Wednesday, December 11, 2019
'Staggering' New Data Shows Income of Top 1% Has Grown 100 Times Faster Than Bottom 50% Since 1970
"The bulk of a generation
of economic growth has been captured and concentrated in a few hands, and many
people have barely seen any of it."
Monday, December 09, 2019
New data released Monday
explains the numbers behind Sen. Bernie Sanders' often-cited statistic that the
three richest Americans hold more wealth than the 160 million people who make
up the bottom 50% of the population.
Washington Post columnist
Greg Sargent published what
he called "stunning" findings from UC Berkeley economist Gabriel
Zucman, showing how both an explosion in annual earnings by the rich and an
increasingly regressive tax structure have combined to allow the top 1% of
Americans' wealth to triple over the past five decades.
Meanwhile, working people are
taking home just $8,000 more per year than they did in 1970.
In what Sargent called
"the triumph of the rich, which is one of the defining stories of our
time," the richer a household is, the more its take-home wealth has grown
in the past 50 years.
The top 1% of earners make an
average of more than $1 million per year after accounting for taxes they pay, a
50-year increase of more than $800,000—100 times the growth rate of the bottom
50%.
The wealth of the top .1% is
five times larger than it was in 1970, while that of the top .01% is seven
times larger, at over $24 million in 2018.
Zucman and fellow
economist Emmanuel Saez, his co-author of the new book "The Triumph of
Injustice," provided a chart showing how each group of earners' take-home
pay has changed since 1970. The wealthiest Americans' assets skyrocketed by
millions of dollars even in the first decade of the 21st century—when people in
the bottom 50% saw their average take-home income decrease.
For middle-income earners
since 1970, income-plus-effective tax rates have gone from $44,000 to about
$75,000—a greater increase than those in the bottom 50% of earners, "but
still their income growth rate has been very low," Zucman told the Post.
Zucman, who with Saez advised Sen.
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on her Ultra-Millionaires Tax, emphasized that both
the explosion of yearly income at the top and the effective tax rates of people
in all income brackets must be taken into account to understand the massive
wealth gap.
"You have two trends
reinforcing each other," Zucman told the Post. "There has been
the rise in market income inequality—the rise in pretax income inequality. At
the same time, the tax system has become much less progressive at the top of
the income distribution."
"People have this idea
that government redistribution has upset some of the rise in inequality, but
essentially that's not the case," the economist added.
Zucman's findings were
revealed two months after New York Times columnist David
Leonhardt published a
graphic showing how in 2018, for the first time in U.S. history, the 400
richest Americans paid less in taxes than any other income group.
The richest Americans have
benefited from numerous changes to tax laws and enforcement in recent decades,
Sargent wrote, "including domestic and international tax avoidance, the
whittling away of the estate and corporate taxes, and the repeated downsizing
of top marginal rates."
Tony Annett of the Center for
Sustainable Development at Columbia University wrote that Zucman's research
shows how "it is no longer meaningful to rely on GDP" as a measure of
economic well-being, since the benefits of growth are no longer being shared
among all earners as they were in previous eras.
Seth D. Michaels of the Union
of Concerned Scientists described Zucman's findings as showing how many people
of his generation have seen the bulk of economic growth "captured and
concentrated in a few hands."
"The tiny number of
people raking in the overwhelming majority of the last 40 years of economic
growth are distorting the economy and the political system like a black hole,
everything falling toward their interests at high speed," Michaels wrote.
'An Abomination': Sanders Decries Reality in Which GoFundMe Has a 'Six Cancer Fundraising Tips' Webpage
Not upset with with the
crowdfunding service for providing resources to those in desperate need, 2020
presidential candidate lashed out against a system that creates the need for
such campaigns in the first place.
Monday, December 09, 2019
A day before a crucial
hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives focused on crucial
Medicare for All legislation, 2020 Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on
Monday denounced as an "abomination" the fact that crowdsourcing
company GoFundMe has a page on its website offering "Six Cancer
Fundraising Tips to Help You Raise More Money" for those suffering
from the combined tragedy of a cancer diagnosis and being too poor to afford
medical treatment.
