In the News
Wealth tax on billionaires’ pandemic profits would vaccinate every adult on Earth
A one-time tax on the billionaires’ collective wealth earned during the pandemic could finance vaccines for all adults across the globe, according to a new report. Drawing on data from Forbes,…
Flawed From the Start, Critics Say Afghan War’s Bitter End for US Was ‘Inevitable’
As the Taliban on Friday made further gains in control over territory—uprooting thousands of Afghan civilians—longtime critics of the Afghanistan war say the current situation is an “inevitable” outcome of the United States’…
Millionaires are calling for an emergency tax on billionaires
While the global COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for most people in the world, for a select group of people it has been a boom time: billionaires. That group has seen their…
Billionaires’ wealth gains during the pandemic could easily pay for the whole world to get vaccinated
Billionaires around the world added around $5.5 trillion to their wealth during the pandemic — and a 99% tax on those gains could help vaccinate the world. That’s according to…
Tax on billionaires’ Covid windfall could vaccinate every adult on Earth
Every adult in the world could get a Covid-19 vaccine if the wealth billionaires collected during the pandemic was taxed 99% once, according to an analysis published on Thursday by…
En 17 meses los millonarios ganaron más que en 15 años
Los 17 meses de crisis económica que han transcurrido bajo la pandemia de Covid-19 han sido más rentables para los multimillonarios del mundo que los 15 años anteriores, estableció un…
US Could Fund Vaccines for the Whole World by Taxing Billionaires’ COVID-Era Profits
A one-time 99% tax on billionaires’ massive pandemic wealth gains would raise enough revenue to pay for coronavirus vaccines for every adult on Earth — and provide each of the…
Excess profits tax on billionaires could vaccinate the entire world
If governments around the world put an excess profits tax on the 2,690 billionaires whose wealth radically increased during the pandemic, it would raise enough money to vaccinate everyone on…
Advocates Call For Taxing Billionaires To Pay For Pandemic
A one-off 99% tax on the wealth gains of billionaires made during the pandemic would pay for everyone in the world to be vaccinated for the coronavirus, according to research…
Mourning Death And Celebrating The Life Of Labor Leader Richard Trumka
John Cavanagh, Senior Advisor at the Institute for Policy Studies, talks about the life and career of Richard Trumka, mineworker, labor-leader, and former head of the AFL-CIO, following his recent…
Taliban’s Sweeping Offensive in Afghanistan Was “Inevitable” and Stems from Brutal U.S. War
The Taliban have continued to seize territory in Afghanistan as the U.S. completes its withdrawal of ground troops from the country, with the militant group now controlling a majority of…
CEOs got paid 351 times what typical workers made in 2020
Over the past five decades, CEO pay has skyrocketed — but the average wage for workers hasn’t. … Read the full article at Business Insider.
The Pentagon Is Killing Us — and the Planet
The dog days of summer are upon us —and the record high temperatures killing hundreds in the Pacific Northwest and bringing 118 degree heat to Siberia serve as a harbinger of…
Iraq AUMF Repeal Gains Momentum
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee recently passed a measure to repeal both Authorizations for Use of Military Force Against Iraq (1991 and 2002). Phyllis Bennis, Middle East analyst and Director of…
How Water Defenders Saved The Water Of El Salvador
“The Water Defenders: How Ordinary People Saved a Country from Corporate Greed”, co-authored by guest John Cavanagh from the Institute for Policy Studies, is a David & Goliath story of…
Elon Musk’s Outrageous Moonshot Award Catches on Across America
Elon Musk is the envy of chief executive officers. Not so much for his spaceship, “Saturday Night Live” appearance or Twitter fame, but for that thing he got three years…
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Could Have Been Written by Exxon
Basav Sen joins Ian Masters to discuss the new bipartisan infrastructure bill before the Senate. Listen to the interview at Background Briefing.
Big tech’s big week raises fears of ‘Blade Runner future’ of mega-company rule
Big tech provided the world with some startling numbers this week. In the last three months Amazon’s sales have averaged over $1.2bn a day. It took the company less than…
Why some wealth managers hate wealth
“How can we [ . . .] fight increased inequality?” railed Ralph Hamers in a recent interview. To be clear, Hamers is not the boss of Unicef, or Oxfam or the Social Mobility…
Inequality Has Soared During the Pandemic—and So Has C.E.O. Compensation
What would it take to arouse a sense of financial restraint among America’s top corporate executives and the people who set their pay? More than a global pandemic, it turns…
Closing the Racial Wealth Gap
Racial wealth disparities between Black and Brown Americans and White Americans remain significant, according to 2019 data from the Federal Reserve. For example, based on a 2019 survey, the median…
Shielding The Super Rich: How The Wealthy Use Tricks And Tactics To Avoid Taxes And Hide Money
Many of the wealthiest Americans became even wealthier during the pandemic — while millions of others found themselves out of work. The author of “The Wealth Hoarders” explains the secret…
Ben & Jerry’s Will Stop Selling Ice Cream in Palestinian Territories
Ben & Jerry’s says it will halt ice cream sales in Palestinian territories. Phyllis Bennis, a fellow and Director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies,…
America’s Climate Security Dilemma
The long National Defense Authorization Act season is upon us. For DC budget wonks, that’s like March Madness, the Superbowl, and the World Cup combined. Okay, maybe not. But if…
Rocket fire of the vanities: Bezos space trip brings criticism from Earth-bound philanthropists
Jeff Bezos, his brother, and two other passengers blasted off Tuesday for a 10-minute, 20-second rocket trip to the edge of space. Back on Earth, groups trying to improve the…
US Drug Deaths Explode, Fueled by Mexico Production of Synthetics
The United States saw a record toll in drug overdose deaths last year, driven in part by two powerful synthetic drugs mass-produced in Mexico and then smuggled over the border.…
Let’s Get Rid of the Police
The summer of 2020 was the largest protest movement for civil rights and racial justice in a generation. As Americans flooded the streets demanding justice and accountability for police brutality,…
EXCLUSIVE Robinhood gives founders second chance at $1.4 billion windfall
July 9 (Reuters) – Stock-trading app Robinhood Markets Inc (HOOD.O) is giving its billionaire founders four more years to hit share price targets that trigger stock awards worth $1.4 billion,…
Rumsfeld’s Legacy and the Afghanistan War
FEATURING PHYLLIS BENNIS – Donald Rumsfeld, a man who served as Defense Secretary in two separate administrations, and who was best known for overseeing the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and…
Unpacking the US Aristocracy: Inside America’s Wealthiest 50 Families
Despite having cast feudal titles aside in the American Revolution, aristocracy has been with us in the United States since independence, as the statement above from John Adams, the nation’s…
