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#wealthiest

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DoomsdaysCW

Thousands in #Midwestern #GOP Districts Attend #Sanders' First Stops on Tour to Fight #Oligarchy

"It's like there's only one person who is actually able to sidestep the demoralization and frustration," said one observer.

Julia Conley, Feb 22, 2025

"After addressing more than 3,400 #Nebraska residents in Omaha Friday evening, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Saturday made his second stop on his National Tour to Fight Oligarchy—telling Iowa City, #Iowa residents that '#Trumpism will not be defeated by politicians inside the #DCBeltway.'

"'For better or worse, that is not going to happen,' said the Vermont Independent senator, whose broadly popular policy proposals have long been dismissed by Democratic leaders as unrealistic and radical while President Donald Trump has increasingly captured the attention of the #WorkingClass Americans who would benefit most from Sanders' ideas.

"'It will only be defeated by millions of Americans in Iowa, in #Vermont, in Nebraska, in every state in this country, who come together in a strong #grassroots movement and say no to oligarchy, no to #authoritarianism, no to #kleptocracy, no to massive cuts to programs that #LowIncome and working Americans desperately need, no to huge #TaxBreaks for the #wealthiest people in this country,' said Sanders.

"The senator announced his tour earlier this month as #ElonMusk, the head of the Trump-created Department of Government Efficiency ( #DOGE) who poured $277 million on the president's campaign, swept through numerous agencies, with DOGE staffers setting up illegal servers, seizing control of data, shutting federal employees out of offices, and working to shut down operations across the government.

"Since Trump took office for his second term just over a month ago, roughly 30,000 federal employees have been fired or laid off—part of Musk's push to cut $2 trillion in federal spending in order to fill the $4.6 trillion hole that Trump's extension of the 2017 tax cuts would blow in the deficit.

"#Republican lawmakers have also pushed to include cuts to #Medicaid, and Trump this week signaled he would back #Medicare cuts after repeatedly insisting he would not slash the popular healthcare program used by more than 65 million Americans, in order to save money while handing out tax cuts to the same #corporations and #ultrawealthy households that benefited from the 2017 tax law.

"'Today in America we are rapidly moving toward an #oligarchic form of society where a handful of #multibillionaires not only have extraordinary wealth, but unprecedented economic, media, and political power,' said Sanders in Iowa City, which like Omaha is represented by a Republican U.S. House member who narrowly won reelection last November and has faced pressure to reject the GOP budget plan. 'Brothers and sisters, that is not the democracy that men and women fought and died to defend.'"

Read more:
commondreams.org/news/bernie-s
#Oligarchy #OligarchyTour #StillSanders #BernieSanders #USPol #CorporateInterests #Corporatocracy #CorporateColonialism

Common Dreams · Thousands in Midwestern GOP Districts Attend Sanders' First Stops on Tour to Fight Oligarchy | Common DreamsSenator Bernie Sanders is on a mission to fight oligarchy and empower the people. With a powerful message against Trumpism and billionaire influence, he's rallying Americans to stand up for democracy. #FightOligarchy
Public
Benjamin Carr, Ph.D. 👨🏻‍💻🧬

World’s #richest use up their fair share of 2025 #carbon budget in 10 days
In less than a week and a half, the consumption habits of an individual from this monied elite had already caused, on average, 2.1 tonnes of #carbondioxide emissions, according to analysis by Oxfam GB.
#Emissions caused by #wealthiest 1% so far this year would take someone from poorest 50% three years to create
theguardian.com/environment/20
#Greenhousegas #climatechange #climatecrisis #climate

The Guardian · World’s richest use up their fair share of 2025 carbon budget in 10 daysBy Damien Gayle
Public
Stuart D Neilson

IN CONTEXT "Sixty of the #wealthiest people in the #UK collectively contributed more than £3bn a year in income #tax", which is less than 1% of their wealth. bbc.com/news/articles/cqlvggr9

The richest 100 people in the UK are as rich as the poorest 19 MILLION people.

The richest 350 individuals and families together hold a combined wealth of £795bn – a sum larger than the annual GDP of #Poland.

More than half of the richest did not work for their #wealth, but inherited it. highpaycentre.org/reading-the-

Public *
Chuck Darwin

As a child, Mathew Desmond experienced poverty firsthand.

He saw his family home repossessed and endured the stresses and humiliations of his family’s lack of means.

It raised the question that he would go on to dedicate his professional life to answering:

❓Why is there such stark #inequality in America?❓

The hard truth, he said, is that
💥so many of us benefit from it.💥

Desmond shared a litany of statistics illustrating the growing burden of poverty and inequality in the United States:

• 1 in 3 families live in a household that has an income of $55,000 a year or less.
• 38 million people are below the federal poverty level of $30,000 for a family of four.
• Evictions have increased by 22% since the turn of the century.
• The number of public-school kids who are unhoused has increased by 74% since the turn of century.
• The amount of inflation-adjusted, non-mortgage debt has increased by more than 200% -- and the number of families reporting no income apart from food stamps has quadrupled since the 2008 recession.
• Since 1985, rent increases have outpaced wage growth by 325%.
• Each year, people are charged $11 billion in overdraft fees and $10 billion in payday loan fees.

“So, here's one reason there's so much poverty in America today:

because the poor are #exploited,”
said Desmond, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Evicted" and his more recent work "Poverty, by America".

“I think it's a word we should use more.”

👉The exploitation is perpetuated, not only by the corporations, financial institutions, and landlords who withhold fair wages, charge exorbitant fees, and profit off those in poverty,
👉but also by affluent Americans who benefit from the exploitation, he said.

Desmond quoted an analogy from novelist Tommy Orange,

“Kids are jumping out the windows of burning buildings, falling to their deaths. And we think the problem is that they’re jumping.”

🔥The American approach to poverty has often been to focus on those who are poor and what they can do to uplift themselves -- rather than changing the systems that keep them poor.

This can be uncomfortable for those whose #property #values are protected by ⚠️segregation of affordable housing,
those who have invested in the #stock #market and make money when ⚠️exploitative corporations net profits,
and those with #free #checking #accounts that are ⚠️subsidized by the poor who pay fees for their lack of capital, he explained.

The affluent also benefit from government subsidies more than the poor, he said.

According to Desmond, the #wealthiest families in the United States receive an average of about 🔷$35,000 annually in tax benefits, while the #poorest get an average of ♦️$25,000 in subsidies.

These are realized in #mortgage #incentives, special #investment #accounts, like #529 accounts that help pay for college, and other #tax #breaks for the wealthy.

Many affluent families further contribute to poverty by building communities that exclude and marginalize the poor
— pushing them out of their neighborhoods using #zoning ordinances, Desmond said

aamc.org/news/we-can-solve-pov

AAMCWe can solve poverty in America. We just don’t want to.Sociologist and author Matthew Desmond, PhD, says we must divest from the policies that exploit the poor to the benefit of the affluent.
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