"The sad truth is that the income gap keeps widening between ordinary American families and the billionaires who make the decisions that affect our lives." Francine Prose

Has Trump no shame about all the money he has made since being in office?

By now we know that charity, generosity and compassion are virtues that the US president doesn’t seem to have even in trace amounts

Francine Prose 

Thu 20 Aug 2026

"... How can you, in good conscience, continue to amass so much disposable wealth when so many everyday Americans are struggling to fill their gas tanks and avoid losing their homes?

By now we know that charity, generosity and compassion – and conscience – are virtues that our president doesn’t seem to have even in trace amounts.

It’s impossible to imagine him following the examples set by billionaires such as Melinda Gates and Mackenzie Scott, who have pledged and made huge contributions to good causes.

Closely related to the mystery of why one man thinks he deserves and needs so much is the question of how anyone who has ever returned a grocery item back to the shelves after some bad news at the checkout counter can support a man who flaunts his extreme wealth and ignores their worsening hardships.

The only answer I can see is that Trump’s fortune is aspirational. It’s an aspect of the American dream that, despite the evidence, people still hope to attain. If Trump amassed those billions, maybe we can, too. 

The sad truth is that the income gap keeps widening between ordinary American families and the billionaires who make the decisions that affect our lives" ... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/20/trump-money-earnings-billionaires

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Zohran Mamdani and Donald Trump at the White House. ‘Despite clashing, the leftwing mayor and the rightwing president continue to talk.’ Photograph: Reuters

The Guardian view on global inequality: extreme wealth threatens democracy

Editorial

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/18/the-guardian-view-on-global-inequality-extreme-wealth-threatens-democracy

Super-rich’s assets cause outsized amount of climate harm, study says. Greenpeace calculates that wealthiest contribute nearly $1tn of damage a year with ownership-based emissions... "By contrast, the bottom half of the world by wealth accounts for just 3% of ownership-based emissions."

Greenpeace said a large share of emissions was associated with the ownership of carbon-intensive assets and investments such as property developments. Photograph: A Amsel/Alamy

 Fiona Harvey in Bonn

Wed 10 Jun 2026 

Ultra-wealthy people zooming across the world on their private jets, lounging on yachts and conspicuous by their Instagrammable consumption are among the most easily identified individual culprits when it comes to the climate crisis – but new research argues that it is not just their heady lifestyles to blame, but also their bank accounts.

Through their ownership of companies and private financial and physical assets, from oil producers to property developments, the super-rich are responsible for an outsized slice of the greenhouse gases that are overheating the planet. The top 1% of people by wealth, through their shareholdings and investments, control about a quarter of global annual emissions in total.

Greenpeace has calculated the “climate debt” of these high net worth individuals, by attributing to them their share of the damage done to the climate by the assets they own. By this reckoning, the world’s richest cause nearly $1tn a year of damage to the climate.

Clara Thompson, the global lead campaigner on socioeconomic systems at Greenpeace International, said: “At a time when people are facing rising energy bills, rising living costs, and growing climate impacts, many are asking why ordinary households should shoulder so much of the burden, while some of the world’s wealthiest people continue to profit from the industries driving the crisis.”

Greenpeace estimates that the top 1% by wealth are responsible for about 40% of all “ownership”-based emissions – that is, the emissions produced by businesses and associated with privately owned financial and physical assets – which themselves make up 60% of global carbon output. Within that group, the top 0.1% account for about 17% of ownership-based emissions, and the top 0.01% about 9%. The top 1% is made up of people with wealth above about $2m, the top 0.1% people with wealth above about $7m, and the top 0.01% is people with wealth above about $38m.

By contrast, the bottom half of the world by wealth accounts for just 3% of ownership-based emissions.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/10/super-rich-assets-outsized-amount-climate-harm-study

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"Reducing inequality was “not only about fairness, but essential for the resilience of economies, the stability of democracies, and the viability of our planet”" .......Just 0.001% hold three times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds- Data from World Inequality Report also showed top 10% of income-earners earn more than the other 90%

People protest against extreme wealth in London. The report found that in almost every region, the top 1% was wealthier than the bottom 90% combined.
Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing/Getty Images

Jon Henley

Wed 10 Dec 2025 02.00 EST

Fewer than 60,000 people – 0.001% of the world’s population – control three times as much wealth as the entire bottom half of humanity, according to a report that argues global inequality has reached such extremes that urgent action has become essential.

The authoritative World Inequality Report 2026, based on data compiled by 200 researchers, also found that the top 10% of income-earners earn more than the other 90% combined, while the poorest half captures less than 10% of total global earnings.

