A blog that looks at life outside the financial mainstream

Sarah Todd of The Atlantic writes about Moneytripping, a blog by 26-year-old financial journalist Bailey Reutzel who decided this summer to quit her job and drive across the country interviewing people about how they are making do (or not) in post-Financial-Crisis America.

Todd writes, “In my admittedly biased opinion, Moneytripping serves as a missing supplement to mainstream economic reporting. Too often, stories are focused on drawing a broad conclusion about the way the American economy is changing—either the problem is Amazon’s impossibly demanding, performance metrics-obsessed workplace culture, or the trouble lies with services like Uber and AirBnB that are replacing steady jobs and predictable hours.

“While the issues identified in these narratives are real, it’s also important to stay attuned to the differences in the way people live and work. Moneytripping puts a spotlight on the strange, idealistic, and unruly individuals and groups who are forging their own systems of value and exchange. It’s important to hear diverse stories about how smaller segments of the U.S. population are operating outside the financial mainstream so we can imagine broader alternatives to a system that’s failing so many.

“Reutzel plans to roll through 48 states in five months, spending at least three days in each place she visits. So far she’s has written about the mixed effects of The Heidelberg Project, a collection of polka-dotted houses and makeshift art installations that attracts hordes of tourists to an East Detroit neighborhood. Another post observes the class divide between affluent Lollapalooza revelers and the homeless population they hardly register. And she’s also interviewed the last few residents of a Pennsylvania coal town seized by the government in 1992 under eminent domain.”

Read more here.