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Institute for Policy Studies

@ips-dc.org

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The Institute for Policy Studies has been the research arm of movements challenging inequality, corporate power, polluters, and militarism since 1963. www.ips-dc.org

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 28d

In ONE MONTH, join us in celebrating resistance to repression at the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards!

Celebrate this year's awardees:
🏅 @detentionwatchnetwork.org & Jeanette Vizguerra
🏅 The National Coordinating Roundtable of Organizations of Retirees and Pensioners of Argentina

🎟️ TICKETS:

Letelier-Moffitt Awards 2025 - Institute for Policy Studies

Join us this year as IPS honors two outstanding champions of human rights and celebrates the work we do along with our allies to advance justice, peace, and dignity for all.

ips-dc.org

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 1h

NEW: Our inequality is growing more extreme. But it’s important to remember we’ve experienced oligarchy before — and as a united movement, we can overcome it, says IPS scholar @chuck77.bsky.social.

“We can fix this. It is fixable.”

Boom time for US billionaires: why the system perpetuates wealth inequality

As the super rich grow even richer, inequality expert Chuck Collins says the system is broken – but it can be fixed

www.theguardian.com

Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 19h

💰🔥 NEW: Burned by Billionaires, the "electrifying" new release outlining everything you need to know about wealth concentration from IPS expert @chuck77.bsky.social, is out TODAY!

Get your copy of the book that "Should be required reading for all of our elected representatives:"

Burned By Billionaires - Institute for Policy Studies

Burned By Billionaires

ips-dc.org

Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 1d

NEW: If the U.S. immigration enforcement apparatus were its own national military, it would be the 13th most heavily funded in the world. This bloated force is raining violence on Chicago.

@sarahlazare.bsky.social and @lindsaykosh.bsky.social of @nationalpriorities.bsky.social in @inthesetimes.com:

The 13th Largest Army in World Is Unleashing Violence in Chicago

As federal agents kill and use extreme force in Chicago, their budget surges.

inthesetimes.com

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 1d

NEW: The Trump administration is quietly working to starve the VA and instead fund a privatized network, the Veterans Community Care Program (VCCP).

For rural veterans, the private sector presents even greater barriers to care than those in the VA, research shows:

Privatizing the VA Will Be a Disaster for Rural Vets - OtherWords

Forcing millions of veterans out of the VA and into our crumbling rural hospitals will hurt both vets and their communities.

otherwords.org

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 1d

NEW: “[The wealthy] have bought their jets, they've bought their mansions, but now they’re buying senators and media outlets.”

In a new interview with @laurenaratani.bsky.social in @us.theguardian.com, IPS scholar @chuck77.bsky.social lays out the "chapter of hyper-extraction" that we're entering:

Boom time for US billionaires: why the system perpetuates wealth inequality

As the super rich grow even richer, inequality expert Chuck Collins says the system is broken – but it can be fixed

www.theguardian.com

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 1d

NEW: Last night, a Trump-nominated federal judge in Oregon ruled that the president can't deploy National Guard troops to Oregon. This is a win against authoritarianism — and we need more like it.

Jon Queally in @truthout.org:

Judge Blocks Trump From Sending National Guard Troops to Oregon — for Now

Gavin Newsom had challenged an order to send California troops, and warned that the US is on the “brink of martial law.”…

truthout.org

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Reposted by Institute for Policy Studies

Maia Duerr @maiaduerr.bsky.social · 4d

Starbucks had the largest pay ratio gap in the S&P 500 at 6,666 to 1 last year. CEO Brian Niccol reportedly pocketed $95.8 million while the average worker earned $14,674, the 8th-lowest median pay of any S&P 500 firm, according to @ips-dc.org report. ips-dc.org/report-execu...

Executive Excess 2025

CEO pay and stock buybacks have soared at the 100 largest low-wage corporations.

ips-dc.org

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 4d

NEW: This week, a Reagan-appointed judge issued a scathing ruling rebuking the Trump administration’s targeting of pro-Palestine students.

This is a "welcome decision," applauded Mahmoud Khalil on @democracynow.org:

Mahmoud Khalil Hails Ruling Against Trump Deportation Effort Targeting Pro-Palestinian Students

A Reagan-appointed judge has issued a scathing ruling rebuking the Trump administration’s targeting of pro-Palestine students. Judge William G. Young called the case AAUP v. Rubio “perhaps the most im...

www.democracynow.org

Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 4d

NEW: Nearly all of us pay into Social Security every month of our working lives.

No, it's not too much to ask that billionaires do the same, writes @jimhightower.com:

Elon Musk Should Pay the Same Social Security Taxes You Do - OtherWords

This one honest, fair, and simple adjustment would keep the program fully funded in perpetuity.

otherwords.org

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 4d

NEW: Last week, Microsoft cut off services for the Israeli military after the Guardian exposed that they were being used for mass surveillance of Palestinians.

This historic win shows the joint power of good journalism and movement pressure.

@maximillianalvarez.bsky.social in @thenation.com:

How Microsoft Workers Helped Halt a Major Contract With the Israeli Military

A grassroots campaign successfully pressured the tech monopoly to take an unprecedented step toward suspending its complicity in the Gaza genocide.

www.thenation.com

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 5d

NEW: Unfettered globalization has been a central contributor to the highest rates of inequality in decades, the rise of the far right, uncontrolled climate change, and intensifying geopolitical conflict.