Not upset with GoFundMe for
providing resources to those in desperate need, Sanders lashed out against a
system that creates the need for such campaigns in the first place.
"No one should be forced
to use GoFundMe for health care," Sanders stated. "We are the richest
country on Earth and we are going to take care of our people. Medicare for All
now."
The GoFundMe resource page referred
to by Sanders states, "Crowdfunding has revolutionized the way people
fight cancer. Through crowdfunding, it's simple for people to quickly
raise money to pay medical bills and find both financial and
emotional support from their community. These cancer fundraising tips can help
you find financial relief so you can focus on your health."
However—as Sanders suggests in
his tweet and single-payer
advocates have long argued—the fact that a whole U.S. industry has grown up
around the
need for crowdfunded healthcare campaigns simply illustrates just how grotesque the
nation's for-profit system has become. It's not just GoFundMe. Other platforms
like MedStartr, CoFundHealth, and YouCaring—just to name a few—are all built
for the same purpose.
On Monday, showing just how
crippling and prohibitive medical care remains in the U.S., a new
national survey by Gallup revealed that one out of every four
Americans says that either they or someone in their family has delayed medical
care for a serious illness over the last year.
So what are the six things
that people trying start a crowdfunding page need to know? According to the
GoFundMe page, it's actually just five things:
Find an advocate.
Be transparent about your
financial needs.
Write a compelling fundraiser
story.
Let others know your needs.
Post frequent updates.
On Tuesday, as Common
Dreams previously reported, the
House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a public hearing on "The
Medical for All Act of 2019," introduced earlier this year by Rep. Pramila
Jayapal (D-Wash.). While not a verbatim companion bill to Sanders' version in
the Senate with the same name, the two bills are considered the strongest
pieces of single-payer legislation now in Congress.
As part of its broader
Medicare for All push, the Sanders campaign on Monday also released a new video
debunking the frequent attacks on Medicare for All by its opponents who argue
that having so-called "choice" in healthcare is a vital reason to
preserve the for-profit model that allows private insurances, drug companies,
and hospital corporations to profit of the people's illnesses. Watch:
In response to Sanders' tweet
about GoFundMe, one respondent on the platform offered this single
"tip" to make sure people are no longer subjected to the whims of
private for-profit insurers or forced to have themselves, their family, or
friends wage a crowdfunding campaign for treatment that would otherwise be
guaranteed.
"Tip #1," the
person wrote:
"Get a single payer system so that no one ever has to crowd source
healthcare to stay alive in this country ever again."
'Read Every Word of This': WaPo Investigation Reveals US Officials' Public Deception Campaign on Afghan War
Officials repeatedly told the
public "progress" was being made, but new documents show they knew
that wasn't true.
Monday, December 09, 2019
A major Washington Post investigation released
Monday is a confirmation of the peace movement's message that "there's no
military solution in Afghanistan."
That's according to Paul
Kawika Martin, senior director of policy and political affairs at Peace Action,
replying to "The
Afghanistan Papers." The report exposes how top officials spanning the
George W. Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations waged a deliberate
misinformation campaign to conceal the total failures of the 18-year war in
Afghanistan.
The bombshell from
investigative reporter Craig Whitlock "broadly resembles the Pentagon
Papers," and it is based on over 2,000 pages of notes from interviews with
a federal agency that "bring into sharp relief the core failings of the
war that persist to this day" and belie comments by officials
"who assured Americans year after year" of progress made in the war.
The Post also
published this accompanying video:
The paper obtained the cache
of documents following a legal battle that lasted three years and included two
lawsuits.
The documents came out of a
project from the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan
Reconstruction (SIGAR), an agency now headed by Obama-appointee John Sopko.
That project, entitled Lessons
Learned, was meant to assess "the U.S. reconstruction experience in
Afghanistan." While it has released a number of reports beginning 2016,
those public documents had major omissions, namely "the harshest and most
frank criticisms from the interviews" SIGAR conducted.
