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Join feminist coaches Taina Brown and Becky Mollenkamp for casual (and often deep) conversations about business, current events, politics, pop culture, and more. We’re not perfect activists or allies! These are our real-time, messy feminist perspectives on the world around us.
This podcast is for you if you find yourself asking questions like:
• Why is feminism important today?
• What is intersectional feminism?
• Can capitalism be ethical?
• What does liberation mean?
• Equity vs. equality — what's the difference and why does it matter?
• What does a Trump victory mean for my life?
• What is mutual aid?
• How do we engage in collective action?
• Can I find safety in community?
• What's a feminist approach to ... ?
• What's the feminist perspective on ...?
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (00:01.164)
Hello?
Taina Brown she/hers (00:02.366)
Hello.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (00:03.918)
It is a rainy and dreary day here in St. Louis, which I love. I know some people don't, but it is it. It has me all like I put on. went and grabbed a cardigan. I have the window open. I'm listening to the rain. There's a cool breeze blowing in. This is like my Nirvana. It makes me just want to snuggle up and I'm just so happy. I don't. Yeah, I don't get as excited about hot days. I love this kind of a day.
Taina Brown she/hers (00:11.57)
Yeah, it's raining here as well.
Taina Brown she/hers (00:23.763)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (00:31.154)
Yeah, I'm the same way. When I was younger, I was like, I'm going to move to London because it rains a lot there or Seattle.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (00:39.086)
I feel like I am meant to be a Londoner. I am a Anglophile. I watch, as you know, I have a TV that only shows British programming. But funny you should have mentioned Seattle because that's actually where I wanted to take us. If you're willing to go with the ride. Yes, it's perfect. I set us up for this. Oh, I'm going to turn off my notifications. Nobody wants to hear my beeps while we're recording. I just saw a post on threads that came from the Starbucks.
Taina Brown she/hers (00:45.161)
Mmm.
Taina Brown she/hers (00:51.975)
Really? Okay.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (01:08.418)
founder Harold Schultz, who's now retired, as I understand. But he announced that his family is leaving Seattle to go to Florida because, and he announces on the same day that Democrats passed an income tax on Washington state and Starbucks corporate is going to move to Nashville. And if that is true, that's huge news because they are known for being with Seattle. Now, I don't know if that part's true or not, but there is this post. I don't really want to read all of it, but
He's basically saying we're grateful to Starbucks or to Seattle, but we're moving, right? And the whole thing got me thinking about corporate greed. And that's really what I want to talk about. We don't have to talk about Starbucks specifically, but about corporate greed and this desire to evade taxes and tax obligations. And because also,
Taina Brown she/hers (01:50.269)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (02:01.637)
you
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (02:04.398)
I guess I'm in a real eat the rich moment of my life. I've been seeing some of the posts of Oprah and you know, whatever. I don't care that much about Oprah, but I don't know if you've seen some of the things coming out. She's over in France. She's at some fashion shows. A lot of the posts have been about her weight loss. I'm not here to talk about that, but the part that was interesting was she posted a photo of her on a stairwell in Coco Chanel's house.
Taina Brown she/hers (02:19.593)
No.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (02:32.042)
And just the, it had a very like let them eat cake feeling. Her entire social media presence while she's over in France, well, the world's on fire. You know, I mean, literally Iran is on fire. I don't know if you've seen the stuff coming out of there, but I mean, they're having to shelter in place because of black smoke, gas falling from the sky because of, you know, all the oil refineries that are on fire, you know? And she's, you know,
Taina Brown she/hers (02:36.157)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (02:42.439)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (02:47.463)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (02:54.814)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (03:00.162)
posting herself in her designer clothes at Chanel's house. And meanwhile, you know, now we have the Starbucks founder saying, we don't want to pay taxes, so we're going to move where they don't tax. And all of it just screams greed, greed, greed, greed. And it makes me so angry because we are definitely at this like late stage capitalist experience, experiment. Where
Taina Brown she/hers (03:10.888)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (03:16.765)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (03:30.158)
you start to wonder when does it break? And I think we've got to be getting there because if the people who need to pay taxes are going out of their way to avoid paying taxes, how does the whole system survive? Right? At what point do the rich realize you 1 % might have 30 % of the wealth, but you do depend on the 99 % of us to actually keep things moving, to keep your wealth growing. At what point do you say, okay,
Taina Brown she/hers (03:32.701)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (03:40.487)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (03:55.483)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (04:00.386)
That's the survival, even if you have zero heart from a practical part, like don't you at some point say, tactically, it might make sense for me to contribute a little bit so that that 99 % can continue to grow my wealth that I care so.
Taina Brown she/hers (04:06.759)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (04:16.148)
Yeah, yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (04:19.724)
I don't know. That's my initial thought. have lots of stats and stuff we can talk about, I'm just, I'm in a real eat the rich period. I'm, I'm pissed off. I'm sick of corporate greed. I'm sick of individual greed. I'm sick of government corruption and greed. mean, we, the greed at the, at the government level now in the way it's just happening so brazenly and in the open, I've always known that, that, government greed exists and that, you know, cronyism exists and, and bribery exists and all these things. I know they're there, but
Taina Brown she/hers (04:29.319)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (04:49.582)
People in the past have endeavored to hide it a little more, right? And it's just happening openly. mean, the level of corruption in this regime is, it's wild how brazen it is.
Taina Brown she/hers (04:52.928)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (05:05.462)
Right. And I just feel like that's where we've reached. We've reached this place of the rich being brazen to say, I don't want to pay taxes. So I'm moving somewhere where I don't have to. I'm so rich that I'm going to, you know, walk down Coco Chanel's stairs and talk about that as if I'm one of the everyday people while, know, literally people are burning to death.
