Economic insecurity is rarely reported on by those who have experienced it. Mainstream journalism is increasingly dominated by those from well-off backgrounds, excluding the majority of Americans.

Writer and activist Ann Larson worked in a grocery store during the pandemic and, in the new anthology Going for Broke: Living on the Edge in the World’s Richest Country, observes what the mainstream media omits when reporting on working-class politics, while also offering reflections on what it will take to build class solidarity. Larson argues that uniting people around common experiences like debt and poor working conditions is key to building a mass working-class movement.

It might also help if everyone had worked in a grocery store.