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Sam Pizzigati

@sgp.bsky.social
707 followers 109 following 1.2K posts

Co-editor, Inequality.org Institute for Policy Studies associate fellow and author, ‘The Rich Don’t Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 1900-1970’ and ‘The Case for a Maximum Wage’

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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 8h
AI: “a technology of, by and for oligarchs, with hardly any of the benefits trickling down to regular Americans.” #datacenters #inequality paulkrugman.substack.com/p/one-more-r...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
For every dollar the median employee at the computing giant Oracle made last year, the company’s co-CEO pocketed $6,623. #inequality www.forbes.com/sites/antoni...
forbes.com
Oracle Co-CEO Made 6,623 Times The Company’s Median Worker
The company’s latest proxy filing also showed chief technology officer Larry Ellison pledged $56.6 billion in Oracle shares as loan collateral.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
In an economy going to hell, entry prices for NY luxury condominiums “have climbed to what used to be the very top of the market.” At 262 Fifth Avenue, the tallest all-residential building on Fifth Ave, units start at $7.5 million. www.mansionglobal.com/articles/man...
mansionglobal.com
Many of Manhattan’s Newest Condos Are Priced Like Yesterday’s Penthouses
Developers are betting on wealthy buyers’ increasingly deep pockets to fuel the ultra-luxury housing segment
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Naomi Klein on taxing away billionaire wealth: “We’re not calling for the guillotine. All we want for these #billionaires is to just have to live in the same world as us. It’s not so bad down here.” www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...
irishtimes.com
Naomi Klein: The super rich need to be abolished and ‘prescribed a middle-class life’
End Times Fascism by noted author and her collaborator Astra Taylor contains a hopeful prescription for neighbourly resistance
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Jeopardy! host @kenjennings.bsky.social opposes repealing his state’s millionaire tax. He wants “an America where it’s embarrassing for wealthy people to say, ‘Even though I could afford this, and it will improve public services in our state, I’d rather fight it.’” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/u...
nytimes.com
Washington Taxed Its Millionaires. Now the Rich Want It Repealed.
Washington State voters will get a chance to accept or reject the 9.9 percent income tax on millionaires approved by the Legislature, which broke the state’s taboo against levying income taxes.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Will AI make our world more unequal? Absolutely — if we allow the pattern of previous industrial revolutions to repeat. But that repetition need not be automatic. @computerweekly.bsky.social www.computerweekly.com/feature/AI-p...
computerweekly.com
AI promises a productivity windfall – who will reap the benefits? | Computer Weekly
Two previous industrial revolutions suggest gains arrive late and flow to capital first. Meanwhile, a 200-year-old idea – the ‘general intellect’ – holds the key to why.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A near half-century of corner-office greed. From 1978–2025, top U.S. CEO pay rose 1,316%. Over those same years, typical worker pay rose 28%. www.epi.org/publication/...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The 22 California billionaires bankrolling the ad blitz against the tax-the-rich proposal on their state’s November ballot held a combined wealth of $439.8 billion on Jan 1 2025. Their wealth now sits at $722.1 billion. @ips-dc.org @chuck77.bsky.social inequality.org/article/the-...
inequality.org
Billionaire Bankrollers: Meet the 22 California Billionaires Opposing the Prop 40 Tax on Billionaires
A cadre of anti-tax Californians have seen their personal wealth increase by over 64 percent in the last twenty months.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Lawmakers in Portland, the first U.S. city to levy a special tax on corporations with CEOs making over 100x their worker pay, are now pushing to raise the tax penalty’s rate. @councilormorillo.bsky.social @councilorgreen.bsky.social www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
oregonlive.com
Portland councilors seek major expansion of city’s CEO pay-gap tax
The proposal would raise an estimated $72 million a year and, separately, lower taxes for some small businesses.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Momentum is building to create an “International Panel on Inequality,” a global research body that would work to fashion a strong scientific consensus on the scale of the #inequality problem, its drivers, consequences, and solutions. oxfamgbnews.bsky.social www.equals.ink/p/a-very-popular-panel
equals.ink
A very popular Panel
This week saw dramatic progress towards the establishment of a new International Panel on Inequality (IPI).
