I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt: Everything I Wish I Never Had to Learn About Money

by Madeline Pendleton Narrated by Madeline Pendleton

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

If you’ve been craving a delicious anti-capitalist worldview delivered with as much heart as humor, then look no further. This down-to-earth and deeply personal narrative pulls no punches, delivering a crucial narrative that will educate and inspire.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ¿ A big-hearted, no-bullshit memoir from the TikTok superstar about her journey from living paycheck to paycheck to creating a multi-million-dollar business that offers a compassionate alternative to capitalism ¿ Includes no-nonsense life and money advice, from negotiating pay and building credit to putting home ownership within reach

"Madeline's life is unique yet wildly relatable...Readers will be thoroughly engaged, as every hardship comes with a lesson that Madeline skillfully shares with us. A thought-provoking, mind-tingling reading experience."-Mercury Stardust, the Trans Handy Ma'am and author of Safe and Sound

Imagine a job where you work four days a week and earn as much as the CEO. You also get full benefits, a gym membership, free lunch, and unlimited time off, no questions asked. Hard-won profits don't just end up in the CEO's pocket-they're distributed equally among all employees. The company even buys you your very own car. It sounds too good to be true, but this is the reality at Tunnel Vision, the clothing company that Madeline Pendleton built from the ground up.

Like so many Americans, Madeline used to struggle to make ends meet. Raised by a punk dad and a goth mom in Fresno, California, she spent her teens intermittently homeless, relying on the kindness and spare couches of the local punk community to get by. By her twenties, she was drowning in student loans and credit card debt, working long hours and sick of her bosses treating her as disposable. Then her boyfriend, struggling with financial stress, died by suicide. Capitalism was literally killing her loved ones-she knew there must be a better way.

Madeline decided to study the rules of capitalism, the game everyone is forced to play. She used what she learned to build a new kind of business, one rooted in an ethos of community care.

Millennials and Gen Zers like Madeline are facing an unprecedented financial reality: Stagnant wages, skyrocketing housing costs, a student debt crisis. I Survived Capitalism is essential reading for anyone searching for hope and stability in an unjust world.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

With punk optimism, cinematic storytelling, and a moral center undeterred by what ‘everyone else does,’ this book presents the life and death money scenarios real people face. Madeline covers class, college recruiting, home ownership, and workplace rights with a brilliant sense of community and warmth.”
—Gabe Dunn, podcast host and author of Bad with Money

“A witty and profound commentary on navigating the harsh terrain of poverty, inequality, class, and an oftentimes unforgiving, unfair financial system that all of us are forced to participate in. Drawing on her rich personal experiences and hard-won financial lessons, Pendleton’s path to financial stability is inspiring. This book is a transformative call to action to build a better, more just, equitable world.”
—Paco de Leon, host of the Weird Finance podcast and author of Finance for the People

"Madeline's life is unique yet wildly relatable to Millenials. Readers will be thoroughly engaged, as every hardship comes with a lesson that Madeline skillfully shares with us. A thought-provoking, mind-tingling reading experience." —Mercury Stardust, the Trans Handy Ma'am and author of Safe and Sound

“A vivid account of the many challenges millennials face while trying to make it in an unforgiving economy. . . Illuminating. . . Move on, Jim Cramer. Here’s the real deal—smart, undaunted, and eminently wise.”
—Kirkus Reviews *starred review*

“[Pendleton] shines in her idiosyncratic debut memoir-cum-finance guide. . . Pendleton is a penetrating critic of economic injustice and the shortcomings of traditional personal finance programs. . . Her substantial guidance on “how to run an equitable business” is a refreshing alternative to the lip service found in other manuals. . . This stands out from the pack.”
—Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2023-11-14
A vivid account of the many challenges millennials face while trying to make it in an unforgiving economy.

Pendleton opens her illuminating book with a tragedy: the suicide of a boyfriend who was suffering from the torments of money trouble and could see no way out of it. “That day,” she writes, “I learned a horrible lesson: capitalism is a matter of life and death. The stakes are high, and if you lose, it might come for you in ways you’d never expect.” As the author notes, the economic landscape could be characterized as dog-eat-dog, except that dogs are more cooperative and better socialized than all that. Exhibit A is a photographer the author worked for who effectively bilked her out of a quarter of her paycheck; fortunately, she jumped studios to work for another photographer who was far more honest. This story leads to a sobering observation for the corporation-haters in the crowd: “Businesses are not intrinsically any more ethical just because they are small. If anything, data shows they tend to be less ethical overall.” Pendleton, like so many of her generation, trained hard for life in the economic doldrums, growing up poor in Fresno, California (“one of the poorest cities in the country”), and entering the workforce just in time for the Great Recession. A punk rock ethos also helped the author cultivate a mutual-aid, fight-the-power outlook on life, which plays out in both her personal story and in the short chapters of enumerated points of advice on things like what a credit score means and how to navigate workplace relationships (“Remember that your coworkers are not your friends”). All of this is extremely helpful to those who, like Pendleton, would otherwise have to figure it out for themselves.

Move on, Jim Cramer. Here’s the real deal—smart, undaunted, and eminently wise.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160058788
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	01/16/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

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