Sam Pizzigati
@sgp.bsky.social
Co-editor, Inequality.org
Institute for Policy Studies associate fellow and author, ‘The Rich Don’t Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 1900-1970’ and ‘The Case for a Maximum Wage’
Institute for Policy Studies associate fellow and author, ‘The Rich Don’t Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 1900-1970’ and ‘The Case for a Maximum Wage’
In a democratic society, we need a wealth tax, “not to punish the ultra-wealthy, but to prevent a tiny elite from wielding coercive power over everyone else’s lives.” @amyhanauer.bsky.social democracyjournal.org/magazine/79/...
Should Billionaires Exist?
The ultra-wealthy’s dominant power in our political system forces the question: Should America limit billionaire fortunes? A debate.
democracyjournal.org
January 28, 2026 at 1:26 AM
In a democratic society, we need a wealth tax, “not to punish the ultra-wealthy, but to prevent a tiny elite from wielding coercive power over everyone else’s lives.” @amyhanauer.bsky.social democracyjournal.org/magazine/79/...
Before 2011, no single U.S. investor owned over 1,000 single-family homes. By 2021, thanks to private equity kingpins, 446,000 homes sat in private investor hands — with dire results for families struggling to afford to buy a home of their own. @ceprdc.bsky.social cepr.net/publications...
Is Trump’s Move to Rein in Private Equity For Real?
Trump claims he will block private equity from buying single-family homes, but follow-through is doubtful.
cepr.net
January 28, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Before 2011, no single U.S. investor owned over 1,000 single-family homes. By 2021, thanks to private equity kingpins, 446,000 homes sat in private investor hands — with dire results for families struggling to afford to buy a home of their own. @ceprdc.bsky.social cepr.net/publications...
The proposed Billionaire Tax Act that California labor activists are working to get on this November’s ballot would only impact the state’s 200 richest residents. Guess who’s going all out to stop this one-time 5% levy? @seiu1021.bsky.social
oligarchwatch.substack.com/p/the-billio...
oligarchwatch.substack.com/p/the-billio...
The billionaire boys fight the wealth tax
Across America, billionaires and their minions are working to defeat a proposed ballot measure in California that would marginally tax the assets of the ultra-rich.
oligarchwatch.substack.com
January 27, 2026 at 3:51 PM
The proposed Billionaire Tax Act that California labor activists are working to get on this November’s ballot would only impact the state’s 200 richest residents. Guess who’s going all out to stop this one-time 5% levy? @seiu1021.bsky.social
oligarchwatch.substack.com/p/the-billio...
oligarchwatch.substack.com/p/the-billio...
How low will US CEOs go to curry Trump favor? On Saturday, amid the Minneapolis horrors, guests at the White House screening of ’Melania,’ the boot-licking biopic Amazon has spent $75 mil bankrolling, included Apple’s Tim Cook & a host of other top execs.
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
Inside the White House Screening for Amazon’s ‘Melania’ Doc (Exclusive Photos)
The White House held a private screening of the doc on Saturday night that included black-tied VIPs, monogrammed popcorn tubs and a military band playing movie tunes.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
January 26, 2026 at 4:54 PM
How low will US CEOs go to curry Trump favor? On Saturday, amid the Minneapolis horrors, guests at the White House screening of ’Melania,’ the boot-licking biopic Amazon has spent $75 mil bankrolling, included Apple’s Tim Cook & a host of other top execs.
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
The richer the CEO, the more shameless . . .
www.thedailybeast.com/billionaire-...
www.thedailybeast.com/billionaire-...
Billionaire CEOs Party With Trump and Melania After His Goons Kill Nurse
Apple CEO Tim Cook traveled to the White House on the same day a Border Patrol agent shot a Veterans Affairs nurse dead in Minneapolis.
www.thedailybeast.com
January 25, 2026 at 4:59 PM
The richer the CEO, the more shameless . . .
www.thedailybeast.com/billionaire-...
www.thedailybeast.com/billionaire-...
Minnesota corporate CEOs just as cowardly — and unwilling to jeopardize their personal gravy trains — as their corporate brethren nationwide. More on our ongoing CEO outrages at Inequality.org . . .
January 25, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Minnesota corporate CEOs just as cowardly — and unwilling to jeopardize their personal gravy trains — as their corporate brethren nationwide. More on our ongoing CEO outrages at Inequality.org . . .
