November 20, 2025
The End of Fast Fashion
On January 2, 2025, a devastating fire tore through Ghana’s Kantamanto Market, Africa’s largest secondhand clothing trade. More than 2,500 stalls were reduced to ashes, leaving 8,000 merchants with nothing. The fire brought attention to the nearby beaches and rivers piled high with mountains of the world’s clothes.
Fast fashion is being usurped by ultra-fast fashion companies, like Shein, who are exacerbating environmental and ethical concerns. Gen Z is fighting back and choosing second hand options. Can the thrift revolution end fast fashion once and for all?
Learn more at: https://fee.org/ or https://thefreemanmag.substack.com/
Further watching:
Buy Now Pay Later: https://youtu.be/7mg0H7EzoyM?si=ufBse4–mfEVXSli
Federal Reserve: https://youtu.be/XYKMPG7RkDM?si=B4dH1P5PM40CIKK_
Sources:
Don’t Blame Capitalism for Consumerism. Blame the Government
https://mises.org/mises-wire/capitalism-doesnt-cause-consumerism-governments-do
https://www.statepress.com/article/2021/03/specho-thrifting-secondhand-clothing-through-the-ages
Rise of Thrifting: Solution to Fast Fashion or Stealing from the Poor?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2025/09/15/secondhand-goes-mainstream-as-more-shoppers-turn-to-thrift-and-online-resale/
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/01/shein-china-congress-forced-labor-inquiry.html#:~:text=The%20fast-fashion%20company%20has%20come%20under%20fire%20for,in%20the%20Xinjiang%20Uyghur%20Autonomous%20Region%20of%20China.?msockid=1013e231c9316c3435fcf344c81d6dac
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-fast-fashion
Clothing Prices and Economics: Trends, Consumption, and Textile Waste in OECD Countries (1975–2025)
https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2025/apparel-data-in-fashion.htm
The Aftermath of Fast Fashion: How Discarded Clothes Impact Public Health and the Environment
https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/dry-tears-aral
https://www.vogue.com/article/what-the-kantamanto-market-fire-means-for-sustainable-fashion
https://stopwastecolonialism.org/
https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/sustainability/fashion-pay-waste-colonialism-secondhand-clothes-epr-kantamanto/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-020-0039-9
https://www.economicsobservatory.com/how-does-fast-fashion-affect-the-environment
https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliviapinnock/2025/08/14/ultra-fast-fashion-causes-industrys-carbon-emissions-to-rise-for-first-time-in-four-years/
See More <
November 13, 2025
How Venezuela Became a Dictatorship
In October, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado answered a call after 13 months in hiding to learn she’d won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. She was being awarded for her fight against Nicolas Maduro’s dictatorship.
It has been a very difficult road for Maria Corina, and a difficult road still lays ahead as she and the freedom movement in Venezuela challenge a regime built on corruption, terror, and squandered wealth.
In this video, we trace Venezuela’s descent from a 1950s powerhouse with the world’s fourth-largest GDP to today’s legacy of starvation, brutal repression, and dictatorship. For decades, politics was kept in the hands of the same few parties, so when an outsider appeared, Venezuelans were ready to listen.
Learn more at: https://fee.org/ or https://thefreemanmag.substack.com/
FEE Articles about Venezuela:
How I Discovered the Freedom Philosophy in Venezuela Through FEE
Citizens Hope to End Maduro’s Dictatorship As Venezuela Goes to the Polls
Further reading/Sources:
https://fortune.com/2025/10/10/maria-corina-machado-venezuela-iron-lady-wins-nobel-prize-phone-call-video/
https://www.adamsmithworks.org/podcasts/great-antidote-podcast-dimartino-venezuela-immigration-june-2024
https://www.latintimes.com/new-report-accuses-nicolas-maduro-regime-post-election-abuses-including-killings-kidnappings-582060
https://www.studycountry.com/wiki/was-venezuela-once-rich
https://index.prosperity.com/globe/venezuela
https://www.atlassociety.org/post/venezuelas-classic-socialist-path-to-poverty-and-dictatorship
https://theconversation.com/nobel-peace-prize-winner-maria-corina-machado-the-venezuelan-opposition-leader-forced-into-hiding-after-taking-on-maduro-267245
https://www.history.com/articles/simon-bolivar-liberator-south-america-venezuela
The cult of Simon Bolivar is part of the Venezuelan imagination
https://www.cfr.org/timeline/venezuelas-chavez-era
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/venezuela-crisis
Nicolás Maduro’s Journey from Bus Driver to Venezuela’s Strongman President
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/18/venezuela-extrajudicial-killings-poor-areas
Milei’s Libertarian Revolution Wins Again 
How to Rewire Your Brain (…and escape the social media matrix) 
Gen Z Overthrows Nepal’s Communist Government with Discord and TikTok 
Stop making people famous. November 28, 2025
The INSANE Microtrends of the 2020s
Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/6PDtlnmFLVs
Learn more by visiting: FEE.org
and https://thefreemanmag.substack.com/
The INSANE Microtrends of the 2020s 
Why do we feel the need to shop so much? 
The Outcome of Socialism 
The cost of fast fashion 
Billie Eilish is beefing with Elon Musk About the Host
Maggie Anders
Writer and Host
Maggie Anders is a writer and host at the Foundation for Economic Education.
See MoreLatest Articles
No articles found at this time.
More Shows
FEExplains
The go-to explainer series for dissecting the ideas of liberty, freedom, and personal responsibility.
Undoctrination
Undoctrination is a new show about liberty, current events, and issues facing the rising generation, hosted by Maggie Anders.
Common Sense Soapbox
Short videos with a punchy, comedic tone and entertaining Socratic characters taking on trending issues and important concepts from a classical liberal perspective, written & animated by Seamus Coughlin.
The UnScene
Exploring the unseen themes and ideas about economics and political philosophy in popular culture, art, and entertainment.
Out of Frame
Video essays that explore the intersection of art, culture, and big ideas written & produced by FEE’s Director of Media, Sean W. Malone.
How We Thrive
“How We Thrive” is a docuseries profiling inspiring stories female entrepreneurs and the impact their businesses have made on the world. From one of the world’s more prolific acoustic instrument companies, to a Senegalese entrepreneur trying to combat the poverty image, to a pioneer in the health care industry who…
Mind Your Business
An entertaining and informative series of short documentaries that feature innovative entrepreneurs and the challenges they face, hosted by Andrew Heaton.
The Stories of Liberty
A series of powerful and emotionally moving narrative short films featuring the timeless heroes of liberty.
Invisible Hands
Popular YouTube host Kevin Lieber (VSauce2) hosts this informative and entertaining video series designed to introduce key concepts of economics to younger audiences through credible arguments, comedy… And puppets!
The "Lazy" Millennial
Former FEE writer Eileen Wittig reprises her popular column using dry wit and some good ideas to solve tricky everyday problems for young people.
FEEcast
Economics is everywhere…if only you choose to see it. Join the FEEcast team every Friday for a lively recap of the week’s important stories to give you the meaning behind the headlines. Featuring Richard Lorenc, Brittany Hunter, Dan Sanchez and Marianne March Produced by Sean W. Malone, Pavel Rusakov, and…
FEE AudioXP
Listen to speeches, panels, and special presentations from FEE Seminars hosted each week around the United States.
FEE News Briefs
Topical news and commentary from the Foundation for Economic Education.