You’d be surprised.

Dan Ariely is an economist who recently gave a TED Talk on our society’s growing inequality. He reveals some new, surprising research on what we think is fair, how wealth is distributed — and then shows how those ideas match reality,

Dan Ariely · income inequality · TED Talk · wealth distribution

An interesting TED Talk by Paul Tudor Jones II. Mr. Jones is the founder of Tudor Investment Corporation. And, according to the TED website “… loves capitalism. It’s a system that has done him very well over the last few decades. Nonetheless, the hedge fund manager and philantropist is concerned that a laser focus on profits is, as he puts it, “threatening the very underpinnings of society.  In this thoughtful, passionate talk, he outlines his planned counter-offensive, which centers on the concept of ‘justness.'”

capitalism · hedge fund · income inequality · inequality · Paul Tudor Jones II

A lot of Republican elected officials are quick to cite percentages rather than dollars when talking about taxes and how those rich people are so put upon by the government.  Our own Sen. David Hann is one of those who’s fast to toss out percentages, hoping people won’t have the background to respond.

Well, we found a great video that debunks the above. We posted a link on social media yesterday, but felt on this Tax Day, it was important to get the truth out there. Please take the 3 minutes to watch this:

David Hann · income inequality · regressive taxes · sd48 · Sen. Hann · Senate District 48

On April 14, 2015, DFL State Chair Ken Martin released this statement:

“On Equal Pay Day it is important to recognize the pay gap between men and women, and remind us of how we impede our own success when we refuse to compensate equal work with equal pay. In Minnesota, women make just 80 cents for every $1 earned by a man. For the average woman, that is a loss in compensation of more than $430,000 over her working lifetime for her, her family and our economy.

“Minnesota has always had a high percentage of women in the workforce, many who are the primary or sole breadwinner for their families. With this in mind, in 2014, Gov. Dayton and DFL legislators passed the ‘Women's Economic Security Act.’ The Act is aimed at leveling the workforce playing field.

“Equal Pay Day is reminder that even though we’ve made gains for Minnesota women and their families, there is more work to do. Lawmakers must keep women’s economic security at the forefront of their work because when women succeed, Minnesota succeeds.”

Chair Martin · equal pay day · income inequality · Ken Martin · wage gap

With April 14, 2015 being the day the average working woman has to work to in order to match the 2014 earnings of the average man, here’s a post from the Center for American Progress that explains the gap:

The Center for American Progress has multiple articles on this topic that can give you the info you need to combat your Republican uncle who only gets his talking points from Fox News. (That mindset is, unfortunately, the same as our State Senator, David Hann, who’s stated on the Senate Floor that there is no such thing as a wage gap and has also said that income inequality isn’t a bad thing.)

Here’s a link to a post to multiple articles on this real topic.

David Hann · gender inequality · income inequality · pay inequality · SD48 Senate District 48 · Sen. Hann