Taina Brown she/hers (05:05.51)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (05:24.006)
Mm-hmm.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (05:26.328)
How do we, I know how we got here. I know, but I guess I'm just sitting with the shock, not surprise. But I'm just disgusted. I'm disgusted, Taina.
Taina Brown she/hers (05:27.876)
How? Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (05:35.813)
Yeah, yeah. Is that what you woke up to this morning?
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (05:39.512)
Well, I saw this news. I've been thinking about this, though, because I've commented a little bit on some of the Oprah stuff of like, was like, just one of the people. And it's not just her, by the way, like, to be clear, there are so many people because I think it's Paris Fashion Week or something. I don't keep up with that stuff. So I don't really know. But I've seen other celebrities, just some of the things that they're posting right now, feeling so out of touch with what I think so many people both here and abroad are feeling and experiencing, you know, and then to see
Taina Brown she/hers (05:49.957)
Mm.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (06:09.554)
government corruption, which I've been watching. And then I guess this news that I just saw was just like one more piece of this big puzzle of, you know, I'm also in the throes of writing my book or well, now the book is written of promoting my book, which is like trying to be some antidote to this corruption and greed. And I guess it just all feels like, you know, I'm having one of those nihilistic existentialist, right? What's the point?
Taina Brown she/hers (06:21.789)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (06:27.631)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (06:34.118)
Yeah, moments, Yeah, I was like, fuck it all, burn it down.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (06:40.078)
And I do, I mean, to some degree, I don't know. Maybe that's what has to happen. mean, you know, as we talk about, let them eat cake. The French Revolution and thinking about like, what does it take sometimes to get that 1 % those corrupt, wealthy folks who've lost all touch with any humanity? What does it take to get them to pay attention? I mean, I think strikes are a really good place, but burning it down also does it, right? So anyway, don't know any initial thoughts to what I've shared.
Taina Brown she/hers (06:45.606)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (06:59.899)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, because that hit me where it hurts. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, there's, there's, you know, the logical, not logical, but there's maybe logical, I don't know. But there's a part of me that's like, it's kind of good that it's happening out in the open now, because it's like,
you know where the lines are, like the lines are clear, right? And for people who are not outraged, now you know where people stand, right? And it's easier to take action, it's easier to identify people who are or aren't values aligned, whether on a personal or professional level. And that's, it's part of the process in terms of...
change, right? Like any kind of change. Like if everything is happening in the shadows and you aren't sure where to direct your attention or your energy or who, you know, what the what not who necessarily but what the targets are then it's kind of hard to to make any change happen. So it's like it's good, you know, that it's happening out in the open. It's not good that it's happening. It's good that it's out in the open. But at the same time, like that doesn't
Taina Brown she/hers (08:25.83)
negate the feelings of just like exhaustion and frustration and just rage and just like, what the fuck? Like, can we just like get a break? You know, like, and so it's like, it doesn't make up for that. It doesn't make that go away. And there's
There's nothing, right, that's going to make that feel better. There's nothing to be said or done, at least not immediately, that's going to make that feel better. I think as humans, we tend to look for that immediate sense of relief, right? I mean, think about when you lose someone or whether it's someone or a job or whatever, immediately people are like, well, they're in a better place or...
looking for the silver lining, right? And it's like, sometimes there's no fucking silver lining. Like, that's just the reality of it. Like life just really sucks sometimes. It's really hard sometimes and there's no rhyme or reason to it sometimes. And that's just the hard part of it. And I think we live in a culture where everyone's constantly chasing these quick dopamine hits and
We aren't conditioned to deal with like the reality of grief and hard things, right? We're conditioned to use microwaves and drive-throughs and have 30 minute sitcoms that end on a happy note, right? Where the solution or the problem gets solved really quickly or happily ever after fairy tales, right? Like all of those things. And so when things don't turn out that way, we're just like, what did I do wrong?
how can I make this go away as quickly as possible? And that's just not how it works. Not that it's not how it works sometimes, but it takes work to get there. And we're usually taught that or equipped with the tools and resources to do the work to get there.
Taina Brown she/hers (10:38.763)
It makes things like this frustrating because then it's like, we just want a quick solution. We want a quick answer and there is no quick and easy solution or answer or way to just feel better about this. We just have to sit in it for as long as it takes.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (11:01.794)
I don't like that though. No, I know.
Taina Brown she/hers (11:02.911)
Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying I like it. Listen, I'm not saying I like it either, but if I have learned anything, it's like you can't.
Kick and scream, like kick and scream as much as you need to, but just not gonna rush the process.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (11:26.646)
Yeah, I mean, for sure.
Taina Brown she/hers (11:30.092)
Hahahaha
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (11:31.63)
It's not like it goes quickly, I guess I get it. It feels like one of these things where it's slow and fast, where like when you look at the data on CEO pay versus worker pay, as one example, like it was a slow uptick until it became a drastic, like straight up and down sort of uptick. Because in the 19, let's see, 1978, since 1978,
that pay has increased by a thousand percent. So like leading up to that, it was more like this. And then Reaganism comes along and right. And so since basically the eighties, it's just been on this wildly fast trajectory up. And I know the eighties are not like yesterday, but when you look at the long span of industrialism and yeah, the idea of having sort of a working class versus a
Taina Brown she/hers (12:02.339)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (12:20.727)
Yeah, it was just yesterday. Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (12:26.9)
management and leader or owner class. Like that trajectory has gone, it went slow and now really quickly. And it's now to the point where the ratio or that difference, and this stat is two years old, so it's even higher now, but it's 285 to one how much CEOs make versus their workers. So we're nearing 300 times more, right? The average or the top US CEO compensation.
