Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · 21d

Hi five! Kiss the rich!

The share of consumer spending by the top 10% has increased from 35% in 1994 to 49.2% today.

tinyurl.com/ezyuf8u9

The Plutonomy Is Still Going Strong

For the last 20 years, analysts have known that this is an economy by and for the rich.

tinyurl.com

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nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · 21d

Whose economy? Not yours, unless you're in the top 10% (households making more than $250,000 a year) that account for 49% of all consumer spending these days. Sales of luxury goods and services are keeping the economy afloat...

#inequality

tinyurl.com/msz3u8n9

The Two-Speed Economy Is Back as Low-Income Americans Give Up Gains

High-earners and older Americans are faring better than ever, while fortunes are sliding again for low-wage and young workers

www.wsj.com

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nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · 23d

"Who's afraid of the Democratic Socialists?" and...
"Socialism is emerging as the populist alternative on the left."

from the pages of The Economist, September 15, 2025

#Mamdani

photo of NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani

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nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · 26d

Watch the actual Fox News broadcast "joking" about lethal injections for the homeless.

#homeless
#evil

www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends/....

Fox News host on mentally ill people who commit crimes: “Just kill them”

www.mediamatters.org

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Rep. Ro Khanna @khanna.house.gov · Sep 8

Parents shouldn’t be going bankrupt paying for childcare.

It’s time to rebuild our country’s childcare infrastructure to actually benefit families. Let’s pass my bill to offer care for $10/day while paying employees at least $24/hour.

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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · Sep 9

New Mexico is the first state to commit to free, universal childcare and preschool www.krqe.com/news/politic...

Governor announces New Mexico will now provide free universal child care

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – New Mexico is becoming the first state in the U.S. to offer free early childhood education to every family in the state. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced a universal ch…

www.krqe.com

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carpenter22.bsky.social @carpenter22.bsky.social · 29d

New Mexico becomes first state to offer free childcare for all: ‘model for the nation’ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

New Mexico becomes first state to offer free childcare for all: ‘model for the nation’

Move is expansion of existing program that has helped lift tens of thousands of people out of poverty

www.theguardian.com

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John Schmitt @jschmittwdc.bsky.social · 29d

Helpful.

By @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social here:
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/new-york-s...

Screenshot from linked post, reads:

Social Security is socialist. 401ks are not. Public schools are socialist. Private schools are not. Public roads are socialist. Private toll roads are not. Public parks are socialist. Private playgrounds are not. The fire department is socialist. Private firefighters protecting the mansions of the rich are not. Public health care would be socialist. The awful private health insurance system we have is not.

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suzette sommer @suzette.bsky.social · 29d

Famous last words, eh. I’m not feeling any sadness.

Remembering his utterly disgusting words towards women.

He told Taylor Swift & all women to “submit.” To husbands.

To men.

Disgusting prick.

Wonder why the old guy shot him, though. 🤔

Linda Marie @lindam174.bsky.social · 29d

"I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights" - Charlie Kirk, 2023

www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk...

Charlie Kirk: “It’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment”

www.mediamatters.org

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John Schmitt @jschmittwdc.bsky.social · 29d

From @theguardian.com:

"Irish woman with green card faces US deportation over $25 bad cheque.

[She] has lived in US since 1977 and wrote cheque a decade ago, being held in isolation by Ice."

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Screenshot of part of The Guardian story reads:
An Irish grandmother who has lived in the US for most of her life and holds a green card is facing deportation because she wrote a bad cheque for $25 in 2015.

Donna Hughes-Brown, 58, was detained in July after landing in Chicago on a flight from Dublin and is being held in isolation in a detention centre in Kentucky. She has lived in the US since 1977, has five children and grandchildren, and ran a horse farm in Troy, Missouri.

Her husband, Jim Brown, a US citizen and military veteran, told reporters his wife was not a criminal and that he “100%” regretted voting for Donald Trump as president.

He said she had been detained on a misdemeanour relating to a $25 cheque she signed a decade ago and for which she made restitution and received probation.

She was detained under legislation amended on 4 July as part of Trump’s sweeping “one big beautiful bill” act. The couple visited Ireland that month for a funeral. When they landed at Chicago’s O’Hare airport on 29 July a police officer was waiting for her on the ramp.

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nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · 29d

The private cost of children in the U.S. is at least twice as high as conventional estimates suggest.

#feministeconomics

www.dollarsandsense.org/the-underest...

The Underestimated “Price of Parenting”

Even a low-ball estimate of the cost of time shows just how misleading an estimate based only on money expenditures really is.

www.dollarsandsense.org

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nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · Sep 9

"So many girls, so little time"- quote from the Epstein birthday book. But a picture from the book is so much more telling--about rags to riches, from torn jeans to sex slaves--the intersection of class and gender (and, implicitly race).

