Tax the rich.

Eight individuals in the US have more money than four billion people combined. Meanwhile, the minimum wage has been held down at $7.25 since 2009, making it nearly impossible for people to break out of poverty. It’s not about whether AOC should or shouldn’t have gone to the gala. It’s about what we’re going to do about the inequality crisis in our country that is at the root of most of what ails us.

When ‘We the People’ do not have the financial means to live, food insecurity is inevitable. When ‘We the People’ live in local economies that value tourism and refuse to raise minimum wage, local economies become dependent on outsiders while those local are priced out of their homes. When ‘We the People’ do not have accessible income, we are unable to care for basic human needs like healthcare, freedom of expression through the arts and rest.

In this weeks WELLREAD, we are sharing how poverty hurts us all collectively and how we can and have shown up to challenge our democracy over and over again. AOC’s subversive act is inviting us to ask the right questions about what ways can we challenge inequality and demand collective care for all.

CTZN Team

1. Poverty is a policy choice. Rates of poverty actually fell during the pandemic as a result of massive stimulus checks and unemployment aid. [click to tweet]

2. Our massively unfair tax system. A tax expert on how "wealth begets wealth" — and how a fair tax system could save American democracy. [click to tweet]

3. Occupy Wall Street changed the world. The movement launched a generation of leftist activists –and gave them a vision of real change. Life can be different. [click to tweet]

4. While millions of people are spellbound by false conspiracy theories, the real conspiracies that are wrecking our world go about their business unheeded. Here are five real conspiracies that everyone should know about. [click to tweet]

5. We thrive as individuals and communities by caring for others and being taken care of in turn. Collective infrastructural systems that are resilient, sustainable and globally equitable provide the means for us to care for each other at scale. [click to tweet]

Thanks to AOC, people are finally talking about #TaxTheRich. Here’s just a few reasons why it’s needed.

• Poverty pay. The minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009 (worth $5.69 today). Meanwhile billionaire wealth has skyrocketed (during a pandemic).

• Hard work does not make billionaires, exploiting the working class does. Individuals pay less tax for the sale of a stock than if you worked for the same amount of money (making the idea that rich people somehow worked harder and are, therefore, deserving, profoundly misguided). Rich people should pay their fair share. The poorest 50% contribute the LEAST to the climate crisis but are the most impacted by its consequences.

• Billionaire philanthropy won’t save us. Jeff Bezos’s promise to give away $203.7 million dollars to climate relief is less than what he makes in a day.

• Its popular. 3 in 5 Americans support the Build Back Better agenda if funded by taxing the rich.

• If we raised taxes by just 10% for the 1% of American households, we’d yield three trillion dollars over the next 10 years which could pay for making college tuition free, huge infrastructure investments and tripling the budget for the National Institutes of Health.

Urge your members of congress to support the reconciliation package which raises taxes to fund housing, healthcare, clean energy and more by calling 202-224-3121.

Art and data by @chicksforclimate

A debate about whether AOC was “right” or “wrong” is not going to get us free. What’s going to get us free is organizing people and building power around the vision of this country that we all deserve. Between now and the 2022 midterms, we have an opportunity to not just shift policy but to change the rules. To pass legislation like the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act that will protect and fortify our democracy for decades to come; that will enable us to more effectively defend abortion, build care infrastructure and protect our communities. That means we can’t wait around for someone else to save us. We need to save us.

This is a moment to reorient ourselves around what matters most and to let that guide our work going forward. And so we’re doing just that. Join us September 23rd at 7pm ET for a free community meet up with some of our favorite healers and activists as we navigate the uncertainty of this moment towards healing and action.

Art by @saline

This is not just about building equity, its about reimagining everything. Dream bigger.

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