February 5, 2022

We Need a 92 Percent Tax on Pandemic Profiteers

Even before the Covid pandemic supercharged economic inequality, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders announced as a 2020 presidential candidate that “billionaires should not exist.” That was a perfectly reasonable argument from a contender to lead a country that in the 1950s maintained a top marginal tax rate of 92 percent. But, as with so many of the senator’s proposals, the notion of taxing the rich down to size proved to be a bit too bold for both parties—and for the pundit class that polices the political discourse to ensure that things don’t get too interesting.

So let me offer a more modest proposal: Let’s tax billionaires—and übermillionaires—back to where they stood when the pandemic surged in March 2020. With authorization from Congress, Internal Revenue Service auditors can calculate the excess profits of the billionaire class and then collect the cash in the spirit of shared sacrifice.

Two years ago, working-class Americans masked up and marched into hospital wards and meatpacking plants to do what they understood was essential work. Their level of sacrifice was immense: Thousands of nurses, hundreds of transit workers, and an untold number of employees in factories and warehouses died from Covid-19. Millions of workers got sick, lost jobs, and faced the threat of eviction and hunger.

It was different for the rich. They decamped to country homes and waterfront villas, where they toted up their winnings from a game that, as Naomi Klein has reminded us, is rigged to reward disaster capitalists.




https://www.thenation.com/article/society/tax-billionaires-covid/

February 4, 2022

Research on Ancient Massive Solar Storms Suggests a Need to Prepare for the Next Ones

Numerous powerful X-class solar flares occurred last fall as Solar Cycle 25 activity picked up. Jon Jones, N0JK, covered the event in his QST column, "The World Above 50 MHz," in the February issue, and he pointed out, "More powerful flares than these have taken place, such as the Carrington Event of 1859, during which aurora was seen in the South Pacific and in Cuba, and it sparked electrical fires."

Similar events took place in the 20th century, but, as Jones notes, scientists are researching spectacular solar storms that took place as early as 7176 BC and in 5259 BC. The huge solar flare some 9,200 years ago has convinced researchers that we are not ready for the next one, and our modern technology would take a major hit.

Also worrisome is that Earth may have narrowly dodged a 'Carrington-level event' in 2012," Jones said. Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado -- speaking at a NOAA Space Weather Workshop -- said, "If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces."

"A Carrington Event taking place today could destroy orbiting satellites, disrupt GPS, and damage undersea cables and internet infrastructure on the ground," Jones said in his QST column. "An event in 775 AD was believed to have been 100 times stronger than the Carrington Event."

http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2022-02-03#toc02