The actual income average Americans are taking in has risen just 1.1% a year since 2010. From 1950 to 1980, an era of much greater equality, average U.S. income rose 2% a year. What is really rising today? Wealth at the top.
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/talking-wi...
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/talking-wi...
January 24, 2026 at 4:39 PM
The actual income average Americans are taking in has risen just 1.1% a year since 2010. From 1950 to 1980, an era of much greater equality, average U.S. income rose 2% a year. What is really rising today? Wealth at the top.
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/talking-wi...
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/talking-wi...
Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List put Elon Musk’s estimated net worth at $787.2 billion as of 2:30 p.m. EST yesterday.
In the first Forbes 400 list in 1982, the grandest fortune Forbes found totaled $2 billion, about $6.7 billion in today's dollars.
#inequality #plutocracy
In the first Forbes 400 list in 1982, the grandest fortune Forbes found totaled $2 billion, about $6.7 billion in today's dollars.
#inequality #plutocracy
January 23, 2026 at 4:27 PM
Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List put Elon Musk’s estimated net worth at $787.2 billion as of 2:30 p.m. EST yesterday.
In the first Forbes 400 list in 1982, the grandest fortune Forbes found totaled $2 billion, about $6.7 billion in today's dollars.
#inequality #plutocracy
In the first Forbes 400 list in 1982, the grandest fortune Forbes found totaled $2 billion, about $6.7 billion in today's dollars.
#inequality #plutocracy
Oxfam: Trump’s agenda of championing deregulation and undermining corporate taxation has benefited the super rich everywhere. #Billionaire wealth, since the start of the #Trump era, has jumped 3x faster than the past five-year average. www.equals.ink/p/billionair...
January 22, 2026 at 3:18 PM
Oxfam: Trump’s agenda of championing deregulation and undermining corporate taxation has benefited the super rich everywhere. #Billionaire wealth, since the start of the #Trump era, has jumped 3x faster than the past five-year average. www.equals.ink/p/billionair...
Trump now plans to seek a 10% cap on credit card interest. But that move & his moves to end taxes on tips & allow car-loan interest write-offs amount to stunts meant to jolt voters into “pseudo-populist gratitude.” They’d expire after 2026’s elections. thenationmagazine.substack.com/p/trump-brin...
Trump Brings His Phony Populism to Davos
Nothing says “I care about working people” like a speech to an audience of billionaires at an exclusive Swiss ski resort.
thenationmagazine.substack.com
January 22, 2026 at 2:51 AM
Trump now plans to seek a 10% cap on credit card interest. But that move & his moves to end taxes on tips & allow car-loan interest write-offs amount to stunts meant to jolt voters into “pseudo-populist gratitude.” They’d expire after 2026’s elections. thenationmagazine.substack.com/p/trump-brin...
Only 10% of Americans, notes new Gallup analysis, now rate business execs “very high” or “high” on honesty and ethical standards. 75% give nurses high marks.
Median CEO pay at major firms hit $30.9 million last year.
Median nurse pay: $86,000.
news.gallup.com/poll/700736/...
Median CEO pay at major firms hit $30.9 million last year.
Median nurse pay: $86,000.
news.gallup.com/poll/700736/...
January 21, 2026 at 2:27 AM
Only 10% of Americans, notes new Gallup analysis, now rate business execs “very high” or “high” on honesty and ethical standards. 75% give nurses high marks.
Median CEO pay at major firms hit $30.9 million last year.
Median nurse pay: $86,000.
news.gallup.com/poll/700736/...
Median CEO pay at major firms hit $30.9 million last year.
Median nurse pay: $86,000.
news.gallup.com/poll/700736/...
Our only daily reality more insane than a typical day’s Trump social media stream: In just four seconds, Elon Musk “earns’ what the average person makes in an entire year.
#oxfam
#oxfam
Resisting the Rule of the Rich: Defending Freedom Against Billionaire Power | Oxfam International
The future is equal
www.oxfam.org
January 20, 2026 at 11:51 PM
Our only daily reality more insane than a typical day’s Trump social media stream: In just four seconds, Elon Musk “earns’ what the average person makes in an entire year.
#oxfam
#oxfam
The world's most corrupt head of state: Donald Trump has used his presidency, the NY Times finds, “to make at least $1.4 billion.” That figure, the Times notes, doesn’t include his presidential profits that “remain hidden from public view.”
