Slate Plus

Dreams, Debt, and the Donald

The Slate Plus Digest for May 6.

digest collage.

Photo illustration by Sofya Levina. Photos by Joshua Lott/Reuters, Danny Moloshok/Reuters, Macall B. Polay/HBO, and Esben_H/Thinkstock.

Hola, Team Plus!

This week we launched our third Slate Academy, the United States of Debt. Featuring The Bills columnist Helaine Olen, the United States of Debt is both a sobering look at how America has gotten itself into so much debt and a clear-eyed primer on how to get out. It’s told through a combination of gripping personal stories, interviews with experts on economics and finance, and Helaine’s own deep knowledge and intolerance for BS.

Like all Slate Academies, the United States of Debt is for Slate Plus members only. The podcast is in your Slate Plus feed now, and you can find everything you need to know at Slate.com/Debt, or in the private Facebook group. Don’t miss it!

Also in Slate

Not in Slate

Is Britney Spears Ready to Stand on Her Own?” by Serge F. Kovaleski and Joe Coscarelli, New York Times
Since her public troubles in 2008, Spears’ estate has paid out millions to “conservators”—including her father—who still manage her finances and her mental health. Her Vegas residency is a success, and her home life appears stable, but the conservatorship won’t end until the people she’s paying agree she no longer needs them. So far, no one has spoken up. —Jeffrey Bloomer, associate editor and video producer

Why Is Westeros So F%cked Up?” by Rupert Repino, Tor
The warring lands of Game of Thrones have a history that dates back 10,000 years, but somehow they’re still stuck with this miserable, feudalist politics. Repino tries to make sense of why that might be and comes up with a winningly nerdy answer. —Jacob Brogan, culture and technology writer

Putting Work in Its Place,” by Kate Kiefer Lee, the Manual
This article rejects mantras such as “follow your dreams” and “quit your day job” for more realistic approaches to pursing your passions. For anyone who’s ever felt unfulfilled by his or her 9-to-5 (pretty much everyone?), this piece is refreshing and oddly liberating. —Megan Wiegand, copy chief

Also: I was impressed by the L.A. Times’ devastating investigation of the makers of OxyContin. Reihan Salam loved Vox’s explanation of why Amtrak is so awful. And Laura Miller agrees with this McSweeney’s essay, “I Would Rather Do Anything Else Than Grade Your Final Papers.”

Very Short Q-and-A

This week’s personal question goes to Slate associate editor Jennifer Lai.

Slate Plus: You’re producing our United States of Debt Slate Academy with Helaine Olen. Do you have any debt? How do you manage it?

Jennifer Lai: I am fortunate that I don’t have any debt. I went to a public university, and my parents helped pay for it, and I’m forever grateful to them for that. But I’ve always had this intense anxiety about being in debt. When I was growing up, my parents were very careful about saving—we didn’t have a car or a television—and debt always seemed like a really scary thing to me.

Now that I’m an adult, I have a few credit cards, but it took some major convincing from friends who told me I needed them to build credit. I still get nervous every month when I pay them off because—as I’ve learned working on this series—it only takes one emergency for it all to fall apart.

Thanks, Jennifer! And thank you for your Slate Plus membership, which makes ambitious projects like the United States of Debt possible.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be (except in emergencies or to take advantage of the mortgage interest tax deduction or build up a decent credit score or just to go to college for Christ’s sake),

Gabriel Roth
Editorial director, Slate Plus