Sam Pizzigati

Sam Pizzigati co-edits Inequality.org and also contributes regularly to OurFuture.org. His most recent book: The Rich Don't Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 1900-1970 (Seven Stories Press).
Articles by this author
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Views Tuesday, April 17, 2018 Why Should We Tax the Rich? The orthodoxy that dominates today’s Republican Party — and the ranks of “business-friendly” Democrats — rests on a simple approach to economic policy. Let’s be nice, this orthodoxy holds, to rich people. Let’s be particularly nice at tax time. Let’s keep taxes on rich people, conservatives advise... Read more |
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Views Sunday, April 01, 2018 A Bigger Welcome Mat for America’s Tax Evaders Every nation levies taxes. Some nations levy well. In these admirable nations, tax systems spread the tax burden fairly. Those who can readily afford to pay more in taxes do pay more. Other nations tax poorly. They set low tax rates on high incomes. Officials in these nations let their wealthiest... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, March 21, 2018 Billionaires Won’t Save the World — Just Look at Elon Musk Will Mars save humanity? Or will our savior be billionaire Elon Musk? Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, humbly believes we don’t have to choose. Mars will save us, he promises, and Musk himself will engineer this Mars miracle. In 2019, Musk claims, SpaceX will start making short trips to Mars. By... Read more |
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Views Monday, March 12, 2018 A Media Mogul’s Noble Challenge to Moguldom In today’s monopolistic media environment, the E.W. Scripps Company doesn’t rate as anything close to a top-tier power. The Cincinnati-based TV and digital media provider’s main claim to fame these days may well be its sponsorship of America’s National Spelling Bee. How inconsequential has Scripps... Read more |
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Views Thursday, February 22, 2018 The Big Pharma Family that Brought Us the Opioid Crisis If the devil wears Prada, what do America’s most destructive drug pushers wear? They wear smiles. The drug pushers we have in mind here have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, enough fatalities to decrease overall U.S. life expectancy at birth for the last two years running. Yet no police SWAT... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, February 14, 2018 What Is the Price of Love? Valentine’s Day must be former billionaire Tim Blixseth’s least favorite day of the year. The 67-year-old timber baron turned real estate developer has not exactly been, you might say, lucky in love. A first wife came and went. Ditto a second. Wife number three did seem, for a serious spell, to be... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, January 17, 2018 Enormously Lucky Man? Or Ultra-Deserving Deep Pocket? Eric Schmidt, a top executive at Google ever since he joined the company as CEO back in 2001, is stepping down later this month. He’s leaving his latest executive slot about $14 billion richer than when he began his Google career. Expect a digital avalanche of praise for Schmidt over the next few... Read more |
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Views Saturday, January 06, 2018 The Free Market Made Us Do It! Apologists for the many millions in compensation that America’s largest corporations regularly dole out to their top executives have essentially one basic, all-purpose go-to defense. America’s corporate giants, this defense goes, are just paying the going “market rate” for top-notch executive... Read more |
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Views Friday, December 15, 2017 The Grand Tax ‘Bargain’ Is Just a Bigger Bonus for the Rich Did you ever bargain with an auto dealer over the price of a car? Most of us have, at one time or another, so we know how this drill works. The car has a sticker price. We want a lower price, so we make an offer. Sometimes the dealer doesn’t budge. More typically, dealer and buyer agree on a price... Read more |
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Views Thursday, December 07, 2017 GOP Tax Cuts Hardwire Inequity for Poor and Middle Class The U.S. Senate has now passed the most significant tax “reform” legislation since 1986. The legislation, most pundits believe, will likely become the new law of the land within weeks. What will that mean? We already have all sorts of numbers from reputable researchers on who will now see really... Read more |