News, Opinions & Events
Most Americans Feel Good About Their Job Security but Not Their Pay – PEW Research
“Younger and lower-income workers are among the least satisfied with their jobs; majorities say it would be hard to find the kind of job they’d want if they were looking today.”
97% of Taxes Paid by Top Half of Earners: Fair Share or Unbalanced? – msn/Tax Foundation
Distribution of US Income: Baseline Estimates – Tax Policy Center
“The Tax Policy Center regularly produces tables showing the distribution of income and federal taxes, effective and marginal tax rates, and other measures of federal taxes. Other tables show estimates of individual tax expenditures, the share of taxpayers who pay no income or payroll tax, the distribution of capital gains and business income, and aspects of the alternative minimum tax.
“Once most TCJA individual income tax provisions expire at the end of 2025, effective federal tax rates are projected to rise from 19.4 percent to 20.4 percent…(U)pper income households who benefited the most from the tax cuts generally experience the largest changes when they are reversed.”
The Inequality Metric That Defines Our Cities – CityNerd
“Income inequality is tearing our cities apart. 🏙️ Using the Gini Coefficient, this video ranks the most and least unequal U.S. cities, from Miami to Salt Lake City. Discover how inequality impacts urban life, transportation, and housing—and what it means for the future of our cities.”
New research finds drug overdose death rate twice as high in Medicaid beneficiaries – RTI
“Medicaid beneficiaries accounted for 25% of the population but 48% (44,277 of 91,799) of all overdose deaths nationwide. Moreover, from 2016 through 2020, overdose deaths among Medicaid beneficiaries increased by 54%, according to the study.”
Opioids Ravaged a Kentucky Town. Then Rehab Became Its Business. – NY Times
“In Louisa, an unbearable social crisis has become the main source of economic opportunity.”
“In eastern Kentucky, a region plagued by poverty and at the heart of the country’s opioid epidemic, the burden of addressing this treatment gap has mainly been taken up by addiction-rehab companies. Many stand more like community centers or churches than medical clinics, offering not just chemical but also spiritual and logistical services with the aim of helping people in addiction find employment and re-enter society. And in the two five-year periods between 2008 and 2017, eight of the 10 counties in America with the steepest decline in overdose mortality rates were in eastern Kentucky. The state now has more residential treatment beds per person than any other state in the country, and provisional data show that, in the 12 months ending on June 30 this year, the number of overdose deaths dropped by 20 percent over the previous 12-month period. Eastern Kentucky is one of the places where you’re most likely to die of a drug addiction but also the place where you’re most likely to receive treatment for it.”
The War in Gaza Is Far Worse Than You Thought – Reason
The World Has Legal and Moral Duty To Stop Genocide in Gaza | Opinion – Newsweek
“The Israel Defense Forces has wrought destruction on Gaza at a speed and on a scale unseen in any other conflict this century. It has leveled entire cities and pulverized vital infrastructure, agricultural land, and cultural and religious sites. The direct killing of more than 42,000 Palestinians in a year—not including the toll of starvation and disease—is a tragedy of utterly staggering proportion. However, what makes this a genocide under international law is the intent behind Israel’s actions.
“The evidence presented in our report clearly shows that the deliberate goal of Israel’s military campaign is the destruction of the Palestinians in Gaza.”
With military and political aid from the US, Israel has transformed the Gaza strip into a concentration camp. Under the cover of war, the Israeli army over the past weeks has killed roughly 20-100 Gazans who have no capability to resist each day.
Gaza rescuers accuse Israel of targeting food aid workers as Palestinians starve – TAG24 News
Weeks before Oct. 7, Shin Bet and IDF chiefs warned Netanyahu of looming attack – Times of Israel
Speaking of the ‘swamp’:
How AARP Shills for UnitedHealthcare – Robert Kutter/TAP
“…ARP is basically an insurance marketing scheme masquerading as an advocacy group for the elderly. For 27 years, UnitedHealth has been the co-branded choice of AARP. If you are looking for a supplemental policy to conventional Medicare, or a Medicare Advantage product, or a Medicare drug insurance policy, AARP will steer you to UnitedHealth. And only to UnitedHealth.