Wealth – the value of people’s assets – was even more concentrated than income, or earnings from work and investments, the report found, with the richest 10% of the world’s population owning 75% of wealth and the bottom half just 2%.

In almost every region, the top 1% was wealthier than the bottom 90% combined, the report found, with wealth inequality increasing rapidly around the world.

“The result is a world in which a tiny minority commands unprecedented financial power, while billions remain excluded from even basic economic stability,” the authors, led by Ricardo Gómez-Carrera of the Paris School of Economics, wrote.

The share of global wealth held by the top 0.001% has grown from almost 4% in 1995 to more than 6%, the report said, while the wealth of multimillionaires had increased by about 8% annually since the 1990s – nearly twice the rate of the bottom 50%.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2025/dec/10/just-0001-hold-three-times-the-wealth-of-poorest-half-of-humanity-report-finds

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"What we are witnessing right now is the rise of two Americas. One for the billionaire class. And one for everybody else" The American political system is badly broken- Bernie Sanders in The Guardian

An unhoused person sleeps on a bench at the Columbus Circle monument, in view of the US Capitol in Washington DC, on 18 August. Photograph: Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images

Wed 24 Sep 2025 06.00 EDT

Let’s take a deep breath and, for one moment, forget about Donald Trump, Jimmy Kimmel, the UN, Charlie Kirk, Gaza, a government shutdown and the other crises that we face.

Let’s talk instead about the reality which the corporately-controlled media and the corporately-controlled political system don’t talk about very much.

What we are witnessing right now is the rise of two Americas. One for the billionaire class. And one for everybody else.

In one America, the richest people are becoming obscenely richer and have never, ever, had it so good. That America is overflowing with unimaginable wealth, greed and opulence that makes the Gilded Age seem very modest.

And then there is a second America – an America where a majority of people live paycheck to paycheck, struggling to secure the very basic necessities of life – food, healthcare, housing and education.

The simple truth is that never before in our history have so few had so much wealth and power while so many live in economic desperation... READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/24/bernie-sanders-opinion-billionaire-politics 

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Blogged for Memorial Day- a letter I sent to my local newspaper 2025: This Earth Day please start noticing how much pollution and injustice war creates.

Dear Patriot News,

Our earth, our precious earth is home to a diverse and fascinating mix of flora and fauna, including us.  We live we die. Life in general is not fair, but we human beings should do all we can to make life more fair, more bearable, and more beautiful for more people.

This Earth Day please start noticing how much pollution and injustice war creates. 

Yes, we need to support our troops, but we tax payers should not be funding the weapons industry.  Creating and selling weapons of war inevitably leads to killing and endless cycles of revenge and vindictiveness worldwide. No family is safe.

Our collective recorded history has been one of violence in many ways to countless people and to our planet.  Our future needs to be different. 

Our future needs to be of hope and helpfulness, cooperation and kindness- prioritizing good investments in nonviolence and sustainable practices that help our planet earth and all its inhabitants.

Weapons and war are poisoning our planet, just as much as racist hate poisons hearts and minds and turns people into monsters doing despicable things to others.

Harassing and killing people, destroying lives and livelihoods, is wrong.  Be braver than a bully, be stronger than tyrant- be aware and be kind.  Be kind to and about others, even those you do not like.

Diplomacy and dialogue create security- and prosperity for ALL, not just lucky billionaires. 

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab 

Prioritize Human Rights, The Rule of Fair & Just Laws, and Golden Rule Thinking: END WAR

 

My more recent Letters

Tragedies abound here on planet earth, but at least we can try to make our world a better, more fair, just and secure place for more people.

Racist times created hell on earth for "others" then, we really should know better now...

Dear America- Funding religious extremists and charlatans is a recipe for disaster.

Dear America- Please do not let this tragic situation became a reason for more people to be treated more unequally, with more Palestinians and Palestinian Americans being doxed, destroyed, and displaced.

Life is not a video game. These are real human beings and American made weaponry has been creating a Holocaust with The Rule of Lawlessness in the Holy Land.

Taxpayers' money should not be shoring up greed, corporate corruption, injustice, and war.

Please, let Golden Rule thinking and the rule of fair and just laws guide US all towards a better way forward.

State sponsored violence is not the way to convince vulnerable people to veer away from arming religious tyranny and terrorism.

Hate crimes are escalating here in America with people primed by to think, say and do horrible things...

Slavery, Segregation and Forced Displacement are wrong. Wrong then and wrong now

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights