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U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks during a stop of the "Fighting Oligarchy" tour on April 14, 2025 in Nampa, Idaho.
A newly released survey underscores that "Americans have a solid grasp of the highly unequal concentration of wealth in the United States—and they think it's rotten."
Nearly three-quarters of Americans believe that the rich in the United States "have too much" and two-thirds feel the ultra-wealthy are not paying enough in taxes, according to survey results released Thursday by The New Republic.
The survey, conducted in April with a representative sample of more than 950 registered voters nationwide, shows "broad frustration with how wealth is distributed in America, specifically the extreme concentration of wealth among the superrich," the magazine reported in its write-up of the results, which came just ahead of the latest swing of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) popular "Fighting Oligarchy" tour.
"If the poll can be summarized in one sentence, it's this: Americans have a solid grasp of the highly unequal concentration of wealth in the United States—and they think it's rotten," wrote The New Republic's Ryan Kearney.
Asked "which of the following statements comes closest to your view on how wealth is distributed in America today," 72% of survey respondents—including 45% of those who voted for President Donald Trump in 2024—chose "the rich have too much," while just 6% said "the poor have too much" and 22% said "things are about fair the way they are."
Few respondents, across party lines, said they believe the richest 0.1% and 1% are paying their fair share of taxes, according to the survey, and 66% said they think the wealthiest Americans are paying "too little" in taxes.
The findings were published as Trump and GOP lawmakers in Congress worked to pass another round of tax breaks that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has estimated that the House-passed GOP budget reconciliation package would deliver $124 billion in net tax cuts to the richest 1% of Americans in 2026.
"Wages aren't keeping up with the rising cost of living, and the shrinking availability of living-wage jobs is compounding the strain. The consequences for working families are becoming increasingly severe."
In an effort to rally opposition to the Republican bill—which also includes unprecedented cuts to Medicaid, federal nutrition assistance, and green energy programs—Sanders will be holding a series of events in the U.S. South in the coming days, starting with a "Fighting Oligarchy" rally in McAllen, Texas on Friday night.
"Sanders will target deep red districts currently held by Republicans, including the hometown of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)," the senator's team said in its announcement of the swing last week. "The tour serves as a pressure campaign, aiming to force vulnerable congresspeople to vote against any cuts to Medicaid, housing, nutrition, education, and other basic needs to pay for more tax breaks for the richest people in this country."
Sanders' "Fighting Oligarchy" rallies across the U.S. have tapped into widespread discontent with the lopsided distribution of wealth in the United States and outsize political influence of a handful of powerful billionaires as workers struggle to afford basic necessities.
Last year, according to a UBS report published earlier this week, the U.S. added more than 1,000 millionaires per day on average, continuing a long-running trend of unequal wealth accumulation at the top.
Meanwhile, a new analysis from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) estimates that what the group describes as the "true rate of unemployment"—which counts "the jobless plus those seeking, but unable to find, full-time employment and those in poverty-wage jobs"—rose to 24.3% last month, just one indicator of workers' growing struggles in the U.S.
"Over the past four months, we've seen a stagnation in job opportunities that pay above poverty wages, particularly for low- and middle-income workers," said LISEP chair Gene Ludwig. "As economic uncertainty grows, more Americans are losing ground. Wages aren't keeping up with the rising cost of living, and the shrinking availability of living-wage jobs is compounding the strain. The consequences for working families are becoming increasingly severe."
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Nearly three-quarters of Americans believe that the rich in the United States "have too much" and two-thirds feel the ultra-wealthy are not paying enough in taxes, according to survey results released Thursday by The New Republic.
The survey, conducted in April with a representative sample of more than 950 registered voters nationwide, shows "broad frustration with how wealth is distributed in America, specifically the extreme concentration of wealth among the superrich," the magazine reported in its write-up of the results, which came just ahead of the latest swing of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) popular "Fighting Oligarchy" tour.
"If the poll can be summarized in one sentence, it's this: Americans have a solid grasp of the highly unequal concentration of wealth in the United States—and they think it's rotten," wrote The New Republic's Ryan Kearney.
Asked "which of the following statements comes closest to your view on how wealth is distributed in America today," 72% of survey respondents—including 45% of those who voted for President Donald Trump in 2024—chose "the rich have too much," while just 6% said "the poor have too much" and 22% said "things are about fair the way they are."
Few respondents, across party lines, said they believe the richest 0.1% and 1% are paying their fair share of taxes, according to the survey, and 66% said they think the wealthiest Americans are paying "too little" in taxes.
