We’d like to wish you all a happy holiday season from everyone here at the Patriotic Millionaires. It’s been a long and eventful year, so we’d like to commemorate it by looking back over some of the main events, praising those who did good for our nation, and calling out those who did bad. For this final Roundup before the end of the year, let’s … Continue reading Happy Holidays!
Congress is facing an important deadline this week. By this Friday, December 16th, lawmakers must adopt a new spending bill to fund the federal government for the 2023 fiscal year, or they will face the prospect of a government shutdown. Both Republicans and Democrats are eager to get this done. They might not care equally about the need to prevent the economic fallout that would inevitably ensue with a … Continue reading Don’t Extend Trump’s Corporate Tax Cuts
There isn’t a single state in the country where an individual can afford a modest one-bedroom apartment at fair market rent on the current minimum wage. Not one. This shouldn’t be a surprise considering the increased cost of living over the years (inflation rates have jumped to 7.75% this year alone) and the stagnant federal minimum wage (which hasn’t been raised since 2009). But what … Continue reading Florida’s Minimum Wage Is Not a Living Wage
Newborn Mississippians have the unfortunate distinction of a shorter life expectancy than newborns of any other state. In fact, as New York Times columnist Nick Kristof recently noted, a newborn boy in Mississippi enjoys a shorter life expectancy than a newborn boy in Bangladesh. But that doesn’t seem to be the focus of Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves (R) these days. Reeves is paying more attention … Continue reading Mississippi’s Mantra: Lower Taxes for the Rich; Shorter Lives for Everyone
Last week, we told you about many important issues that Democrats have on their plate in the lame duck session. For this week’s Closer Look, we’re going to dive a little deeper into one of the most important things Democrats should be prioritizing in the three weeks before they officially lose control of the House: fixing (AKA eliminating) the debt ceiling. Established by Congress in 1939, … Continue reading Eliminate the debt ceiling
As we come to the end of the year, we enter a time when people, full of holiday spirit, are giving more than ever. This goes for billionaires as well. But unlike the donations of regular Americans, billionaires aren’t dropping a few dollars into a donation bucket at the grocery store or giving to their local soup kitchen. Billionaires donate millions, but their generosity always … Continue reading Don’t Trust Billionaire Philanthropy
Just a few hours ago, the Senate sided with billionaire rail owners over rail unions in their ongoing contract dispute. After urging from President Biden, Congress passed a bill that legally forces rail unions to accept an agreement that many of them have voted against, saying it is inadequate and does not provide enough paid sick leave. This is a massive blow to the tens of thousands … Continue reading The Fight for Union Rights Is Heating Up
This week, Congress has returned to work in Washington after the Thanksgiving break and will now finish out its “lame-duck session” – the legislative period between elections and the entry of a new Congress. This is crunch time for many important legislative goals for Democrats since they will lose control of the House come January. For this week’s Closer Look, we want to highlight a few of these legislative … Continue reading The clock is ticking on Democrats’ legislative agenda
American billionaires spent $880 million on the midterm elections by the end of October, with the final total spent likely approaching an astronomical $1 billion. That’s a game-changing amount of money, and with the lion’s share of it going to Republican candidates and groups, the billionaires were confident they would be able to get their money’s worth. Fortunately for most regular Americans, a “red wave” was largely … Continue reading Billionaire Campaign Spending is Out of Control
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a week since polls closed for the midterm elections. Some key races have yet to be called, but we can nonetheless see some broader patterns emerging that we’d like to highlight for you today. First, the good news: Democrats have officially retained control of the Senate! After incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez Masto defeated Adam Laxalt in Nevada’s hotly contested Senate … Continue reading You can blame New York for the House
Election Day is here! If you haven’t already voted, we encourage you to make a plan to do so before the polls close tonight. Do your public duty. There’s a lot at stake, so for this week’s Closer Look, we are giving you a run-down of the key races and ballot initiatives we are watching. The Big Picture: You could very well say that the fate of … Continue reading What to watch this Election Day
Regressivity, defined as the opposition to progress or returning to a former, less advanced state, is not a description to which policymakers should aspire. Yet, overall, state and local tax policy is regressive, in many cases obscenely so. According to the most recent report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the state and local tax burden, as a percentage of income, of those … Continue reading State Tax Policy: The Growing and Unsustainable Divergence
When Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) over the summer, they were expecting it to be a major factor in their favor in the upcoming midterm elections. They probably weren’t expecting that Republicans would also see the IRA as an opportunity to help win elections. In recent weeks, Republican candidates for the House and Senate have spent millions on ads targeting the IRA, in which they single out … Continue reading Republicans Are Campaigning on Protecting Wealthy Tax Criminals
Are America’s billionaires oligarchs? It’s a strange question for many who see oligarchs as a uniquely foreign problem. But the answer is, without a doubt, yes. We’ve heard a lot about oligarchs in the news over the last year, as Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has sparked a fierce international backlash against the aggressors and brought attention to the inner workings of the Russian state. Along with a … Continue reading Are America’s billionaires oligarchs?
Is centi-billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos now writing the paper’s editorials himself? Of course not. But the Post editorial board’s recent rant, Meta’s stock plunge shows the right – and wrong – way to tax wealth, could make the objective reader wonder otherwise. It’s not that the Post’s arguments against current proposals to tax the rich so obviously would favor Bezos. Editorial board members shouldn’t abstain from opining on an issue … Continue reading Why Do Billionaires So Love Owning Newspapers?
The federal government is making a huge mistake in its fight against inflation. We’ve talked a lot about inflation recently, and how important it is for the government to help working people provide for themselves and their families as prices continue to rise. But we haven’t talked much about the one thing the federal government is actually doing to fight inflation – raising interest rates … Continue reading Reframing the Inflation Debate
If you hadn’t heard, Elon Musk – Tesla and SpaceX CEO and the single richest man in the world – is just days away from closing his deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. After a tumultuous, months-long legal drama, a judge finally gave Twitter and Musk an ultimatum: reach a settlement on your own by this Friday, October 28, or face trial in November. With the deadline … Continue reading Elon Musk and the Oligarch Takeover of America
Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that consumer prices rose 8.2% over the past year through September. Inflation has cooled a bit since its peak in the summer, but not as much as most experts hoped. Prices are still rising at levels not seen since the 1980s. As prices for everyday essentials like food, gas, and rent continue to spiral out of control in America, … Continue reading Democrats need to get real with voters about inflation
In the byline of his recent Forbes op-ed, Michigan’s Romney Was Brainwashed – By The Income Tax, writer Brian Domitrovic identifies himself as a “scholar.” Michigan, Domitrovic explains, supposedly did itself in by enacting a state income tax 55 years ago and that its then governor, George Romney, was brainwashed when he agreed to sign it into law. But it seems Domitrovic is the one … Continue reading Brainwashed by Arthur Laffer
Last week, Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post penned an excellent exposé on Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and his efforts to stop the recent wave of unionization at his franchise. (You can read the piece HERE.) The Starbucks unionizing campaign began in Buffalo in August 2021 and has since spread to more than 225 Starbucks cafés across the country. Like thousands of other workers in … Continue reading Howard Schultz should be in favor of Starbucks workers organizing