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

Our Outrageous CEO-Worker Pay Gap: Unfair and Unwise

Why support for capping CEO pay will only keep growing.

Bulldozing Away the Right to Tax the Rich

The rich all over, not just Elon Musk, are flexing their muscle.

From France, an Unexpected Call for a Ceiling on CEO Pay

Our modern societies, top French politicos fear, just might ‘explode’ without one.

Still Another Reason for Taxing the Rich

America’s wealthiest, new ProPublica data suggest, may be even richer than we thought.

What’s Going on in Buffalo These Days Can Be Inspiring — and Plenty Sobering Too

Buffalo’s baristas give us hope. Buffalo’s pols, meanwhile, are giving oligarchy our hard-earned tax dollars.

Is Joe Biden Channeling Tom Paine?

The new White House budget plan echoes wealth tax perspectives over two centuries old.

Who’s Enabling Putin’s Enablers?

If global oligarchy ‘business as usual ’ survives the Ukraine war, the rest of us will end up big losers.

Flacks for the Rich Tell One Philanthropy Story, the Numbers Tell Another

Our wealthiest give away only a fraction of what they could easily afford to give.

How Excessive CEO Pay Undermines Enterprise Effectiveness and Efficiency in the 21st Century

Enterprises that tolerate huge pay gaps “succeed” not by empowering employees, but by building and wielding monopoly power.

What Makes More Sense, a Minimum Income Tax or a Maximum Income?

The U.S. senator who chairs the GOP Senate campaign effort wants America’s poorest to pay up more at tax time.

In the Ukraine War, We Can Make Oligarchs — Everywhere — the Big Losers

Ending the tax-evading ways of Russia’s rich could be a giant step toward reining in oligarchy worldwide.

How Did Flying Cars Become the Next Big Thing?

Another reminder that plutocracies can indeed solve problems — for plutocrats.

From the Kingpins of Private Equity, A New Dagger to Democracy

Profit maximizing in the newspaper industry is corroding the knowledge base that sustains government by the people.

A Super Bowl Musing: Can Pro Sports Be More Than a Billionaire Extravaganza?

Kiat Lim, cyber-savvy son of Singapore billionaire Peter Lim, is claiming he has the key to ‘democratizing’ our sporting landscape.

A Labor Stunner in Mexico Augurs Greater Equality — on Both Sides of the Border

Mexican GM workers, after years of living in fear, are now feeling their own power.

Government Contracting: The Next Big Battleground for a More Equal America?

Our tax dollars don’t have to be feeding executive-suite greed and grasping.

Two Sides, Same Coin: Suppressing Votes, Cutting Rich People’s Taxes

State lawmakers are moving hard and fast to keep their wealthy backers wealthy.

College Football Coaches Making $25,000 a Day? Let’s Sideline This Lunacy!

The gridiron game has a penalty for illegal holding. We need one for hoarding.

Worshiping Markets, Genuflecting to Grand Fortune

Today’s ‘utopians’ have reserved heaven on Earth for the richest among us.

Tornados Can Kill. So Can Amazon’s Business Model.

How long will we tolerate the corporate executive ‘risk taking’ that puts only workers at real risk?