archive

Plutocracy-busting ideas

From Too Much, take all that post-election commentary about foolish billionaires and wasted millions in political contributions with a grain of salt — our billionaires don't have to actually win on Election Day to get their way; and Sam Pizzigati on five plutocracy-busting ideas worth a revisit. Should the top tax rate be 73 percent? Warren Buffett calls for a minimum tax for the wealthy. If Obama were proposing a truly balanced plan, he’d be calling for even more tax revenue or even less spending reduction. A simple way to get conservatives to support higher taxes on the rich: According to new research, changing the way the issue of income inequality is framed moves conservatives closer to a liberal position. Mary Beard on why the rich look down on the poor. Does capitalism breed hate? Don Fitz goes inside the psyche of the 1%. Paul Bucheit on ten numbers the rich would like fudged. Natasha Lewis speaks with Strike Debt member, professor, and author Andrew Ross on The Debt Resistor’s Operations Manual. Steve Fraser on the hollowing out of America: “Debtpocalypse” is merely the latest installment in a tragic, forty-year story of the dispossession of American workers. Amy Ludlow reviews Addicted to Profit: Reclaiming our Lives from the Free Market by Stuart Sim.