Blog 135. American Angst Part 3 of 7: Engineered Inequality

America has greater inequality than any other advanced country.[1]

Among the advanced countries of the world, America has the greatest wealth, but also the greatest inequality in wealth.  The U.S. ranks 27th out of 27 high-income countries in median wealth per adult.  The top 1% took home 22% of all income in 2015. Continue reading

Blog 54. Money, McCutcheon, and the Supreme Court

What happened?

On Wednesday, April 2, 2014, the Supreme Court issued its decision on the McCutcheon case, in which Alabama businessman Shaun McCutcheon and the Republican National Committee claimed that the Federal Election Campaign Act restricted his freedom of speech.  In a 5-to-4 decision, the Court agreed that limitation of political spending limits personal speech. Continue reading

Blog 32. McCutcheon, the Supreme Court, and Feedback

The lawsuit

A year ago, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a lawsuit brought by an Alabama businessman Shaun McCutcheon and the Republican National Committee (RNC).  McCutcheon, who owns a firm that develops coal mining and electrical generation, appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming that the Federal Election Campaign Act (FERC) restricted freedom of speech. That law limits the total contributions to political candidates, PACs, and party committees by individual persons.  On October 8, 2013, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments. Continue reading