As the Post reported,
the interviewees, who were directly involved in the war effort, were
forthright, believing their remarks would not be made public. They revealed
that officials continually misled the public about the war's success, there was
no strategy, their efforts fueled corruption, and the U.S. was clearly losing
ground as well as tens of thousands of lives and at least $1 trillion.
The trove includes transcripts
and notes from over 400 interviewers between 2014 and 2018. SIGAR blacked out
names of roughly 85 percnet of interviewees.
"It was impossible to
create good metrics" about the troop surge, one unnamed senior National
Security Council official said in a 2016 interview. "We tried using troop
numbers trained, violence levels, control of territory and none of it painted
an accurate picture." They added, "The metrics were always
manipulated for the duration of the war."
That theme was similar to Army
colonel Bob Crowley's remarks in a 2016 interview. "Surveys, for instance,
were totally unreliable but reinforced that everything we were doing was right
and we became a self-licking ice cream cone," Crowley said.
Ryan Crocker, who was the top
U.S. diplomat in Kabul from 2011 to 2012, said in a 2016 interview, "Our
biggest single project, sadly and inadvertently, of course, may have been the
development of mass corruption."
The Post's reporting also
used previously
classified memos known as "snowflakes" from former Pentagon
chief Donald H. Rumsfeld between 2001 and 2006.
"I have no visibility
into who the bad guys are," Rumsfeld said in a 2003 memo. "We are
woefully deficient in human intelligence."
"Take the time to read
every word of this," progressive commentator Krystal Ball said on
Twitter of Whitlock's new investigation. "Three administrations have lied
to us about Afghanistan. How many lives have been lost and fortunes spent for
nothing??"
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said
the takeaway from the reporting was clear: "18 years later it's time to
get out. Now."
Read the full Washington
Post investigation.
Setting Gallup Record, Quarter of Americans Say They or Family Member Delayed Medical Care Over Cost in Last Year
"This is the 'choice
based' system Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg want to preserve."
Monday, December 09, 2019
One-in-four Americans admits
they or a member of their family this past year has delayed medical treatment
of a serious illness due to costs, according to a new Gallup survey published
Monday.
The number is the highest ever
recorded by Gallup on the question.
"Another 8% said they or
a family member put off treatment for a less serious condition, bringing the
total percentage of households delaying care due to costs to 33%, tying the
high from 2014," the report said.
Delayed care can have serious
ramifications on health, well being—and even the economy, according to the
report.
And it could be a political
issue lurking in the background of the 2020 general election:
While most of the increase
Gallup sees in delayed treatment occurred over a decade ago, the sharp increase
in the past year, particularly among Democrats, suggests that healthcare costs
could be a more potent political issue than previously seen. Presidential
candidates who acknowledge the problem and propose solutions to address it may
find a receptive ear among voters.
The report highlights the dire
condition of the U.S. healthcare system at a time when Democratic candidates
for the party's 2020 presidential nomination are debating whether or not to
institute Medicare for All, the policy advocated for by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.),
one of the frontrunners in the party's primary.
South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete
Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden have resisted a universal
system—a position that The District Sentinel's Sam Knight noted on
Twitter in response to the new Gallup data.
"This is the 'choice
based' system Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg want to preserve," said
Knight.
Knight added that
claims from centrist Democrats that all that's needed is to build on the
Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare," are empty.
"When people say we need
to fix Obamacare instead of gunning for single payer, please note that Obamacare
did nothing to stop people from delaying treatment for cost based
reasons," said Knight. "It did force you to pay monthly premiums to
for-profit companies denying you care though!"
Calling for 'Climate President,' 500+ Groups Demand Next Administration Take Immediate Action
"Swift action to confront
the climate emergency has to start the moment the next president enters the
Oval Office."
Monday, December 09, 2019
Over 500 groups on Monday
rolled out an an action plan for the next president's first days of office to
address the climate emergency and set the nation on a transformative path
towards zero emissions and a just transition in their first days in office.
