2024 Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times*

For me, things couldn't be much better. I wish I could say the same for my country.

Dec 31, 2024

Michelle Teheux at a book-signing — This is me at a book-signing for The Trailer Park Rules. (Photo by Michelle Teheux)

2024 was … well, it was certainly a year. In general, I’d say I had a pretty good year, but America didn’t.

America went back to her abusive ex, even though he nearly killed her before they broke up four years ago. They say it’s common for victims to return to their abusers several times before they finally get away for good. I don’t know what America was thinking, but I hope she’s going to survive.

It’s not just the partners of abusers who suffer, of course

Everyone in their circle ends up at risk of harm. In this case, people around the world will suffer in myriad ways. I hope we all make it.

I am afraid not everyone will. Talk to some Europeans. They’ve seen how this fascism story ended the last time.

Personally, 2024 was pretty good

I had a viral article on Medium called We Could Learn a Lot About Sex From the Dutch that as of today has earned me more than $23,000. That gave me real financial breathing room. I saved some money for retirement for the first time in years, took care of many unmet household needs, helped a family member, paid for some dental and medical care and had enough left to have some fun!

Since I’m writing a newsletter about income inequality, I can’t be too squeamish about discussing my personal finances. So I’ll share that I made more money in 2024 than I ever have before in my life – mostly thanks to that viral article. When I worked as the editor of a daily newspaper, I made $40K.

Medium is my main source of income right now. Second is the freelance work I do, and then Substack and book sales. As Medium’s troubled Boost program plays out, I believe Substack is likely to eventually be my main source of income. So if you’re reading this, thank you for being here.

I’m happy here on Substack

I don’t paywall anything here because I write about income inequality – wouldn’t it suck if I kept poor people from being able to read my work? So I am grateful to the 78 of you who voluntarily pay for a subscription. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

My goal for 2025 is to have at least 100 subscribers, thereby gaining me Bestseller status and making my work more visible. If you’re one of my 2,600-plus free subscribers who has been thinking about paying for a subscription, why not go for it now?

I’ve settled into a twice-weekly schedule here. I post my main piece on Tuesdays. My most recent one was Make More Money by Not Caring. On Fridays, I post a round-up of the week’s income inequality news. I want my Substack to be the obvious place to go if you want a quick summary of current income inequality news.

When I have time, I post extra pieces here, and I’m active on Notes pretty much daily.

My two top pieces on this platform in 2024 were Here's Why Poor People Keep Voting Against Their Own Self Interest which got 3.5K views and brought in 171 new subscriptions and You Cannot Out-Frugal This Economy, which got 3.14K views and brought in 75 new subscriptions.

I published two books in 2024

The Trailer Park Rules is a novel and I’m proud of how well it’s done. The reviews have been almost uniformly glowing. It gets into the heads of the people living in a trailer park. Each of them is poor for a different reason. Some of them are admirable people and others, not so much. Their stories are fictional but absolutely true.

Cover of The Trailer Park Rules by Michelle Teheux

My other book, Strapped: Fighting for the soul of the American working class, is non-fiction. Much of the book has appeared in published form here or on Medium. It seeks to convince people that the bootstrapping ideal America believes in is just a myth. So is American meritocracy. People can work hard and do their best and remain poor. These are just facts, and the sooner we recognize this and change our society accordingly, the better.

My daughter got engaged this year

She’s a hard-working single mother whose first marriage ended in a unique and difficult manner. It’s a story that’s not mine to tell, so I’ll leave it there.

A couple poses in Florida. — My daughter and her fiancé, on vacation in Florida. (Photo by Michelle Teheux)

I’ve been in her shoes. I was nervous bringing a stepdad into my children’s lives because we’ve all seen times when blended families haven’t worked well. It worked great for us, though, and I’m confident, seeing how my grandchildren interact with my daughter’s fiancé, that their experience will be the same. Here’s to second chances!

And here’s to a great 2025 for all of us. I’m buckled in tight and expecting a bumpy road, government-wise, but I have a wonderful family and friends, lots to write about and an appreciative readership. I really can’t ask for much more. (But if you’d like to purchase a membership and my books, that would be great!)