"Those who make peaceful evolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable." So said JFK many decades ago. Our oligarchs should take heed of those words.
"If we ask why is this outrage, this fundamental tax cheating permitted to continue, the answer is very clearly, it is the power of people with money who want to be able to avoid taxes. And their ability to avoid taxes leads them having even more money, which reinforces that power."
And when that money becomes political speech, that is when the oligarchical power moves in for good (thanks, Extreme Court). Oligarchs use Citizens United to buy power in our government.
We need publicly-financed campaigns with strict limits of both money and time (England allows only 6 weeks for political campaigns, with no commercials on radio or TV-can you imagine?)
It may take a Constitutional Amendment, but overturning Citizens United would save our democracy at the fundamental level.
It still doesn't explain why so many people are so brainwashed. Millions voted for Trump believing the exact opposite of the truth. There's clearly a large percentage of society, here and abroad, that thinks everything is just fine with an oligarchy.
Because of where they get their “news”…heaviest quotes ever. The loss of The Fairness Doctrine had profound effects which have only been aggravated by zero regulation on social media. Many people, of all ages, no longer consume real news. They get skewed opinion and tabloid versions because there is little legal standard and no integrity among the purveyors of such garbage.
I think most people don't believe something until it directly impacts them personally. The day they can't eat or lose their home is they day they look for reasons why, but never in advance. It's like watching the volcano erupt and not thinking anything of it until they're knee deep in lava and it's too late. And unfortunately, there is nothing anyone can say or do to change their minds. But politics is even worse, because even when the crisis happens, they'll simply blame the other guy over the person who they voted for and was in charge when the crisis hit. We see this over and over again.
It took the Great Depression to make people accept the idea that the government can help them and the rich have been chipping away at it ever since. Now they are in control.
I read a story yesterday about a guy in Texas, John Gannon, who's a 75-year-old, white, successful businessman and lifelong Republican voter. His fiancee was just apprehended and disappeared by ICE. Embedded in his response was the line that he never expected anything like that to happen to "a guy like him." Tells you all you need to know.
Totally agree. And when people can’t imagine that, let alone see it coming, it’s also no wonder they struggle with empathy and compassion for others. And as has been said over and over, American culture in the 21st century is ruled by vapid self obsession.
No democracy is going to survive in an environment where people are allowed to profit from selling hate. If the US doesn't collapse into oligarchy, this, the legalization of bribery, and the farce of Citizens United, must all be eliminated.
True. Having it may have helped, but it’s impossible to know if it would have, in what way, for how long, etc. Even if it kept cable in check, I suspect it wouldn’t have mattered once online purveyors became plentiful. It needs to be resurrected and extend to ALL forms of media.
This leads me to suggest that Dr. Krugman is largely "preaching to the choir". I don't mean to suggest that it is not worthwhile - the Substack provides important information to its readers.
But the fact remains that it doesn't seem to reach the people who most need to see it.
What to do? The information doesn't get disseminated in other media, as far as I can tell.
I doubt that providing it for free would help much - "You can lead a horse to water...."
Part of the answer is to speak calmly with them about issues that matter to them. Ask if they are happy with rising prices, lower wage increases, ICE killing Americans, etc. Ask what Trump has done for them.
Keep forwarding & sharing info like this to people who are trying to ignore the reality we are in. Don’t just keep it to yourself. So what if it causes a heated argument or uncomfortable encounters. Most rational humans can move past that.
Often just dropping a one liner is enough to get some people thinking. If we can plant the seeds of truth in more minds, perhaps they will “come around”.
Getting them to admit it out loud is not really necessary.
"I doubt that providing it for free would help much..." Krugman already provides much of his material for free. I am not a paid subscriber and was able to read his entire piece on Malta tax evasion.
Listen to Fox and other right wing news for a week and you will see a totally different story. You get to see how propaganda works.
Per AI, Fox News generally presents Donald Trump as a strong, decisive, and resilient leader who fights for everyday Americans against hostile political and media establishments. His unpolished and aggressive communication style is framed not as a flaw, but as authenticity, strength, and a refusal to bow to political correctness.
A truly frightening thought. As long as you look and sound the part you are playing, people will believe you are the real thing. Nothing could be further from the truth, of course, but picking out the flaws and lies requires some effort, which too many people are unwilling to spend the time and effort to discern.
While those misinformed and often angry millions voted for Trump, many regret doing so. The challenge now is to convert those regrets into votes for Democrats rather than those voters sitting out in November. Michigan will be key. Rather than worrying about "socialism," we must talk about actual policies to help people, including a stronger safety net, fair taxes, better roads, etc.
I know several people who voted for Trump and one the surface would appear to be well educated reasonable people with good jobs and a good degree of success in their lives, and none of them have any regrets voting for Trump. The reason is, any of the negativity is immediately dismissed as a both-sides issue. And the reason "socialism" is brought up is because that narrative is being pushed by the right that owns most of our media. So, regardless of what Democrats want to talk about, the only thing people will hear is the narrative "socialism" equals "communism" equals "Democrats" equals "bad for me". My point is, most people should see through this, but they don't, because their house isn't currently on fire and hey, both sides, so I'm good with my pick.
And, unfortunately, there is the key: the house has to be on fire for people to change. It took the Great Depression for FDR to come to power and enact the New Deal legislation. Dems may win the midterms and even the presidency in '28 but without some type of cataclysm they will not do deep structural change and we will be back on the doom cycle.
Sure, there will continue to be many like those you describe. The right will continue to try to manipulate them with false claims of communism. But there are others who may be open to seeing the wider picture, such as children hungry because their families no longer get SNAP benefits due to burdensome documentation. It's hard to argue that children should find a way to feed themselves. Yet, I have seen mothers run out of formula and feed young infants water instead.
I would add that there is the delusion that everyone can get rich and become a millionaire so I want to keep the system the way it is coupled with the view that paying taxes is for suckers--why should my money go to _________ [fill in the racist blank].
Carl Sagan had the most succinct explanation I have read.
They are the bamboozled, who will never admit they have been conned.
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Public financing? Yes. But what kind? “Vouchers”: Give every voter the power to donate his/her little piece ($100?). And watch pols get neck pain as their heads whip around to better hear ordinary people.
