Veteran labor journalist and Institute for Policy Studies associate fellow Sam Pizzigati co-edits Inequality.org, the Institute’s weekly newsletter on our great divides. He also contributes a regular column to OtherWords, the IPS national nonprofit editorial service.

Sam, now retired from the labor movement, spent two decades directing the publishing program at America’s largest union, the 2.8-million-member National Education Association, and before that edited the national publications of three other U.S. trade unions.

Sam’s own writing has revolved around economic inequality since the early 1990s. His op-eds on income and wealth concentration have appeared in periodicals all around the world, from the New York Times to Le Monde Diplomatique.

Sam has authored four books and co-edited two others. His 2004 book, Greed and Good: Understanding the Inequality that Limits Our Lives, won an “outstanding title” honor from the American Library Association’s book review journal. His 2012 title, The Rich Don’t Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 1900-1970, explores how average Americans ended the nation’s original Gilded Age. Sam’s most recent book, The Case for a Maximum Wage, offers a politically plausible path toward ending that Gilded Age’s second coming.

Latest

A Sensible Plan for Recovery

Americans recognize the need to act on our current crisis but detest the idea that ordinary taxpayers should bear the brunt of bailing out the kingpins of Wall Street.

Ike Wanted to Spread Wealth, Too

The wealthy of the Eisenhower years paid a hefty share of their income in taxes.

The Massive Wealth Redistribution that Doesn’t Bother John McCain

Upward wealth redistribution has taken billions of dollars out of the pockets of average Americans.

Rewrite Bailout Rules on CEO Pay

Paulson’s new plan still sides with the executives and shortchanges the taxpayers.

Analysis of Treasury Department Rules on Executive Compensation for Bailout Firms

Treasury Department’s new rules clarify some provisions in the bailout but fail to set monetary limits for CEO pay.

Truth, Lies, the Bailout, and CEO Pay

The bailout does precious little to limit the extravagant pay that gives top executives the incentive to behave outrageously.

IPS Statement on the Congressional Bailout of Wall Street

Congress needs to address the bailout’s unfinished agenda and fix our broken financial system.

Reaction to Bailout Vote

IPS analysts say Wall Street, not taxpayers, should pay.

IPS Plan to Pay for Recovery

Where to Find $900 Billion from the Wall Street Speculators.

In Wake of Crash, McCain Talks Tough About CEO Pay Will Congress Call His Bluff?

The candidate is proposing a radical restriction on pay for CEOs of bailed-out firms. But is he serious or is this just election season populism?

The Bailout and CEO Pay: What’s ‘Excessive’?

Congress should use the bailout to reform executive pay, not maintain it.

The Bailout and ‘Greedy’ CEOs

Congress should use the proposed bailout legislation for much-needed reform.

Workers Need Added Clout to Close the Pay Gap with CEOs

Eroding government regulation and vanishing unions have undermined the values we’re supposed to celebrate every Labor Day.

Executive Excess 2008: How Average Taxpayers Subsidize Runaway Pay

This 15th annual report calculates the annual cost of tax loopholes that encourage excessive executive pay.

Ending Plutocracy: A 12-Step Program

Our forebears struggled to survive in a world dominated by the superrich. Now it’s our turn.

New Deal’s Unsung Japanese Victory

FDR’s campaign against “economic royalists” lived on—and triumphed—after his death. But not where he would have expected.

Trickle-Up Economics: New Report Reveals Staggering Global Wealth Concentration

A new business study on global household wealth documents how the world’s wealth is continuing to concentrate in the pockets of the awesomely affluent.

Are Corporate Titans Really Worth the Billions They Suck In?

Is the labor of corporate CEOs really hundreds of times more valuable than the labor of other leaders?

Executive Excess 2007

IPS’ 14th Annual CEO Compensation Survey on The Staggering Social Cost of U.S. Business Leadership.

Selfish Interest

How much Business Roundtable CEOs stand to lose from real reform of runaway executive pay.