| THIS WEEK |
Over the last several months, we’ve covered a variety of new tax initiatives that could help reduce American inequality. Last week, we were part of the launch for another new proposal, a millionaires surtax.
With this tax – which targets only ultra-rich Americans – we could bring in hundreds of billions over the next decade to invest in healthcare, education, and the environment. On top of that, this levy would put a decent dent into our staggering economic divides.
And if you’re looking for another source for news about those wide divides, check out the new United States of Inequality initiative from our friends at Capital & Main. They’re embarking on a yearlong reporting project to cover American economic insecurity and the role this insecurity will be playing in next year’s U.S. presidential election.
Chuck Collins, for the Institute for Policy Studies Inequality.org team |
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| INEQUALITY BY THE NUMBERS |
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| FACES ON THE FRONTLINES |
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| Philadelphia Domestic Workers Win Labor Rights |
| Cynthia Drayton has been a domestic worker her entire life. Just like doctors in hospitals and teachers in schools, she’s working to take care of others’ loved ones. Unlike other care-givers, her work in the home has never been treated with the same respect that goes to those who work outside the home, leaving Drayton without the protections that most other workers can count on. But Philadelphia is working to change that. A new bill approved by the city council last month will help Drayton and other domestic workers finally receive basic labor rights. We have more this week on what that will mean for the city’s domestic workers. |
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| WORDS OF WISDOM |
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PETULANT PLUTOCRAT
OF THE WEEK |
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| The ‘Good Hands People’ CEO Has Fumble-itis! |
| Tom Wilson has been the CEO at insurance giant Allstate for a dozen years now, long enough apparently to feel he’s become an honest-to-goodness corporate statesman. This past August, the day after the Business Roundtable called for a more socially responsible Corporate America, Wilson chimed in with a New York Times op-ed that called on business leaders to “create more high-paying jobs and restore faith in capitalism.” Late last month, that faith took a little hit within Allstate when the company informed its 10,700 insurance agents nationwide that their commissions on policy renewals are going to drop 10 percent come this January 1. Allstate agents are not taking this well. They’re feeling, says the Allstate agents association executive director, that “the company is reducing expenses at their expense.” Don’t those agents know that Wilson feels their pain? He’s taking pay cuts, too. His $18.8 million 2017 compensation fell last year to a mere $17.8 million. |
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| GREED AT A GLANCE |
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| TOO MUCH |
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| Could Michael Bloomberg Buy the White House? |
| Michael Bloomberg’s first term as the Republican mayor of New York began after the billionaire spent an incredible $74 million to get himself elected. He spent, in effect, $99 for every vote he received. Now Bloomberg, pictured here between Donald Trump and Bill Clinton at a 2008 golf outing, appears to be on the verge of running — as a Democrat — for the White House. Could he possibly afford to replicate his lavish New York City campaign spending at the national level? Inequality.org co-editor Sam Pizzigati, author of The Case for a Maximum Wage, has more. |
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| MUST READS |
This week on Inequality.org
Keith Combs, One Way to Honor Vets? Protect the Postal Service. The USPS employs veterans at three times the national rate, but the White House wants to slash these jobs — and our benefits.
Elsewhere on the Web
Chuck Collins, Why we need a millionaire’s surtax. A simple way to collect more revenue from the top 0.2 percent.
Paul Krugman, Why can’t financial tycoons handle criticism? New York Times. Beware of Wall Street claims that progressive policies would have dire effects. Such claims are coming from people with vast wealth but fragile egos.
Sam Pizzigati, William the Conqueror and CEO pay, Chicago Tribune. We don’t have to tolerate a medieval-style corporate reward system.
Meagan Day, Michael Moore Was Right, Jacobin. Right about the drivers of our inequality.
Norman Solomon, The Class Warfare of Billionaires Against Sanders and Warren, Common Dreams. For extremely rich people who confuse net worth with human worth, the prospect of losing out on billions amounts to an outrageous possibility.
Editorial Board, The Billionaires Are Getting Nervous, New York Times. In 1961, Americans with the highest incomes paid an average of 51.5 percent of that income in federal, state, and local taxes. Fifty years later, just 33.2 percent. |
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| A FINAL FIGURE |
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