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
UN secretary-general António Guterres yesterday: “Equality is not a dream. It is a decision.” gadebate.un.org/en/81/secret...
gadebate.un.org
Secretary-General of the United Nations | 81st session
His Excellency António Guterres spoke at the General Debate of the 81st session
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Making great wealth off of people’s poor health: 15 of the billionaires on the new Forbes list of America’s 400 wealthiest owe their fortunes to health-related corporations. #inequality #healthcare www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo...
medpagetoday.com
Meet This Year's Forbes Healthcare Billionaires
Combined, they've made more than $136 billion from healthcare enterprises
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The historic proposed billionaire wealth tax on California’s November ballot still holds a 45%-to-43% polling lead, despite massive billionaire spending for a “no” vote. Among undecideds, 65% lean yes, 15% no. #inequality www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
politico.com
California billionaire tax loses ground in new poll
Fewer than half of likely voters said they would vote for the tax on the assets of California’s wealthiest residents, according to a poll by POLITICO and its partners.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
“It’s often said that modern democracy isn’t one man/one vote, but instead one dollar/one vote. In reality it’s worse than that. A hundred billion dollars buys you a lot more than a hundred billion votes.” #inequality @oliverbullough.bsky.social www.codastory.com/oligarchy/th...
codastory.com
The age of the multi-centibillionaire - Coda Story
How the uber wealthy damage democracy, obstruct transparency and enable kleptocrats
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
“The oligarchs of today...fervently believe that they are the masters of the universe, and that they, through their enormous wealth and power, have been ordained to rule the world.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sept 21, 2026 www.commondreams.org/news/bernie-...
commondreams.org
In Riverside Church Address, Sanders Warns 'Dangerous Global Oligarchy' Threatens Humanity | Common Dreams
"If there was ever a time in human history, in our country and throughout the world, that we have got to come together and create a world not based on greed but based on justice, based on decency, now...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The % of the total U.S. economy going to workers as wages has now fallen to a record low of 52.9%, down from over 65% when tracking began in 1947. Who's been gaining what workers have lost? Corporate execs and investors. #inequality robertreich.substack.com/p/the-rise-o...
robertreich.substack.com
The Rise of AI Populism
Are we on the cusp of a political realignment against corporate power?
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Six Nobel laureates have penned an open letter backing the proposed California ballot initiative that would place a one-time 5% tax on #billionaires. Recent polling has the initiative up by 6 percentage points. #inequality www.ft.com/content/94ec...
ft.com
Nobel economists throw support behind California billionaire tax
Progressive laureates say November ballot measure could ‘start reining in the power’ of ultra-wealthy
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The minimum net worth needed to rank among the 2026 Forbes 400 richest Americans: $4.4 billion, $600 million over the 2025 minimum. A record 590 U.S. #billionaires ended up too poor to make the 2026 top 400, up from 500 in 2025. #inequality www.forbes.com/sites/kirkog...
forbes.com
Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift, Sam Altman: The Billionaires Too Poor To Make The 2026 Forbes 400 List
Just having ten figures is not enough.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
CEO pay at America’s top 350 firms last year averaged $27.9 million. That total does not include the Elon Musk pay package. In 1965, CEO pay outpaced worker take-homes by 21 times. The ratio last year: 325 times. #inequality @epi.org www.epi.org/blog/ceo-pay...
epi.org
CEO pay surged in 2025: CEOs are paid 325 times as much as the typical worker
Key findings: CEO pay at the top 350 U.S. firms rose 14.0% in 2025 to an average of $27.9 million. CEOs made 325 times as much as the typical worker in 2025. It hasn’t always been this way. In 1965, C...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Only just over 250,000 people worldwide — about 0.003% of the global population — fly on private jets. The rest of us subsidizing their joyrides. ips-dc.org/report-high-...
ips-dc.org
High Flyers 2026: The High Cost of Private Jet Excess - Institute for Policy Studies
High Flyers 2026: The High Cost of Private Jet Excess
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
A panic over AI's consequences is sweeping through elite circles. This panic’s weird aspect: We already have laws that prohibit the harm AI execs are doing. But in America we simply do not enforce the law against the powerful. @matthewstoller.bsky.social www.thebignewsletter.com/p/ai-is-an-e...
thebignewsletter.com
AI Is an Elite Crime Spree
Documents show a Microsoft exec called AI the "largest theft of labor in human history.” New AI regulations are besides the point, the problem is we don’t apply existing laws to the powerful.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Our #crypto billionares in disbelief after their prized Clarity Act bill fails to advance in Congress. Laments on X Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogtatz (net worth $5.8 billion): “Govt feels broken. 18 months of work...and Clarity falls apart on the 5-yard line.” finance.yahoo.com/markets/cryp...
finance.yahoo.com
Crypto billionaire on Clarity Act dying: The government 'feels broken'
A dark moment for crypto.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Years ago, we feared nukes might destroy civilization. So we bargained treaties to minimize that risk. But nobody back then proposed handing the arms race over to corporate giants. Yet that’s close to what we’re doing with AI. @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social lesleopold.substack.com/p/why-the-co...