Adjust the amounts dynamically to ensure the wealthy can’t buy Congress again.
Can we afford it? The wealthy are spending, on average, only $6 billion a year to turn a $7 trillion borrowing machine into their personal money tree. $6 billion from a $7 trillion budget? Come on. A rounding error. Can we afford it? We can’t afford not to!
Citizens United? Irrelevant. but the Dems all point to it instead of doing something.
Why irrelevant? System was already broken when Clinton crippled bank regulation to open up donation money from bank leaders. Bringing on 2008 recession. Congress was already enslaved to dialing-for-dollars long before 2010 CU decision. And “corporations” give relatively little; it’s their leaders who pour in the bucks. Pointing to CU and Supreme Court gives pols cover for doing nothing. A voucher program only needs a simple law and modest budget.
In 2020 and 2022 Dems proposed voucher programs. Their proposals were poorly designed, but worse, the proponents decided to NEVER TALK ABOUT THEM PUBLICLY!!! I suppose they were afraid of slowing the flow of special interest money to campaigns.
I write about vouchers in great detail in my Substack
Join me in educating the thought leaders like Krugman who complain but don’t seem to believe a solution is available.
In Canada, a lot of the financing comes from the votes a party received in the last election.
As well, corporations and unions are not permitted to donate, only individuals, with limits for donations to parties and separately to candidates. PAC type financing not permitted.
France only allows about 4000 euros in private campaign donations. Overturning Citizens United would definitely take a Constitutional Amendment since the Supremes have already ruled that donating money to political campaigns is protected by the Free Speech clause in the Constitution.
Yes, or a future SCOTUS can overturn the Citizens United decision. Either way, it's a heavy lift. I think the American people might be inclined to get big money out of politics since the oligarchs are now drowning out the "speech" of ordinary citizens.
A few notes I have taken, that agree with your fact based data.
Whenever the GOP Presidents leave office they leave a massive debt, without a care in the world. By then they are rich with stolen tax dollars, usually because of more wars of lies.
If America did not have the massive tax cuts, and offshore tax fraud, from Reagan, Bush and Cheney families; there would never have been billionaires and trillionaires. And the result is the narcissistic kleptocrat, Trump.
This modern road to fascism began with the election of Ronald Reagan.
Reagan is where American tax cheating fascism began with his double dip recessions, and his mysterious Fed Chairman, Alan Greenspan, privatizing everything government, so they could sell us on trickledown [tax] fraud, and sell off the government for profit.
Then GHW Bush and his drummed up First Bush war in Iraq to distract from his recession in 1990.
As a friend called it "selective harvesting" of middle class wealth, every eight to ten years, of middle class wealth, by Wall Street and the emerging oligarchs.
That's how the American oligarchs became oligarchs, by offshoring their Private Money, from their Government Contracts .
Then we had Clinton, who really wasn't a democrat, just another confederate who would go along with the southern states mentality. Along with Newt Gingrich's and the GOP's, Contract On Americans. Boehner, Ryan, McCarthy, et al., the young dumb guns.
Then Dubwa Bush and his handlers/puppeteers Cheney and Rumsfeld and their wars of lies in Iraq, for oil and $$$ for Halliburton, to cover up for the Massive Enron Fraud of 2001. With more tax cuts for the rich.
They all paved the way and laid the red carpet for this dictator wannabe in the White supremacist House.
Trump is Putin's and Netanyahu's puppet, their "useful idiot," along with the GOP confederate (how salmon breed), like speaker mike johnson and liar mitch mcconnell.
The GOP since Reagan have always been trying to destroy Our Democracy and government, and replace it with their Privatized, putin styled, fascist dictatorship andoligarchy.
They are very close to that goal.
We can turn this around, we hope, with Direct Peaceful Action.
And trump & co. are finally losing in the Courts, even committing Fraud on our Courts! The Trump regime is crumbling, because of their love of hate and vengeance, and incompetence; and repeating it over and over.
This is one aspect of the abdication of leadership by mainstream US politicians in the 21st Century, which has contributed to a 40 trillion dollar national debt. They are all owned by the oligarchs. Democrats and Republican Congresses are equally guilty of debasing the dollar. Republican voters, in desperation, turned to the populist scammer Trump, and now Democrats hare turning to populist scammers in DSA. Both feed off of division and offer illusions rather than solutions.
This is one aspect of the abdication of leadership by mainstream US politicians in the 21st Century, which has contributed to a 40 trillion dollar national debt. They are all owned by the oligarchs. Democrats and Republican Congresses are equally guilty of debasing the dollar. Republican voters, in desperation, turned to the populist scammer Trump, and now Democrats hare turning to populist scammers in DSA. Both feed off of division and offer illusions rather than solutions.
Harvard Professor Erica Chenoweth’s Pillar Strategy
Erica Chenoweth’s research highlights that nonviolent movements succeed by inducing defections within an opponent's "pillars of support"—institutions upholding the regime, such as economic elites, business leaders, media, and security forces. Targeting these pillars with economic pressure (strikes, boycotts) weakens regime loyalty, forcing structural change.
Key Aspects of Chenoweth’s Pillar Strategy:
• Definition: Pillars of support are the essential institutions (e.g., police, military, civil servants, media, organized labor, business leaders, educational systems) that maintain an authoritarian or unjust system.
• The Goal (Defection): Rather than directly attacking the regime, successful campaigns target these pillars to cause, in Chenoweth's term, "defections" - where key stakeholders stop supporting the leadership.
• Economic Tactics: Key actions include labor actions, consumer boycotts, and targeted pressure on economic elites and business leaders.
• Informed Pillar Strategy: Research suggests that identifying and focusing on the least loyal or most "low-hanging" pillars is more effective for small-to-medium movements than broad, random, or only massive mobilization.
• Disruptive Power: The goal is to break the perception that supporting the regime is in the best interest of these institutions.
The approach emphasizes that, while mass participation is crucial, specific, strategic action against the pillars of support is a more effective way to create, in Chenoweth's terms, a "cascade of defections".
A dynamic model of nonviolent resistance strategy - PMC
Please: Resist. Stop cooperating. Stop spending. Stop the fascist takeover.
Thank you for restacking, and sharing, to help Spread the Word!
