Stephan: Several readers wrote me after I ran the piece about the latest data on wealth inequality to ask how the wealth inequality in America compares with wealth inequality between monarchs and dictators in the past. Interesting question, here is the answer. It certainly puts things in perspective.
Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg the four richest men in America Credit: npr
Income inequality is a fact in America. It runs down deep into the system of governance itself. While many progressive politicians and activists attack it as the great evil of this country, more Americans have recognized income inequality as a natural part of our habitat, like a people who accept the withering freezing rain that is natural to their homeland. Millions of Americans acknowledge income inequality as a force of nature, the work of an indifferent God, something that is an inevitable part of our life. While we know income inequality is bad, just how bad is it? Surely we are no Sweden or Switzerland but what countries have similar levels of income inequality to us? Using the Gini index we get the scary and ugly answer.
What is the Gini index? The Gini index, also known as the Gini ratio, is a statistical measure of distribution intended to represent the income or wealth distribution. It is used to represent income inequality. 0.2 represents perfect income equality, […]
Stephan: Here is today's Republican Scum Award winner, Representative Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska who demonstrates once again, that apparently you have to be a corrupt grifter to get the backing of the Republican Party. It will be interesting to see how the voters of Nebraska vote in 2022 when Fortenberry is next up for election. Will they vote him back into office, unless he is already in prison It wouldn't surprise me.
Republican Representative of Nebraska and winner of the SR Scum Award
A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) for allegedly concealing information and making false statements to authorities investigating illegal contributions to his 2016 campaign.
Fortenberry has been charged with one count of scheming to conceal material facts and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Fortenberry denied the accusations in a video obtained by the Omaha World-Herald earlier Tuesday.
“We will fight these charges. I did not lie to them,” Fortenberry said in the
The charges stem from an FBI investigation into $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions from Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigerian billionaire, that were funneled through a group of Californians between 2012 and 2016 to four American politicians.
The contributions included $30,000 that went to Fortenberry’s 2016 reelection campaign during a fundraiser held in Los Angeles.
Foreign nationals are prohibited from contributing to U.S. election campaigns. Chagoury made an agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office in 2019 in which he agreed […]
Elon Musk is now richer than some countries, his wealth is calculated at $230 Billion. And although he is the richest man on the planet, he is far from alone. There are 745 such men and women in America. The only thing you share with them is that they are humans who live on the same planet, but not in the same way. Their world is so different from yours that even television shows purporting to show their lives don't get it right because no one would believe it, it exceeds the limits of fiction. These are people who buy Congress members as you might hire a gardener, although even that is not right, because only a small percentage of Americans could hire a gardener.
And to show you how rigged the American tax system is, you and I pay more taxes than these billionaires do.
The effect all of this wealth inequality is profound, particularly because the bribery of congress members is legal.
Elon Musk, a man as rich as some countries
American billionaires grew in number and expanded their collective fortunes by $2.1 trillion since Covid-19 sparked a worldwide pandemic nineteen months ago, according to a new analysis unveiled Monday.
“Targeted tax increases on billionaires, including the proposed Billionaire Income Tax, would rebalance the tax code and reduce these glaring abuses in who pays for the services we all depend on.”
An overall 70% surge of wealth among the nation’s richest individuals since March of 2020 has resulted in approximately 130 new billionaires, found the new report released by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). In a statement, the groups noted that there are now 745 people with “10-figure bank accounts” compared to the 614 that existed when the pandemic first hit.
In total, those 745 billionaires now hold $5 trillion in collective wealth, which the groups note is “two-thirds more than the $3 trillion in wealth held by the bottom 50% of U.S. households.”
Parag Khanna, Susan Joy Hassol, - Scientific American
Stephan: I have been writing about the coming mass climate change migrations that are going to occur in America for years, and now this is becoming an issue for others. Once again, I counsel that you check to see what climate change is likely to do where you live, and if the news is not good, move before real estate price collapse.
A family packing up to move Credit: The multitasking mom
The increasingly frequent and intense floods, heat waves, wildfires and other extreme climate events jolt us into realizing that we don’t have the comfortable distance of 2040 or 2050 by which to mitigate climate change. The future we were meant to evade is here already, decades ahead of schedule. As world leaders gather at the global climate negotiations in Glasgow in November, they—and we—need to focus on two imperatives simultaneously.
First, we must avoid the unmanageable by rapidly reducing the emissions that are heating up the planet. And second, we must manage the unavoidable by making ourselves more resilient to the changes that are already here or soon will be. And for billions of people, to adapt will mean to move.
That applies to people in the United States as well. But the search for low taxes and sunshine have lured people to Phoenix, Austin and Miami, cities facing drought, power failure and rising seas, respectively. New York, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco—many of America’s principal […]
Stephan: Once again the insurance industry makes it clear they are taking climate change very seriously. I caution you also once again to look at the data on what climate change is going to do in you area and when, and plan accordingly before it is too late.
Damaged homes in floodwater after Hurricane Ida in Pointe-Aux-Chenes, Louisiana. Credit: Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty
The water has receded and the embers have died down from many of the disasters in the United States this year — leaving insurance companies that cover floods, fires, hail, and extreme cold on the hook for staggering losses. If current trends continue, they could suffer one of the costliest years in recent memory.
In the first half of 2021, disasters inflicted a staggering $42 billion in losses covered by insurance, a 10-year high. Then in September, Hurricane Ida cut a path of destruction through the Gulf Coast and flooded neighborhoods from Louisiana to New Jersey, causing between $31 billion and $44 billion in insured losses. Ida now ranks among the top five costliest storms in US history.
The Atlantic hurricane season still isn’t over, and California’s autumn fire season has yet to enter its peak, so the total damages are poised to rise even higher. Insurers are still tallying damage totals from wildfires in the US West […]