Taina Brown she/hers (12:41.569)
Mm-hmm.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (12:55.182)
the average for those like Fortune 500 companies, they're making almost $20 million a year, right? And that's 300 times more than their average workers. And in some areas, it's as much as like 600 times more. And that's a thousand percent increase just since, you know, in my lifetime, in my lifetime, that is wild. So like it, it's slow and also it's accelerating really quickly, right? Cause if you keep going at the percentages we're going, it's,
Taina Brown she/hers (13:02.446)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (13:25.098)
It's not sustainable, right? So it does feel like while it's really slow, at some point, it has to be a breaking point. Yeah. And what is that? What is that breaking point? And I don't know what that is. But, you know, we're we're coming off the heels of 2020 inflation from from a very real event, COVID and and the supply chain problems that that then caused. However, what we also learned through that was the amount of corporate
Taina Brown she/hers (13:27.169)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (13:32.616)
Yeah, it's gonna hit a wall.
Taina Brown she/hers (13:49.387)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (13:53.4)
greed that got baked into that very real experience, right? There were recordings that came out time and again of CEOs talking about how they could use that very real situation to their advantage, right? And I think anybody who goes shopping knows the things that we've seen, like the ways that there's fewer chips in the bag or it's the same price, but the packaging's now smaller, right? All of these.
Taina Brown she/hers (14:04.118)
Yeah, to make money.
Taina Brown she/hers (14:16.31)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (14:16.83)
that they've been doing because they know they can and they're getting away with it because as the CEOs have talked about the way they're framing this is, know, buyers have become acclimated, right? They're now getting used to this. So we can now just continue what was a real response to a real situation then becomes normalized. Well, now we're about to go through a similar thing because of the straight up hormones for anybody who knows about that. That's the major oil supply pipeline, like that channel that is used.
Taina Brown she/hers (14:36.224)
Mm-hmm.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (14:45.24)
for 80 % of the world's oil. Granted, the US doesn't get its oil from there. However, we are a global society. What happens in one part of the world affects us because if China has to pay 80%, has to pay astronomically higher for oil because they can't get it anymore from where they did, and now it has to come farther and all of the things, and there's less of it, their prices go up. Well, guess what happens to the US where
Taina Brown she/hers (14:56.46)
global economy.
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (15:12.494)
So much of our goods come from China. So here people are like, oh, it won't affect us. It's affecting us already. Gas prices have already gone up a lot. All of our goods are going to go up again. And we have already seen what happens when corporations have an opportunity to use a very real situation to their advantage. The greed is going to show up again. Right. And that means we haven't even recovered from the inflation of five years ago. Right. And that proceeded for several years after.
Taina Brown she/hers (15:15.167)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (15:39.018)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (15:40.728)
people are still struggling because again, those worker pay, our pay doesn't change. It's all going, it's all funneling up to the top and the worker pay isn't changing while inflation is going up. you're making less. We are now making less than we were made. Like it's mind boggling to me in the ways that I see so many fellow Gen Xers and millennials who are like, we feel like the first generation that is doing worse than our parents. And throughout history, it's always been.
Taina Brown she/hers (15:54.793)
Yeah, yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (16:06.206)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (16:09.474)
Generations have done better than the generation before them. And that even includes historically more marginalized communities, because there have been historically more rights given, more advantages, right? And so even historically marginalized communities have done better generation over generation, not at the same rate, right? Those gaps remain, so I wanna honor that. But we've all been doing better until now. And now suddenly, I see millennials and especially than Gen Z.
Taina Brown she/hers (16:11.68)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (16:15.872)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (16:19.583)
Yeah, more games, yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (16:32.192)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (16:36.288)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (16:37.164)
And I see my son, Jen Alpha, and think, what the fuck is he gonna do? It's like, how does that become sustainable? Housing prices, food prices, all of it. It's like, it makes me wanna do a little more research into past revolutions, because I haven't done a lot of that. I'm very curious. What were the breaking points? created, where did the kindling get so dry that it finally ignited?
Taina Brown she/hers (16:40.268)
Yeah, yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (16:46.56)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (16:57.089)
again.
Taina Brown she/hers (17:05.481)
Mm-hmm.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (17:06.936)
Cause I feel like I've got a lot of kindling here. It's not quite dry enough yet to ignite, but in my lifetime, it feels closer than maybe it ever has. As far as class war, because again, I'm civil rights and things like that. These are, you know, I'm trying, yeah. And I don't mean to separate them out or even prioritize center whiteness because this is a class issue that affects, it affects marginalized people even more, right? But yeah, so I don't know. just, I,
Taina Brown she/hers (17:11.882)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (17:16.15)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a little bit different,
Taina Brown she/hers (17:29.566)
Everybody. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (17:36.428)
The work, since the beginning of the industrial revolution, when we first saw unions form, workers fight back, and that was in the, 1850s, roughly, 1840s. I don't know that I've, I think in US history anyway, that we've seen this kind of disparity and growing anger about it. What do you think?
Taina Brown she/hers (17:42.123)
Mm-hmm.
Taina Brown she/hers (17:47.539)
Yeah, yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (17:53.44)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (17:58.345)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it makes me think about like International Women's Day just passed, right? It was on March 8th and
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (18:05.932)
Yep. By the way, I love the people who pointed out it came on daylight savings time. So it was the one day of the year there was only 23 hours and someone was like, this is giving very 78 cents on the dollar.
Taina Brown she/hers (18:13.545)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's shorted us. It's shorted us for sure. But like, thinking about, you know, that whole cause for celebration and obviously, you know, there's like social media posts everywhere about it and whatnot. like, that started as a labor movement, right? That didn't start as a way to just be like, yay, thanks women. Like, you're beautiful. You know, you're a boss, babe, whatever.