"oligarchs should …," "oligarchs should …," "oligarchs should …" You are wasting your brain cells even thinking about what oligarchs should. They do what they do *because they can*, and how to change that is the only productive line of inquiry.
Eliminating offshore tax havens should be a priority of the (hopefully) incoming Democratic Congress in 2027. And the (hopefully) incoming Democrat President in early 2029. If only to emphasize, that while Republican politicians positively adore corruption, Democrats DO NOT.
Wall Street will cry bloody murder if their ability to avoid paying taxes--legally or otherwise--is limited. Their familiars at FOX News, WSJ, CNBC, Bloomberg, etc. will scream about the horrors, the injustice. Many billionaire hedge fund managers and CEO's will cry tears of rage and sadness.
Until January of 2029, a Democratic Majority congress will only be able to investigate and draw a line in the sand. They won't be able to overcome many if any of the Orange Ogre's vetos. This is the regime the Oligarchs bought and paid for and they are profiting handsomely, however illegal it may be. Come 2029 if we are organized, we can raise taxes on the Megacorps and place wealth taxes on the Oligarchs, but I suspect it will take multiple Constitutional Amendments to overcome The Robert's Court blatant corruption.
They truly have become the party of chaos, corruption,cruelty, and incompetence. As long as they remain propagandized by the reichwing media bubble, I’m not sure what a path forward looks like… without big changes to the Constitution.
Britain has a vested interest in maintaining tax havens. Ending them with the stroke of a pen would be anathema to the institutions and companies that serve the wealthy. London is also the major destination of Russian oligarchs to launder their money, earning it the moniker "Londonistan". The UK economy is highly dependent on financial services, which is why governments of any political stripe will not seriously change the legal status and tax rates of the very wealthy, and the business services of their enablers. The "City" tail wags the British state, just as Wall Street wags the US.
The Russians made Brexit real and they helped the US elect Trump. But if you ask the media have they researched those facts they will throw up their hands and quote Trump and Putin that it's all a hoax.
Indeed. I would not count on the democrats to do any of substance. They lost the support of their traditional constituency, lost the supreme court, lost the Roe vs Wade, lost the congress, lost the senate, and now are in a tizzy when real progressive democrats win primaries. Pity.
Unfortunately I agree. They may eke out majorities in one or both houses, but they won’t get anything done and wouldn’t even if Trump wouldn’t veto. The “center” and the old are too busy eating their own. Some of it is because they don’t want to lose their power, money, privileges, and opportunity. Some of it is because they are so profoundly out of touch with the reality everyday Americans live. Not that Rs understand or care about actual needs, but they do know how to mostly unite a message, weaponizing the very strong emotions of anger and fear to rally support. They are also excellent at a constant bait and switch, so their uninformed to dis to misinformed voters never have (or want) to think about the actual truth.
I can't help but think these progressive Democrats are our only help. We need people not entrenched in current politics so we can fix the US tax codes. Get the billionaires and corporations out of politics. Let's get back to taxing them. The professor has an excellent graph of how corporate taxes came down while payroll taxes shot up. We need to get loud people.
And we need to call out corporations who engage in this tax evasion. And boycott them where we can. I would not dream of buying a pair of Crocs' ugly plastic shoes now, knowing how they have giddily avoided supporting America through taxes. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/business/economy/crocs-malta-tax-haven.html
I have no less than 4 pairs of crocs around. And that is just currently. Probablyhave had over 20 pairs lifetime. I am going to have to find another mule for convenience now becauce I will not willingly pour my money into this. The more you know….
This was my first thought when I read this article. Then I immediately was exhausted as I thought about how much we already should be doing this - tax evasion, abusive labor practices, damaging environmental footprints, campaign donations. Much of Corporate America has little to no scruples, and it’s getting more and more difficult to find someone not failing at a key category. We shouldn’t have to consult tracking websites before every purchase. It’s a waste of time and mentally exhausting. Thanks a lot Milton Friedman.
My checkbook appreciates me boycotting amazon. Starbucks because the way they treat their staff, target because they're chickenshits. I could go on but my point is it is easier to avoid oligarchs and sheep when you refuse to buy what they're offering. One really can do without. At least make a decent effort to find it somewhere else or substitute it or, again, just do without. We are trained for instant gratification. We can do better.
A "doom loop", favors extremists who preach "it is all someone else's fault" and that "someone else should pay" (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13059832/). Unfortunately, as long as government is focused on quick fixes (left or right), oligarchs will find a way to benefit.
An essential step in improving any situation is to recognize YOUR behaviors that make the problem worse, and how YOU can change YOUR behavior. In this case, the US electorate must recognize that voters' own inattention to their own institutions made state capture possible.
Tax cheats steal from every American, from the Amazon worker pulling the night shift, the single mother, the father of three working two jobs. It isn't cute. It isn't smart. It should carry draconian penalties and they should be rigorously enforced.
We face so many problems on so many fronts, that some days it seems an impossible slog. The US, even before Trump, was instrumental in allowing the flight of capital overseas, hence the high (dis)proportion of billionaires. Europe no better, though it has the advantages of social benefits for its citizens like health care and premium education. And all this so that the rich can go to Milan on their private jets for the weekend. They bring shallowness to new depths.
Your comment actually also has another point…despite Europe’s higher taxation, they still manage to have plenty of wealthy people while also doing much better serving the average citizens. The ones here in the US act like they would be made paupers overnight. Look at that pearl clutching over California’s proposed one time tax!
Even more annoying is the tax avoidance and evasion that happens when the money leaves a corporate balance sheet and actually becomes income for wealthy individuals.
Taxes from corporate profits are not a massive share of the revenue for the Federal Government these days, at something like 11% although a google search tells me that they used to amount to 25% in the 1950s and before Reagan.
However, these days it seems corporations can move their addresses anywhere as you mention.
Technically corporate profits are taxed twice, once as profit and again after being paid out to individuals or that was perhaps more common before stock buybacks (which could also be taxed at higher rates). I am not sure how easy it is to get corporations to not switch addresses to avoid taxes, but income once it is in the hands of individuals needs to be taxed at higher rates for the wealthy, for sure.
Capital gains should be taxed at regular income tax rates as well (dividing the gain by the number of years held and then add this to your income to get the rate that is applied to total income including the total gain).
