good at getting everyone riled up.

So I wrote the whole thing with a bunch of my usual stay calm, nothing is really happening yet appeals — income-driven repayment hasn’t been abolished, PSLF is still available, the Department of Education isn’t eliminated… And then hours after I submitted the draft, Trump signed the executive order to further the closure of the agency, and the media around me went bonkers. My stomach dropped.

But, as often happens, I was comforted when I went straight to the source of information myself. I read the executive order and actually felt better. Because, OK, yes — it’s a piece of racist, anti-trans trash as is standard for this administration, and I don’t have the emotional resources to conjure new rage about that every time. The point is this order says basically nothing of substance.

It says education “should be returned to the states,” but that’s where the functions of education that it critiques already live. So… check? It says the Department of Education isn’t equipped to service student loans like a bank, but it already doesn’t do that; contracted servicers do that work. It says, “The Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education,” but guess what? The law doesn’t permit her to close the department; that’ll take an act of Congress that’s going to require at least 60 votes in the Senate that Republicans don’t have.

So headlines are swirling and publicists are filling my inbox with predictions about what the closure of ED could mean — which is exactly the frenzy this stupid president wants to create. We can’t give into this. We have to notice what’s really happening: This administration is publishing executive orders watered down by legal compliance because it has zero authority to take action, and it can’t count on legislators to take action because its agenda is wildly unpopular with the American people. (Thank you to

Heather Cox Richardson

for reminding us of this fact with every. single. report. like all media should be doing.) It’s also engaging constantly in illegal activity that’s immediately being challenged and often halted or reversed by lawsuits.

Headlines meant only to scare us are a waste of our time. While I empathize with the challenges of my fellow journalists attempting to cobble together work in a struggling industry, we’re out of time for dithering about click rates and neutrality. Spreading real information — with context! — and unabashed critiques of this dangerous regime is the job of the fourth estate right now.

This sort of rant isn’t always what this Sunday newsletter is for, so I thank you for being here for it today. It lets me keep my regularly scheduled programming for Tuesday and make space for a guest essay from a writer who’ll talk about something I know very little about: anti-budget parenting.

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News and upcoming events:

• Save your spot for my session on April 11 with estate planning experts Noelle Kimble McEntee and Ciara Lister from Legado! Drop your estate planning questions in the box to the right after you register, or just share them in a reply to this email, and we’ll get the answers for you during the session.

🥑 ICYMI at Healthy Rich this week

• This 1984 Wisconsin law makes me less worried about paying my bills on time

• Money date No. 20: Listening to my body

🔗 Things to catch

• I love the opportunity to think about spending that’s important for other people, even when it’s not important for me. I was delighted to talk with personal stylist

  Dacy Gillespie
  about spending on clothing!

• My niece was delighted by this joke I learned from

  Lisa Sibbett
  . And this one.

• How one Washington county is making progress on homelessness (shocker: collaboration with people who actually talk to folks experiencing homelessness)

• This AP News tracker of lawsuits against Donald Trump is an important reminder that smart, dedicated people are on the ground working their asses off for us — thank you!! Support them by donating to the ACLU, Legal Defense Fund, Lambda Legal and others doing the nitty gritty work to block this administration’s attacks on democracy.

• “I went from being known as the funny girl at the party to the funny girl in debt at the party.”

💬 Let’s discuss

How do you personally manage your spending on clothing?

In light of my conversation with Dacy, let’s talk clothes and fashion! Do you dress for utility, artistic expression, comfort, acceptance or something else? Where does clothing fall on the scale of things you value spending money on? How do you manage money around clothing?

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If you enjoyed today’s rant, you’ll love 298 pages of me yelling at capitalism. Buy You Don’t Need a Budget at Bookshop or your local bookstore!