Neoliberalism

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Gov. Ron DeSantis’s attack on the Disney Corporation may seem odd, coming from a pro-business governor in a state where Disney is one of the largest employers. But DeSantis is pushing back at Disney on behalf of big capital, in a roundabout way. The entertainment corporations are problematic for the […]

Epidemics

The Poor at the Crossroads: The First and Worst Hit by Pandemics of Every Sort

Liz Theoharis

( Tomdispatch.com ) – The 54th anniversary of the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., just passed. Dr. King was shot down while organizing low-wage sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. At that time, he was building the Poor People’s Campaign, an effort to organize America’s poor into a force to be reckoned with. In […]

Epidemics

Americans in poorer Counties have died of COVID at Double the rate of Wealthier Counties

OtherWords

By Karen Dolan | – ( Otherwords ) – As our country approaches 1 million deaths from COVID-19, it can feel impossible to wrap our heads around such a devastating figure. But it’s essential if we want to treat the pre-existing conditions that made it so deadly. In the beginning, many thought the pandemic would […]

Inequality

The Richest Americans pay 3.4% in Federal Taxes, a rate 5 Times Less than most People

ProPublica

By Paul Kiel, Ash Ngu, Jesse Eisinger and Jeff Ernsthausen | – ( ProPublica ) – Which people and professions rake in the most income year after year? Which are most adept at shielding that money from the taxman? And what does this tell you about America? The top earners, of course, are often fodder […]

Cold War

I may have failed as a Tax Resister, but Corporate America is Hugely Successful at it

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com) – Every April, as income-tax returns come due, I think about the day 30 years ago when I opened my rented mailbox and saw a business card resting inside. Its first line read, innocently enough, “United States Treasury.” It was the second line — “Internal Revenue Service” — that took my breath away. […]

Inequality

Cracking Down on Russian Oligarchs Means Cracking Down on U.S. Tax Havens

OtherWords

By Chuck Collins | – As part of the sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its European partners are cracking down on Russian oligarchs. They’re freezing assets and tracking the yachts, private jets, and luxury real estate holdings of these Russian billionaires. “I say to the Russian oligarchs and […]

Bernie Sanders

Democrats in Congress Want Windfall Tax on Big Oil, Consumer Rebates, and cheap Green Energy

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has introduced, and several other congressional Democrats have co-sponsored, a bill to curb big petroleum companies engaged in profiteering. Whitehouse said at his site, “We’ve seen this script before, and we cannot allow the fossil fuel industry to once again collect a massive windfall by taking […]

Inequality

Let’s Go after the Ill-Gotten, Tax-Evading Gains of All Oligarchs, not just Russian Ones

Sam Pizzigati

( Inequality.org ) – Can we please get serious about taxing the rich? Polls show that hefty majorities of people in the United States — and around the world — believe the rich ought to be paying more at tax time. Yet our contemporary don’t-tax-the-rich era has now entered its fifth consecutive decade. Egalitarian tax […]

Employment

Joe Manchin’s America: The Resurgence of the Culture-of-Poverty Debate

Liz Theoharis

( Tomdispatch.com ) – As if killing the Child Tax Credit, blocking voting rights, gutting key climate legislation, and refusing living wages wasn’t enough, West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin is now promoting legislation that further punishes the poor and marginalized. Along with Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, he’s introduced the PIPES Act, which undercuts […]