lesleopold.substack.com
Why the Corporate AI Machine is Out of Control
I’ve always been skeptical about technology doomsday job scenarios.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
47% of Americans would like U.S. labor unions to have more influence, a record Gallup polling high and twice the 23% who want to see less union influence. The share who want to see more union influence has soared from a record low of 25% in 2009. #inequality #unions news.gallup.com/poll/713936/...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Dean Baker: We can all envision better ways to tax the rich — in an ideal world — than the tax proposal on this fall’s Calif ballot. But if this proposal fails, no other move to tax our biggest state’s rich will likely pass for quite some time. @ceprdc.bsky.social www.patreon.com/BeatThePress...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Reason #73 why we need billionaires: If we had no #billionaires, we would have no mansions with “indoor lazy rivers” built in. #inequality www.mansionglobal.com/articles/uta...
mansionglobal.com
Utah Megamansion Nearly as Large as the White House—Including an Indoor Lazy River—Finds a Buyer
The $11.5 million home, which has been on and off the market for five years, has a slew of amenities across its more than 50,000 square feet
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Economist Gabriel Zucman on the Nov. 21 tax-the-rich summit in Paris he's organizing: “The explosion in extreme wealth and the accompanying concentration of power are disrupting our societies. It is this imbalance that the Paris summit aims to tackle.” www.politico.eu/article/bern...
politico.eu
Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez invited to Paris for Gabriel Zucman’s tax-the-rich summit
The economist’s big event comes shortly after the launch of his new book.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
“Private jets typify the callous indifference of the super-rich who profit from destroying the planet, then jet off to air-conditioned mansions to hide from the consequences.” Now available from Inequality.org: a new private jet-tracker tool. www.equals.ink/p/billionair...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
U.S. workers are earning just 52.8% of the value they produce, their lowest share since labor share stats began in 1947. U.S. corporate profits, meanwhile, rose over $400 billion in 2026’s 2nd quarter. @juddlegum.bsky.social popular.info/p/a-new-low-...
popular.info
A new low for American workers
Workers in the United States are earning a historically low share of the value they produce, according to new data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
In New Zealand, a really big CEO paycheck has kindled debate over limiting how high the ratio between chief executive and worker pay can go. More on the maximum wage notion: www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b... www.rnz.co.nz/news/persona...
rnz.co.nz
We have a minimum wage – but should we have a maximum?
The idea of a maximum wage is something that has been discussed in recent weeks after Xero chief executive Sukhinder Singh Cassidy received a pay rise to NZ$30.9 million.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Actor Andrew Garfield hopes his new Robin Hood movie role “serves as a warning to the world’s richest.” www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
hollywoodreporter.com
Why Andrew Garfield Says Billionaires Should Be “Scared Sh**less” by ‘The Uprising’
The actor stars as the leader of a rebellion in director Paul Greengrass' new film.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
A new report from New York City’s comptroller: Between 2019 and 2024, NY’s richest 0.1% pocketed over half of all New Yorker income growth while real median incomes in the city fell. #inequality comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/rece...
comptroller.nyc.gov
Recent Trends in Personal Income & Wage Inequality
Introduction For most residents and outside observers, New York City has seemed to be an expensive place to live for about as long as anyone can remember. More recently, rapidly rising costs and wages...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
A cause for Labor Day cheer: 71% of Americans overall, says Gallup, now approve of unions, the nation’s highest union approval level since 1957. Even 52% of Republicans tilt that way. #inequality news.gallup.com/poll/713936/...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The cars on America’s roads have become much less colorful over the past 30 years. Grayscale tones covered over 80% of new cars in 2025, just 47% in 1996. One reason: increasing U.S. economic precarity. Buyers fear bright colors might be harder to sell. www.visualcapitalist.com/americas-mos...
visualcapitalist.com
The most popular car colors in America
See the most popular car colors in America in 2025 and how preferences have shifted since 1996.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
World billionaire wealth surged by 12.8% last year. In 2017, “superbillionaires” — deep pockets worth over $50 billion — numbered just 10 and held 7.2% of all billionaire wealth. Superbillionaires now total 29 and hold 27% of all billionaire wealth. #inequality www.cnbc.com/2026/09/04/b...
cnbc.com
The wealth of the world's billionaires reached $15.1 trillion last year, per a new report
The global billionaire count hit a record of 3,795 people last year, with the biggest wealth gains for the richest of the rich, per a recent Altrata report.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Some numbers worth appreciating this Labor Day weekend. @epi.org #inequality www.epi.org/publication/...
epi.org
Unions are extremely popular: 56 million workers would join a union if they could
New Gallup polling finds that 71% of people in the U.S. approve of unions, continuing the highest period of favorability in over 60 years. This coincides with the greatest number of workers represente...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
“Trump's tariffs have played out as a straightforward redistribution of income from ordinary Americans to corporations, much like the two other major tax cuts he’s pushed through as president.” #inequality @itep.org @mindthegaap.bsky.social itep.org/the-only-win...