The findings were published as Trump and GOP lawmakers in Congress worked to pass another round of tax breaks that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has estimated that the House-passed GOP budget reconciliation package would deliver $124 billion in net tax cuts to the richest 1% of Americans in 2026.
"Wages aren't keeping up with the rising cost of living, and the shrinking availability of living-wage jobs is compounding the strain. The consequences for working families are becoming increasingly severe."
In an effort to rally opposition to the Republican bill—which also includes unprecedented cuts to Medicaid, federal nutrition assistance, and green energy programs—Sanders will be holding a series of events in the U.S. South in the coming days, starting with a "Fighting Oligarchy" rally in McAllen, Texas on Friday night.
"Sanders will target deep red districts currently held by Republicans, including the hometown of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)," the senator's team said in its announcement of the swing last week. "The tour serves as a pressure campaign, aiming to force vulnerable congresspeople to vote against any cuts to Medicaid, housing, nutrition, education, and other basic needs to pay for more tax breaks for the richest people in this country."
Sanders' "Fighting Oligarchy" rallies across the U.S. have tapped into widespread discontent with the lopsided distribution of wealth in the United States and outsize political influence of a handful of powerful billionaires as workers struggle to afford basic necessities.
Last year, according to a UBS report published earlier this week, the U.S. added more than 1,000 millionaires per day on average, continuing a long-running trend of unequal wealth accumulation at the top.
Meanwhile, a new analysis from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) estimates that what the group describes as the "true rate of unemployment"—which counts "the jobless plus those seeking, but unable to find, full-time employment and those in poverty-wage jobs"—rose to 24.3% last month, just one indicator of workers' growing struggles in the U.S.
"Over the past four months, we've seen a stagnation in job opportunities that pay above poverty wages, particularly for low- and middle-income workers," said LISEP chair Gene Ludwig. "As economic uncertainty grows, more Americans are losing ground. Wages aren't keeping up with the rising cost of living, and the shrinking availability of living-wage jobs is compounding the strain. The consequences for working families are becoming increasingly severe."
Nearly three-quarters of Americans believe that the rich in the United States "have too much" and two-thirds feel the ultra-wealthy are not paying enough in taxes, according to survey results released Thursday by The New Republic.
The survey, conducted in April with a representative sample of more than 950 registered voters nationwide, shows "broad frustration with how wealth is distributed in America, specifically the extreme concentration of wealth among the superrich," the magazine reported in its write-up of the results, which came just ahead of the latest swing of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) popular "Fighting Oligarchy" tour.
"If the poll can be summarized in one sentence, it's this: Americans have a solid grasp of the highly unequal concentration of wealth in the United States—and they think it's rotten," wrote The New Republic's Ryan Kearney.
Asked "which of the following statements comes closest to your view on how wealth is distributed in America today," 72% of survey respondents—including 45% of those who voted for President Donald Trump in 2024—chose "the rich have too much," while just 6% said "the poor have too much" and 22% said "things are about fair the way they are."
Few respondents, across party lines, said they believe the richest 0.1% and 1% are paying their fair share of taxes, according to the survey, and 66% said they think the wealthiest Americans are paying "too little" in taxes.
The findings were published as Trump and GOP lawmakers in Congress worked to pass another round of tax breaks that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has estimated that the House-passed GOP budget reconciliation package would deliver $124 billion in net tax cuts to the richest 1% of Americans in 2026.
"Wages aren't keeping up with the rising cost of living, and the shrinking availability of living-wage jobs is compounding the strain. The consequences for working families are becoming increasingly severe."
In an effort to rally opposition to the Republican bill—which also includes unprecedented cuts to Medicaid, federal nutrition assistance, and green energy programs—Sanders will be holding a series of events in the U.S. South in the coming days, starting with a "Fighting Oligarchy" rally in McAllen, Texas on Friday night.
"Sanders will target deep red districts currently held by Republicans, including the hometown of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)," the senator's team said in its announcement of the swing last week. "The tour serves as a pressure campaign, aiming to force vulnerable congresspeople to vote against any cuts to Medicaid, housing, nutrition, education, and other basic needs to pay for more tax breaks for the richest people in this country."
Sanders' "Fighting Oligarchy" rallies across the U.S. have tapped into widespread discontent with the lopsided distribution of wealth in the United States and outsize political influence of a handful of powerful billionaires as workers struggle to afford basic necessities.
Last year, according to a UBS report published earlier this week, the U.S. added more than 1,000 millionaires per day on average, continuing a long-running trend of unequal wealth accumulation at the top.
Meanwhile, a new analysis from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) estimates that what the group describes as the "true rate of unemployment"—which counts "the jobless plus those seeking, but unable to find, full-time employment and those in poverty-wage jobs"—rose to 24.3% last month, just one indicator of workers' growing struggles in the U.S.
