Working class tax rates now higher than billionaires'

https://volewica.blogspot.com/2024/05/working-class-tax-rates-now-higher-than.html

#Inequality #Billionaires

Social media and playing at democracy

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2025/03/12/world/playing-at-democracy/

🆓 https://archive.ph/Hj2t3

#politics #media #inequality #marginalization #politicalscience #cornell

3 multi-millionaires discussing how to solve #inequality.
🐘 in the room: #capitalist system is dead and we need a new system.
#GifsArtidote :
New system can't contain:
1. hierarchy
2. profit
3. ownership of land and buildings.
It has to focus on what humans need to thrive.

#GarysEconomics #opinion #press #news
https://youtu.be/4yohVh4qcas?si=uqItHeEz2UUIFJxf

#AOC #Billionaires #Inequality #Socialism

Jon Davis (Guardian);

on that 'difficult decision'

#benefits #politics #inequality

https://www.europesays.com/?p=1899989 Iranians live in poverty, don’t support Ali Khamenei, Islamic Regime #AyatollahAliKhamenei #Conflicts #Hamas #Hezbollah #Inequality #Iran #Israel #MiddleEast #Poverty

If we abandon our political prisoners we abandon ourselves—Palestine shows us why https://mondoweiss.net/2025/03/if-we-abandon-our-political-prisoners-we-abandon-ourselves-palestine-shows-us-why/
#usa #politics #inequality #warcrimes #palestine

Iranians live in poverty, don’t support Ali Khamenei, Islamic Regime https://www.byteseu.com/?p=812607 #AyatollahAliKhamenei #Conflicts #Hamas #Hezbollah #Inequality #Iran #Israel #MiddleEast #poverty

Interview: US Aid Often Reproduces Inequality, But Killing USAID Is Wrong Answer

USAID etc. not only depend on global inequality, but in many ways produce it.

Much of the aid actually flows back to the US, thus supporting U.S. interests.

It also hides the ways that US trade agreements, etc often cause global inequality.

~Kathryn Mathers

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/3/6/usaid_critique_humanitarian_industrial_complex

#USAID #Trump #Inequality #USImperialism #humanitarianIndustrialComplex #USTradeDeals .

🧵 2/2: #JamesBaldwin prophetically understood how the #AmericanDream itself was the engine of #inequality. It seems obvious now as we witness #capitalism in its last throes, but it was revolutionary in 1965.

"What is crucial here is that unless we can manage to accept, establish some kind of dialog between those people whom I pretend have paid for the American dream and those other people who have not achieved it, we will be in terrible trouble"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFeoS41xe7w

#blackhistorymonth

Hello! 👋🏼 We are pleased to welcome you to the page of the social critique journal #Spilne. We are a #leftist Ukrainian #journal focused on #economics, #politics, #history, and #culture.
The editorial team shares egalitarian and #anticapitalist views. Therefore, in our publications, we discuss how to transform #society so that there is no place left for exploitation, #inequality, and #discrimination.
Follow us and share our posts!
#commons_journal #introduction #socialism #Ukraine #progressive

Minority groups experience disparities in health care access. See a European comparative study:
📖 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1204854/full

And an overview on ethnic and racial inequalities of COVID19 impacts:
📖 https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2020-216061

#minorityrights #minority #healthcare #inequality #humanrights #press #democracy #covid

📷 Melanie Cervantes

The world's largest basic income experiment

https://volewica.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-worlds-largest-basic-income.html

#UBI #BasicIncome #Poverty #Inequality

Hmmm.... in 2024, the number of first-time buyers rose by 19%, and made up over half the purchases made with a mortgage (according to Halifax), of which nearly two-thirds (of those mortgages were in two names - couples buying together).

So, on the face of it this might look like good news.... but, equally a loosening of constraints, alongside continued record house prices, also means the number of people with a stake in maintaining those prices has (again) risen!

#housing #inequality

h/t FT

Here's an interesting idea from the Resolution Foundation - a form of Green Keynsianism...

Helping the poorest households fit solar panels to their homes would save them put a quarter of their energy bills, would further push the green transition & would act as a further spur to local solar firms.

Of course, on anything like this there wold be details to be ironed out, but on the face of it looks like a good idea.

#solar #inequality #energy #climate

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/13/solar-panels-could-cut-energy-bills-by-quarter-fuel-poor-uk-families-study

Nice and short article from Cliff Berg (medium.com); it is worth reading it, including the resources/link at the bottom.

"...the world is going to collapse, so get as rich as possible now, so that when the fall comes, you are among the richest billionaires who can then buy up all of the natural resources and live in an AI-powered enclave, safe from the starving masses"

#bigtech #inequality #capitalism #antifa #mediumcom #cliffberg #fediverse

https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/they-know-a-collapse-is-coming-39a53e2ecd80

Rather than (once again) 'cracking down' on benefits cheats (who as research has shown again & again are actually a pretty small group), perhaps the Govt. might find it more cost effective to encourage the HMRC to find ways to get Roman Abramovic to pay the £1bn in taxes he owes....