Like, it started as a labor movement. Like, women started striking and protesting for labor rights for themselves, for the children who were legally allowed to work at that time, right, for fair wages, for safer working conditions. It was, and this is not just in the U.S., this is all over the world. started, it's international, yeah. Internationally, it started as a labor movement in every single country that
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (18:43.694)
I it.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (19:04.376)
It's International Women's Day,
Taina Brown she/hers (19:12.993)
that has acknowledged it. And so it was supported and advocated for by communist parties and socialist parties, right? And so to like, to forget that and to just kind of like gloss over that or whatnot, like I think we do ourselves a disservice and I think it's important to remember that.
Like you said, all of these issues are related and this isn't just about money, right? This isn't just about class. Like the way that we earn money, the way that we spend money affects different people from different groups, different ways, some more than others. And so this is everybody's issue, regardless of what.
gender or race or sex or nationality or citizenship status you have, right? And I think it would be interesting to take a little bit of a dive to see what was that tipping point in things like the French Revolution and other places and whatnot. Right, right, right. But one thing that I was thinking too was like this, and this is what we kind of...
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (20:24.428)
I mean, there's endless revolutions and over time, right?
Taina Brown she/hers (20:37.28)
go back to time and again is that the only way we get through this is together, right? Is through community. gas has already gone up 50 cents or something, and it might continue to go up. The cost of goods and services is probably gonna go up. so, yeah, and so the thing to do now is sure, be angry, be frustrated, feel all of that, but also think
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (20:55.66)
It's about to.
Taina Brown she/hers (21:06.609)
strategically, okay, so like, what does my community need to like prepare for this? Like, how can we come together to prepare for this? And do you need to reactivate a mutual aid fund? Do you need to reactivate a community pantry? Do you need, you know, like things like that. This is the time to start thinking about that. So that way when the, when it starts to hurt, like really badly in terms of like financially, like you already have
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (21:24.173)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (21:31.832)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (21:36.351)
a support system set up, right? So that way you're not scrambling, because that's just going to add to the exhaustion and the frustration and the stress.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (21:46.648)
Well, that my quote that I have in my office at all times, which is without community, there is no liberation, Audre Lorde, because absolutely. And as we talk about those kindling and the sort of the flame point, I think one of the key differences between America and so many other or the United States and some of these other places that we might be talking about is this hyper individualism. And the fact that I think that makes that kindling and the spark point so much higher because.
Taina Brown she/hers (22:12.968)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (22:14.186)
It has to be added. It's like it has to reach this individual level at so many in various individual levels before it ignites. Where in other parts of the world that are more community driven, more collective based, it is like, my neighbor has already reached their spark point. So that's mine too. Right. That isn't here. It's like my neighbor has reached theirs, but I'm still all right. So yeah. And we have that perspective here. I just wanted to quickly say, too, on the Women's Day thing, because
Taina Brown she/hers (22:35.358)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (22:41.114)
I love it's like the girl bossification of everything. And I just think we often overlook the fact that women's labor has historically also always been stolen. And I mean all women's labor, right? So obviously, yes, enslaved women, their labor was stolen in the most violent of ways. Also, all women, including white women, have had their labor stolen over generations and generations because-
Taina Brown she/hers (22:43.569)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (23:06.146)
whether it is through force or because there is literally no way to survive, right, without financial, without anyone to take care of you, right? Women have been forced into servitude of many kinds, household labor, carer labor, child rearing, taking care of the men in the house, all of these things, education, all of this labor has been historically stolen from women. So we, I think,
Taina Brown she/hers (23:18.91)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (23:32.46)
that doesn't always get talked about or centered in that same way. And again, in no way is that to draw a direct parallel to enslaved women whose labor was forcibly stolen in ways that are far more heinous, obviously. And the history of all women is stolen labor. It's all of our shared history. It's just in different degrees and those degrees need to be honored for sure, right? Because that makes a vast difference.
Taina Brown she/hers (23:36.434)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (23:46.174)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (23:56.19)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (24:00.742)
And the fact that there were white women who were very much responsible for that stolen, violently stolen labor of black women, right? Because again, this trickle down, knock down effect of like, well, if I'm at least one rung above, then somehow I've now achieved some sort of proximity power, right? So honoring all of that, but I just think when we talk about things like International Women's Day, I just don't think women enough. And I think if more white women especially understood.
Taina Brown she/hers (24:06.312)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Taina Brown she/hers (24:16.381)
Yeah, yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (24:28.46)
what it really, what life actually was like in this whole like domestic bliss picture that they have, like some of these women who are into the whatever, I can't even, what's the name of it? This whole movement now of like, yeah, thank you. Like it's so gross to me, can't even say it. Tradwives. If they really, if women, white women really understood what life was like for white women 100 years ago, 200 years ago, and I mean most white women, not all.
Taina Brown she/hers (24:36.028)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (24:41.147)
Tread, tread, tread.
Taina Brown she/hers (24:56.613)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (24:56.95)
Again, that 1 % has always existed, right? But for the average white woman who didn't have unbelievable wealth, their lives did not look great. It was also stolen labor. Your entire existence was having to care for others. There's no going to the spa. Like I see a lot of these trans women and it's like...
Taina Brown she/hers (25:07.537)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (25:13.244)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (25:17.122)
They're still getting work done on their faces. They're still finding time to work out. They're still, you know, whatever. Like, that's not what life was like. And I just think that we don't talk enough about that. And I think if we did, I think maybe more white women would not be in that fucking 52 percent because they would understand that as you know, we've heard our shackles may not look the same. Right. But our.
