Last week Governor Kemp made an appearance on Fox News to defend his state’s decision to reduce voting rights throughout Georgia while comparing his actions to my state of Colorado. While listening to Governor Kemp speak, I was disgusted although not surprised. Kemp’s spin was misleading, lacking real context and in areas, blatant lies. Equally important, Kemp and his conservative Georgia lawmakers seem to have … Continue reading Shame on Governor Kemp
There’s a saying among hikers that a group can only really move forward to reach a destination at the pace of the slowest. Unfortunately, when it comes to the march towards building a world in which everyone can thrive, the slowest among us are walking very, very slowly. We can see this all around us, as turmoil from hate and racism and environmental crises and … Continue reading What About Money?
Our democracy is under attack. As of today, more than 300 different pieces of voter suppression legislation have been introduced across the country. Just last week, in Georgia, the state that tipped the Senate for Democrats in January, Governor Brian Kemp signed a sweeping 98-page omnibus “election” bill (aka voter suppression bill), into law surrounded by white male legislators under a painting of a slave … Continue reading Use The For The People Act to Fix The Damage of Anti-Voter Legislation
Congress just passed a long-awaited package designed to be a rescue plan for workers, families, and businesses struggling through the dual economic and public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This sweeping package demonstrates the undeniable power of the federal government to significantly reduce poverty when it decides to, and raises two questions: Why should we wait for once-in-a-generation global catastrophes to use the … Continue reading Let’s make The American Rescue Package’s anti-poverty impact permanent
We’re quickly approaching a year since the COVID-19 pandemic and job crisis hit the US like a hurricane. Unemployment rates rose along with death rates and feelings of fear and uncertainty. At the height of the Great Recession 8.6 million jobs were lost; it took just three months for the COVID-19 pandemic to exceed that. Working Americans suffered greatly. But while it’s important for Congress … Continue reading Real Economic Relief Needs To Also Tackle Climate Change
Being poor in America is expensive. The 16% of our population that lives in poverty faces a daily barrage of hidden fees, fines, and predatory interest rates almost perfectly designed to keep them trapped in poverty. To be poor in America is far more difficult and complicated than it is often presented as. Things can quickly spin out of control when hidden costs start to … Continue reading Life Without A Living Wage
On Monday, March 1, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and Rep. Brendan Boyle took a stand against out-of-control wealth inequality by introducing The ‘Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act’ to Congress. So what will this tax do? It’s a virtual copy of the wealth tax that Warren ran on in her 2020 presidential campaign. A wealth tax is a yearly tax on the net worth, essentially assets … Continue reading Explaining The Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act
With only 50 Democrats in the Senate, supporters of President Biden’s COVID relief package don’t have the 60 votes necessary to overcome the filibuster and pass it as standard legislation. They also haven’t demonstrated a willingness to abolish the filibuster, leaving Senate Dems with one option: budget reconciliation. This process allows a simple majority to pass legislation by incorporating it into the budget, but it … Continue reading Parliamentarians, Byrd rule, and reconciliation
President Biden and his team have announced that about $1.9 trillion of additional money is needed due to the problems caused by the current pandemic. That is about 9% of the size of the entire US economy — anyway you think about it, that is a big deal. The benefits of that are fairly well articulated by the administration, but because many on the right … Continue reading Don’t Let Inflation Fears Stop COVID Relief
In a major report this year, global anti-poverty charity Oxfam estimates that the poor could take over a decade to recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Meanwhile, their wealthier counterparts have already recovered – and then some – after just nine months of the pandemic. COVID undoubtedly played a role in expediting the increasing wage inequality in our country, with U.S. Billionaires … Continue reading COVID- 19 Relief Cannot Be a Short-Term Fix
The federal minimum wage has remained at a deplorable amount of $7.25 an hour since 2009, despite the substantial increase in worker productivity and costs of living across the country. Luckily, The Raise the Wage Act of 2021 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 26th to remedy this injustice. As President Joe Biden pushes for the increase of the minimum wage … Continue reading 13 Senators Oppose Helping Their Very Own States
I’m 53 and my wife and our two kids and I live in urban Denver. We are financially fortunate and thanks to two good incomes, decent investments, smart work and luck, we are what I call garden variety millionaires. My wife is an M.D. and I’m an MBA from a non-fancy non-top 25 school. I considered myself politically engaged and a proud and active member … Continue reading Why I’m a Patriotic Millionaire: Ron Guillot
With their first full week in control of the House, Senate, and the Presidency underway, Congressional Democrats are prioritizing the For the People Act, a comprehensive set of reforms to end special interest control of Washington.. That’s cause to celebrate. In a recent 2020 poll of voters across party lines, a whopping 67% said they support the bill, including a majority of Republicans and independents. … Continue reading The For the People Act, the first step to healing America
Now that Joe Biden has been officially sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, we have a Democratic Congress in lockstep with the new administration on an array of critical economic relief measures. We can now begin the real work toward economic recovery. That starts with raising the minimum wage. President Biden has already made his stance on the job and wage … Continue reading Economic Recovery and The Fight for $15
There’s a lot to celebrate about the new “American Rescue Plan,” the bold, ambitious stimulus package that President-elect Joe Biden rolled out on Thursday. First and foremost: the nation is finally set to enact a much-overdue $15 federal minimum wage! Workers have been denied fair compensation for decades. Despite growth in worker productivity, the federal minimum wage has been a measly $7.25 per hour since … Continue reading Biden Stimulus Plan: Minimum Wage, Major Relief
This past election a group of my friends and I hopped on a plane in the middle of a pandemic and flew to the battleground state of Georgia to become poll watchers. It’s no secret that our elections system is in desperate need of reform, but on election day I was able to witness firsthand how vastly different and challenging voting is in a traditionally … Continue reading When the Patriotic Millionaires Went Down to Georgia
It’s clear that Trump isn’t just going to go away. He’s going to continue to fuel the fires of conspiracy theories and white supremacy once he’s finally removed from office.
For what seems like the hundredth time this year, COVID relief bill negotiations are apparently back on, but key differences remain between the two sides, leaving many skeptical that Congress will ever reach a deal. Speaker Pelosi is adamant about providing relief to state and local governments, while Leader McConnell refuses to budge on liability protection for any company whose employees contract the coronavirus – … Continue reading Time for More Stimulus Checks
After the sky-high consumer spending of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday is a day for folks to direct some of their money toward charitable causes instead. While we believe the work we do at the Patriotic Millionaires is certainly a great cause, don’t worry – we won’t be asking for your money today, or ever. As rich people in this country, we’ve certainly … Continue reading We Should All Be Skeptical of Rich People’s Philanthropy
We’re living in troubled times, but we’ve gone through troubled times before and come out better for them. I’m not discouraged by the challenges this country faces – I’m hopeful. Despite all of the issues this country currently faces, we have been moving in the right direction, albeit very slowly.