Oh wait minute, he's rich & therefore someone to be treated carefully (and asked politely) while people on benefits, well they're just scammers, aren't they.... /s

#tax #inequality

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/29/roman-abramovich-may-owe-hmrc-1bn-pounds-unpaid-taxes-analysis-shows

What Trump didn’t say in his inauguration speech

The simple truth is that Donald Trump gave a major speech, the first speech of his second presidency,
and ignored almost every significant issue facing the working families of this country.
How crazy is that?

Our #healthcare system is broken, is dysfunctional and is wildly expensive.
We remain the only wealthy nation not to guarantee healthcare for all.
Not one word from Trump about how he is going to address the healthcare crisis.

We pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for #prescription #drugs
– sometimes 10 times more than the people in other countries
– and one out of four Americans is unable to afford the prescriptions that their doctors prescribe.
Not one word from Donald Trump on the high cost of prescription drugs.

We have 800,000 Americans who are #homeless and millions of our people spend 50% or 60% of their limited income on housing.
We have a major #housing crisis in America
– everyone knows it.
And Trump, in his inaugural address, did not devote one word to it.

Today in America, we have more income and wealth #inequality than we have ever had.
The wealthiest three people in America now own more wealth than the bottom half of our society.
But Trump had nothing to say about the growing gap between the very rich and everybody else.
And maybe that’s because he had those three people – the three wealthiest people in America – sitting right behind him at his inauguration.
And, I should add, those three people – if you can believe it – saw their wealth increase by more than $233bn since the November elections.
No wonder they were sitting right behind Trump. They couldn’t be happier.

During his inaugural speech, Trump did not have one word to say about how we are going to address the planetary crisis of #climate ##change.
The last 10 years have been the warmest ever recorded, and extreme weather disturbances and natural disasters are taking place all over the world
– from California to India, across Europe to North Carolina. Not one word about climate change
– except, of course, to make it clear that he intends to make this horrific situation even worse with “drill, baby, drill”.
Brilliant.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/23/bernie-sanders-trump-inauguration-speech?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

#UKPolitics #inequality #society
Something many of us have recognised for a long time. #capitalism depends on #elites & #social_stratification which makes a mockery of the claims of the #meritocratic right wing b.s. 'they' that would have us believe in upward movement. It has never been harder to climb the 'social ladder' than now. (if that's your thing 😎 ) Thanks @fkamiah17 https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/12/the-new-property-feudalism

@grogsgamut points out
#australia is
9th richest OECD country
5th highest rate (23%) retirees in poverty
2nd lowest level aged care pension
#poverty #inequality
#auspol
#laborgovernmentaustralia is trying to change tax so earnings related to superannuation balances (solely) ABOVE $3m would be taxed at 30% – still well below the top tax rate of 45%… this met by fear campaigns from vested interest groups & conservative #media #neoliberalism
“almost the smallest change that could be done – affecting less than 1% – and yet it is unlikely to pass.”
#taxtherich
#taxtherich
#taxtherich

https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2025/jan/23/misleading-fear-campaigns-may-kill-labors-superannuation-changes-but-here-are-the-real-numbers-ntwnfb?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

For those of us who live near the Lake District, the current acceleration of Spain's housing crisis, driven by dwellings being (re)deployed as holiday lets & second homes (for non locals) is all too familiar.... and once again, in Spain, this has only risen up the political agenda as the squeeze on house availability (driving inflation of house prices) has hit the middle-class (who, of course, are more likely to vote).

#housing #inequality #Spain

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/20/a-vicious-circle-how-the-roof-blew-off-spains-housing-crisis

To resist the climate crisis, we must resist the billionaire class #ClimateCrisis #billionaire #fossilfuels #capitalism #inequality
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/10/climate-crisis-billionaire-class

"I don't want people to kill insurance executives, and I don't want insurance executives to kill people. But I am unsurprised that this happened. Indeed, I'm surprised that it took so long. It should not be controversial to note that if you run an institution that makes people furious, they will eventually become furious with you. This is the entire pitch of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century: that wealth concentration leads to corruption, which is destabilizing, and in the long run it's cheaper to run a fair society than it is to pay for the guards you'll need to keep the guillotines off your lawn:"

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/09/radicalized/#deny-defend-depose

#USA #Healthcare #UnitedHealthcare #Capitalism #Inequality #HealhInsurance

The #media these days: «why killing the ultra-rich responsible for your malaise is bad, actually (sponsored content)»

#CEOmurder #UHC #wealth #inequality #justice

There are people starving in this world; there are people without homes, help or hope...