itep.org
The Only Winners from Trump’s Tariffs Are Big Corporations
Companies passed Trump's tariffs on to American consumers in the form of higher retail prices. But after SCOTUS ruled the tariffs were illegal, the tariff refunds have not generally been passed onto c...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Apologists for America’s rich want us to believe that “adjusted gross income,” the key IRS income yardstick, somehow sits grounded in economics. It doesn’t, explains @patrioticmillionaires.org tax analyst Bob Lord. azbob2.substack.com/p/adjusted-g...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Why we so need government action to both lift worker wages and bring CEO pay back into the compensation orbit of ordinary Americans. @ips-dc.org @sarahanderson.bsky.social www.yahoo.com/news/us/arti...
yahoo.com
Contributor: Corporations with big pay disparities have been silent as ICE detains their workers
The 'Low-Wage 100' companies are also acquiescing as the Trump administration strips workers' healthcare and food stamps to pay for handouts to CEOs and other wealthy people.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
How much does Social Security cost to administer? 0.3% of annual benefits. How much do private 401(k) plans cost to administer? The financial industry doesn’t want you to ask. @ceprdc.bsky.social @deanbaker13.bsky.social www.patreon.com/BeatThePress...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Only America’s richest “are benefiting from the soaring stock market. That’s because the richest 1 percent of Americans own about half of the value of all shares of stock; the richest 10 percent own over 90 percent.” #inequality robertreich.substack.com/p/the-bigges...
robertreich.substack.com
The Biggest Issue in the Midterm Elections
You’ll hear more and more about this
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Between 2011 and 2019, the share of incomes over $1 million that the IRS audited plummeted from 7.2 to 0.7%. We literally now favor people who not only pocket enormous amounts of money, but cheat and don’t pay their #taxes due. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/from-kakis...
paulkrugman.substack.com
From Kakistocracy to Cheatistocracy
Rewarding the most dishonest
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
In Sweden, a left opposition is polling 5.7 percentage points ahead of conservative PM’s current government. Now coming into play: a tax targeting billionaires, with an exit tax for those leaving the country and a new property tax on mansions. #inequality www.craincurrency.com/news/ccr-swe...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The top 100 US low-wage firms spent over $718 billion buying up their own stock over the past 7 years. The Lowe’s $46.8 billion outlay on buybacks could have covered a $24,235 bonus for each of the firm’s 276,000 workers every year during that time. @ips-dc.org www.commondreams.org/opinion/ceos...
commondreams.org
CEOs Get Rich Underpaying Their Workers and Then Don't Stand Up for Them | Common Dreams
​By looking the other way as low-wage workers face surging threats, corporate CEOs have shown even more clearly that we cannot rely on them to voluntarily do the right thing.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Miami ranks as the 5th most congested US city. For those with the means, the alternative: fly private copters instead of sitting in traffic, or take a boat and travel by yacht. The new Villa Miami luxury tower has a helipad on its roof and a dock at its base. lavocedinewyork.com/en/news/2026...
lavocedinewyork.com
In Miami, the Super-Rich Escape Traffic by Helicopter and Yacht
In Miami, even traffic is becoming a matter of class. For the city’s wealthiest residents, the solution to congestion is
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Today the 63rd anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Some of us still vividly remember watching on live TV, enthralled and inspired.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
New @ips-dc.org report: The average CEO compensation at low-wage 100 corporations ran $17.5m in 2025, compared to median worker pay of $36,571. #CEOs #inequality www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The # of Manhattan apartments renting for over $50,000 a month has doubled since 2025. The # renting for over $100,000 up seven-fold. Many super rich apparently can’t bear the indignity of having to pay New York’s new pied-a-terre tax on high-value second homes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeMA...
youtube.com
Manhattan rents hit all-time high: Here's what to know
YouTube video by CNBC Television
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
New York City’s new pied-à-terre tax “is proving to be a pain in the penthouse for the rich." Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s tax on non-primary homes worth over $5 million will be generating an estimated half-billion $ a year. #plutocracy www.businessinsider.com/mamdani-nyc-...
businessinsider.com
Penthouse pieds-à-terre: Bezos, Trump, and other billionaires facing Mamdani's proposed tax
New York City's proposed pied-à-terre tax targets billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Ken Griffin with luxury second homes.
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Billionaire Meta CEO Mark #Zuckerberg has just bought an Irish castle. He already owns a manse in Miami Beach, another in D.C., and deluxes in California and Hawaii. Why now Ireland? How better to savor all the tax-avoiding options Ireland is extending Meta’s way. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/w...
nytimes.com
Mark Zuckerberg Buys an Irish Castle
The prominent landowner has added a nearly 200-year-old estate to his holdings. Archival information says it can take “a brisk walk of 4½ minutes to reach the dining room from the kitchen.”
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