As far as estate taxes, setting up foundations run by heirs is a huge loophole since I am not aware of any cap in transferring money to charities like this, even these somewhat fake charities used to funnel money and avoid taxes. These foundations only need to pay out 5% a yr and for donor advised funds the amount seems to be zero according to Ray Madoff below, so the foundations can simply pay into the donor advised funds. Fixing these and other loopholes would go a long way.
One needs to know where the problems lie in order to fix them so thanks for addressing these issues.
The GOP has always been mainly about minimizing taxes on the wealthy and deregulation. And aside from the fact that they have learned to appeal to racism and apple pie in order to get votes they need from people who actually suffer from its lowest possible tax and deregulation priorities, it’s still mainly just about those very two things. Why is it so hard for people to see that?
Yes, it is a favorite GOP talking point angle, but it is also the case that it is true. Your point is also true about money being taxed when it changes hands and l have argued that very same point, as well, on many occasions.
Malta is a useful warning that formal sovereignty does not automatically produce economic sovereignty. A state can use its powers to build productive capacity, or rent them out through tax arbitrage. Huge investment figures mean little unless we ask what that investment builds, who benefits and where the profits are taxed.
He who wishes to establish an absolute power, such as ancient writers called a tyranny, must change everything. …. He should leave nothing unchanged, so that there should be neither rank, nor grade, nor honor, nor wealth, that should not be recognized as coming from him. – Machiavelli.
Regime change sounds like a good idea, but does that really change the players? Nothing shows that "changing the costumes at the ball" makes a no difference as the picture of the players standing behind Trump at his second inauguration. The usual politicians were not there. It was the line up of the oligarchs from both parties smiling waiting to be fed at the trough.
Reading that Malta would have a 0 % tax on corporate profits gives me an uneasy feeling of how you do your research. The common tax rate is 35% on corporate income, on distributed profits it can be reduced to 5% - under certain circumstances. And: countries like Luxemburg may be even more "efficient" on this matter.
But you do not have to cross the Atlantic to find your examples: what about those US LLC (based in Delaware, Texas, etc...) who do not pay any taxes in the US?
In common conversation Malta is known as a tax haven and I suspect it probably would prove true that very few companies there pay much more than 5%. Certainly not 35%, and not the 15% floor. To me, in a conversational piece like this, Krugman is essentially right.
We vacationed in Malta a year ago. The locals get very defensive if you say the words 'tax haven'. The 35% tax rate is trotted out as proof of their bona fide membership in the world of international commerce. The 5% back door is seldom, if ever mentioned. A lot of public infrastructure, and social services can be bought with the 'tax crumbs' of international tax evasion.
The NY Times article was clear about how the following occurs: "Officially, Malta levies a 35 percent corporate tax, but firms can drive that rate to nearly zero. Accounting firms supply local tax advisers to serve as board members for the shell companies, while colleagues at the same firms audit the entities’ financial statements." https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/business/economy/crocs-malta-tax-haven.html
it is not the tax rate at 0% - if you do not have any profits, than you pay 0 tax (tax rate stays the same)... that is a slight difference... it's called accounting and it depends on the local GAAP framework.... you as well could question how R&D expenses are treated under US GAAP rules...
i dont understand how SCOTUS can say corps are people for free speech aka, political donations, but yet corps have these special tax loopholes. An individual cant avoid paying US taxes if they live and work abroad and make over the 130k limit for salaries and cant avoid it all for dividends, interest, cap gains, etc... so why do corps, whoa re people get to avoid it w this bullshit
I believe the personal income taxation is reaching into other countries and demanding that you either pay taxes there or here - no matter where you claim to live. Why would that not be the same for corporations - supposedly they are people too.
Clear again. Everytime I read your posts I feel a bit smarter and more importantly, a bit more motivated to fight for change in these crazy times. Thank you!
"Those who make peaceful evolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable." So said JFK many decades ago. Our oligarchs should take heed of those words.
"If we ask why is this outrage, this fundamental tax cheating permitted to continue, the answer is very clearly, it is the power of people with money who want to be able to avoid taxes. And their ability to avoid taxes leads them having even more money, which reinforces that power."
And when that money becomes political speech, that is when the oligarchical power moves in for good (thanks, Extreme Court). Oligarchs use Citizens United to buy power in our government.
We need publicly-financed campaigns with strict limits of both money and time (England allows only 6 weeks for political campaigns, with no commercials on radio or TV-can you imagine?)
It may take a Constitutional Amendment, but overturning Citizens United would save our democracy at the fundamental level.
It still doesn't explain why so many people are so brainwashed. Millions voted for Trump believing the exact opposite of the truth. There's clearly a large percentage of society, here and abroad, that thinks everything is just fine with an oligarchy.
Because of where they get their “news”…heaviest quotes ever. The loss of The Fairness Doctrine had profound effects which have only been aggravated by zero regulation on social media. Many people, of all ages, no longer consume real news. They get skewed opinion and tabloid versions because there is little legal standard and no integrity among the purveyors of such garbage.
I think most people don't believe something until it directly impacts them personally. The day they can't eat or lose their home is they day they look for reasons why, but never in advance. It's like watching the volcano erupt and not thinking anything of it until they're knee deep in lava and it's too late. And unfortunately, there is nothing anyone can say or do to change their minds. But politics is even worse, because even when the crisis happens, they'll simply blame the other guy over the person who they voted for and was in charge when the crisis hit. We see this over and over again.
It took the Great Depression to make people accept the idea that the government can help them and the rich have been chipping away at it ever since. Now they are in control.
And the rich are working on bringing on the next depression. It would be funny if it weren't so tragic.
I read a story yesterday about a guy in Texas, John Gannon, who's a 75-year-old, white, successful businessman and lifelong Republican voter. His fiancee was just apprehended and disappeared by ICE. Embedded in his response was the line that he never expected anything like that to happen to "a guy like him." Tells you all you need to know.
Totally agree. And when people can’t imagine that, let alone see it coming, it’s also no wonder they struggle with empathy and compassion for others. And as has been said over and over, American culture in the 21st century is ruled by vapid self obsession.