Taina Brown she/hers (25:20.155)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (25:39.398)
But they're on us nevertheless.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (25:41.558)
Right? Yes, we have to fight for each other because the fight is still the same. So anyway, I just wanted to add that to the girl bossification stuff because yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (25:45.373)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I saw something the other day that was like, there's no such thing as a woman who doesn't work. They're just women who don't get paid for their labor. Yeah, and I was like, yeah, yeah, that's true. And you know, and I want to say also, like, if you, if you feel like, if you're a woman and you feel like it's your role and you're unpaid,
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (25:57.71)
Oh! Yes! Yes!
Taina Brown she/hers (26:14.694)
quote unquote, unpaid job to care for other people, for your family. That's totally fine. Like that's your choice. It's your prerogative if that's how you feel like you want to spend your time in your life. That is absolutely okay. That doesn't negate the fact that you are still doing work and not getting paid for it. And that other women are also forced to do that who don't necessarily want to be able to do it. Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (26:35.628)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (26:40.674)
Right. I say that key word was choice. Again, just like everything with choice, including bodily autonomy. It's like, yeah, that's lovely if you make the choice you make. But that's the point is we're all fighting for choice.
Taina Brown she/hers (26:44.378)
Yeah. Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (26:50.308)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, some women don't get that choice. Like they have to. And so it's.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (26:57.16)
And the single mother issue too, because we excuse men from parenting, right? Like for men, it's a choice. It's not a requirement where for women, it's a requirement. that and again, some of that is because women want to be like they're choosing to be with the children, but it's because men are given an option and women are not. And that's not OK, because then that again, that's labor. And, you know, it gets it's discounted. When you look at care work.
Taina Brown she/hers (27:02.172)
Mm-hmm.
Taina Brown she/hers (27:06.684)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (27:17.786)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (27:26.306)
I told you about the time I went to the vet's office and it was all women at this emergency vet's office in the middle of the night because it's the least desirable shift, right? So they do have a few men that work there. They all get the primo shifts. It's all women working this night shift and it's low, it's underpaid work. We don't pay veterinary staff and or even just even veterinarians. They make very little money for the work that they do. Life-saving work. And again, you can decide whether or not you think animals have
Taina Brown she/hers (27:30.447)
Mm-hmm.
Taina Brown she/hers (27:49.605)
Mm-hmm.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (27:54.806)
you know, whether you have empathy for animals, but the work they do is important work. It's care work and it's that wildly underpaid. And so of course, who's doing that work? It's women. The same is true for care for humans in the hospital. If you go to a hospital, you will see most of the nurses are women. Most of the aides are women. You know, these underpaid, the people working in the cafeteria are probably women. If you go to a school, particularly younger schools, college gets a little bit of a different experience, but they get paid more. There's more men professors. But when you go to
Taina Brown she/hers (27:55.779)
out. Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (28:15.247)
Mm-hmm.
Taina Brown she/hers (28:21.732)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (28:23.694)
you know, public schools, you're going to see primarily women working. Working it is if you go to daycare, it's even worse. It's almost all women. And because that's even lower paid, we don't value that work. And so it doesn't get paid and it falls on women. So women, are being we're doing work for free when we do get compensated for our work. It's getting compensated at 78 cents on the dollar. But that's only if you're actually competing with men in quote unquote traditionally male work.
Taina Brown she/hers (28:26.395)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (28:29.903)
Yeah, yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (28:41.935)
Mm-hmm.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (28:51.52)
If you're working in care fields that have been traditionally female dominated, you're not even making 78 cents on the dollar because there is no comparison to what the men are making. You're just woefully underpaid.
Taina Brown she/hers (28:57.232)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (29:00.931)
Yeah, and that 78 cents is white women. Women who are not white make even less to the dollar. Yeah. Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (29:03.982)
Yes, and thank you. Far less. Yes, Indigenous women make the least amount. And then I think Black women, Hispanic women, and then Asian women, I think, actually are almost on par. because of, again, model minority stuff, that is also unfair and oppressive. OK, can we talk about taxes really quick then, too? Because I want to make sure just to hit on that a little bit more. Because
Taina Brown she/hers (29:17.978)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (29:28.099)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (29:31.522)
This guy, Howard Schultz from Starbucks, is relocating from Washington a blue state, right? A very solidly blue state. Now, that is because Seattle is a huge city and urban areas tend to be more Democrat. Again, if we look at the election results, 90 % plus of Black votes vote Democrat. White women do a real shit job, right? We're like 50, 55%.
Taina Brown she/hers (29:43.545)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (29:47.193)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (29:54.554)
Mm-hmm.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (29:57.198)
white men are even worse. So in urban areas, you tend to have more diversity. That's going to lead to more Democrats getting elected. are plenty of rural areas in Washington that are red, ruby red. But because of this large city, makes Washington a solidly blue state. There's no Republicans are going to win for governor or senator there, whatever. He's moving to Florida, which has become a very red state. At one time it was a little more purple. It's a very red state. Now it's led by a
Taina Brown she/hers (30:04.698)
Mm-hmm.
Taina Brown she/hers (30:08.9)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (30:25.406)
maniac governor. They are getting rid of all sorts of taxes so that there's no personal property tax. There's like no income tax. Like just come live in Florida for free. You don't have to pay any taxes, right? Even though it's expensive to live there for other reasons, the population and whatnot, they're getting rid of so many of the taxes. So he's moving from that state to that state. The part of that that I think really, really needs to get hammered home and I think is a part of, I think could be potentially if ever there were any.
