I'm not very knowledgeable on economics but as someone passionate about politics, I do have some interest in it as they're tightly linked. I would love to listen to economist communicators who explain things to a non-economist audience.

In contrast to those who tow the standard capitalist line, I have only come across Cahal Moran (AKA Unlearning Economics) and Richard D. Wolff who both seem to promote statist market socialism. There's also Gary Chartier who promotes mutualist market anarchism, but he doesn't communicate nearly as often or as effectively as the previous two so I'd hardly count him.

Marxist-Leninists surely have their own economists in their "actually existing socialist" countries and even ancaps have the Austrian school of economics. Where are the social anarchist economists? If there aren't any, why?

I'm aware there are critiques of economics as a field but how could we hope to transition to either a gift economy or decentrally planned economy without any experts to make a case for it or to serve in an advisory capacity if the time to transition ever comes?

I've long considered myself an anarchist and while I'm not very well read, I'm also not a baby anarchist. I haven't read too many books on theory, instead I mostly learn from podcasts and discussions with peers. For whatever reason, I struggle to find the mental energy to get through books. I'm vaguely familiar with communalism but I'm still struggling with conflicting information.

1. Is communalism compatible with anarchism? I've come across people who identify as both as well as communalists who view their philosophy and goals as distinct from anarchism.

2. Is communalism statist or anti-statist? I've heard it described as anti-statist, yet depictions of it (when distinguished from anarchism) sound to me like they aim to establish a highly decentralized and directly democratic confederation of states.

3. How do anarchists and communalists in this community feel about the others' praxis? I'm intrigued by both, including especifismo and libertarian municipalism.

Apologies if this post doesn’t fit well here, this has a personal element but is ultimately a moral and political discussion.

Personal context:

I’ve lived with no/low income as a disabled person my whole adult life with no end in sight. I try to follow best personal finance practices to try and ensure my survival as I can’t simply look to make more money. As I understand it, the advice I’ve read would be to begin investing (commonly in equity ETFs) once you have saved enough of an emergency fund and are ready to put away assets for the long-term. Due to a unique situation, I might manage to save enough money to begin investing before I go back to living paycheck to paycheck.

Concerns:

A) Is it unethical? On one hand, I’d be investing into truly evil companies. On the other, there’s no ethical survival under captialism and my minuscule investment won’t make or break a megacorps’ ability to do evil shit. Taking a silent stand won’t have an impact and I may just be hurting my own personal finances in the process. In turn, that ironically may make it harder for me to safely save and spend money on things like community organizing.

B) Isn’t it contradictory and unsafe? Investing in equities means I'd be betting on continued “growth” for decades to come. This is the system I’d be working to dismantle and investing in it would be like I’m betting against myself. Considering the impending climate crisis and foreseeable global instability, investing in equities feels like more of a gamble and less of a sound financial decision, but I’m not sure what that means for how I should manage my finances.