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Opinion | How Trump Has Used the Presidency to Make at Least $1.4 Billion
The president took an oath to serve the American people. Instead, he’s focused his second term on enriching himself and his family.
www.nytimes.com
January 20, 2026 at 4:08 PM
The world's most corrupt head of state: Donald Trump has used his presidency, the NY Times finds, “to make at least $1.4 billion.” That figure, the Times notes, doesn’t include his presidential profits that “remain hidden from public view.”
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Billionaires now stand “over 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary people.”
#oxfam #inequality #plutocracy www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/rese...
#oxfam #inequality #plutocracy www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/rese...
Resisting the Rule of the Rich
Protecting Freedom from Billionaire Power
www.oxfamamerica.org
January 20, 2026 at 2:48 AM
Billionaires now stand “over 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary people.”
#oxfam #inequality #plutocracy www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/rese...
#oxfam #inequality #plutocracy www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/rese...
People concerned about #inequality focus on “who gets what share of what we produce together.” Those who discount inequality’s significance focus on the “efficiency gains of competition” and attribute wealth “to individual efforts.” @ingridrobeyns.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/global/2026/...
www.theguardian.com/global/2026/...
In Davos, the rich talk about ‘global threats’. Here’s why they’re silent about the biggest of them all | Ingrid Robeyns
Economic inequality is at the heart of all humanity’s major problems, but the wealthiest refuse to confront a system that benefits them, says economist and historian Ingrid Robeyns
www.theguardian.com
January 19, 2026 at 7:41 PM
People concerned about #inequality focus on “who gets what share of what we produce together.” Those who discount inequality’s significance focus on the “efficiency gains of competition” and attribute wealth “to individual efforts.” @ingridrobeyns.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/global/2026/...
www.theguardian.com/global/2026/...
New Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the share of U.S. income going to American workers has hit its lowest point since the BLS started keeping this stat in 1947. prospect.org/2026/01/19/a...
A New Low for American Workers
The share of American income going to labor is at its lowest level since measurements began.
prospect.org
January 19, 2026 at 4:01 PM
New Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the share of U.S. income going to American workers has hit its lowest point since the BLS started keeping this stat in 1947. prospect.org/2026/01/19/a...
A U.S. takeover of #Greenland would likely weaken both the country’s mining laws and its ban on private property, in the process boosting Trump billionaire donor plans “to profit from the island’s mineral deposits and build a libertarian techno-city.” www.levernews.com/the-greenlan...
The Greenland Fever Dreams Of Trump’s Billionaires
Precious metals, cryptostates, and melting ice sheets: the surreal saga behind Trump’s Greenland gambit.
www.levernews.com
January 18, 2026 at 5:05 PM
A U.S. takeover of #Greenland would likely weaken both the country’s mining laws and its ban on private property, in the process boosting Trump billionaire donor plans “to profit from the island’s mineral deposits and build a libertarian techno-city.” www.levernews.com/the-greenlan...
Had that bottom 90% of US wage-earners continued to annually receive the same share of the nation’s income they received in 1975 over the next half-century, their paychecks would have run, by 2023, $79 trillion higher. #inequality
The $79 Trillion Heist - The American Prospect
We’re in an affordability crisis because workers aren’t being paid at the same levels they earned in the past.
prospect.org
January 17, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Had that bottom 90% of US wage-earners continued to annually receive the same share of the nation’s income they received in 1975 over the next half-century, their paychecks would have run, by 2023, $79 trillion higher. #inequality
In 2024, the wealth of the world’s 2,769 billionaires grew by $2 trillion. In 2025, global spending on humanitarian aid amounted to less than a tenth of that growth in billionaire wealth. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
At the root of all our problems stands one travesty: politicians’ surrender to the super-rich | George Monbiot
There are many excuses for failing to tax the ultra-wealthy. The truth is that governments don’t tackle the problem because they don’t want to, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
January 17, 2026 at 5:47 PM
In 2024, the wealth of the world’s 2,769 billionaires grew by $2 trillion. In 2025, global spending on humanitarian aid amounted to less than a tenth of that growth in billionaire wealth. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
A new invitation from the House of Representatives to America’s super rich: Now’s the time to double-down on your favorite tax-cheating moves. We’re cutting $439 million out of the IRS enforcement budget! www.cnbc.com/2026/01/14/i...