Taina Brown she/hers (30:38.262)
It is.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (30:54.574)
Democrats with actual balls, and I mean that whether they're men or women, if there could be some Democrats who would say, are no longer going to fund red states because blue states collect a larger percentage of taxes that then go to the federal government, that then get distributed out to the states based on need, not based on how much you contributed. And the red states, because they're not collecting their fair share, they're going to make
Taina Brown she/hers (31:22.201)
Need more.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (31:23.022)
Big percentage of government aid. it's welfare and not not in the way that people think of welfare, but the sort of government welfare, right? That tax welfare, I think is maybe what they call it. But so Democrats are overpaying into a system that they are then under receiving from and we are paying to support these people who are leaving so that they don't have to pay their fair share so that they can then collect all the benefits of living in a place where they're not having to pay their fair share.
Taina Brown she/hers (31:30.159)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (31:52.03)
It is wild. It is unfair. I don't understand how it continues. And that to me feels like if enough people understood how are how taxes work. And I'm talking about at that level, because the other piece of this around taxes is the rich aren't paying enough. I found. So what was it? Somewhere in here, but.
Taina Brown she/hers (32:07.171)
Hmm.
Taina Brown she/hers (32:13.709)
Yeah.
Some of them don't pay anything.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (32:18.062)
Many of them don't. I had the number pulled up and I'm not sure where it is, but there is a percentage of corporations that are not paying. So 109 out of the Fortune 500 companies, this was back in 2022 from 2018 to 2022. I'm sure it's more now. But so fully one fifth of the top Fortune 500 companies paid zero dollars in federal tax. Zero dollars. They're paying nothing.
Because, well, corporations aren't people. The individuals are paying, so the CEOs are paying some personal taxes, but the corporations themselves are paying nothing, right? So Starbucks wasn't even paying money. They're not paying federal taxes in Washington. They're paying some state taxes. They're not paying federal taxes. That wasn't enough. And I'm not saying Starbucks, I don't know for sure. Maybe they're not one of those 100, but they probably are. But some of them included here, just so people know, like...
Taina Brown she/hers (32:50.051)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (33:15.574)
GM paid 4 % in taxes and they're supposed to be paying a 21 % tax rate. Tesla, 1.5%. This was in 2023. T-Mobile, 0.4 % tax rate. Now the average person is paying like something like 20 to 30%, right? Depending on how much you make. But that is the actual tax rate. What is the effective tax rate after all of the loopholes and...
Taina Brown she/hers (33:26.082)
Jeez, fuck.
Taina Brown she/hers (33:32.397)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (33:40.919)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (33:42.19)
write-offs and things that people get, the highest percent people are still, even those top 1 % of earners, are paying very little of their actual income into taxes, right? Despite the fact that they are making, so the top 1 % owns like 30 % of the wealth, 1 % owns 30%, has 30 % of the wealth in this country, but they're paying something like a 40 % tax rate, so that's not 40 %
of like total they're not paying 40 % of the taxes. They're paying 40 % on their income, not on their wealth, by the way, on their income. So point being, our tax system is deeply, deeply flawed. It benefits that wealthy people. It also benefits tax evaders and puts the burden on those of us who are doing the right thing, often just because of fear of going to jail.
Taina Brown she/hers (34:18.606)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (34:26.092)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (34:39.468)
That's why think most of us pay our taxes. Some of us pay our taxes because it's also the right fucking thing to do. It's what pays for my kids school system. It's what makes for my roads work, right? It's what makes sure that we have operating streetlights and that I have a police department. Well, we can debate that. A fire department that can respond if I have a fire, you know, that and I don't even have health care and I'm still paying. And these rich people are not.
Taina Brown she/hers (34:43.596)
Thing to do, yeah.
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (35:04.398)
And I'm helping to fund them so they can leave a place where they might have to pay some amount of taxes to go somewhere where they don't. While they have 1 % of the wealth and I have nothing. They have 30 % of the wealth and I have nothing and I have to pay for them.
Taina Brown she/hers (35:16.95)
Yeah. And, and.
Taina Brown she/hers (35:22.036)
And you're helping to fund these wars and bombings and the murder of children and genocide. Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (35:28.908)
Right, because what percentage of our money, our tax money is going, because the number one place your tax dollars go to is the Department of War, as it's now called, because we're not even a department of, you know, it's not even a defense. Now it's a Department of War. As we can see, that's very clearly what they meant when they were changing the name to a Department of War. They're ready to make wars. And yeah, that's the number one place your dollars go. It's not to education. It's clearly not to health care. And it goes straight into genocide. And I have to pay that.
Taina Brown she/hers (35:35.817)
It's the military funding. Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (35:44.224)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (35:53.537)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (35:57.397)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (35:58.742)
And meanwhile, Howard Schultz is going to relocate so he can continue to shirk his duty in paying. And I can subsidize him for not.
Taina Brown she/hers (36:04.104)
Yeah, yeah. And the biggest receiver of funding, the biggest international receiver of funding is Israel, yeah. And they provide free healthcare and education.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (36:17.442)
Israel.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (36:23.65)
And now here we are funding their war. We've gone to war for them. Yeah, we've gone to war on their behalf at a cost of a billion dollars a day. I don't know if people have seen that. This war has already cost us because we've been in it 10 days, something like $10 billion. Billion, B, billion. And Howard Schultz needs to relocate to Florida so he doesn't have to pay taxes. I have to pay taxes.
Taina Brown she/hers (36:27.657)
and their healthcare and their education.
Taina Brown she/hers (36:49.815)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (36:53.858)
I don't get on taxes. And guess what? I can barely afford it. Because when we talk about, you know, an effect we have, we have in the US was called a progressive tax system. There are some people who don't like that. They want a flat tax system, but a progressive tax system, the way it's set up is supposed to, in theory, tax the wealthy at a higher percentage because they can bear a greater weight.