#Epstein
#feminist

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nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · Sep 9

Individuals working freelance day jobs are now considered "suspects." Perhaps they will soon be required to wear a yellow star on their outer clothing to identify their "alien" status.

#ice

the.ink/p/illegal-un...

Illegal until proven citizen

The Supreme Court says, "Show us your papers"

the.ink

nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · Sep 7

False promises, blue collar blues, and bye bye manufacturing. So far this year jobs in this sector have declined by
38,000.

#stagflation

www.wsj.com/opinion/augu...

Opinion | The Trump Summer Jobs Stall

Most businesses have stopped new hiring as tariffs add costs and uncertainty, the latest jobs report confirms.

www.wsj.com

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nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · Sep 5

Since our President prefers Diet Coke for breakfast, he might not have noticed that that ground roast coffee prices are
up 38% from a year ago.

#inflation

www.cnbc.com/2025/09/04/w....

Why coffee prices are so high — and where they’re headed next

Coffee prices have spiked as major producers like Brazil and Vietnam have experienced extreme weather that's crimped supply.

www.cnbc.com

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nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · Sep 3

Most so-called pronatalist policies in the U.S. seriously underestimate the costs and risks of raising children in today’s economic environment. They also ignore child poverty.

#feminist
#childpoverty
#pronatalism

www.dollarsandsense.org/more-babies-...

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nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · Sep 3

What could we do with the $5.7 trillion owned by billionaires in the U.S. today? Wall Street Journal notes it could buy a Corvette Stingray for every 65+ U.S. driver.

I guess it knows its subscribers well, even as it reveals its own values.

#plutocracy

www.wsj.com/finance/inve...

What We Know About America’s Billionaires: 1,135 and Counting

An exclusive, up-close look at the richest people in the U.S. from celebrities like Taylor Swift and Elon Musk to the founder of a roofing supplier in Wisconsin.

www.wsj.com

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nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · Aug 27

MAGA personality Charlie Kirk tells Taylor Swift, "Engage in reality more… Reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor. You're not in charge.” Travis, buddy, time for you to speak up.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Charlie Kirk claims Taylor Swift’s engagement will make her ‘conservative’

MAGA mouthpiece Charlie Kirk offered a somewhat disingenuous congratulations to the pop megastar – who he has regularly criticized for being ‘woke’ – following the announcement

www.independent.co.uk

nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · Aug 27

Wall Street Journal wryly describes a Big Con.

#crypto

www.wsj.com/finance/inve...

The Trump Family Cashes In on ‘the Infinite Money Glitch’

When President Trump gets in on a new online moneymaking idea, his followers often pile in—but two out of the last three times they went on to lose bigly.

www.wsj.com

nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · Aug 27

The tools we have for managing inflation and unemployment are not only weak--they are also fundamentally biased against working people. Economist Bob Pollin explains:

www.dollarsandsense.org/trump-tariff...

Trump Tariffs and Stagflation: Why TACO is the Least Bad Option

The first obvious step right now for fighting stagflation is for Trump to dump his tariff policies.

www.dollarsandsense.org

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John Schmitt @jschmittwdc.bsky.social · Aug 25

"The ACA Subsidy Expiration Will Hit Millions Hard"

healthcareuncovered.substack.com/p/the-aca-su...

The ACA Subsidy Expiration Will Hit Millions Hard

Like a Mike Tyson blow to the face.

healthcareuncovered.substack.com

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Ruth Zakarin @ruthz.bsky.social · Aug 25

The fact that this administration is hell bent on punishing Kilmar Abrego Garcia while rewarding Ghislane Maxwell tells you all you need to know about their violent racism and misogyny.

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John Schmitt @jschmittwdc.bsky.social · Aug 26

Paul Krugman and Arin Dube are on the same page. The Lisa Cook case is first and foremost about the rule of law.

paulkrugman.substack.com/p/in-the-mat...

Screenshot from headline of post by Paul Krugman:

In the Matter of Lisa Cook
Trump's attempt to fire a Fed governnor is illegal. Now we find out whether that matters.

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nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · Aug 4

Home care workers are now getting an official kick in the butt-they will no longer be guaranteed minimum wage or overtime protections. Evelyn Coke won a 2007 court case that laid a legal foundation for such guarantees. Keep her face in mind and push back.

#care

tinyurl.com/5xs5ehxk

A drawing of Evelyn Coke, pioneer of efforts to gain labor rights for home care workers.

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nancyfolbre.bsky.social @nancyfolbre.bsky.social · Aug 3

"Trump’s Motives Can Be Opaque. I Asked a Feminist Economist to Bare Them."

...and they're not pretty!

(C.J. Polychroniou interviews me at Truthout.org)

Truthout | Fearless Independent News & Analysis

Explore progressive perspectives and stay informed on social justice, activism, and politics at Truthout.org. Uncover truth, spark change.

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