Latest IRS budget cuts may be lower than expected, but still could impact taxpayers, experts say
House lawmakers this week could vote to approve a smaller IRS budget. Here's what that may mean for taxpayers.
www.cnbc.com
January 16, 2026 at 3:59 PM
A new invitation from the House of Representatives to America’s super rich: Now’s the time to double-down on your favorite tax-cheating moves. We’re cutting $439 million out of the IRS enforcement budget! www.cnbc.com/2026/01/14/i...
Why has Minnesota remained solidly progressive while its neighbors Wisconsin and Michigan have become swing states? Give the discredit “to well-financed takeovers of state governments financed by billionaires in Wisconsin (Bradley) and Michigan (DeVos).” www.weekendreading.net/p/the-bigger...
The Bigger Picture in Minnesota
"Meeting the Moment" with Anat Shenker-Osorio
www.weekendreading.net
January 15, 2026 at 1:20 AM
Why has Minnesota remained solidly progressive while its neighbors Wisconsin and Michigan have become swing states? Give the discredit “to well-financed takeovers of state governments financed by billionaires in Wisconsin (Bradley) and Michigan (DeVos).” www.weekendreading.net/p/the-bigger...
Why did nearly 15,000 nurses walk out Monday at some of New York City’s largest private hospitals, Montefiore Medical Center among them. One reason: Montefiore CEO Philip Ozuah pocketed $16.4 million in 2023. www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
‘No shortage of wealth’: Mamdani, other Democrats chide NYC hospital executives over nurses’ strike
The NYC mayor said the historic strike is about “who deserves to benefit from this system.”
www.politico.com
January 14, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Why did nearly 15,000 nurses walk out Monday at some of New York City’s largest private hospitals, Montefiore Medical Center among them. One reason: Montefiore CEO Philip Ozuah pocketed $16.4 million in 2023. www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
The trait that defines Trump’s policy instincts: “He’s utterly transactional. Cutting taxes for the rich is a reward to his donors and family business partners. As a bonus, he gets to indulge his sympathy for plutocrats and contempt for ordinary Americans.” paulkrugman.substack.com/p/donald-tru...
Donald Trump, Would-Be Price Controller
Unfortunately for him, tweets don’t change the law
paulkrugman.substack.com
January 14, 2026 at 8:12 PM
The trait that defines Trump’s policy instincts: “He’s utterly transactional. Cutting taxes for the rich is a reward to his donors and family business partners. As a bonus, he gets to indulge his sympathy for plutocrats and contempt for ordinary Americans.” paulkrugman.substack.com/p/donald-tru...
From Robert Reich, the best label yet for what the world is now enduring: “Trump’s reign of error and terror.” Our plutocrats, of course, benefit from the error and never feel the terror.
#inequality @rbreich.bsky.social robertreich.substack.com/p/office-hou...
#inequality @rbreich.bsky.social robertreich.substack.com/p/office-hou...
Office Hours: What should we do about the fascist now loose upon America and the world?
We’re now in a far more dangerous and violent stage of Trump’s regime. What should be done to stop it?
robertreich.substack.com
January 14, 2026 at 3:37 PM
From Robert Reich, the best label yet for what the world is now enduring: “Trump’s reign of error and terror.” Our plutocrats, of course, benefit from the error and never feel the terror.
#inequality @rbreich.bsky.social robertreich.substack.com/p/office-hou...
#inequality @rbreich.bsky.social robertreich.substack.com/p/office-hou...
Buried within the “crony capitalist network that has propelled Trump’s imperialism” sits a network of super rich who seek a world without “any restrictions on American oligarchy,” a golden age “by no means limited” to Greenland. @cjcmichel.bsky.social @hrf.org newrepublic.com/article/2051...
The Oligarchs Pushing for Conquest in Greenland
Trump’s fixation on filching the island territory from Denmark may seem like the demented ravings of a mad king. But to a cohort of plutocrat weirdos, it makes perfect sense.
newrepublic.com
January 14, 2026 at 2:26 AM
Buried within the “crony capitalist network that has propelled Trump’s imperialism” sits a network of super rich who seek a world without “any restrictions on American oligarchy,” a golden age “by no means limited” to Greenland. @cjcmichel.bsky.social @hrf.org newrepublic.com/article/2051...