Happy 4th of July! We hope that you and those close to you can spend time today celebrating America’s 248th birthday and everything that makes our country so special. We here at the Patriotic Millionaires like to use Independence Day to remind ourselves what patriotism means and why we go about calling ourselves “patriotic” in the first place. And judging by recent events at the Supreme Court, … Continue reading Happy 4th of July!
We’ve always wondered how much billionaires would be willing to pay for American democracy, and now we have the answer: $4.6 trillion. Last Thursday, Donald Trump became the first former president to be convicted in a criminal trial after a Manhattan jury found him guilty of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to a porn star. It’s too early to tell what kind of impact … Continue reading What is Democracy Worth to Billionaires?
The Patriotic Millionaires have a message that the G20 finance ministers literally can’t miss: “The G20 must act. Tax us, the super rich! We are proud to pay more.” The leaders of the world’s leading economies are in town for the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. So naturally, we took it upon ourselves to project our simple message onto the … Continue reading The G20 must act. Tax us, the super rich!
We are happy to report that the Patriotic Millionaires’ fifth annual Spring Symposium, “How to Fix Everything,” was a smashing success! Over the course of three days this week, we engaged with activists, policy experts, and lawmakers about the critical need to raise taxes on the rich, raise the wage floor, and strengthen American democracy. Now that it’s over, we’d like to share some of … Continue reading That’s a Wrap: Patriotic Millionaires’ 5th Annual Spring Symposium
Next week, members of the Patriotic Millionaires will gather in Washington, DC for our fifth annual symposium, “How to Fix Everything.” The three-day event has become the highlight of the Patriotic Millionaires’ annual calendar. Our members gather together for strategy sessions with academics, activists, and lawmakers to discuss how to transform the economy and make it work for every American, and not just a wealthy … Continue reading How to Fix Everything
We hate to kick things off with a cliché, but it’s an important one: elections have consequences. While cynics will dismiss elections as a rubber stamp on the status quo, the reality is that two starkly different realities are possible in January of 2025. In one of those realities, a newly inaugurated President Trump kicks off his second term with a series of vengeful abuses of … Continue reading Our First Endorsements of 2024
It’s encouraging that the Senate Judiciary Committee has decided to get to the bottom of questions regarding billionaire influence and corruption at the Supreme Court. Now, it’s time they rolled up their sleeves and got their hands dirty to actually make it happen. The last time that we told you about the ethics controversy at the Supreme Court was back in August. We outlined a number of … Continue reading If Durbin Crows About Subpoenas, He Needs to Issue Them
If there’s one thing that we want the world leaders at Davos to know, it’s this: we would be proud to pay more in taxes. This week, over 2,800 elites from business, academia, politics, civil society, and the arts are attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland – better known as simply “Davos.” The theme of this year’s conference is “Rebuilding Trust,” with many discussions centering around geopolitical … Continue reading Proud to Pay More
Happy new year! We hope that you had a wonderful holiday season and that your new year has begun with notes of hope and joy. Like everyone else, the Patriotic Millionaires are using the start of a new year to take stock of our priorities and map out the challenges – and opportunities – we anticipate in the year ahead. For this week’s Closer Look, … Continue reading The Year Ahead
Oh, to be a billionaire in 2023 – but particularly one born with a silver spoon in their mouth. You’ve heard the Patriotic Millionaires talk about how billionaires took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to dramatically enrich themselves while workers got slammed. To sum it up quickly, the global billionaire class increased their collective wealth by a whopping $2.6 trillion between 2020 and 2022. But what has … Continue reading Meet America’s New Aristocracy
There is no denying that Big Tech and its well-known industry leaders have done the world plenty of good. The device you’re using to read these words, and the speed at which you downloaded them, would not exist if not for their relentless spirit of innovation and their desire to push technological boundaries. But an old rule still applies: outsized success inevitably engenders hubris; that … Continue reading Delusions of Philanthropy
If you need more proof that America is slipping further and further into oligarchy, look no further than recent revelations about the Supreme Court. Oligarchy is a form of government in which a small group of typically wealthy and corrupt people wield power. It derives from the Greek words oligoi (“few”) and arkhein (“to rule”). Over at the Patriotic Millionaires, we regularly describe how oligarchs use their wealth to sway … Continue reading Oligarchy Comes for the Supreme Court
“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few, but we can’t have both.” Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941) Last week, former President Donald Trump was indicted on charges related to his efforts to overturn the legitimate democratic results of the 2020 election. The announcement comes on the heels of Trump’s other two indictments: one … Continue reading We need to choose democracy
It’s a monumental day at the Patriotic Millionaires! Today, with support from our organization and a number of our allies, Representatives Barbara Lee (CA-12), Summer Lee (PA-12), Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), and Jamaal Bowman (NY-16) introduced the Oppose Limitless Inequality Growth and Reverse Community Harms (OLIGARCH) Act, which will create an annual wealth tax focused exclusively on containing destabilizing inequality in America and ensuring the viability of … Continue reading Pass the OLIGARCH Act. Save democracy.
Below is a letter sent to Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on July 28, 2022 by Jeffrey R. Huggett, a member of the Patriotic Millionaires. Dear Bill, Like so many others recently, I read your blog announcing substantial personal contributions to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Whereas I am thrilled about the important work you fund … Continue reading A Letter to Bill Gates
Throughout the history of the United States, people of color have had a diminished voice in politics when compared to their white counterparts, largely due to discriminatory policies like poll taxes, gerrymandering, and even outright bans on their right to vote. Although access to the voting box has drastically improved over the past decade, there’s still a long way to go. We cannot claim to … Continue reading The Racial Wealth Gap Makes Everything Worse, Even our Democracy
Happy New Year! With a new year comes new challenges and opportunities, and it’s safe to say that there will be no shortage of either in the coming weeks. As you probably know, shortly before the end of the year, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin declared in a Fox News interview that, after months of negotiations, he could not vote to support President Biden’s Build … Continue reading Democrats need Manchin on board before it’s too late
Today, November 3, 2020, is Election Day in America. Though this day feels more fraught than many past ones thanks to disturbing remarks from President Trump trying to cast doubt on the election results and the looming threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s no reason to be alarmed if the result of the election isn’t immediately clear tonight. We may not know the results of … Continue reading Be Patient, Democracy Takes Time
As the final sprint to the 2020 election kicks into gear, prepare to hear a lot about the choice at the top of the ticket and the accompanying admonitions not to forget down ballot races. However, just as importantly, voters will weigh in on an array of ballot initiatives and referendums in 26 states and Washington, D.C. Although these are often glossed over for splashy, … Continue reading Taxing the Rich: The People’s Choice
President Trump may not be able to say it, but it’s all but undeniable at this point that the Russian government attacked American democracy during the 2016 election. While the Russia story might get all of the mainstream news coverage, there’s another, more insidious assault on our democracy underway, and this one’s coming from within. Across the country, ballot initiatives– one of the only ways … Continue reading Direct Democracy is Under Attack