Yes, good point. 1. People are creatures of habit...what breaks a habit? 2. People are judgemental 3. People dont like change
No democracy is going to survive in an environment where people are allowed to profit from selling hate. If the US doesn't collapse into oligarchy, this, the legalization of bribery, and the farce of Citizens United, must all be eliminated.
True. Having it may have helped, but it’s impossible to know if it would have, in what way, for how long, etc. Even if it kept cable in check, I suspect it wouldn’t have mattered once online purveyors became plentiful. It needs to be resurrected and extend to ALL forms of media.
This leads me to suggest that Dr. Krugman is largely "preaching to the choir". I don't mean to suggest that it is not worthwhile - the Substack provides important information to its readers.
But the fact remains that it doesn't seem to reach the people who most need to see it.
What to do? The information doesn't get disseminated in other media, as far as I can tell.
I doubt that providing it for free would help much - "You can lead a horse to water...."
Any suggestions?
That's the question of our age -- how do you break the grip of the oligarchy over the minds of the ill informed.
Part of the answer is to speak calmly with them about issues that matter to them. Ask if they are happy with rising prices, lower wage increases, ICE killing Americans, etc. Ask what Trump has done for them.
he did mention that NYT ran a story on Malta
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/business/economy/crocs-malta-tax-haven.html
Hi, he did in his video
The right has already written off Krugman as a hopeless liberal. They wouldn’t even read him.
Keep forwarding & sharing info like this to people who are trying to ignore the reality we are in. Don’t just keep it to yourself. So what if it causes a heated argument or uncomfortable encounters. Most rational humans can move past that.
Often just dropping a one liner is enough to get some people thinking. If we can plant the seeds of truth in more minds, perhaps they will “come around”.
Getting them to admit it out loud is not really necessary.
"I doubt that providing it for free would help much..." Krugman already provides much of his material for free. I am not a paid subscriber and was able to read his entire piece on Malta tax evasion.
You are certainly correct. The herd mentality runs strong in some people. An evolutionary defect.
Listen to Fox and other right wing news for a week and you will see a totally different story. You get to see how propaganda works.
Per AI, Fox News generally presents Donald Trump as a strong, decisive, and resilient leader who fights for everyday Americans against hostile political and media establishments. His unpolished and aggressive communication style is framed not as a flaw, but as authenticity, strength, and a refusal to bow to political correctness.
A truly frightening thought. As long as you look and sound the part you are playing, people will believe you are the real thing. Nothing could be further from the truth, of course, but picking out the flaws and lies requires some effort, which too many people are unwilling to spend the time and effort to discern.
Agree with AI here. Sad, isn’t it?
While those misinformed and often angry millions voted for Trump, many regret doing so. The challenge now is to convert those regrets into votes for Democrats rather than those voters sitting out in November. Michigan will be key. Rather than worrying about "socialism," we must talk about actual policies to help people, including a stronger safety net, fair taxes, better roads, etc.
I know several people who voted for Trump and one the surface would appear to be well educated reasonable people with good jobs and a good degree of success in their lives, and none of them have any regrets voting for Trump. The reason is, any of the negativity is immediately dismissed as a both-sides issue. And the reason "socialism" is brought up is because that narrative is being pushed by the right that owns most of our media. So, regardless of what Democrats want to talk about, the only thing people will hear is the narrative "socialism" equals "communism" equals "Democrats" equals "bad for me". My point is, most people should see through this, but they don't, because their house isn't currently on fire and hey, both sides, so I'm good with my pick.
In my town some people stood outside city hall protesting ICE and the photo was posted on a local group
A person wanted to find the names of those in the photo and said they should be identified as the group of democrats was “communism “
Lest you think I’m in some backwater -nope a working class suburb north of Boston
And, unfortunately, there is the key: the house has to be on fire for people to change. It took the Great Depression for FDR to come to power and enact the New Deal legislation. Dems may win the midterms and even the presidency in '28 but without some type of cataclysm they will not do deep structural change and we will be back on the doom cycle.
Sure, there will continue to be many like those you describe. The right will continue to try to manipulate them with false claims of communism. But there are others who may be open to seeing the wider picture, such as children hungry because their families no longer get SNAP benefits due to burdensome documentation. It's hard to argue that children should find a way to feed themselves. Yet, I have seen mothers run out of formula and feed young infants water instead.
I would add that there is the delusion that everyone can get rich and become a millionaire so I want to keep the system the way it is coupled with the view that paying taxes is for suckers--why should my money go to _________ [fill in the racist blank].
Carl Sagan had the most succinct explanation I have read.
They are the bamboozled, who will never admit they have been conned.
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
I think aspiration plays a big role - "poor man wants to be rich, rich man wants to be king, and a king ain't satisfied till he rules over everything"
Bruce missed the middle classes, tho most are moderately rich
Many interpret the American dream as being able to become rich, to make a fortune
While few achieve that level of wealth, they still aspire to that dream, and therefore validate those that have achieved their dream as successful
Obviously more to this than I can say here, but you get the drift
Public financing? Yes. But what kind? “Vouchers”: Give every voter the power to donate his/her little piece ($100?). And watch pols get neck pain as their heads whip around to better hear ordinary people.
Adjust the amounts dynamically to ensure the wealthy can’t buy Congress again.
Can we afford it? The wealthy are spending, on average, only $6 billion a year to turn a $7 trillion borrowing machine into their personal money tree. $6 billion from a $7 trillion budget? Come on. A rounding error. Can we afford it? We can’t afford not to!
Citizens United? Irrelevant. but the Dems all point to it instead of doing something.
Why irrelevant? System was already broken when Clinton crippled bank regulation to open up donation money from bank leaders. Bringing on 2008 recession. Congress was already enslaved to dialing-for-dollars long before 2010 CU decision. And “corporations” give relatively little; it’s their leaders who pour in the bucks. Pointing to CU and Supreme Court gives pols cover for doing nothing. A voucher program only needs a simple law and modest budget.
In 2020 and 2022 Dems proposed voucher programs. Their proposals were poorly designed, but worse, the proponents decided to NEVER TALK ABOUT THEM PUBLICLY!!! I suppose they were afraid of slowing the flow of special interest money to campaigns.
I write about vouchers in great detail in my Substack
Join me in educating the thought leaders like Krugman who complain but don’t seem to believe a solution is available.
