Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 13h

Archeologist Tim Kerig: The people who built the Egyptian pyramids likely lived in a society less unequal than ours. Our economic evolution has outpaced our ideological evolution. Adds Kerig: ”We had no time to adapt to all those #billionaires.” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Donald Trump’s Politics of Plunder

The greed of the new Administration has galvanized America’s aspiring oligarchs—and their opponents.

www.newyorker.com

1

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 1d

Home Deport’s founder now tooling around in a $200 million superyacht. Notes one outraged customer: “Meanwhile, his employees can't afford baby milk.”

A superyacht can emit 7,000 tons of gases annually, what a typical person would emit in 860 years.

Photo of Home Depot founder's $200 million luxury yacht sparks outrage: 'The rich get even unfathomably richer'

A controversial photo of former Home Depot CEO Arthur Blank's yacht has ignited backlash on Reddit.

www.thecooldown.com

1

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 1d

On the Nov 30 Swiss ballot: a Young Socialist group initiative that would place a 50% tax on all inheritances over 50 million Swiss francs ($63 million). All funds generated would go to fighting climate change. www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-po...

Explainer: Switzerland’s inheritance-tax initiative to save climate

On November 30, Switzerland will vote on an initiative calling for a new tax on large inheritances – in order to finance climate action.

www.swissinfo.ch

1

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 1d

Where Trump II’s super rich swarm: Median home values on Miami Beach’s Fisher Island — a refuge for some 700 deep-pocket households — have jumped nearly $4 million over the past year and are fast approaching the $10-million mark. #luxury www.mansionglobal.com/articles/sou...

South Florida Dethrones Silicon Valley as Home to America’s Most Expensive ZIP Code

Fisher Island, part of Miami Beach, is now the priciest housing market, with a median of $9.5 million

www.mansionglobal.com

1

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 2d

A lack of empathy can make it easier, researchers point out, to attain financial success. You can be more ruthless in your pursuit of wealth and status. #inequality @lbu-rae.bsky.social

Research suggests rich people tend to be more selfish – but why is that?

Research in psychology has found a link between wealth and selfishness

theconversation.com

1 1

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 2d

Three ways Trump’s MAGA is shoveling massive giveaways of public money to corporate elites — at the expense of the trips we take, the air we breathe, and the jobs we need. @jimhightower.com blackstarnews.com/while-we-tou...

While We Tout America’s Democracy, Plutocracy Is Taking Over - Black Star News

blackstarnews.com

1

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 2d

Australia’s top 1% holds 24% of Aussie wealth. Carl Rhodes, author of ‘Stinking Rich: The Four Myths of the Good Billionaire,’ wants his nation to trim that share & avoid getting any closer to the 35% share the US top 1% holds. @profcarlrhodes.bsky.social theconversation.com/to-become-a-...

To become a fairer nation, Australia needs to set national inequality targets

Former prime minister Bob Hawke regretted saying: ‘By 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty’. But his broken promise still had a surprising impact.

theconversation.com

1

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 2d

Lectures delivered by Peter Thiel “offer new detail about how the billionaire seems to place those who would critique or regulate tech developers into a religious good-vs.-evil worldview, where the future of all creation depends on giving innovators free rein.” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction

In leaked recordings of private lectures by tech billionaire Peter Thiel he argued that “the Antichrist” is likely to take the form of a critic of technology.

www.washingtonpost.com

1

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 3d

Too much wealth in two few hands = wild speculation. Always.

Latest case in point: New report now counts 450 deep pockets who each hold crypto portfolios worth at least $100 million. Total # of crypto billionaires now at 36, up 29% over past year.
www.henleyglobal.com/newsroom/pre...

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 3d

What happens when we let wealth concentrate: “In 1983, the U.S. media was dominated by 50 companies. Today, that number has shrunk to just six giant media conglomerates.”
robertreich.substack.com/p/why-has-th...

Why has the media become so vulnerable to Trump, and what can we do about it?

Even after Disney's reversal on Jimmy Kimmel, the vulnerability remains — unless we change the rules.

robertreich.substack.com

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 4d

Billionaire-funded anti-public education groups now working “to undermine teachers unions, protect their wealthy donors from having to contribute their fair share in taxes to strengthen public schools, and provide profit opportunities through school privatization.” www.propublica.org/article/educ...

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department.

Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

www.propublica.org

2

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 5d

This September’s annual Monaco Yacht Show featured 120 superyachts and assorted other toys for the mega-rich together valued at just north of $5 billion. Among the showcased baubles: a nautical match for your favorite Lamborghini. robbreport.com/motors/marin...

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 5d

Just out from the @rooseveltinstitute.org: a new report on Big Money’s current — and enormous — impact on U.S. politics. #inequality #billionaires rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

18 24

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 5d

Can a society thrive when a few own everything? More to the point: Can a society survive when a few own everything? A new interview with the Belgian-Dutch philosopher Ingrid Robeyns. @equalshope.bsky.social @ingridrobeyns.bsky.social www.equals.ink/p/how-much-w...

