Daily Clips: October 28th, 2015
Top 100 CEO Retirement Savings Equals 41% of All U.S. Families Retirement Savings: Before I woke up this morning, I had no clue that 100 CEOs retirement savings were equal to the total savings of over 116 million Americans. Where’s the outrage on that issue? Why isn’t our media relentlessly talking about this injustice? Why do middle-class Americans accept this reality? Why aren’t we more angry about this?
Look, inequality must exist and in many ways it is a powerful force for innovation – a vital ingredient in a capitalist economy. But these levels of inequality are not beneficial to anyone but the 100 CEOs and their families (for generations to come). Nick Hanauer made this case in his viral TED Talk:
Another reason this idea is so wrong-headed is that there can never be enough super-rich Americans to power a great economy. The annual earnings of people like me are hundreds, if not thousands, of times greater than those of the median American, but we don’t buy hundreds or thousands of times more stuff. My family owns three cars, not 3,000. I buy a few pairs of pants and a few shirts a year, just like most American men. Like everyone else, we go out to eat with friends and family only occasionally.
Inequality at these levels isn’t just morally wrong, it’s also absolutely terrible for our economy.
Is there a silver lining to Citizens United? The New York Times’ Thomas “Don’t Forget the B” Edsall asked this provocative question in his latest column. He goes onto enumerate the many instances where “reformers have been forced to look toward innovative legislation at the city and state level.” This immediately reminded me of I-122 in Seattle, which is on the ballot right now. If you haven’t already read Civic Skunk Works’ endorsement of I-122, you can do so here!
The column was admittedly quite dry, but one line in particular stood out for me: “The thing about money is that it always seems to find a way around the rules.”
Republicans remain divided as Democrats unite: Norm Ormstein writes about the general trends of the presidential nominations for both parties and his analysis, to say the least, is fantastic. Norm was born in 1948, but that doesn’t stop him from proclaiming that Hillary Clinton’s last couple of weeks have been the “best two weeks I have ever seen for a candidate.” High praise.
GOP campaigns erupt over greenrooms at third GOP debate: The petulance never ends. This time campaigns “accused the committee of allotting them less-than-hospitable greenroom spaces while unfairly giving lavish ones to higher-polling candidates, such as Donald Trump and Ben Carson.” Supposedly Christie & Rand Paul got their own janitorial-esque rooms, while Fiorina was given a greenroom with a sauna.
