The United States isn’t broke; we’re the richest country on the planet and a country in which the richest among us are doing exceptionally well. But the truth is, our economy is broken, producing more pollution, greenhouse gasses and garbage than any other country. In these and so many other ways, it just isn’t working. But rather than invest in something better, we continue to keep this ‘dinosaur economy’ on life support with hundreds of billions of dollars of our tax money. The Story of Broke calls for a shift in government spending toward investments in clean, green solutions—renewable energy, safer chemicals and materials, zero waste and more—that can deliver jobs AND a healthier environment. It’s time to rebuild the American Dream; but this time, let’s build it better.
The story of broke
By Annie Leonard, originally published by the story of stuff project
November 10, 2011
Annie Leonard
Annie Leonard is the creator of the Story of Stuff (2007), and other animated films including The Story of Broke, The Story of Change, and The Story of Solutions. In 2014, she became the Executive Director of Greenpeace USA.
Tags: Building Community, Culture & Behavior, Media & Communications
Related Articles
Devastating News: The Loss of Richard Heinberg
By Asher Miller, Resilience.org
On Sunday, July 19, we lost our kind, brilliant friend and colleague, Richard Heinberg.
July 23, 2026
How to Think About the Future – Part 5: How to build resilience from within
By Nate Hagens, The Great Simplification
Nate scales his exploration of civilizational futures down to the future of a single human life and analyzes how the same patterns that shape economies, power, geopolitics, and Earth systems turn inward.
July 20, 2026
Crazy Town: Episode 129. Finding Crazy Town Part 1: The Strait of Everything
By Asher Miller, Jason Bradford, Rob Dietz, Alex Leff, Resilience.org
What happens when the global economy depends on fish traveling 10,000 miles, oil flowing through a single strait, and enough cheap fossil fuel energy to build civilizations that previous generations couldn’t even imagine?
July 15, 2026





