MIND CAKE

The newsletter that's slightly more helpful than doing nothing

🍰 This week: The Oven Is Only So Big

We've been thinking about cake a lot lately. More than usual, which is saying something.

Not the eating kind. The economic kind. Because this week's guest made us see the world completely differently in the space of half an hour, and she did it using a baking analogy.

The economy, she said, is a bit like a cake. Everyone keeps saying we need to grow it bigger. We all want a larger slice.

But what if the oven is only so big?

-Lee & Paul

“

The recipes of the past are not fit for the future. We can't keep saying we'll just have more of the same."

— Katherine Trebeck

Katherine Trebeck is a political economist, writer and one of the leading voices in the global wellbeing economy movement. She lives in Australia, thinks about economic systems for a living, and makes her own dukkha and chilli sauce, which tells you everything you need to know about the kind of person she is.

This episode isn't really about economics. It's about:

Why so many people feel ground down, burnt out and left behind, and whether the system itself might be part of the problem
The future is looking pretty grim if you're not a billionaire, and what we might actually do about it
Worker cooperatives, Community Wealth Building and the genuinely exciting stuff already happening in Scotland
Why moving humanity to Mars is considered realistic but imagining a different economy somehow isn't
Banning bad stuff, reducing VAT on repairs, and a CEO pay ratio rule from Portland that should probably exist everywhere
Biodiversity loss, bees in your garden, and what they're quietly telling you
Making dukkha, chilli sauce and the therapeutic value of having something tangible to give people
And garlic. Always garlic.

"The future is looking pretty grim if you're not a billionaire."

But here's the thing. Katherine isn't doom and gloom. There are people rolling up their sleeves. There are businesses doing things differently. There are governments, occasionally, actually trying.

The oven is only so big. But we built the oven. We can build a different one.

🎧 Listen now. The Oven Is Only So Big: Katherine Trebeck on the Wellbeing Economy

Listen Now!

🍪 Crumb of Wisdom

“

There are no universal answers. But there are better questions."

— Katherine Trebeck

🍰 Icing on the Mind Cake

📅 Dates & Walnut Slices

7th July: World Wellbeing Week continues A whole week dedicated to the stuff we talk about every fortnight. Feels like good timing.

7th July: Pandemonium Day Free yourself from the stuffiness of orderly life. Wear what you want, eat what you want, don't do anything because you think you "should." Katherine would approve entirely.

10th July: Don't Step on a Bee Day Yes, this is real. Go outside. Look at what's buzzing around you and see how you can help save these crucial creatures from disease and other threats of extinction.

📌 Listener Mission

This week's gentle challenge:

Next time you feel ground down by work, by pressure, by the general weight of modern life, ask yourself: is this me failing? Or is this the system working exactly as designed? Katherine's answer might surprise you.
Share this episode with someone who thinks economics has nothing to do with their mental health. It has everything to do with it.

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