How Much Wealth Is Too Much? Ingrid Robeyns on the Case for Limitarianism

Listen now (31 mins) | Inequality, Democracy, and the Case for Limiting Extreme Wealth.

www.equals.ink

5 10

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 6d

British epidemiologist Kate Pickett on landmark new #inequality and health study: “The brain changes we observed...suggest that inequality creates a toxic social environment that literally shapes how young minds develop.” @profkepickett.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Study links greater inequality to structural changes in children’s brains

Researchers say findings show inequality creates toxic environment and reducing it is ‘a public health imperative’

www.theguardian.com

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 6d

We need to better understand, Chuck Collins explains in his new book, not just how billionaires get their wealth and defend it, but how they capture our politics and exploit that capture to extract ever more wealth from US everyday life. @chuck77.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/news/2025/oc...

Boom time for US billionaires: why the system perpetuates wealth inequality

As the super rich grow even richer, inequality expert Chuck Collins says the system is broken – but it can be fixed

www.theguardian.com

1 3

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 7d

The new school voucher program in Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” helps parents pay for private-school tuition with public tax dollars. That availability “is expected to transfer” huge bucks to private schools and private equity kingpins. @brockhrehor.bsky.social

Private Equity’s New Playground: America’s Schools

Under the guise of championing “school choice,” the new school voucher program will likely divert millions in taxpayer dollars to private equity firms.

www.levernews.com

1 2

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 7d

A company that becomes too big to fail becomes too big to jail and then too big to care — about anything but squeezing suppliers and customers to enrich the already rich. #inequality #billionaires www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

www.theguardian.com

1

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 8d

Markets alone can’t bring us a green transition. “Adaptation” has become “a convenient excuse to consolidate resources among a privileged few” that only “gives the appearance of doing something about the #climate crisis.” @grist.org @jbwinters.bsky.social grist.org/culture/clim...

So many climate solutions, so few emissions reductions. A new book explains why.

In "The Long Heat," Wim Carton and Andreas Malm argue that capitalism has turned the climate crisis into a business opportunity.

grist.org

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 8d

The current top 5% of US home purchases starts at $2 million. The current top 1% of U.S. home listings begins at $5.4 million. #inequality #luxury www.mansionglobal.com/articles/1-m...

$1 Million Is No Longer Enough to Buy a Luxury Home in the U.S.

Skyrocketing prices over the past decade have put the starting line for luxury closer to $1.3 million, according to an analysis from Realtor.com

www.mansionglobal.com

1

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 9d

Gallup: “Sixty percent of Republicans, 36% of independents and 17% of Democrats rate big business positively, with the latter two figures being new lows for those groups.”
#plutocracy #inequality news.gallup.com/poll/694835/...

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 9d

Elon Musk’s March 2020 net worth: $24.6 billion. By January 2021: up to $190 billion. Last December: $400 billion. Now on track to become world’s first #trillionaire by March 2033, the first of 2 vesting dates for his new $1 trillion Tesla pay package. billionairereporter.com/elon-musk-hi...

Elon Musk first to hit half a trillion dollars in net worth

Elon Musk hit a milestone Wednesday afternoon, becoming the first person to attain a net worth of half a trillion dollars.

billionairereporter.com

1

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 9d

The 2017 Trump tax law created the current pass-thru business deduction. The tax bill Trump signed earlier this year ups this deduction from 20 to 23%. Our richest 1% will reap $1 trillion from the new rate over the next decade.
@brakeyshia.bsky.social @itep.org news.bloombergtax.com/daily-tax-re...

Trump Tax Law Erases Economic, Racial Progress in the Tax Code

Opinion: President Donald Trump’s massive tax-and-spending package will leave a costly hole in the federal budget for future multiracial generations.

news.bloombergtax.com

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 10d

The parts of the federal government now shutting down “tend to do stuff for people without power.” The parts still open “either facilitate critical functions that keep society operating or are important to the wealthy.” #democracy @matthewstoller.bsky.social

Wall Street Gets to Keep Its Government Open

The Antitrust Division and FTC have suspended merger challenges, but not merger approvals. It's weird how 'government shutdowns' don't close the parts of government Wall Street wants.

www.thebignewsletter.com

Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 10d

How much have the fortunes of our richest flourished? Elon Musk broke the $500-billion threshold yesterday. Some perspective: In 1982, the year the first annual Forbes 400 appeared, the list’s richest deep pocket had a net worth of just $2 billion. #billionaires www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Elon Musk becomes first person with net worth of $500bn

Tesla owner’s wealth temporarily crosses half-trillion-dollar mark before retreating to $499bn

www.theguardian.com

1