It's time to shift our path, writes Walden Bello of @focussouth.bsky.social:

Deglobalization, Towards the Right or Left? - FPIF

“Let goods be homespun whenever it is reasonably and conveniently possible, and, above all, let finance be primarily national” – this advice from Keynes remains just as relevant today as it was in…

fpif.org

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 5d

NEW: Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a $20 billion package to rescue the Argentinian economy. This windfall will massively enrich American billionaire Rob Citrone — a personal friend of Bessent.

@juddlegum.bsky.social in @motherjones.com:

Trump’s Argentina bailout enriches one well-connected US billionaire

A $20 billion US rescue package is a gift for a hedge fund manager with ties to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

www.motherjones.com

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 5d

IPS is proud that our own @sarahanderson.bsky.social and John Cavanagh have been honored by the Chilean government for their pursuit of justice for Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and American Ronni Karpen Moffitt, killed in 1976 in Washington, D.C. by agents of the Chilean dictatorship.

IPS Receives Prestigious Chilean Human Rights Award - Institute for Policy Studies

IPS Receives Prestigious Chilean Human Rights Award

ips-dc.org

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 5d

Health care costs are about to skyrocket because the GOP cut health care to fund tax breaks for billionaires, and they're shutting down the government to ensure it goes through.

We need lawmakers that work for us. Not for billionaires.

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 6d

Burned by Billionaires, now the #1 book on economic policy on Amazon, is available for preorder with 30% off if you order in the next week:

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Get 30% Off Chuck Collins’ New Book! - Institute for Policy Studies

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Get 30% Off Chuck Collins’ New Book!

ips-dc.org

Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 6d

NEW: Even before Trump stepped in to help them, private equity has been destabilizing our economy — including by worsening the housing crisis, as IPS scholar @chuck77.bsky.social shows in his new book, Burned by Billionaires.

@timothynoah.bsky.social in @newrepublic.com:

The Financial Sector Was Tottering Even Before Trump

The president is making it worse, of course. But as private equity sweats to bring ever higher returns to billionaires, it risks beggaring you and me.

newrepublic.com

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 6d

NEW: Hundreds of billionaires have signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give away half of their wealth. IPS @inequality.org researchers found that most of those donations have never reached the public.

@davidmoscrop.com in @jacobinmag.bsky.social:

What the Giving Pledge Really Gave Us

Most Giving Pledge dollars never reached the public, flowing instead to private foundations and donor-advised funds while billionaires grew richer, bought reputations for generosity, and handed back…

jacobin.com

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 7d

The Supreme Court's allowances for Trump have ranged from dismantling the Department of Education to disappearing people to foreign countries.

If the Court won't check Trump, we need to check the Court.

The American People Need to Check the Supreme Court - OtherWords

The Court’s right-wing MAGA majority is shredding the Constitution and denying our rights.

otherwords.org

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 7d

NEW: As the 2026 gubernatorial races approach, young voters are fed up with blue governors — like Newsom, Shapiro, and Lujan Grisham — who quietly cozy up to fossil fuels.

"We don’t just want new leaders. We demand leadership that stands up to polluters."

Climate Week Is Here; Our Governors Are Still Siding with Polluters | Common Dreams

Frontline communities are exposing blue state governors that sell themselves as climate leaders while favoring polluters.

www.commondreams.org

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 7d

🔥 BURNED BY BILLIONAIRES, the acclaimed new book from expert inequality researcher @chuck77.bsky.social is “An electrifying call to action…. Should be required reading for all our elected representatives.”

Get 10% off when you preorder before October 7:

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Get 30% Off Chuck Collins’ New Book! - Institute for Policy Studies

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Get 30% Off Chuck Collins’ New Book!

ips-dc.org

Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 7d

NEW: Since 2010, some 14% of our country's billionaires have pledged to give away at least half of their wealth. Instead, most of them have collectively grown far, far richer, IPS @inequality.org researchers found.

IPS scholar @bdevaan.bsky.social on @katiecouric.bsky.social:

Billionaires Promised to Give Wealth Away — So Why Are They Richer Than Ever?

Even the billionaires who’ve promised to donate their wealth can’t seem to make a dent in it.

katiecouric.com

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Reposted by Institute for Policy Studies

Omar Ocampo @ocampomar.bsky.social · 7d

It is important that we do not separate politics from economics.

Extreme wealth disparities undermine our democracy, increase political inequality & makes us vulnerable to the arbitrary power of oligarchs.

Here are a couple of graphs illustrating the extreme concentration of material resources 👇🏻

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 7d

NEW: Since 1989, the share of U.S. wealth owned by the top 0.1% has grown nearly 60%.

In the same time, the share owned by the bottom 50% of households has declined 26%.

This is wealth concentration.

IPS scholars @chuck77.bsky.social and @ocampomar.bsky.social in @inequality.org:

Billionaire Wealth Concentration Is Even Worse than You Imagine

The share of U.S. wealth held by the top 0.1 percent has grown nearly 60 percent since 1989.

inequality.org

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Reposted by Institute for Policy Studies

Detention Watch Network @detentionwatchnetwork.org · 8d

In a time of increasing repression, the fight for justice, peace, and dignity for all is crucial.

On October 9, @detentionwatchnetwork.org is excited to accept the @ips-dc.org Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award.

🎟️ Join us in celebrating! Get tickets now: ips-dc.org/event/lm49/

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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 7d

WATCH: Airport developers are claiming "sustainable aviation fuels" as a solution to private jet pollution. On @wgbh.org, IPS scholar @chuck77.bsky.social exposes the problem: There is no possible way to scale these fuels nationally.

Learn more at spje.org.

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