"Swift action to confront
the climate emergency has to start the moment the next president enters the
Oval Office," said attorney Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for
Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute.
The set of 10
actions, which together "form the necessary foundation for the
country's true transformation to a safer, healthier, and more equitable world
for everyone," are featured on the new Climate President website. The
actions—which "touch the lives of every person living in America and those
beyond who are harmed by the climate crisis"—can all be taken by the
president without Congressional, thus can, and should, happen immediately,
the document argues.
The new effort is convened by
advocacy groups representing a range of issues, including the Center for
Biological Diversity, Climate Justice Alliance, Democracy Collaborative, and
Labor Network for Sustainability. Other backers include Physicians for Social
Responsibility, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and DÄ“mos.
The groups' roadmap kicks
off with a demand for the next president to declare a national climate
emergency under the National Emergencies Act. It includes a demand to direct
"relevant federal agencies to reverse all Trump administration executive
climate rollbacks and replace with sufficiently strong action."
Asserting authority the
National Emergencies Act, Siegel and Center for Biological Diversity energy
director Jean Su wrote in a legal analysis supporting the action plan, is
necessary in order for the next president to reinstate the crude oil export ban
and redirect "military spending towards the construction of clean
renewable energy projects and infrastructure."
Declaring a climate emergency,
the analysis adds, would also "set the appropriate tone of
urgency for climate action."
The other nine steps for the
nation's next leader to take within their first 10 days of office are, as noted
in the document:
Keep fossil fuels in the
ground.
Stop fossil fuel exports and
infrastructure approval.
Shift financial flows from
fossil fuels to climate solutions.
Use the Clean Air Act to set a
science- based national pollution cap for greenhouse pollutants.
Power the electricity sector
with 100% clean and renew-able energy by 2030 and promote energy democracy.
Launch a just transition to
protect our communities, workers, and economy.
Advance Climate Justice:
Direct federal agencies to assess and mitigate environmental harms to
disproportionately impacted Indigenous Peoples, People and Communities of
Color, and low-wealth communities.
Make polluters pay:
Investigate and prosecute fossil fuel polluters for the damages they have
caused. Commit to veto all legislation that grants legal immunity for
polluters, undermines existing environmental laws, or advances false solutions.
Rejoin the Paris Agreement and
lead with science-based commitments that ensure that the United States, as the
world’s largest cumulative historical emitter, contributes its fair share and
advances climate justice.
As part of this overall
undertaking, groups say,
the next president must
prioritize support for communities that historically have been harmed first and
most by the extractive economy, including communities of color, Indigenous
communities, and low-wealth communities. The next President must also take
special care to ensure that the rights of Indigenous Peoples are upheld, which
includes following the Indigenous Principles of Just Transition.
Moreover, climate policies
must drive job growth and spur a new green economy that is designed and built
by communities and workers and that provides union jobs with family-sustaining
wages. These policies must ensure that workers in the energy sector and related
industries, whose jobs will be fundamentally transformed, are not abandoned.
According to Anthony
Rogers-Wright, policy coordinator for Climate Justice Alliance, "This set
of executive actions puts the fossil fuel, and other iniquitous industries that
treat our communities like sacrifice zones, on notice, while offering a suite
of actions the next president can promulgate on day one to address systemic and
institutionalized injustices. At the same time, we're also putting the next
Congress on notice to get serious about dismantling this crisis, or the people
will circumvent you with all available means."
In addition to executing the
10 steps, the Climate President action plan urges the next president to
further tackle the crisis by working with Congress as well as state and local
governments on appropriate plans. Those efforts must include working to pass
the Green New Deal.
While the Trump administration
has taken a sledgehammer to environmental protections, previous administrations
also hold blame for failing to sufficiently act on the climate, said Sriram
Madhusoodanan, climate campaign director of Corporate Accountability.