"Over the past four months, we've seen a stagnation in job opportunities that pay above poverty wages, particularly for low- and middle-income workers," said LISEP chair Gene Ludwig. "As economic uncertainty grows, more Americans are losing ground. Wages aren't keeping up with the rising cost of living, and the shrinking availability of living-wage jobs is compounding the strain. The consequences for working families are becoming increasingly severe."
"So much for foreigners paying tariffs," commented one economic expert.
A leading inflation indicator surged much more than expected last month, just as the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs started to weigh on American businesses and consumers.
New Producer Price Index (PPI) numbers released on Thursday showed that wholesale prices rose by 0.9% over the last month and by 3.3% over the last year. These numbers were significantly higher than economists' consensus estimates of a 0.2% monthly rise and a 2.5% yearly rise in producer prices.
PPI is a leading indicator of future readings of the Consumer Price Index, the most widely cited gauge of inflation, as increases in wholesalers' prices almost inevitably get passed on to consumers. Economists have been predicting for months that Trump's tariffs on imported goods, which at the moment are higher than at any point in nearly 100 years, would lead to a spike in inflation.
Reacting to the higher-than-expected PPI number, some economic experts pinned the blame directly on the president.
"So much for foreigners paying tariffs," commented Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at tax consulting firm RSM US, on X. "If they did, PPI would be falling. Wholesale prices up 3.3% from a year ago and 3.7% in the core. The temperature is definitely rising in the core. This implies a hot PCE reading lies ahead."
Liz Pancotti, the managing director of policy and advocacy at the Groundwork Collaborative, took a deep dive into the numbers and found that Trump's tariffs were having an impact on a wide range of products.
"There is no mistaking it: President Trump's tariffs are hitting American farmers and driving up grocery prices for American families," she said. "Wholesale prices for grocery staples, like fresh vegetables (up 39% over the past month) and coffee (up 29% over the past year) are rising, squeezing American families even further in the checkout line."
Pancotti singled out the rise in milk prices as particularly worrisome for American families.
"Milk drove more than 30% of the increase in prices for unprocessed goods, rising by 9.1% in just the past month," she explained. "Tuesday's CPI print showed that milk prices rose by 1.9% in July, and this PPI data suggests further price hikes are on the way."
Betsey Stevenson, who served on former President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, also pointed the finger at Trump's policies.
"Tariffs will cause higher prices," she said. "Volatility and uncertainty will cause higher prices. The PPI jump is not a surprise, it was inevitable."
On his Bluesky account, CNBC's Carl Quintanilla flagged analysis from economic research firm High Frequency Economics stating that the new PPI numbers were "a kick in the teeth for anyone who thought that tariffs would not impact domestic prices in the United States economy."
The firm added that it "will not be a long journey for producers' prices to translate into consumer prices" in the coming months.
Liz Thomas, the head of investment strategy at finance company SoFi, argued that the hot PPI numbers could further frustrate Trump's goal of getting the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates given that doing so would almost certainly boost inflation further.
"The increase in PPI was driven by services, and there were increases in general services costs and in the Trade component (i.e., wholesale/retail margins)," she commented. "The Fed won't like this report."
Ross Hendricks, an analyst at economic research firm Porter & Co., described the new report as "scorching hot" and similarly speculated that it would stop the Federal Reserve from cutting rates.
"Good luck with them rate cuts!" he wrote. "Can't recall the last time we've seen a miss that big on a single monthly inflation number."
Hedge fund manager and author Jeff Macke jokingly speculated that the bad PPI print would cause Trump to fire yet another government statistician just as he fired Erika McEntarfer, the former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"Whoever compiles the PPI needs to update their CV," he wrote.
Just as with the monthly jobs report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics collects and publishes PPI data.
"The Trump administration is protecting lawbreaking corporate insiders from accountability instead of protecting Americans from corporate lawbreaking," said the author of a new Public Citizen report.
During the first six months of his second term, President Donald Trump's administration has withdrawn or suspended enforcement actions against 165 companies in sectors across the U.S. economy, with Big Tech benefiting most from federal agencies' lax approach to corporate crime.
A report released Wednesday by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen found that the Trump administration has halted or ended a third of misconduct investigations and enforcement actions targeting technology firms—including behemoths such as Meta, Tesla, and Google.
Both Meta and Google donated to Trump's inaugural fund, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk spent big in support of the president's 2024 White House bid. Public Citizen found that the tech corporations that have benefited from Trump administration decisions to drop enforcement efforts have spent a combined $1.2 billion trying to influence the president.