In Canada, a lot of the financing comes from the votes a party received in the last election.
As well, corporations and unions are not permitted to donate, only individuals, with limits for donations to parties and separately to candidates. PAC type financing not permitted.
Very helpful, but just like any other reform it is up a against system that works for both parties. We have a political industry to fight.
Here's the NYT piece Dr. Krugman referred to titled "Trump Clears Way For Corporate Tax Dodge Hidden In Fine Print."
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/29/business/economy/offshore-tax-havens-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4VA.LHqB.R9Bn_pVOZhzX&smid=url-share
I read this mans columns every time he writes. I have to admit he makes
more sense in his writing then tRUMP ever thought of saying.
There’s another one specifically about Malta:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/business/economy/crocs-malta-tax-haven.html
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🎆🎆🎆
France only allows about 4000 euros in private campaign donations. Overturning Citizens United would definitely take a Constitutional Amendment since the Supremes have already ruled that donating money to political campaigns is protected by the Free Speech clause in the Constitution.
But in the good old USA ,we have TRUMPTY who believes in FALSE ADVERTISEMENT an fear to keep his vile , illegal, hold of our government 🤯🤢☠️👺
Yes, or a future SCOTUS can overturn the Citizens United decision. Either way, it's a heavy lift. I think the American people might be inclined to get big money out of politics since the oligarchs are now drowning out the "speech" of ordinary citizens.
What a great description! You are totally right.
A few notes I have taken, that agree with your fact based data.
Whenever the GOP Presidents leave office they leave a massive debt, without a care in the world. By then they are rich with stolen tax dollars, usually because of more wars of lies.
If America did not have the massive tax cuts, and offshore tax fraud, from Reagan, Bush and Cheney families; there would never have been billionaires and trillionaires. And the result is the narcissistic kleptocrat, Trump.
This modern road to fascism began with the election of Ronald Reagan.
Reagan is where American tax cheating fascism began with his double dip recessions, and his mysterious Fed Chairman, Alan Greenspan, privatizing everything government, so they could sell us on trickledown [tax] fraud, and sell off the government for profit.
Then GHW Bush and his drummed up First Bush war in Iraq to distract from his recession in 1990.
As a friend called it "selective harvesting" of middle class wealth, every eight to ten years, of middle class wealth, by Wall Street and the emerging oligarchs.
That's how the American oligarchs became oligarchs, by offshoring their Private Money, from their Government Contracts .
Then we had Clinton, who really wasn't a democrat, just another confederate who would go along with the southern states mentality. Along with Newt Gingrich's and the GOP's, Contract On Americans. Boehner, Ryan, McCarthy, et al., the young dumb guns.
Then Dubwa Bush and his handlers/puppeteers Cheney and Rumsfeld and their wars of lies in Iraq, for oil and $$$ for Halliburton, to cover up for the Massive Enron Fraud of 2001. With more tax cuts for the rich.
They all paved the way and laid the red carpet for this dictator wannabe in the White supremacist House.
Trump is Putin's and Netanyahu's puppet, their "useful idiot," along with the GOP confederate (how salmon breed), like speaker mike johnson and liar mitch mcconnell.
The GOP since Reagan have always been trying to destroy Our Democracy and government, and replace it with their Privatized, putin styled, fascist dictatorship andoligarchy.
They are very close to that goal.
We can turn this around, we hope, with Direct Peaceful Action.
And trump & co. are finally losing in the Courts, even committing Fraud on our Courts! The Trump regime is crumbling, because of their love of hate and vengeance, and incompetence; and repeating it over and over.
Wow! Paul smiled at the end!
This is one aspect of the abdication of leadership by mainstream US politicians in the 21st Century, which has contributed to a 40 trillion dollar national debt. They are all owned by the oligarchs. Democrats and Republican Congresses are equally guilty of debasing the dollar. Republican voters, in desperation, turned to the populist scammer Trump, and now Democrats hare turning to populist scammers in DSA. Both feed off of division and offer illusions rather than solutions.
This is one aspect of the abdication of leadership by mainstream US politicians in the 21st Century, which has contributed to a 40 trillion dollar national debt. They are all owned by the oligarchs. Democrats and Republican Congresses are equally guilty of debasing the dollar. Republican voters, in desperation, turned to the populist scammer Trump, and now Democrats hare turning to populist scammers in DSA. Both feed off of division and offer illusions rather than solutions.
Pull Down the Pillars
Harvard Professor Erica Chenoweth’s Pillar Strategy
Erica Chenoweth’s research highlights that nonviolent movements succeed by inducing defections within an opponent's "pillars of support"—institutions upholding the regime, such as economic elites, business leaders, media, and security forces. Targeting these pillars with economic pressure (strikes, boycotts) weakens regime loyalty, forcing structural change.
Key Aspects of Chenoweth’s Pillar Strategy:
• Definition: Pillars of support are the essential institutions (e.g., police, military, civil servants, media, organized labor, business leaders, educational systems) that maintain an authoritarian or unjust system.
• The Goal (Defection): Rather than directly attacking the regime, successful campaigns target these pillars to cause, in Chenoweth's term, "defections" - where key stakeholders stop supporting the leadership.
• Economic Tactics: Key actions include labor actions, consumer boycotts, and targeted pressure on economic elites and business leaders.
• Informed Pillar Strategy: Research suggests that identifying and focusing on the least loyal or most "low-hanging" pillars is more effective for small-to-medium movements than broad, random, or only massive mobilization.
• Disruptive Power: The goal is to break the perception that supporting the regime is in the best interest of these institutions.
The approach emphasizes that, while mass participation is crucial, specific, strategic action against the pillars of support is a more effective way to create, in Chenoweth's terms, a "cascade of defections".
A dynamic model of nonviolent resistance strategy - PMC
Please: Resist. Stop cooperating. Stop spending. Stop the fascist takeover.
Thank you for restacking, and sharing, to help Spread the Word!
Fund the IRS and jail the tax evaders and non-reporters.
"oligarchs should …," "oligarchs should …," "oligarchs should …" You are wasting your brain cells even thinking about what oligarchs should. They do what they do *because they can*, and how to change that is the only productive line of inquiry.