"The United States
government has long acted to advance the interests of corporations over people,
and under Trump the government has lowered the bar even further," he said.
"The U.S. continues to act at the behest of big polluters like the fossil
fuel industry by ignoring science, blocking climate policy, and putting big
polluter profit over the needs and demands of people."
"The next
administration," added Madhusoodanan, "must start a new chapter in
U.S. history, kick polluters out of climate policy-making, make them pay for
the damage they’ve knowingly caused, and take every action possible to advance
urgently needed, internationally just climate action."
Devin Nunes Claims He Was 'Stalked' After Reporter Asked Basic Questions About His Role in Trump's Ukraine Scheme
"Based on this video,
Nunes' depiction is an outrageous smear. Nunes is out of control. He's a public
servant. He's functioning as Trump's servant."
Monday, December 09, 2019
Rep. Devin Nunes, the top
Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, claimed Sunday
that he was "stalked" at a $15,000-per-plate GOP fundraiser at the
luxury Lotte New York Palace Hotel in Manhattan.
In reality, Nunes was
approached at the GOP event Saturday by The Intercept's Lee Fang, who
asked basic questions about the California Republican's role in President
Donald Trump's efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate
former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
"Hey, Congressman Nunes.
I just wanted to ask you really quickly: What were your calls with Lev Parnas
about?" Fang said, referring to an indicted
associate of Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. "Were you
asking about the effort to investigate Hunter Biden?"
Nunes walked away without
responding to the questions.
When Fang approached Nunes a
second time, the congressman pulled out his cell phone and appeared to take
photos of Fang and The Intercept's cameraman.
Fang identified himself as a
reporter from The Intercept and asked once again about the contents
of his conversations with Parnas, which were disclosed for the first time last
week in call
records released by Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee.
"Were you part of this
effort to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Hunter Biden?"
Fang asked. Nunes once again walked away without responding to the questions.
Sunday afternoon, Nunes posted
a photo of Fang on Twitter and claimed the reporter "stalked" him at
the GOP fundraiser.
"Maybe he was in Vienna
with CNN," Nunes wrote, apparently referring to a CNN report that
the California Republican traveled to Vienna last year to meet with a former
Ukrainian prosecutor to discuss the effort to dig up dirt on Biden. Last
Tuesday, Nunes filed a lawsuit seeking $435,350,000 in damages from CNN for
publishing the story.
Fang was quick to respond to
Nunes, calling the congressman's description of the event "weird" and
"defamatory."
"I walked up calmly and
asked a simple news question to the congressman," Fang tweeted. "You
can see everything I actually said and Nunes' trembling hand while he silently
took my picture in the video I posted."
"This was an event with
many, many members of the House Republican caucus. Several lawmakers spoke to
us as they arrived or left the hotel for the NRCC fundraiser upstairs. No one
was 'stalked,'" Fang added. "Shortly after this brief interaction
with Nunes, he had a Capitol Police officer stationed at the event ask hotel
staff for us to leave the hotel, which we obliged without hesitation. The man with
the beard seen next to Nunes then left the hotel and followed us around the
block."
As Fang and Paul Abowd reported for The
Intercept Sunday, "Nunes has struggled to explain his rationale for
concealing his communications with the men involved in the alleged pressure
campaign in Ukraine at the height of their effort, which reportedly included a
bid to withhold military assistance and the firing of an ambassador viewed as
an obstacle to the strategy."
In addition to his
conversations with Parnas, call
records released by the House Intelligence Committee showed Nunes also
spoke with Giuliani in April.
Nunes was widely
ridiculed for claiming he was "stalked" after being
confronted with basic questions about his role in Trump's Ukraine scheme, which
is at the heart of the House impeachment probe against the president.
"This video depicts a
journalist politely asking reasonable questions of Devin Nunes about his
flagrantly corrupt conduct," tweeted Greg
Sargent of the Washington Post. "Based on this video, Nunes'
depiction is an outrageous smear. Nunes is out of control. He's a public
servant. He's functioning as Trump's servant."
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