We Are Going Nowhere If We Don't Address The Problem

[gab13by13]

This from an AI search of Piketty who wrote about the perils of income inequality.

Inequality Regimes: Piketty introduces the concept of "inequality regimes," which refers to the justifications and institutional frameworks that sustain inequality in different societies. He argues that these regimes can change rapidly due to political mobilization and social movements, as seen in countries like Sweden and the U.S. during the 20th century.

Wealth Concentration: A central theme in Piketty's work is that wealth concentration is not merely a result of market forces but is deeply rooted in political ideologies and institutional arrangements. He advocates for progressive taxation and policies aimed at redistributing wealth to address these disparities.

Implications of Piketty's Research
Piketty's findings have significant implications for contemporary economic policy. He argues that without addressing the structural causes of inequality, societies will struggle to tackle other pressing issues, such as climate change and social justice. His work calls for a reevaluation of economic systems and policies to promote greater equality and sustainability.

In summary, Piketty's research provides a comprehensive analysis of the historical and systemic factors contributing to economic inequality, advocating for informed policy changes to create a more equitable society.

The 3rd rail that most politicians are afraid to touch.

Bernie Sanders gets it, and has spent most of his long life preaching about the perils of income inequality.

Related to income inequality is crony capitalism where the end result is monopolies. Dylan Ratigan preached about this on MSNBC until he stepped on too many big toes and got fired.

The billionaires who own the politicians are the problem, and now Krasnov has taken the next step by putting those billionaires into his cabinet. Anyone seen any data on income inequality under Krasnov's reign?

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. No problems can be addressed until the filibuster dies and the court is expanded

Otherwise, any legislation beyond a reconciliation bill can be blocked, and any laws passed can be overturned by the MAGA majority on the court.

[gab13by13]

2. You are 100% spot on, but that's not my point.

When I drive to visit my daughter in Pittsburgh, the trip is 100 miles, I drive through a lot of rural Pa. There is this one homemade billboard sign that speaks of what I am saying. The billboard says that, "I work, pay taxes, and Democrats take." The house where that sign sits is pretty run down. I doubt that the person who made the sign has decent healthcare, I doubt that he has the means to save money to put his kids through college. His attitude is that Democrats are the problem for his poverty.

My thread is about attitude. name me a dozen more politicians who talk about raising the minimum wage, who talk about taxing the rich, other than Bernie Sanders?

Bill Clinton is a good example of what I am saying, but I can't say any more.

Krasnov and his billionaire pals are gutting the social safety net to give billionaires a tax break and unwashed Magats are blaming Democrats. Just wait until Dec. 1, 2026 when the big cuts take effect.

I understand your opinion about doing a political fix. There are rabid unwashed Magats who will never change but I believe that a significant number of unwashed Magats are going to join with us, are going to put pressure on their Congressional Reps to throw the billionaires out. Before we do the things you suggest, we need to change peoples' attitudes as to understanding what our real problem is.

[Fiendish Thingy]

6. I share your belief about the people unifying against the status quo power holders

Shared, universal suffering is a great unifier and motivator.

But I disagree about changing people’s attitudes before making changes that solve our problems.

We need only to elect a congress willing to kill the filibuster and expand the court, and a president willing to sign that court expansion into law.

Once that is done, there can be no more hiding behind “gridlock” to avoid accountability; Dems can ram through progressive bill after bill (as Whitmer did in MI in a single year with a single seat majority in the legislature), show the people the can govern effectively without fear or hesitation, and then we will see attitudes change (for reference, see FDR and the New Deal).

[gab13by13]

8. Then Democrats need to nominate an FDR

even if he/she isn't a politician.

I suggested a Malcolm Nance-like person to be our nominee for president.

[Fiendish Thingy]

11. I don't get your infatuation with Nance

We need someone who has experience actually governing.

No more celebrities, billionaires or pundits in politics.

[W_HAMILTON]

20. Yes, Bernie Sanders is the only politician talking about raising the minimum wage.

[harumph]

3. Not to beat a dead horse but wealth and income are often conflated.

It's important to nail down the difference if planning to change policies as you suggest. By definition, they aren't the same thing. Tax laws favor high wealth and incentivize low "reported" income. Tax laws also offer deductions to business owners that are not available to non-business owners to reduce their net profit. Imagine when businesses en masse start to use robots for tasks previously performed by humans. Just yesterday, I realized that not only would the business not need to pay for healthcare for robots, or social security wages...but because robots are machines, they would get to "depreciate" the machines (as a business loss) over the useful life of the machine. How's that for a kick in the nuts? A good policy would be to disallow that depreciation or reverse it where the business pays an equivalent amount (that would have been taken as a loss) into SoSec or other independent entitlement.