Taina Brown she/hers (37:17.876)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (37:18.99)
5 % in taxes to somebody who's making $15,000, $30,000 a year. Now it's probably 30. mean, if you're living below poverty wages, right, and you have to pay taxes, any amount is food off your table. There's no room to give. When you have billions, can, a billion can go away and you don't notice, right? So you can pay a much higher percentage of your taxes.
Taina Brown she/hers (37:23.958)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (37:33.942)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (37:41.428)
Yeah, yeah, drop in the bucket.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (37:45.134)
There are many people who think that's not fair and that the wealthy should pay 10 % and everyone should pay the same amount. That's not what was intended and for good reason. I believe in progressive taxes. The problem is the way our system is set up.
Taina Brown she/hers (37:55.838)
Yeah, execution of that.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (38:01.358)
is that we give endless loopholes, we give endless deductions, and the people who can maximize those are the people who can afford help to get them, who have a business, because that's a big part of the way to be able to get those deductions. If you don't have a business, you don't even get most deductions. It's a completely corrupt system, even though I think progressive taxes in and of themselves are actually a really good idea. We just execute it very poorly. And I think it's the same thing they do in many other European countries.
Taina Brown she/hers (38:13.269)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (38:16.917)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (38:21.44)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (38:26.217)
Yeah. Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (38:30.37)
where they manage to have healthcare, because people actually have to pay their fair share.
Taina Brown she/hers (38:32.021)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah, it's like, for, you know, for people to wrap their heads around how this works, it's like if you had a roommate and you were making $40,000 a year and your roommate was making $80,000 a year, but you split all the expenses down the middle and you paid an equal share, like that's gonna be a bigger burden on you, the person who is making half of what your roommate is making.
Right? And that's going to affect the quality of the environment in your home. And it's going to, at some point, it'll affect your roommate too, right?
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (39:18.314)
And in effect, you are subsidizing them because you're paying a greater percentage of your income. So you're in effect subsidizing them to be able to pay a lesser percentage of their income, which is basically exactly what's happening with the red state, blue state tax divide. And I just, don't, I don't think there's good education in this country about any of this. I don't think people understand how taxes work. And I think they make them incredibly complicated by design.
Taina Brown she/hers (39:20.339)
Yeah. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (39:30.538)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (39:34.506)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (39:39.464)
No. No.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (39:47.566)
Because the average person and even a well-educated person can't understand our tax code is as thick as a, well, I was gonna say phone book. People don't know what those are anymore, but it's thick. It's real thick, right? No average person can understand it. Becoming a CPA is hard work. Many people fail the test more than once because it is so hard and it changes every year and even more drastically with every new administration and every new Congress.
Taina Brown she/hers (39:47.709)
for sure.
Taina Brown she/hers (40:01.375)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (40:16.814)
We don't make it so that people can understand how taxes work, right? People just assume that if you're rich, you're paying a lot of money in taxes, or they will hear something about, well, the top 1 % or 1 % is on a 40 % tax bracket. That's insane. 40 % and the people at the bottom are paying 5 % or whatever it is. But that's also the actual tax bracket versus the effective tax bracket. Effective means what they are actually paying, which is far, far less. And that doesn't.
Taina Brown she/hers (40:18.983)
Yeah. Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (40:39.037)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (40:44.782)
doesn't in any way tell you the total raw number of what they pay.
Taina Brown she/hers (40:48.585)
Right, right. People just see the percentages and think it's left.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (40:52.014)
A ton. But if you're in the top 1%, let's say you have a billion dollars. Oh, I'm so bad at math. Let's see if I can do this. And you're paying 40%, but effectively, you're probably paying 20%. And most people don't make a billion a year. Some do. Let's say you made a million in a year. OK, because that's still for most people, that's astronomical. Great. If you make a million a year and let's say you paid 30%, what's 30 % of a million? 300,000, right?
Taina Brown she/hers (40:59.701)
Hahaha
Taina Brown she/hers (41:12.233)
coffee later right here. Let's see.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (41:21.484)
Yeah, so you're still left with $700,000. Now, if you make $50,000 a year and you have to pay 10%, let's say, that's $5,000? Yes. So you're left with $45,000. Do people understand the difference of survival when you have, let's say, each of these, it's a family of four, a family of four, a family of four surviving on $45,000 versus a family of four surviving on $700,000?
Taina Brown she/hers (41:24.616)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (41:32.67)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (41:40.786)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (41:46.836)
That's $700,000, yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (41:49.262)
Anyone with a brain can say it's a lot easier to survive on 700,000. So yeah, they're paying a way higher percentage. They're paying a higher dollar amount. But what does it represent to their life? And that's what we don't talk about because if we start talking about that, then the kindling starts to burst. And that's why I'm like, let's talk about it. Because I just, even if 100 people hear this and 100 people get angry and 100 people understand a little bit better how the rich continue.
Taina Brown she/hers (41:53.822)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (42:00.231)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (42:05.907)
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (42:18.412)
to amass more wealth, evade taxes, evade responsibility, let their greed win at our expense, then maybe they do something. Maybe they vote different. Maybe they write to a congressman. Not that it'll make a huge difference, because a lot of them, especially our senators, are in that high tax bracket, are in that percent, and they're very invested in protecting themselves too. But we do something. We show up at a rally. There's a No Kings rally coming up on March 28th. Go, right?
Taina Brown she/hers (42:21.918)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (42:36.784)
Yeah. Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (42:47.022)
There are things happening, there are ways to, and again, or even if it means you start to think more seriously about who is my community? What does it look like for me to help with a food bank for my neighbors or at my kids' school? My kids' school has one. I continue to think about ways that I can get more people contributing. What are the things that we can do at an individual level?
Taina Brown she/hers (42:53.448)
Mm-hmm.