Well, but those oligarchs don't worry about history (e.g. Bolshevik revolution). They’re too busy making history! 😉
JFK was no angel, but I would take him any day, over the asshole now in the white house.
https://tdhawkes.substack.com/p/dreams-of-utopia
Eliminating offshore tax havens should be a priority of the (hopefully) incoming Democratic Congress in 2027. And the (hopefully) incoming Democrat President in early 2029. If only to emphasize, that while Republican politicians positively adore corruption, Democrats DO NOT.
Wall Street will cry bloody murder if their ability to avoid paying taxes--legally or otherwise--is limited. Their familiars at FOX News, WSJ, CNBC, Bloomberg, etc. will scream about the horrors, the injustice. Many billionaire hedge fund managers and CEO's will cry tears of rage and sadness.
Until January of 2029, a Democratic Majority congress will only be able to investigate and draw a line in the sand. They won't be able to overcome many if any of the Orange Ogre's vetos. This is the regime the Oligarchs bought and paid for and they are profiting handsomely, however illegal it may be. Come 2029 if we are organized, we can raise taxes on the Megacorps and place wealth taxes on the Oligarchs, but I suspect it will take multiple Constitutional Amendments to overcome The Robert's Court blatant corruption.
So unbelievably maddening:
Crocs Has a Trick for Dodging Taxes: a Tiny Office in Malta
NYTimes, August 5, 2026
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/business/economy/crocs-malta-tax-haven.html
Canada taxes global income, with credits for taxes paid elsewhere.
A solution for phony offshore tax havens.
It still allows investments in low tax countries. But income from those investments are taxed at Canadian tax rates.
Our whole tax code needs a major rewrite with hefty alternative minimum taxes.
They truly have become the party of chaos, corruption,cruelty, and incompetence. As long as they remain propagandized by the reichwing media bubble, I’m not sure what a path forward looks like… without big changes to the Constitution.
Britain has a vested interest in maintaining tax havens. Ending them with the stroke of a pen would be anathema to the institutions and companies that serve the wealthy. London is also the major destination of Russian oligarchs to launder their money, earning it the moniker "Londonistan". The UK economy is highly dependent on financial services, which is why governments of any political stripe will not seriously change the legal status and tax rates of the very wealthy, and the business services of their enablers. The "City" tail wags the British state, just as Wall Street wags the US.
The Russians made Brexit real and they helped the US elect Trump. But if you ask the media have they researched those facts they will throw up their hands and quote Trump and Putin that it's all a hoax.
The wailing and gnashing of teeth will be music to my ears.
Indeed. I would not count on the democrats to do any of substance. They lost the support of their traditional constituency, lost the supreme court, lost the Roe vs Wade, lost the congress, lost the senate, and now are in a tizzy when real progressive democrats win primaries. Pity.
Unfortunately I agree. They may eke out majorities in one or both houses, but they won’t get anything done and wouldn’t even if Trump wouldn’t veto. The “center” and the old are too busy eating their own. Some of it is because they don’t want to lose their power, money, privileges, and opportunity. Some of it is because they are so profoundly out of touch with the reality everyday Americans live. Not that Rs understand or care about actual needs, but they do know how to mostly unite a message, weaponizing the very strong emotions of anger and fear to rally support. They are also excellent at a constant bait and switch, so their uninformed to dis to misinformed voters never have (or want) to think about the actual truth.
without Nader voters, we would have had Gore not Bush ... and a LOT of things would have been better and a LOT of Iraqis would still be alive.
Boo Hoo
Democrats must be ready with powerful messaging to counteract all that greedy rich moocher handwringing.
I read that Spacex paid 300 mil. In taxes to China and nothing to the U. S.
I am SO THERE FOR IT!!!
I can’t avoid paying taxes on my Social Security
- ( it would sure help if those were reduced )
- that just makes it harder to take when the game is rigged for corporations to evade responsibility by shifting the burdon tolabor
even as the working class’ share of the pie has been systematically reduced .
I can't help but think these progressive Democrats are our only help. We need people not entrenched in current politics so we can fix the US tax codes. Get the billionaires and corporations out of politics. Let's get back to taxing them. The professor has an excellent graph of how corporate taxes came down while payroll taxes shot up. We need to get loud people.
And we need to call out corporations who engage in this tax evasion. And boycott them where we can. I would not dream of buying a pair of Crocs' ugly plastic shoes now, knowing how they have giddily avoided supporting America through taxes. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/business/economy/crocs-malta-tax-haven.html
I have no less than 4 pairs of crocs around. And that is just currently. Probablyhave had over 20 pairs lifetime. I am going to have to find another mule for convenience now becauce I will not willingly pour my money into this. The more you know….
Please people. Stop feeding the oligarchs.
I've never owned a pair. I buy my shoes from Duluth Trading. You might check them out.
And no plumber's cracks, right?
True. I also buy all my t-shirts there.
This was my first thought when I read this article. Then I immediately was exhausted as I thought about how much we already should be doing this - tax evasion, abusive labor practices, damaging environmental footprints, campaign donations. Much of Corporate America has little to no scruples, and it’s getting more and more difficult to find someone not failing at a key category. We shouldn’t have to consult tracking websites before every purchase. It’s a waste of time and mentally exhausting. Thanks a lot Milton Friedman.
My checkbook appreciates me boycotting amazon. Starbucks because the way they treat their staff, target because they're chickenshits. I could go on but my point is it is easier to avoid oligarchs and sheep when you refuse to buy what they're offering. One really can do without. At least make a decent effort to find it somewhere else or substitute it or, again, just do without. We are trained for instant gratification. We can do better.
That it, The Oligarch 500 list! Now who should we get to publish it?
Point taken.
A "doom loop", favors extremists who preach "it is all someone else's fault" and that "someone else should pay" (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13059832/). Unfortunately, as long as government is focused on quick fixes (left or right), oligarchs will find a way to benefit.
An essential step in improving any situation is to recognize YOUR behaviors that make the problem worse, and how YOU can change YOUR behavior. In this case, the US electorate must recognize that voters' own inattention to their own institutions made state capture possible.
Thanks, once again, Paul. Your column should be required reading for ALL citizens. I learn something from every. single. one. of them.
