As the year winds down, I’ve been thinking about money.
At present, there are about 3,000 billionaires in the world, 900 of them in the U.S. Each of them have more money, at least on paper, than they could ever actually spend, no matter how long they lived nor how many things they purchased.
By contrast, most people spend our adult lives working for wages and worrying about how we are going to pay our bills. For today’s college students, it will be all too easy to acquire a mountain of debt that may take most of their lifetimes to pay off.
Wealth disparity is getting worse and it represents the single greatest threat to the future of democracy. Billionaires want to be free to acquire an obscene amount of wealth, but they don’t want the rest of us to be free to redistribute a tiny fraction of that wealth through taxes and social welfare programs to achieve a more equitable set of outcomes.
There’s a name for this — class warfare.
So Marx was right. (Sigh)
But since the vast majority of us will never be in favor of violent political change, we are stuck with the messy work of elections and political parties and leaders we don’t like or trust.
Politically speaking, 2025 was a disaster, but 2026 is a new year, and therefore our next best chance to wage peaceful class warfare, even if nobody wants to call it that.
HEADLINES:
Trump on Putin call: ‘We have a few very thorny issues’ (The Hill)
Ukraine denies drone attack on Putin’s residence (BBC)
Trump says Ukraine and Russia are ‘closer than ever’ to peace after talks with Zelenskyy (AP)
Tensions flare between Russia and Ukraine after Trump’s peace talks (WP)
Trump praises Netanyahu as leaders meet to discuss next steps of ceasefire plan (CBC)
Iran sends conflicting signals on its missiles as Israeli concerns rise (WP)
The 2025 Agenda (Atlanta)
Trump says U.S. took out a ‘big facility’ as part of strikes on alleged drug boats near Venezuela (NBC)
The Department of Justice May Not Survive Pam Bondi (TNR)
Musk’s return to Trump’s side revives alliance that could remake — or rupture — MAGA (WP)
It Was a Bad Year for the American Military (The Bulwark)
US pledges $2B for UN humanitarian aid as Trump slashes funding (AP)
How frogs went from right-wing meme to anti-ICE protest symbol (BBC)
Thousands in Kabul attend Afghanistan’s national buzkashi championship (Al Jazeera)
On to 2050: Life in a shrinking Japan (Japan Times)
AI Chatbots Linked to Psychosis, Say Doctors (WSJ)
From A.I. to Chips, Big Tech Is Getting What It Wants From Trump (NYT)
Tech Billionaires Threaten To Flee California Over Proposed Vest Tax (Onion)
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