Taxes

Big Pharma spent more on Stock Buybacks and Dividends than on Research and Development even during COVID

Gainesville, Florida (Special to Informed Comment) – The 14 largest publicly-traded pharmaceutical companies spent $747 billion on stock buybacks and dividends from 2012 through 2021 — substantially more than the $660 billion they spent on research and development. So argue economists William Lazonick, professor emeritus of economics at University of Massachusetts, and Öner Tulum, a […]

Corporations

Congress Has No Business Shoveling Another $847 Billion Into the Military Industrial Complex

OtherWords

By Lindsay Koshgarian | – ( Otherwords.org ) – Can you imagine the audacity to fail a multi-trillion dollar audit of public funds, and then ask for even more of those taxpayer dollars? Pentagon leaders just did exactly that. This month news broke that the agency once again failed to pass a basic audit showing […]

Inequality

We Can’t Afford NOT to Have a Wealth Tax

Inequality.org

By Jack Metzgar | – ( Inequality.org) – Every time I hear that we as a nation cannot afford something — whether that might be assuring non-toxic water in Jackson and Flint or universal pre-K or an industrial policy with teeth — I have wondered how many dollars a national wealth tax might yield. So […]

Inequality

Inequality Kills. But We Can Stop the Killing

Sam Pizzigati

( Inequality.org ) – Over a half-century ago, back in the mid-1960s, books about poverty abounded. But publishers paid relatively little attention to wealth’s concentration. A generation earlier, Americans had obsessed about grand private fortunes. By late mid-century, that obsession no longer excited either the media or the public. That would all soon change, particularly […]

Electricity Cost

Germany to Give Electricity Rebates, financed with Windfall Profit Tax on Energy Corporations

Benjamin Wehrmann

( Clean Energy Wire ) – The German government plans to introduce a power price brake that will grant electricity consumers a lower price for a fixed share of their estimated use in 2021, a presentation prepared by the chancellery and seen by Clean Energy Wire showed. The measure will be financed with taxes retroactively […]

Banking

In Turkey’s plunging Economy, Conspiracy and Corruption allegations Abound

Global Voices

By Civic Media Observatory | – ( Globalvoices.org ) – Whether on a date or at a family gathering, one topic of conversation is on everyone’s lips in Turkey: the country’s deepening economic crisis. There are several angles to the story. While Erdoğan’s government argues that the country is in an “economic war” against enemies, […]

Climate Crisis

Why Fightin’ Joe Biden may be the most Consequential President in Forty Years

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Joe Biden has been easy for the pundit class to write off. He isn’t, unlike Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, a great speechifier. He overcame his childhood stutter, but he still sometimes hesitates just as he gets to an applause line. He is still the little guy who got picked […]

Climate Crisis

The Climate Case for Taxing Wealth

Basav Sen

by Basav Sen and Bob Lord | – ( Inequality.org) – On April 25, Twitter’s board of directors announced an agreement to sell the company to Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, for $44 billion. That sounds like a lot of money. But Musk can afford it. One recent estimate of the Musk fortune puts […]

Climate Crisis

Majority of Germans favor higher top Tax Rate to finance Climate Protection – Poll

Clean Energy Wire

By Edgar Meza | – ( Clean Energy Wire) – Some 66 percent of German households are in favour of raising the top tax rate to finance climate action, according to a survey conducted by the ifo Institute in cooperation with the forsa opinion research institute. Researchers asked households about their preferences with regard to […]