“The reason is shameful. UnitedHealth kicks back 4.95 percent of premium income from AARP subscribers to AARP. And the numbers are staggering. According to AARP’s audited financial report, AARP made $289.3 million from member dues, but $1.134 billion from kickbacks from insurers, of which the lion’s share, $905 million, was from health insurers. AARP delicately refers to these as royalties.
“And somehow, because it is a nonprofit, AARP manages to avoid income taxes on this kickback income. Despite Congress’s efforts over the years to make nonprofits pay taxes on commercial income, AARP paid only about $3 million in federal income taxes on ‘royalties’ of well over a billion.”
$1B question: Does AARP = DDD?
Is AARP putting profits over the interests of its members? – Las Vegas Review-Journal
Musk ‘talks feces’ about homeless people:
Elon Musk calls homelessness a ‘lie’ and ‘propaganda’ — and Trump is listening – Independent
“To Elon Musk, the word ‘homeless‘ is a ‘lie‘ and ‘a propaganda word.’
“‘Homeless is a misnomer. It implies that someone got a little bit behind on their mortgage, and if you just gave them a job, they’d be back on their feet,’ he told former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson in October. ‘What you actually have are violent, drug zombies with dead eyes and needles and human feces on the street.'” …
“‘Most people in this country know that it’s hard to pay rent, it’s hard to afford groceries … but I don’t expect billionaires to know about the struggles that poor and working-class Americans are going through,” Rabinowitz said. ‘“’I wish they could see how out of touch they were and realized that maybe they don’t actually know what they’re talking about.'”
‘Absolute scandal’: Md. fails to promptly hospitalize mentally ill defendants – msn/WaPost
Mental health “systems” and hospitals vary dramatically across US states. Virginia, which borders Maryland to the south, created a Behavioral Health Commission through which legislators can monitor and work to improve mental health services. Mental health issues involve not only state mental hospitals, but also country agencies, health care providers, courts, jails, police, homeless shelters, housing, families, government health care financing programs, human rights, and many other policy areas. This recording of a recent Virginia commission meeting describes the scope of its mission. Keeping the public, families of patients, and policymakers informed on various parts of the mental health matrix is important to maintaining services and improving their quality.
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Statement to 11/20/24 US House Appropriations Committee hearing on Social Security:
“As keeper of the federal government’s purse strings, the House Appropriations Committee plays a part in maintaining Social Security’s commitment to American workers, their families, and taxpayers. First, Committee members can weigh in as Congress and the Treasury find hundreds of billions of dollars annually in cash outside the appropriations process to draw down Social Security reserves. The Committee can also help ‘leave room’ in future budgets for revenue increases that might be necessary to keep Social Security solvent as it coordinates with House Ways & Means, Budget, and other Committees on tax and spending issues.”
The next President and Congress will face daunting fiscal issues. In the shadow of historic levels of national debt, lawmakers will be bargaining over trillions of dollars of taxes and spending as they deal with expiration of the Trump tax cuts. On top of that loom major Social Security financing gaps. Paying promised benefits will require the government to raise more than $2 trillion in cash over the next eight years and more than $24 trillion to achieve long-run solvency.
This paper presents policy options – some favored by conservatives, others by progressives – as a framework for negotiating a solution. Taken together, the changes could generate more than twice as much in savings and revenue than needed to balance Social Security’s books.
The nation’s biggest banks in effect have become today’s payday lenders.
Which U.S. Households Have Credit Card Debt? – St. Louis Fed
46% of American households held credit card debt in 2022.
– Expand the child tax credit to help more working-class parents and grandparents raising kids.
– Provide Social Security credit for unpaid work raising young children.
– Update/improve SSI so more people with disabilities can work, save.
– If taxes must go up, hold the working poor harmless.
Click here for longer version including references and related articles.
CCSE work contributes to Congressional hearing on financing Social Security
Center on Capital & Social Equity (CCSE) analysis and advocacy were evidenced during the June 4 House Ways & Means subcommittee on Social Security hearing of the program’s trust fund. Over the past years, CCSE has worked to explore issues affecting low-wage workers and lay groundwork to defend their Social Security benefits when Congress eventually refinances the nation’s most important social program.
It’s Social Security ‘groundhog day’ as trustees repeat annual forecast of declining finances
“…The trustees’ report, however, neglects to mention how Social Security already is impacting the overall federal budget. As pointed out to the Senate Budget Committee, the mechanics of spending down Social Security’s reserves require the Treasury to draw funds from general revenue and issue new debt to the public. As a result, Social Security is gradually and organically moving to paying for current benefits through debt substituting for now-insufficient payroll taxes that it traditionally relies on.”
