How to Cut Out the Cancer KILLING Our Economy
Democrats need a muscular, decisive vision for transforming the American economy.
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🎙️ This Week on The Rising
In this week’s episode, Marshall and Nick dive into how neoliberalism took root, how it destroyed the middle class, and what Democrats must do to replace it with a new vision of Patriotic Capitalism - one that rewards ambition, enforces fairness, and ties profit back to the public good.
Because if capitalism is going to survive, it has to remember who it serves.
💥 Neoliberalism Is the Cancer — Here’s How We Cut It Out
For forty years, Americans have been told that the free market will save us. That if we just let corporations grow without limits, if we deregulate, privatize, and worship “efficiency,” then prosperity will trickle down and everyone will win.
That story was a lie.
On this week’s episode of The Rising, Marshall Herskovitz lays it out plainly: neoliberalism is an economic cancer. It has eaten through the middle class, crushed the working class, and replaced the American Dream with a subscription plan for survival.
It’s not capitalism that’s killing us. It’s capitalism with no guardrails, no shame, and no sense of responsibility to the country that made it possible.
Corporations used to see themselves as part of the American project. Today, most of them see America as a market to strip-mine.
Unfortunately, Democrats have mostly avoided doing the one thing that could save both the party and the country: putting forward a bold economic vision that democratizes capitalism, empowers workers, and restores fairness to the system.
This isn’t about envy or handouts. It’s about ambition. It’s about making sure that when you work hard, you can afford a decent life, build wealth, and leave something behind.
That’s not radical - that’s the promise of America.
But to get there, we have to hit the people poisoning the system where it hurts: their profit margins.
🛑 Boycott Watch: 10 Corporations Driving America’s Decline
Neoliberalism didn’t just appear. It was engineered — by corporations that used their money, lobbying, and influence to tilt every rule in their favor.
If we want to rebuild a democracy that works for people again, we can’t keep bankrolling the companies that are hollowing it out.
Amazon: Crushes unions, evades taxes, and uses monopoly power to gut small business. Buy direct from local sellers or through cooperatives.
Walmart: Built an empire on poverty wages and imported goods while lobbying to kill local competition. Support regional retailers or worker-owned grocers.
Target: Rolled back DEI commitments under right-wing pressure; funds deregulation lobbying. Shift purchases to independent stores and small chains.
Starbucks: Fires organizers, blocks unions, and hides behind “progressive” branding. Support local cafés that pay a living wage.
McDonald’s: Low wages, franchise exploitation, and corporate political spending to block labor reform. Eat at local diners and restaurants.
Disney: Uses media power to secure tax breaks and suppress worker demands. Stream from indie platforms; visit regional parks.
Tesla: Anti-union, anti-regulation, and a pipeline for authoritarian propaganda. Support EV brands with better labor practices (Ford, Rivian).
Meta (Facebook / Instagram): Profits from disinformation, division, and democratic collapse worldwide. Move to BlueSky, Threads, or Mastodon.
ExxonMobil: Top spender lobbying against climate action, privatizing energy policy. Use renewable or public utilities where possible.
BlackRock / Vanguard: Quietly finance the same corporate oligarchs destroying competition and community. Move savings to credit unions or ethical investment funds.
🕵️ Investigate Corporate Power: Start Here
Want to see how deep the rot goes?
These are the best public tools for following the money, mapping influence, and tracking corporate misconduct.
💰 Money & Lobbying
OpenSecrets.org — Follow campaign donations, PACs, and lobbying at the federal level.
FollowTheMoney.org — Track who’s buying influence in your statehouse.
🏛️ Political Spending & Dark Money
Center for Political Accountability / CPA-Zicklin Index — Ranks corporations on how transparent they are about political spending.
ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer — Search 501(c) groups and “dark money” nonprofits by name.
🧩 Influence Networks
LittleSis.org — Map relationships among CEOs, think tanks, and politicians — see who’s really connected to whom.
⚖️ Misconduct & Fines
Violation Tracker (Good Jobs First) — A searchable database of corporate penalties, from wage theft to pollution.
📊 Watchdog Reports
Public Citizen — Reports on lobbying, regulation, and corporate capture.
Accountable.US — Tracks corporate donations to anti-democracy politicians and movements.
💡 Tip: Pick a company, plug it into each site, and watch the pattern emerge — money, power, politics, and how it all flows uphill.
✊ A Consumer Rebellion for Democracy
Every dollar we spend is a vote for the kind of country we want to live in.
If we can’t yet fix the system from the top down, we can start changing it from the ground up — by starving the worst actors of our consent, our data, and our money.
This isn’t about purity. It’s about power.
If tens of millions of us shift even 10% of our spending to local businesses, cooperatives, and ethical companies, it sends a signal Wall Street can’t ignore:
The American people are done funding their own decline.
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If you believe in what we’re building — subscribe, share, and help us keep the lights on.
Spend with purpose. Withdraw consent. Reclaim your power.
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Loved this issue of the Rising! I would have never have thought about Capitalism—more specifically AMERICAN Capitalism like this!!! And acknowledging our American DNA—I think that is important. BUT please, start finding the good in our bigger tent!! We have to have room for the Mamdani’s, the Sanders, the AOCs. And yes I see that we need a JFK kind of person for that movement. But we need and should celebrate everyone!!