Taina Brown she/hers (42:57.908)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (43:06.491)
Yeah, yeah. And if you don't know where to start, we're actually reading this in the coaches circle, but pick up this book, How We Show Up by Mildred Bergsong. And so I read it a few years ago and you've read it already, right? Yeah. And so, and it's a really, it gives really practical examples of how to show up in community in ways that are helpful and supportive and fill in the gaps. Yeah. So.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (43:14.562)
I'll show it to you.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (43:21.389)
Yes.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (43:35.394)
Yeah, and it's pulling from the wisdom of people who've had to historically rely on communities to survive. And I think in this hyper individualistic white supremacist culture that we live in, many of us, but most especially those of us with the greatest privilege have not learned that. We don't know what real community means, right? We don't even understand it in a practical way. And we need to learn from people who've never really had that choice to not know, right? We're survival.
Taina Brown she/hers (43:41.926)
Yeah, yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (43:54.578)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (43:58.546)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (44:02.515)
Yeah, we've had to build it. We've had to build it.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (44:05.228)
Yeah, they've had to build it and we can replicate and learn from. And, you know, again, on the free labor of folks who shouldn't have had to do that, which sucks. yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (44:09.276)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (44:16.372)
Yeah. And it's, and I will just say, you know, if you're new to the concept of community or you're in there in the trenches trying to build something or sustain something, like I think sometimes when we talk about community, people get this sense that it's this utopia. It's not, it's not, it's fucking hard. Like people have weird personalities that like, like that rub up against you and that, you know.
may not sit right with you or say or do things sometimes that can be problematic or offensive that you have to like talk out or choose to just, know, not ignore, but just like decide what the cost is, right, for you to either ignore it or not ignore it, to proceed with grace, right, to give people room to grow.
and be themselves versus cutting someone off. And so it's not a utopia. It's hard work to be in community with people, to be in legit community with people in a way that is sustainable and is long-term. We're so quick to just be like, that doesn't work for me. I'm out. Because again, that immediate sense of satisfaction, that immediate, if it's not working immediately, then
I must be doing the wrong thing or it's not for me. And that's not true. It takes effort. It takes hard work. But it is worth it. It is worth it. There is the possibility of amidst all this anger and frustration and rage, there is the possibility to still laugh and engage in pleasure and love and have fun. It's not impossible. And find hope. It's not impossible for those
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (46:05.57)
and find hope.
Taina Brown she/hers (46:09.286)
things to exist within the same realm of your life. Like they're not mutually exclusive. But if you don't have a place where you can find those things then.
You're fucked.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (46:23.442)
For sure. mean, I don't know that I would be functioning at half the speed and ability that I'm functioning without having my pockets of community I can turn to for various things. I a school community for my kids' school of people that are equally invested and interested in the same sort of liberatory lens as me. I have a community for business folks. I have my friend community.
Taina Brown she/hers (46:40.721)
Bye
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (46:48.994)
Like I need these and again, community can also mean different communities for different reasons, right? Same way we've talked about friendships for reasons and seasons, you can have communities that are the same as well. So it's not like you have to have one community that's the answer for all things. You may have different communities that work on different things or in different parts of your life or serve different needs for you. But starting to find those before you need them is really important.
Taina Brown she/hers (47:04.025)
Yeah. Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (47:12.911)
Yeah, for sure, for sure. So if you don't have that, that's where you start. That's where you start doing something and taking some of your power back by figuring out what your community looks like and what you want it to look like and then start filling in those gaps.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (47:18.146)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (47:28.568)
And when it comes to the rich, eat the rich and share that message. Make it clear that you are pro-union. Even if you're not in a union, let people know you're pro-union. Vote pro-union. Going back to, does my vote align with my self-interest or with my neighbors, right? With my community, with the collectives. That means voting pro-union whether you benefit from unions or not.
Taina Brown she/hers (47:31.195)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (47:36.987)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (47:47.739)
Mm-hmm.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (47:53.772)
whether unions cost your company a little more money or not. Hiring union, right? That's one place that we think about it. It also means talking about these issues. Don't just think about it, but where you have safety to do so, talk about that in your communities online. Let people know, help educate others about these disparities because too many people don't know about them. And the more that we spread that message, the more I think that that begins to help with that idea of
Taina Brown she/hers (47:56.911)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (48:23.342)
creating a united front against this 1 % because we talked about this once remember we said 1 % of let's just even go the US 1 % of the US population is what 3300 because don't we have 330 million so it's like 30 is it 3 to 300 or 33,000 either way it's very small when you consider that we have 33 or 330 million we are talking hundreds of millions of us against let's say it's 33,000
Taina Brown she/hers (48:26.288)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (48:38.801)
Hmm.
Taina Brown she/hers (48:42.381)
It's a small number.
Taina Brown she/hers (48:52.529)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (48:53.804)
The numbers are clear as day. There are more of us.
Taina Brown she/hers (48:56.399)
Yeah, there are small towns that have more people than third-degree. Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (49:00.226)
than there are that 1%. There are more of us than them by 99%. But until we understand that all of our plight is connected, they continue to win. They continue to use us. They continue to extract and laugh in our faces because that's what's happening now. Now it is so blatant, they're laughing in our faces. Don't let that happen. We don't have to let it happen. Okay, thank you. Because again, I came in feeling fiery.
Taina Brown she/hers (49:04.601)
Yeah.
Taina Brown she/hers (49:15.643)
Mm-hmm.
Taina Brown she/hers (49:19.505)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (she/they) (49:26.83)
and I'm feeling a little better. That's why community matters. These conversations help me. Thank you, Taina.
Taina Brown she/hers (49:29.467)
Mm-hmm. You're welcome.