Missing the obvious: life expectancy in the U.S. is closely related to income – Karl Polzer
“The underlying theory is simple: More income and wealth allow people and governments to support more years of life. Fewer resources put them at a disadvantage. Some politicians who see the connection may be leery of talking about it. Doing so would lead to awkward questions about improving working and living conditions for millions of Americans and dealing with growing economic inequality.
“The strong relationship between income and longevity is clear when comparing states… (E)ight of the nine states with the lowest median household income also are among the bottom nine in longevity. Similar clustering occurs comparing the highest ranked states across the two categories. Seven of the nine states with the highest median household income also are among the top nine in life expectancy.
“Realizing they are rowing in the same economic boat could prompt states to join forces on policy changes, particularly Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, New Mexico, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and others ranking at or near the bottom…
“Presidential candidate and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley strongly proposes raising the program’s retirement age on the premise that increased life spans are undermining Social Security’s long-term solvency. If long-held assumptions about longevity were challenged, and potential losses to low-income workers and low-income states caused by raising the eligibility age came to light, would she change her position? Republican candidate Donald Trump, by the way, opposes cuts in Social Security as do most Democrats…”
Thanks to the Washington Examiner for running this op-ed:
Senate minimum wage bills make bipartisan compromise possible – Washington Examiner
For longer version with references, see:
Previous work on this issue:
One way to make living easier in Virginia – letter to WaPost
Yes, raise the minimum wage, but don’t stop there – op-ed
“More Americans are rightly asking if Israel could neutralize Hamas without massive destruction and loss of civilian life. Indiscriminate air attacks by the Netanyahu regime already have killed and injured tens of thousands of Gazans with no end to the violence in sight. To put this in perspective, imagine how Washington, D.C., would look if a foreign government with the power to fence in the District of Columbia dropped a comparable number of bombs here while shutting off access to water and food and destroying most of the capital area’s housing and medical system. UN officials say conditions in Gaza are catastrophic.”
Thanks to the Washington Post for publishing our letter to the editor:
One way to make living easier in Virginia – Karl Polzer/letter to WaPost
“Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) told reporters he is ‘concerned about the cost of living in Virginia and we’re continuing to evaluate how best to address that,’ as reported in the Nov. 26 Metro article ‘Budget battle looms in Virginia. Facing a tighter fiscal environment and Democratic control of the legislature, Mr. Youngkin and fellow Republicans could help working families without denting the budget by making an expected Democratic push for a higher minimum wage a bipartisan affair.
“The GOP has been trying to attract more minority and working-class voters. However, party leaders have stopped short of addressing core economic issues, such as supporting higher wages and better benefits, and mainly stress cultural issues…”
Background Information on these issues provided to Virginia legislators
McCarthy & Co. offer themselves up on the cross to help motivate lazy poor people back to work
Work requirements are a policy failure: Why are they still an option? – The Hill
Thanks to the Washington Post for running our letter:
“Letting Americans Down”
“How can House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), President Biden and Senate leaders claim to represent the working class and poor when Medicaid work requirements are a focal point in the debt ceiling standoff and the Trump-era tax cuts are not? According to the Congressional Budget Office, the work requirements in the Limit, Save, Grow Act would have a tiny impact (about $5.6 billion in fiscal 2025) on the nation’s $31.4 trillion national debt, but they would increase the number of uninsured and state costs and have no effect on hours worked by Medicaid recipients.
“In contrast, ending the Trump-era tax cuts, which disproportionately benefit the wealthy, could put a major dent in the national debt….”
Because most of this site’s readers won’t be able to get through the newspaper’s pay gate, here’s the draft of the letter sent to the Post:
Debt ceiling negotiators focus on a ‘speck’ in benefits for the poor, ignore the ‘logs’ in their own eyes.
“Legislative Choices for Paying Promised Social Security Benefits”
Statement of Karl Polzer, Center on Capital & Social Equity,
U.S. Senate Budget Committee hearing: “Protecting Social
Security for All: Making the Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share”
Has DT crossed the line into delirium tremens?
“It came out of his mouth during a campaign speech last month.”