The polio vaccine. Insulin. The computer mouse. We didn’t need rich people to get any of these innovations. We don’t need them now.
#inequality #billionaires @deanbaker13.bsky.social www.patreon.com/posts/we-don...
“The windfall from spikes in the price of oil overwhelmingly go to the wealthy, producing a hidden redistribution from lower-income households to the super-rich”: 50% of all fossil fuel profit claims accrue to the wealthiest 1%.
#inequality billmckibben.substack.com/p/big-oil-br...
A new report on what most threatens #sports today: the unchecked monopolist and private equity power that treats athletes as commodities, children as profit centers, and fans as captive consumers.
@econliberties.bsky.social www.economicliberties.us/press-releas...
The waiting lists for Florida’s elite private schools are running really long. No prob. Billionaires have begun underwriting their own private “academies” — and, of course, opposing any and all tax hikes that would ensure quality public schools for all kids. finance.yahoo.com/economy/poli...
Back in the mid-1960s US, most all of us high school kids spent lots of time learning about Teapot Dome, the 1920s oil leasing scandal then considered our nation’s worst political corruption stain. The Trump years have now relegated Teapot Dome to footnote status. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
NY’s gov and NYC’s mayor are jointly pushing a tax surcharge on the city’s 2nd homes worth over $5 million. The new levy would be a crack in the gov’s previous “stone wall against the idea of applying any new tax against the rich.”
#inequality prospect.org/2026/04/16/m...
At over the $50 million mark — the top 0.1% — wealthy people aren’t “just buying another mansion or boat: They’re buying a senator, a media outlet, and exercising political clout to block popular reforms.”
@chuckcollinswrites.bsky.social #inequality #philanthropy
NY gov Hochul and NYC mayor Mamdani have agreed on a new move to tax the rich: slapping owners of second homes in NYC worth over $5 million with an annual surcharge, on top of the property taxes owners already owe. Impacted: about 13,000 properties.
At over the $50 million mark — the top 0.1% — wealthy people aren’t “just buying another mansion or boat: They’re buying a senator, a media outlet, and exercising political clout to block popular reforms.”
@chuckcollinswrites.bsky.social www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/the-cas...
Major League Baseball has 30 teams. Billionaires own 29 of them. The sole non-billionaire owner, the Miami Marlins’ Bruce Sherman, figures to eventually hit billionaire-status. He currently sits halfway there.
@thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/acti...
Rolls Royce wants us to cheer: The luxury automaker has just announced a new all-electric convertible that will run our deepest pockets over $4 million.
#billionaires www.thetimes.com/business/com...
“The Great Re-Gilding” began in 1981 when Ronald Reagan oversaw his first major tax cut and Congress left the minimum wage to the hungry teeth of inflation. Its buying power today runs under half its level back when the Stones released “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”
Back in the 1960s, the 400 richest Americans paid about half of their income in #taxes across all levels of government. Today, they pay less than a quarter.
#inequality #billionaires www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
A Tax Day reflection: Budget cuts have devastated the IRS capacity to adequately audit America’s richest. A mere extra hour spent auditing a taxpayer earning over $5 million generates almost $5,000 in recommended additional tax. #inequality @budgetlab.bsky.social budgetlab.yale.edu/research/wea...
A pop quiz for Tax Day...
True or false, back in the 1950s, under a Republican president, America’s richest deep pockets faced a 91% tax rate on their income in the top IRS tax bracket.
True!
inequality.org/article/tax-...
Gabriel Zucman: Latin America’s “richest 10% own around 50% of national income, while the poorest half receives only 8%. In the last quarter of a century, the fortunes of the region’s billionaires have increased more than sixfold.” @mexicosolidarity.bsky.social mexicosolidarity.com/its-time-to-...
The oil magnate J. Paul Getty once rated as the world’s richest man. The $2 billion he held at his 1976 death would be worth $11.5 billion today — and place him 265th on the current Forbes 400.
#inequality @paulwaldman.bsky.social
Our plutocrats truly know no bounds...
#billionaires #inequality futurism.com/future-socie...
Zohran Mamdani yesterday: “When we talk about the importance of taking on the crisis of income inequality, we know that the most effective tool to do so is increasing union density.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
The super rich raise the bar: “It’s no longer enough to travel to faraway places or stay in an ultra-luxury hotel. The experience has to be unique and unrepeatable.”
#billionaires @elpais.com english.elpais.com/lifestyle/20...
“The enormous rise in economic #inequality that has produced our modern American #oligarchy and gone a long way towards capturing our political system was directly enabled by the decline in power of unions.”
@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/how-to-put...
Only the richest Americans can recover from the financial toll that long-term care — the eldercare assistance that Medicare doesn’t cover — exacts on over half of older Americans.
#inequality @rooseveltinstitute.org rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...
For top health care CEOs, more incredibly ’healthy’ executive earnings: HCA Healthcare CEO Sam Hazen has over the last five years annually pocketed between 254 and 420 times what HCA’s most typical employee takes home.
#CEOpay www.beckershospitalreview.com/compensation...
How rich have America’s richest become? A century ago, John D. Rockefeller’s wealth equaled 1.5% of U.S. GDP. Elon Musk’s wealth today equals a comparable 1.6%. But GDP today totals over 30 times more than GDP in John D’s day.
#inequality newrepublic.com/article/2088...
Virginia’s sales and use tax exemption for the data centers that fuel the AI industry’s huge windfalls for billionaires are now costing the state’s public school students $212 per year.
@goodjobsfirst.org goodjobsfirst.org/virginias-da...
At this week’s Masters golf tourney, wealth on parade: NetJets, the private-jet industry leader, “expects more than 775 flights into and out of Augusta, marking a 35% to 40% increase from last year.” Says Flexjet CEO: “Demand is off the charts.”
www.cnbc.com/video/2026/0...
Says Trump: “The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far. So when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.” But Trump never defines the “we.”
#inequality #CEOpay
A deep pocket with worldly wisdom: “Even if you’re motivated only by greed, if you know what’s good for you, you don’t want to be filthy rich in a society with a huge gap between rich and poor. It’s just not a nice place to raise your kids.”
www.yahoo.com/news/article... @ricksteves.bsky.social
Because investment income faces lower rates than wages — and because our wealthiest can often avoid taxes altogether — AI will significantly shrink the tax base. The resulting cuts to safety net programs will, in turn, only worsen inequality. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/08/o...
Google mega-billionaire Sergey Brin is spending $45 million to stop a California wealth tax initiative: “He's worth $222 billion and doesn't want 5% of that going to fund health care in his state.”
@moreperfectunion.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvNw...