The economy, wealth inequality and survival

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World Socialist Website opinion piece. Take it fwiw and dyodd.

The social crisis fueling the collapse of democracy in America

It is the bankruptcy of American capitalism and the fear of social revolution, not merely Trump’s authoritarian personality, that are the source of the frontal assault on democratic rights.

www.wsws.org

 

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Nothing to see, can listen in one tab, play around the forum in a different tab.

 

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Raising taxes on the ultrarich​

Summary

The public has supported raising taxes on the ultrarich and corporations for years, but policymakers have not responded. Small increases in taxes on the rich that were instituted during times of Democratic control of Congress and the White House have been consistently swamped by larger tax cuts passed during times of Republican control. This was most recently reflected in the massive budget reconciliation bill pushed through Congress exclusively by Republicans and signed by President Trump. This bill extended the large tax cuts first passed by Trump in 2017 alongside huge new cuts in public spending. This one-step-forward, two-steps-back dynamic has led to large shortfalls of federal revenue relative to both existing and needed public spending.

Raising taxes on the ultrarich and corporations is necessary for both economic and political reasons. Economically, preserving and expanding needed social insurance and public investments will require more revenue. Politically, targeting the ultrarich and corporations as sources of the first tranche of this needed new revenue can restore faith in the broader public that policymakers can force the rich and powerful to make a fair contribution. Once the public has more faith in the overall fairness of the tax system, future debates about taxes can happen on much more constructive ground.

Policymakers should adopt the following measures:

Read the entire article here:

https://www.epi.org/publication/raising-taxes-on-the-ultrarich-a-necessary-first-step-to-restore-faith-in-american-democracy-and-the-public-sector/?

 

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In this vid Gary talks about England (his home.) Nothing to see, can listen in one tab, play around the forum in a different tab. It's a good one, imo.

UK Budget – The End of Democracy?​

Nov 23, 2025
Gary's back for one episode only. Here's what the UK Budget next week means for you, the economy and democracy.


37:50

Chapters
00:00 Intro
1:04 Raising taxes
04:30 UK government debt situation
09:12 Transfer of wealth to rich
13:22 Why aren’t they taxing the rich?
18:40 The elites don’t care
26:00 The death of democracy
28:32 What do you do?
31:15 Hope
33:08 Know your history
36:41 Help me get to #1

 

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What Gary Sees (that others don't): Barry's Economics​

Nov 30, 2025 #Inequality #SocialJustice #BarrysEconomics
The difference that sets Gary Stevenson apart isn't solely his trading success, his hard economics, or even his communication skills. It’s the perspective he brings — a perspective almost completely missing from the UK’s media and political class.
In this video, I break down:
• why Gary’s background lets him see the 50th percentile clearly
• why wealthy commentators struggle to understand inequality
• how class-based blindspots shape economic debates
• the biases that make millionaires think the system is “basically fine”
• why inequality sounds like “anger” to people who don’t experience it
• how motivated reasoning and status-quo bias distort policy conversations
• why Gary’s framing of tax, wealth and inheritance cuts through the noise
This isn’t about left or right. It’s about who feels the crisis, who doesn’t, and whose perspective shapes the story. Gary Stevenson doesn’t just debate inequality. He translates it — from lived reality into plain language.


20:28

SCIENTIFIC + PSYCHOLOGICAL INFO:
1. Status Quo Bias (Samuelson & Zeckhauser, 1988)People tend to prefer existing systems and default options, even when alternatives may clearly be better. This can help explain why individuals in comfortable circumstances may feel less urgency for systemic change.
2. Motivated Reasoning (Kunda, 1990)People unconsciously use selective reasoning to reach conclusions they prefer, protecting their prior beliefs and interests.
3. Contact Theory & Empathy Gaps (Allport, 1954; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006)Direct contact with a social group improves accuracy of judgments about that group. Lack of contact can widen empathy gaps and distort perceptions.
4. Socioeconomic Perception Biases (Norton & Ariely, 2011; Kraus et al., 2017)Higher-SES individuals often underestimate inequality, overestimate social mobility, and perceive the system as more fair or meritocratic than it is.
5. SES & Perspective-Taking (Kraus, Piff & Keltner 2011; Stellar et al., 2012; supported by Weiss & Faber, 2022)Higher socioeconomic status is linked to reduced accuracy when imagining or understanding the experiences of lower-income individuals.
6. Scarcity & Cognitive Load (Mullainathan & Shafir, 2013)Financial scarcity increases cognitive load and reduces mental bandwidth, making economic pressures more psychologically immediate and tangible.

 

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The Psychology Used to Silence You - Barry's Economics​

Dec 7, 2025 #BarrysEconomics #GarysEconomics #Inequality
Why you're not wrong:
In this video, I break down the psychological and social mechanisms used (often unconsciously) to silence people when they talk about a Wealth Tax or Capital Taxation.


11:13

Key social-psychology theories & studies referenced:

- EMOTIONAL DISMISSAL / INVALIDATIONKatz & Gottman (1999) – Emotion dismissing vs emotion coaching. Defines emotional dismissal as minimizing or reframing emotional reactions as irrational.https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1999-0...

- TESTIMONIAL INJUSTICE (DISMISSING CREDIBILITY DUE TO EMOTION / IDENTITY)Miranda Fricker (2007) – Epistemic Injustice: Power & the Ethics of Knowing. Foundational work on how people’s testimony is dismissed as “irrational” due to prejudice.https://global.oup.com/academic/produ...

- Pohlhaus (2012) – Relational knowing and epistemic injustice. Shows how dominant groups misread anger from marginalized groups as “bias” or “irrationality.”https://www.jstor.org/stable/41349563

- Medina (2012) – Hermeneutical injustice and social marginalization. Explores how emotions linked to injustice get reframed as personal flaws.https://philpapers.org/rec/MEDHI

- EMOTION STEREOTYPING & STATUS-BASED CREDIBILITY BIASTiedens (2001) – Anger and advancement. High-status people’s anger = “powerful”; low-status people’s anger = “irrational / emotional.”https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2001-0...

- Ridgeway (2014) – Why status matters. Explains how emotion and credibility are evaluated differently based on social rank.https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1...

SYSTEM JUSTIFICATION THEORY (DEFENDING THE STATUS QUO):

- Jost et al. (2018) – A Quarter-Century of System Justification Theory. Overview of why people defend systems even when they’re unfair.https://as.nyu.edu/content/dam/nyu-as...

- Caricati (2020) – System justification among the disadvantaged. Shows how even those harmed by the system may internalize system-defending beliefs.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/...

 

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'People are so disgusted' - Economist Thomas Piketty on why we need a wealth tax​

Dec 10, 2025
Economist Thomas Piketty says people are getting 'disgusted' with wealth inequality and governments need to overcome their fears to adopt a wealth tax.
Piketty spoke to Channel 4 News Economics Correspondent Helia Ebrahimi ahead of the release of the World Inequality Report, which he helped coordinate.


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EXPOSING America's BROKEN Tax Code for the Rich - Ray Madoff

Ray D. Madoff is a professor at Boston College Law School and the cofounder and director of the Boston College Forum on Philanthropy and the Public Good. She is the author of Immortality and the Law: The Rising Power of the American Dead and lead author of The Practical Guide to Estate Planning. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Review of Books, among other outlets.

0:00 Ray Madoff Introduction
2:28 Why has the tax code for the ultra-rich not changed?
4:37 What would Thomas Jefferson say about the tax code today?
6:19 What is dead hand control and has kept people rich?
7:35 How the richest Americans don't pay taxes?
11:53 Express VPN
14:48 Elon Musk and paying taxes
15:55 The way policies shifted after Citizens United
19:04 What would the founding fathers recommend we do to address the situation?
21:02 What elements of the tax code alarmed Professor Madoff the most?
24:16 Do Americans begrudge wealth?
26:30 Reforming the tax system
29:02 What can average citizens do to make the system fairer?
31:38 Five Words

 

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Any relation to Bernie?

 

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What Slow Horses Gets Right About Power - Barry's Economics​

Dec 14, 2025 #BarrysEconomics #GarysEconomics #Inequality
Why Slow Horses Is About You (Not Spies) Because Slow Horses Isn’t Fiction — It’s How Power Really Works
Slow Horses isn’t just a spy show — it’s one of the most accurate portraits of modern power, bias and inequality on TV.
Here’s what the rejects of Slough House can teach us about who actually sees the truth… and why the “polished elite” so often get it wrong.
In this video, I break down the psychology behind the show using real studies on why we reward confidence over competence. Slow Horses might be fiction — but the science behind it is very real.
Slow Horses is one of the smartest shows on TV — not because of the spy plot, but because of what it exposes about power, class, status, and who we choose to trust.
We’re conditioned our whole lives to believe that only certain types of people — accents, schools, clothes, confidence — get to understand how the country works .But Slow Horses flips that completely.
This isn’t just storytelling… it’s psychology.


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Here are the sources and studies I mention in the video:

1. Status Bias Kraus, M.W., & Keltner, D. (2009). Signs of Socioeconomic Status: A Thin-Slicing Approach. Journal of Psychological Science.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2... People automatically rate high-status individuals (clothes, accents, posture) as more competent — even when performance is identical.

2. Halo Effect Thorndike, E.L. (1920).A Constant Error in Psychological Ratings. Journal of Applied Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0071665→ When someone looks “polished” or succeeds in one area, we project other positives onto them: intelligence, leadership, trustworthiness. Modern example: Believing someone who runs a tech company can also run governments, solve wars, or parent well — purely through spillover prestige.

3. Authority Bias Milgram, S. (1963).Behavioral Study of Obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040525→ Humans obey people who look authoritative — lab coats, titles, offices — even when they’re obviously wrong or harmful. Regent’s Park (in the show) is basically the lab coat: shiny, impressive, and catastrophically incompetent.

4. Accent Bias Lev-Ari, S. & Keysar, B. (2010).Why Don’t We Believe Non-native Speakers? The Influence of Accent on Credibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019869→ People trust information less when delivered in a non-prestige or unfamiliar accent — even when the content is identical.

This is why a Jackson Lamb type gets ignored. Not because he’s wrong — but because he doesn’t sound like the kind of person who’s “supposed” to know.