[gab13by13]

9. Yes, you nailed it,

Here’s the foundation of everything: the U.S. tax code taxes income, not wealth. Billionaires don’t earn traditional income the way most people do. They don’t collect paychecks.

Their wealth grows through asset appreciation — stocks, real estate, businesses — that isn’t taxed until they sell. That one fact unlocks the entire strategy.

[usonian]

4. How do they do it?

They eat it ip.
Oligarchs eat them up.

[Initech]

5. No problems can be addressed until we address the 800 pound elephant in the room: Fox News.

Fox is a problem. It brainwashes the masses into voting against their best interests. They’ve stolen multiple elections including 2000, 2016, and 2024. They stole half of Congress. Half of our governors. They stole SCOTUS. They were instrumental in helping overturn Roe V Wade. And now we have a massive turd occupying the White House who intends to stay.

Fox isn’t just a mere news outlet or a propaganda arm, they are a hostile intelligence agency meant to destabilize the United States through extremely hostile propaganda. And anyone who dares to question their motives gets replaced with an ass kissing bootlicker who will conform to Sean Hannity’s line.

[gab13by13]

7. I just saw this scroll across my home page

Krasnov to give over a billion acres of federal land and water for the oil, gas, and coal industries to drill and mine on.

This is more proof that the fossil fuel industry is keeping gasoline prices low as a quid pro quo to Krasnov.

That my friends is Socialism and this will not be reported nor challenged.

[Initech]

16. Asshole the other day made a statement about money being returned "to the people" from the "healthcare industry".

What about all the money that oil and gas companies have stolen from us? And they pay no taxes on it. When are we going to get that money back?

[BlueTsunami2018]

10. That's a lot of words to say capitalism.

Capitalism is the problem, it’s always been the problem, it’ll always be the problem until we get rid of it.

[JoseBalow]

12. Tony Montana put it succinctly...

[creeksneakers2]

15. Nope

And you'll never get the votes.

[BlueTsunami2018]

17. Yes.

It absolutely is the problem.

And voting is never going to get us out of this.

[creeksneakers2]

19. We can win the midterms and then when Trump disobeys Congress take it to the next level.

[ananda]

13. I've always been a Bernie fan and voted for him...

in two primaries.

I think he represents what I wish all the Democrats
would represent.

I am still a lifelong yellowdawg Democrat, and will
always vote Democratic against any Republican
when it matters.

[JustAnotherGen]

14. Harris addressed it in her Housing Program

It was WHO was eligible for the assistance. It was a tiny way to even up the HOLC started in 1933 which gave non Black Americans a 35 year head start to building wealth via home investment/purchase.

The root of America's broken financial system has always laid through preferential treatment of white Americans. Was just at Ellis Island with family over from Italy yesterday.

How did my 28 year old Global History Professor Nephew with a concentration on the Americas immediately figure out the Compromise of 1877 being followed up by mass immigration from mostly Europe in 1892 were two death blows to those of us here since 1619?

"Zia - they took from you."

Sanders refuses to acknowledge that with a full chest - and that's why he can only win in majority white states. What you permit you promote. What you don't state becomes forgiven.

We need the Crocketts , Underwoods, and Bookers to bludgeon the Democratic Party with this fact. Small things which level the financial playing field that don't look like reparations for Ellis Island, Jim Crow and the New Deal but definitely address the financial pain inflicted on Foundational Black Americans.

If it doesn't get addressed in the next few years - I fear for my great nieces and nephews and the financial legacy we leave behind. A five percent tax break for those who were on, or had a parent or grandparent on the 1930 to 1970 Census as " Negro or Black" has a built in sunset.

I'm 52. I have Ankylosing Spondylitis. If implemented in 2029 - I would be 57. Chances of me living 35 years beyond that are small. But that 5% could be invested and left to my greats, so they could continue to reap the benefits of legacy that white Baby Boomers and Generation Jones had handed to them on a silver platter. Add in the substandard health care that even the wealthiest Black Americans have inflicted on them and you have the perfect sunset policy built in.

And here's the thing . . . the Average American isn't a policy wonk like we are at DU.

So we can be sneaky and weave it into our platform/policy.

[highplainsdem]

18. Paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 5 in your OP are apparently AI-generated. It would have been much better to

link to a human-written resource like Wikipedia, which offers a good intro to Piketty's writings, instead of using an extremely harmful and exploitative technology that is likely to increase wealth inequality much more than any other tech we've seen.

[TommyT139]

21. AI content -- Didn't bother to read.