This is the Insurgent Radio Kiosk for Thursday, October 24th
Hightower Commentary
Action Calendar
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Where to get the money to start fixing American inequality
Jesse Jackson ran a strong populist campaign for president in 1988, advocating bold new policies and programs to address inequality. This prompted establishment skeptics to scoff, “Where ‘ya gonna get the money?” Jackson answered directly: “Get it from where it went.”
He meant from corporations and the rich, which had long been rigging the economic system and government policies to shift income and wealth from the workaday majority to themselves. Thirty years later, that shift has become an avalanche: Just three men – Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett – now own more of the nation’s wealth than the 165 million Americans who make up the bottom half of our population.
This extreme (and expanding) separation of the few from the many is why progressive policy makers today are calling – as Jackson had – for big, forward-thinking populist solutions. But again, the smug forces of the status quo scoff, “Where ‘ya gonna get the money?”
The answer is the same one Jackson offered decades ago, but this time two new factors are in play: (1) from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, we now have specific, easy-to-understand proposals to tax multimillionaires and billionaires to pay for the structural changes needed to open opportunities for the poor and middle class; and (2) the public now enthusiastically supports such a tax – a recent poll found two-thirds of Americans (including a majority of Republicans) favoring Sen. Warren’s plan for a tax on those who have fortunes above $50 million.
Inequality will not fix itself. As the American majority has had to do periodically in our history, We The People must intervene to keep greed and wealth concentration from suffocating our society’s essential democratic values of fairness, justice, and opportunity for all. A wealth tax is the place to start.
“For or Against, Taxing the Rich Rouses Passion,” The New York Times, October 2, 2019.
Hightower’s commentaries are brought to you by The Hightower Lowdown, the monthly newsletter with Hightower’s take on what Wall Street and Washington are up to. For information, visit hightowerlowdown.org.
It’s today’s Action Calendar!
Free one-on-one sessions are available to get help with job-related writing projects today from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Hawthorne Library, 2707 East Washington Street. Writing projects can include resumes, job application letters or any other written communication. Basic computer help such as setting up email accounts, searching for jobs online or filling out online job applications is also available. Phone 246-4548 to make an appointment for a 60 minute session.
The public is invited to attend a Community Impact Session to address the South Madison Neighborhood Plan this evening from 6 to 7:45 p.m. at the Urban League of Greater Madison, 2222 South Park Street. The session will give southsiders the opportunity to discuss issues relating to transportation, business, redevelopment, housing and land use. Childcare and Spanish and Hmong interpreters will be available. Phone 266-4635 for information.
Join certified Pranic Healer and instructor Stephanie Toney to learn about using prana, or energy, to improve your overall well-being at a workshop this evening from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Alicia Ashman Library, 733 North High Point Road. Learn to scan or feel prana using your hands, and simple techniques to relieve aches and pains, reduce stress and increase overall energy levels. Call 824-1780 to pre-register.
The Insurgent Radio Kiosk welcomes your commentaries on subjects of interest to the W.O.R.T. listening community. Commentaries are limited to two minutes. If you’d like to do a Kiosk commentary, visit wortfm.org/kioskcommentary.
The Kiosk is available online at wortfm.org/kiosk.
This has been the Insurgent Radio Kiosk heard weekdays at 5:00, 6:30 and 9:00 AM and at 2:00 PM. With Engineer Alida, I’m Greg Geboski.
Submit announcements at least ten days in advance of the event at wortfm.org/kiosk/announcements.
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