Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 3h

Billionaire-funded anti-public education groups now working “to undermine teachers unions, protect their wealthy donors from having to contribute their fair share in taxes to strengthen public schools, and provide profit opportunities through school privatization.” www.propublica.org/article/educ...

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department.

Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

www.propublica.org

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 17h

This September’s annual Monaco Yacht Show featured 120 superyachts and assorted other toys for the mega-rich together valued at just north of $5 billion. Among the showcased baubles: a nautical match for your favorite Lamborghini. robbreport.com/motors/marin...

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 1d

Just out from the @rooseveltinstitute.org: a new report on Big Money’s current — and enormous — impact on U.S. politics. #inequality #billionaires rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 1d

Can a society thrive when a few own everything? More to the point: Can a society survive when a few own everything? A new interview with the Belgian-Dutch philosopher Ingrid Robeyns. @equalshope.bsky.social @ingridrobeyns.bsky.social www.equals.ink/p/how-much-w...

How Much Wealth Is Too Much? Ingrid Robeyns on the Case for Limitarianism

Listen now (31 mins) | Inequality, Democracy, and the Case for Limiting Extreme Wealth.

www.equals.ink

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 1d

British epidemiologist Kate Pickett on landmark new #inequality and health study: “The brain changes we observed...suggest that inequality creates a toxic social environment that literally shapes how young minds develop.” @profkepickett.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Study links greater inequality to structural changes in children’s brains

Researchers say findings show inequality creates toxic environment and reducing it is ‘a public health imperative’

www.theguardian.com

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 2d

We need to better understand, Chuck Collins explains in his new book, not just how billionaires get their wealth and defend it, but how they capture our politics and exploit that capture to extract ever more wealth from US everyday life. @chuck77.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/news/2025/oc...

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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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 2d

The new school voucher program in Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” helps parents pay for private-school tuition with public tax dollars. That availability “is expected to transfer” huge bucks to private schools and private equity kingpins. @brockhrehor.bsky.social

Private Equity’s New Playground: America’s Schools

Under the guise of championing “school choice,” the new school voucher program will likely divert millions in taxpayer dollars to private equity firms.

www.levernews.com

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 3d

A company that becomes too big to fail becomes too big to jail and then too big to care — about anything but squeezing suppliers and customers to enrich the already rich. #inequality #billionaires www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

www.theguardian.com

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 4d

Markets alone can’t bring us a green transition. “Adaptation” has become “a convenient excuse to consolidate resources among a privileged few” that only “gives the appearance of doing something about the #climate crisis.” @grist.org @jbwinters.bsky.social grist.org/culture/clim...

So many climate solutions, so few emissions reductions. A new book explains why.

In "The Long Heat," Wim Carton and Andreas Malm argue that capitalism has turned the climate crisis into a business opportunity.

grist.org

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 4d

The current top 5% of US home purchases starts at $2 million. The current top 1% of U.S. home listings begins at $5.4 million. #inequality #luxury www.mansionglobal.com/articles/1-m...

$1 Million Is No Longer Enough to Buy a Luxury Home in the U.S.

Skyrocketing prices over the past decade have put the starting line for luxury closer to $1.3 million, according to an analysis from Realtor.com

www.mansionglobal.com

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 5d

Gallup: “Sixty percent of Republicans, 36% of independents and 17% of Democrats rate big business positively, with the latter two figures being new lows for those groups.”
#plutocracy #inequality news.gallup.com/poll/694835/...

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 5d

Elon Musk’s March 2020 net worth: $24.6 billion. By January 2021: up to $190 billion. Last December: $400 billion. Now on track to become world’s first #trillionaire by March 2033, the first of 2 vesting dates for his new $1 trillion Tesla pay package. billionairereporter.com/elon-musk-hi...

Elon Musk first to hit half a trillion dollars in net worth

Elon Musk hit a milestone Wednesday afternoon, becoming the first person to attain a net worth of half a trillion dollars.

billionairereporter.com

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 5d

The 2017 Trump tax law created the current pass-thru business deduction. The tax bill Trump signed earlier this year ups this deduction from 20 to 23%. Our richest 1% will reap $1 trillion from the new rate over the next decade.
@brakeyshia.bsky.social @itep.org news.bloombergtax.com/daily-tax-re...