"Taxes, after all, are the dues that we pay for the privilege of membership in an organized society." - FDR
Tax cheats steal from every American, from the Amazon worker pulling the night shift, the single mother, the father of three working two jobs. It isn't cute. It isn't smart. It should carry draconian penalties and they should be rigorously enforced.
Hey, even a squeaky wheel needs grease occasionally.
We face so many problems on so many fronts, that some days it seems an impossible slog. The US, even before Trump, was instrumental in allowing the flight of capital overseas, hence the high (dis)proportion of billionaires. Europe no better, though it has the advantages of social benefits for its citizens like health care and premium education. And all this so that the rich can go to Milan on their private jets for the weekend. They bring shallowness to new depths.
Your comment actually also has another point…despite Europe’s higher taxation, they still manage to have plenty of wealthy people while also doing much better serving the average citizens. The ones here in the US act like they would be made paupers overnight. Look at that pearl clutching over California’s proposed one time tax!
If you have a NYT subscription, this article will enrage you and demonstrate how deep that shallowness is: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/09/style/olivia-ferney-top-tier-travel.html
A nice turn of phrase. I’m going to steal that.
November can't get here soon enough!
Only if we show up in numbers too large to ignore!
Im ready to make cupcakes and lemonade and give them out for free just to talk to people about changing the course
Even more annoying is the tax avoidance and evasion that happens when the money leaves a corporate balance sheet and actually becomes income for wealthy individuals.
Taxes from corporate profits are not a massive share of the revenue for the Federal Government these days, at something like 11% although a google search tells me that they used to amount to 25% in the 1950s and before Reagan.
However, these days it seems corporations can move their addresses anywhere as you mention.
Technically corporate profits are taxed twice, once as profit and again after being paid out to individuals or that was perhaps more common before stock buybacks (which could also be taxed at higher rates). I am not sure how easy it is to get corporations to not switch addresses to avoid taxes, but income once it is in the hands of individuals needs to be taxed at higher rates for the wealthy, for sure.
Capital gains should be taxed at regular income tax rates as well (dividing the gain by the number of years held and then add this to your income to get the rate that is applied to total income including the total gain).
As far as estate taxes, setting up foundations run by heirs is a huge loophole since I am not aware of any cap in transferring money to charities like this, even these somewhat fake charities used to funnel money and avoid taxes. These foundations only need to pay out 5% a yr and for donor advised funds the amount seems to be zero according to Ray Madoff below, so the foundations can simply pay into the donor advised funds. Fixing these and other loopholes would go a long way.
One needs to know where the problems lie in order to fix them so thanks for addressing these issues.
There is a lot that can be done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLKacgW6YOI&t=723s
The GOP has always been mainly about minimizing taxes on the wealthy and deregulation. And aside from the fact that they have learned to appeal to racism and apple pie in order to get votes they need from people who actually suffer from its lowest possible tax and deregulation priorities, it’s still mainly just about those very two things. Why is it so hard for people to see that?
Yes, it is a favorite GOP talking point angle, but it is also the case that it is true. Your point is also true about money being taxed when it changes hands and l have argued that very same point, as well, on many occasions.
Malta is a useful warning that formal sovereignty does not automatically produce economic sovereignty. A state can use its powers to build productive capacity, or rent them out through tax arbitrage. Huge investment figures mean little unless we ask what that investment builds, who benefits and where the profits are taxed.
Is there any segment of our system that Trump and his vassals have neglected to corrupt?
He who wishes to establish an absolute power, such as ancient writers called a tyranny, must change everything. …. He should leave nothing unchanged, so that there should be neither rank, nor grade, nor honor, nor wealth, that should not be recognized as coming from him. – Machiavelli.
Regime change sounds like a good idea, but does that really change the players? Nothing shows that "changing the costumes at the ball" makes a no difference as the picture of the players standing behind Trump at his second inauguration. The usual politicians were not there. It was the line up of the oligarchs from both parties smiling waiting to be fed at the trough.
Reading that Malta would have a 0 % tax on corporate profits gives me an uneasy feeling of how you do your research. The common tax rate is 35% on corporate income, on distributed profits it can be reduced to 5% - under certain circumstances. And: countries like Luxemburg may be even more "efficient" on this matter.
But you do not have to cross the Atlantic to find your examples: what about those US LLC (based in Delaware, Texas, etc...) who do not pay any taxes in the US?
In common conversation Malta is known as a tax haven and I suspect it probably would prove true that very few companies there pay much more than 5%. Certainly not 35%, and not the 15% floor. To me, in a conversational piece like this, Krugman is essentially right.
what people say is not always correct..... https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/malta/corporate/taxes-on-corporate-income
We vacationed in Malta a year ago. The locals get very defensive if you say the words 'tax haven'. The 35% tax rate is trotted out as proof of their bona fide membership in the world of international commerce. The 5% back door is seldom, if ever mentioned. A lot of public infrastructure, and social services can be bought with the 'tax crumbs' of international tax evasion.
The NY Times article was clear about how the following occurs: "Officially, Malta levies a 35 percent corporate tax, but firms can drive that rate to nearly zero. Accounting firms supply local tax advisers to serve as board members for the shell companies, while colleagues at the same firms audit the entities’ financial statements." https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/business/economy/crocs-malta-tax-haven.html
it is not the tax rate at 0% - if you do not have any profits, than you pay 0 tax (tax rate stays the same)... that is a slight difference... it's called accounting and it depends on the local GAAP framework.... you as well could question how R&D expenses are treated under US GAAP rules...
Alexander wants everyone to know they're not saying their words right.
i dont understand how SCOTUS can say corps are people for free speech aka, political donations, but yet corps have these special tax loopholes. An individual cant avoid paying US taxes if they live and work abroad and make over the 130k limit for salaries and cant avoid it all for dividends, interest, cap gains, etc... so why do corps, whoa re people get to avoid it w this bullshit
I believe the personal income taxation is reaching into other countries and demanding that you either pay taxes there or here - no matter where you claim to live. Why would that not be the same for corporations - supposedly they are people too.
Knowledge is empowering, for sure.
I'm glad it is being shared with us.
Dear Professor,
Thank you for refering to Trump's government as a regime rather than an administration. This distinction should be commonplace. Language matters.
Clear again. Everytime I read your posts I feel a bit smarter and more importantly, a bit more motivated to fight for change in these crazy times. Thank you!