This chapter explores how money is leveraged as a tool of power, and how understanding these economic forces allows you to turn them to your advantage rather than being controlled by them.
Understanding Economics
They Want You to Stay in the Dark—Shine a Light.
They will tell you that economics is too complicated. That it’s for experts, for politicians, for men in suits in boardrooms. That you don’t need to understand it. This is how they keep you from exercising your economic power.
Economics is not just about stock markets and tax policies. It is about control. It is about who gets what, when, and how. And if you don’t understand it, you’re at the mercy of those who do. They count on your ignorance. They rely on you not knowing how systems work so they can rig the game in their favor. But the rules of money are not a mystery. They are not beyond you. And once you understand them, you will never be as easy to manipulate again.
Why Economics is a Survival Skill
Economics is not theoretical. It affects your life every single day.
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It determines how much you get paid and how much you’re worth to an employer.
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It controls what resources are available to you and who profits from your labor.
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It influences government policies, laws, and who benefits from them.
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It shapes the cost of living, the value of your savings, and whether you can afford to leave if you need to.
But here’s the secret they don’t want you to realize: economics and sociology are inseparable. Money drives human behavior. If you understand economics, you can predict how people—on an individual and systemic level—will act.
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When financial pressure increases, unrest follows. Pay attention to economic downturns, they often precede political upheaval.
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When people are desperate, they become easier to control. If they can keep a population financially unstable, they can keep them compliant.
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When wealth is concentrated at the top, inequality sharpens. And when inequality sharpens, history repeats itself in predictable cycles.
Understanding economic systems doesn’t just protect your financial security—it helps you see the larger picture of power and control. It helps you anticipate what’s coming next.
Economic Weapons Used Against You
They have been using economic warfare to control women for centuries. Recognize the tactics:
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The Wage Gap. If they pay you less, you have fewer options. Economic dependence is a form of control.
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The Pink Tax. Higher prices on products marketed to women? That’s intentional.
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Financial Gatekeeping. Women have historically been locked out of property ownership, credit access, and investment opportunities.
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Economic Insecurity as a Political Weapon. They cut social programs. They restrict access to financial aid. They ensure that survival becomes a struggle so that you’re too busy trying to stay afloat to resist.
Your Buying Power is a Weapon—Use It Wisely
They need your money more than you need their products. Where you spend your money is one of the most powerful, immediate ways to disrupt their systems. If you stop funding them, they lose power.
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Don’t fill the coffers of your enemies. Know where your money goes. Are you buying from companies that fund your oppression? Are you unknowingly supporting businesses that lobby against your rights?
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Redirect your spending. Support businesses owned by women, marginalized communities, and ethical companies that align with your values.
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Understand the impact of collective economic action. Boycotts work. Strikes work. Divestment works. Never believe the lie that you’re powerless as a consumer.
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Make your dollars count. Every dollar you spend strengthens someone’s influence. Make sure it’s not the people working against you.
How to Take Control of Your Economic Power
You don’t need to be an economist to understand how to navigate these systems. You just need to learn the rules they don’t want you to know.
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Understand how money moves. Follow the flow—who benefits from your labor, your spending, your debt?
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Learn negotiation skills. Your salary, your contracts, your rates, everything is negotiable. Never take the first offer.
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Get familiar with investing. Stocks, real estate, business ownership—wealth is built, not just earned.
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Know your financial rights. What protections exist for you? What loopholes do they use to keep you at a disadvantage?
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Stay informed on economic policies. Laws that affect wages, taxes, and financial independence are passed every day. Pay attention.
First Task: Take One Step Toward Economic Awareness
This does not have to be overwhelming. Start small.
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Look at your last paycheck. Do you know where every deduction goes? Research what each one means.
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Pick one economic topic you don’t understand. Inflation, credit scores, tax brackets—choose one and learn the basics.
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Learn basic economic terms and definitions, such as tariffs, trickledown economics, embargo, etc.
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Follow the money. Pick a major company or political campaign and see who funds them. What do they gain? Who benefits?
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Audit your spending. Where is your money going? Is it funding your values, or your opposition?
"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."
— Henry Ford
Historical Reflection
The Market Queens of Ghana
For centuries, power in Ghana’s economy has not been held by kings or presidents, but by women. In open-air markets, under the hot African sun, the Market Queens—leaders of trade in their regions—have dictated prices, controlled supply chains, and wielded more influence than many politicians. They don’t need seats in government. They control the economy itself.
Long before colonization, West African trade was run by women. They knew the land, the goods, and the buyers. They managed entire networks of farmers, fishers, and artisans, ensuring that communities had what they needed. They built economies that functioned on trust, negotiation, and strategic control. When the British arrived, they assumed that men controlled trade—a fatal miscalculation. The real power belonged to the women, who continued to operate markets on their own terms, resisting colonial taxation and price controls.
The Market Queens understood what many failed to see: economic control is political control. When British authorities imposed unfair levies on goods, these women responded not with protests, but with economic strikes, refusing to sell until demands were met. When Ghana’s government attempted to overregulate markets in the 1970s and 1980s, they intentionally withheld supplies, crippling local economies until the policies were reversed. In modern times, when imported food policies threatened to destroy local farming, Market Queens set price controls to ensure Ghanaian goods remained competitive.
Their resistance has not always been passive. In 1929, when colonial authorities attempted to tighten economic control, women traders led a massive anti-tax demonstration known as the Aba Women’s Riot, shaking the foundations of British rule. When corruption threatened fair trade, Market Queens publicly called out officials, refusing to let their influence be diminished. Even today, they continue to shape Ghana’s economy, balancing the needs of their communities with the demands of an increasingly globalized world.
The Market Queens prove that true power is not always in laws or titles—it is in the ability to shape the flow of money, goods, and survival. They remind us that economic strength can be a weapon, that those who control resources control the future. In a world where wealth often determines influence, these women built their own form of governance, one that could not be ignored. They did not wait for permission to lead. They took control, because they knew that whoever controls the market controls the nation.