Trump Tax Law Erases Economic, Racial Progress in the Tax Code

Opinion: President Donald Trump’s massive tax-and-spending package will leave a costly hole in the federal budget for future multiracial generations.

news.bloombergtax.com

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 5d

The parts of the federal government now shutting down “tend to do stuff for people without power.” The parts still open “either facilitate critical functions that keep society operating or are important to the wealthy.” #democracy @matthewstoller.bsky.social

Wall Street Gets to Keep Its Government Open

The Antitrust Division and FTC have suspended merger challenges, but not merger approvals. It's weird how 'government shutdowns' don't close the parts of government Wall Street wants.

www.thebignewsletter.com

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 5d

How much have the fortunes of our richest flourished? Elon Musk broke the $500-billion threshold yesterday. Some perspective: In 1982, the year the first annual Forbes 400 appeared, the list’s richest deep pocket had a net worth of just $2 billion. #billionaires www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Elon Musk becomes first person with net worth of $500bn

Tesla owner’s wealth temporarily crosses half-trillion-dollar mark before retreating to $499bn

www.theguardian.com

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 7d

The big front-page news across the USA on Sept. 29, 1916: Oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller had become America's first billionaire. In 1983, our #billionaire population stood at 13. The current Forbes total: over 900. #inequality

Rockefeller became the first billionaire over a century ago. Here's what to know about America's wealthiest today.

Newspapers announced John D. Rockefeller as the first U.S. billionaire 109 years ago. Today there are more than 900 American billionaires.

www.cbsnews.com

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 7d

How best to avoid greater inequality from high tech? We could start by spreading the ownership of capital. Some 77% of individuals in advanced and middle-income nations pocket zero — or close to it — from capital that generates income. @brankomilan.bsky.social

How to Control the Increase of Income Inequality Due to New Technologies?

New technologies drive inequality by concentrating capital income. Three policy approaches can help spread ownership and moderate disparities.

www.socialeurope.eu

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 7d

Introduced in 2017, Italy’s “flat tax” lets rich new residents pay a €200,000 flat annual tax on their foreign-based income, regardless of size, for up to 15 years. Milan is now competing directly with Paris and London as a hotspot for Europe’s super wealthy. www.idealista.it/en/news/luxu...

From fashion to fortune: Italy's flat tax lures international buyers to Milan

Milan is rapidly becoming one of Europe’s hottest destinations for wealthy investors and international buyers. Once known primarily as Italy’s fashion and financial capital, the city is now attracting...

www.idealista.it

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 8d

“For almost a century, Democrats have been at their strongest — with solid majorities in Congress and a firm grip on the White House — when they united working people around a populist message powerful enough to overcome their cultural differences.” #inequality

Opinion | Democrats Are in Crisis. Eat-the-Rich Populism Is the Only Answer.

A blistering assault on economic elites, a moderate stance on cultural issues and a rejection of politics as usual. That’s how to remake the Democratic Party.

www.nytimes.com

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 8d

“The Democratic Party’s biggest problem hasn’t been the ‘left’ but its dependence on wealthy donors and corporate PACs” that have “consistently argued for moving the party to the ‘center’ and away from the working class.” #democracy @rbreich.bsky.social robertreich.substack.com/p/what-the-d...

What the Democrats need least: A new think tank financed by billionaires

What elected Dems REALLY need is the courage to stop taking big money and raise taxes on the wealthy to finance what most Americans need

robertreich.substack.com

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 9d

Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent has just announced a bailout of the Argentinian economy run into the ground by Argentina’s “free market” prez Javier Milei. Also benefiting from the bailout: Bessent’s buddy, billionaire Rob Citrone, who bet big on Milei. @popular.info popular.info/p/trumps-arg...

Trump’s Argentina bailout enriches one well-connected billionaire

A $20 billion taxpayer-funded rescue package for Argentina is a gift for a hedge fund manager with personal and professional ties to the Treasury Secretary

popular.info

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 9d

Former star Kansas City Royals 2nd baseman Frank White is now, as exec of Missouri’s Jackson County, battling a greed grab by KC's pro team owners. The #billionaires are retaliating with a recall-White ballot move. The vote is coming Tuesday. lucaskunce.substack.com/p/what-happe...

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 10d

Ever wonder how much U.S. corporate CEOs make by the hour? The AFL-CIO has done some calculating. The brutal picture in the low-worker wage retail sector . . .
#CEOpay #inequality www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/hourly-wa...

Ranked: The Hourly Wage of Retail CEOs

How much do retail CEOs earn per hour? This ranking reveals staggering executive wages at Starbucks, Walmart, CVS, and more.

www.visualcapitalist.com

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 11d

Parking a problem? If you have lots of millions, not a worry. Just put a helipad on your mansion’s roof.
#inequality www.mansionglobal.com/articles/fut...

Futuristic Metal-Clad Boston Mansion With a Helipad on the Roof Back up for Sale Asking Nearly $8 Million

The 9,000-square-foot house in Brookline was once a 1920s Tudor-style home that was totally reimagined with a copper facade and industrial style

www.mansionglobal.com

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 11d

What gets Donald happy? Helping his billionaire pals — “people that love the country” — get richer. Latest example: Trump’s TikTok deal-making. Always nice, notes Forbes, for a president to have “a social media app owned by someone who’s friendly with him.”

The Billionaires And Other Investors Taking Control Of TikTok US

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that paves the way for the social media app to remain available in the United States. The business, which had been facing a ban in the…

www.forbesmiddleeast.com