The Obscenely Rich are just taking the piss, are they not.

If we're not allowed to #EatTheRich, howza about we tax them more - they clearly don't know what to do with the excessive wealth they've grifted.

#Inequality
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqj051glrr9o

A reminder that while the 'Bank of Mum & Dad' seems like benign help parents can give their children, its actually one of the key mechanisms (alongside under-taxed inheritance) that maintains inequality in the UK.

Now, over 50% of first time buyers rely on their parents to help them get on the wealth escalator that is the UK's dysfunctional housing market.

On an individual level parental help is clearly understandable, on a social level its actually a problem!

#housing #inequality

Here's Torsten Bell setting out the simple argument that it is more cost-effective for the HMRC (and tax authorities, in general) to audit & investigate the rich than the poor, for the very simple fact, the rich.... have more money.

The returns on audits & face-to-face discussion with tax enforcement teams earn a massive & positive return... which its seems finally the HMRC has recognised.

Time to get the wealthy to pay what that actually owe us!

#tax #inequality

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/01/the-rich-will-pay-up-when-prodded-so-lets-make-tax-collecting-great-again

I've said it before, but will say it again:

We should judge any country (including our own) by how it treats the most vulnerable in society.

Once again, here is more evidence that we are not doing a good job... the vulnerable as ever see their wellbeing & health suffer while we (often) look away, or worse blame them for their predicament.

With bad luck this could be any of us; we should never forget that, but live our lives as is we have!

#poverty #inequality
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/dec/01/rickets-homeless-families-no-kitchen

How inequality stretches into retirement:

Of those able to pay into a defined contribution pension over half do not think they are saving enough; that will be an underestimate as people often underestimate how much they need to put in a pension for a 'comfortable' retirement.

And why don'e they pay more in? because they can't afford to!!!

Its no use lecturing people that they need to save more for their retirement, first you need to ensure they're paid more!!!

#pensions #inequality
h/t FT

A poll for the High Pay Centre has found not only do the majority of respondents agree that CEO pay should be restricted to a multiple of low-wage or average earnings & at such a rate to ensure wage differences do not 'grow too wide', but they also agree that workers representatives on corporate boards are a good idea.

UK workers have seen how corporate pay is consolidating inequality & is controlled by self-interested Board members and see the solution(s).

#workers #inequality
h/t Observer

Sometimes a simple message tells you a lot.... the concentration of wealth in the UK, in one simple graphic.

#inequality #land #wealth

If only the ultra rich were able to manipulate business and society this would’t happen… Hold on?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/nov/18/more-than-one-in-three-uk-children-poverty-deprivation-record-high

#UkPolitics #Inequality #Poverty

Its sometimes been said that rather than being a rich country, the UK is a poor country with a rich elite living in enclaves... now you might think that's a politically-driven exaggeration, but looking at new figures on the incidence of poverty you'd be hard pressed to deny there is some truth to that depiction....

#poverty #inequality

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/nov/18/more-than-one-in-three-uk-children-poverty-deprivation-record-high

Wealth concentration

Under our current way of doing things, extreme wealth can be seen as a dark hole - loose analogy - dragging and destroying everything within it’s reach.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/nov/18/be-brave-and-impose-minimum-tax-on-worlds-billionaires-urges-spanish-minister

#Taxation #Inequality #ExtremeWealth

Torsten Bell is right on the button; we can only improve the plight of the poorest (both workers & those not in work) if our Govt. fully understand their plight.

They are more likely then the rich to be out of work for health reasons - so repairing the NHS is vital for them;

They'er too often in precarious & low-paid work, so their working lives need to be bettered;

The cost of living crisis continues & needs to be addressed properly!

#workers #poverty #inequality

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/17/to-turn-britain-around-we-need-a-proper-understanding-of-life-for-poorer-workers

Inequality 1/2:

In the Observer today, Eliza Filby (in an article summarising her new book, not yet online) uses a term I'd not heard before & like (but which doesn't originate with her):

the Inheritocracy

As she points out int he article & in her book, Britain has become a society patterned by what you inherit from your parents, alongside what after net they can provide as you build your life.

In other words (as I've posted on before) inheritance is an engine of inequality.

#inequality

The consolidation of inequality via property wealth inter-generational transfers (via inheritance) will continue (or may even intensify) in the next twenty years... no wonder so much effort is made by the rich to convince the less well off that inheritance tax is an unjust imposition on the moderately well-off.

Until we start to deal with iniquities of the housing market & its mechanism of inequality solidification, we'll never tackle inequality!

#inequality #housing

https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2024/nov/16/middle-class-millennials-set-to-gain-most-from-unprecedented-wealth-transfer