"The Trump administration is protecting lawbreaking corporate insiders from accountability instead of protecting Americans from corporate lawbreaking," said Rick Claypool, a research director for Public Citizen and author of the new report. "To Big Tech corporations, this sends the message there is little risk in breaking the law in pursuit of profit—especially if you are an ally of the administration."
"For insiders," Claypool added, "corporate crime pays."
"Although he pretends to be tough on Big Tech, Donald Trump is a willing enabler of Big Tech's wrongdoing."
Public Citizen's report comes amid growing scrutiny of what one critic recently described as "the incredible shrinking Trump antitrust enforcers."
Despite claims of a "surging MAGA antitrust movement," Trump's Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission have repeatedly shown a willingness to bow to White House-connected lobbyists and allow corporate consolidation to proceed unabated. Last week, as Common Dreams reported, the Trump DOJ settled a Biden-era legal challenge against UnitedHealth Group, allowing the monopolist to swallow yet another competitor.
"The second Trump administration has now become a pay-to-play operation where influential MAGA lobbyists paid millions by large corporations use their clout with the president and Attorney General Pam Bondi to overrule the enforcers and push through mergers," The American Prospect's David Dayen wrote following news of the UnitedHealth settlement.
"It seems that if you're a company and can pony up the money," Dayen added, "you can get whatever regulatory treatment you wish. Bribery has gone in a few short months from a prohibited activity to the coin of the realm in Trump's America."
As Public Citizen's report showed, tech giants have been the chief beneficiaries of what the group characterized as the Trump administration's corrupt approach to corporate crime enforcement.
At the start of Trump's second term, at least 104 tech corporations faced more than 140 federal investigations and enforcement actions. The Trump administration has withdrawn or halted nearly 50 of those enforcement actions, Public Citizen found.
"Although he pretends to be tough on Big Tech, Donald Trump is a willing enabler of Big Tech's wrongdoing," Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, said in a statement. "For Big Tech, a relative pittance in political spending has generated gigantic returns in dropped prosecutions, policy U-turns, and aggressive administration support for Big Tech's global agenda."
Demonstrators yelled at federal agents to "get off our streets" as they set up a police checkpoint on a popular street in the nation's capital.
More than 100 protesters gathered late Wednesday at a checkpoint set up by a combination of local and federal officers on a popular street in Washington, D.C., where U.S. President Donald Trump has taken over the police force and deployed around 800 National Guard members as part of what he hopes will be a long-term occupation of the country's capital—and potentially other major cities.
The officers at the Wednesday night checkpoint reportedly included agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is also taking part in immigration raids in the city. Some agents were wearing face coverings to conceal their identities.
After law enforcement agents established the checkpoint on 14th Street, protesters gathered and jeered the officers, chanting "get off our streets" and "go home fascists." Some demonstrators yelled at the agents standing at the checkpoint, while others warned oncoming drivers to turn to avoid the police installation.
There was no officially stated purpose for the checkpoint, but it came amid the Trump administration's lawless mass deportation campaign and its broader threats to deploy U.S. troops on the streets of American cities to crush dissent.
At least one person, a Black woman, was arrested at Wednesday's checkpoint. One D.C. resident posted to Reddit that agents were "pulling people out of cars who are 'suspicious' or if they don't like the answers to their questions." The Washington Post reported that a "mix of local and federal authorities pulled over drivers for seat belt violations or broken taillights."
The National Guard troops activated by Trump this week were not seen at the checkpoint, which shut down before midnight.
Wednesday night's protests are expected to be just the start as public anger mounts over Trump's authoritarian actions in the nation's capital—where violent crime fell to a 30-year low last year—and across the country.
Radley Balko, a journalist who has documented the growing militarization of U.S. police, wrote earlier this week that "the motivation for Donald Trump's plan to 'federalize' Washington, D.C., is same as his motivation for sending active-duty troops into Los Angeles, deporting people to the CECOT torture prison in El Salvador, his politicization of the Department of Justice, and nearly every other authoritarian overreach of the last six months: He is testing the limits of his power—and, by extension, of our democracy."
"He's feeling out what the Supreme Court, Congress, and the public will let him get away with. And so far, he's been able to do what he pleases," Balko wrote. "We are now past the point of crisis. Trump has long dreamed of presiding over a police state. He has openly admired and been reluctant to criticize foreign leaders who helm one. He has now appointed people who have expressed their willingness to help him achieve one to the very positions with the power to make one happen. And both he and his highest-ranking advisers have both openly spoken about and written out their plans to implement one."
"It's time to believe them," Balko added.