18 daddy bezos's taxes, rich college athletes

it was a crazy busy week, with Joe and auntie Kamala abroad, all those cicadas scaring the living daylights out of our east coast readers, and that French dude getting slapped in the face. so, we’ll be skipping our usual “what we’re reading” section today - it’s not like any of you have actually been buying our recommended books anyways 😉

big idea: surprise - rich people don’t pay taxes

1. ProPublica got a hold of fifteen years of tax returns from thousands of america’s richest people, and they told us what everyone already knew - rich people don’t pay anywhere near their fair share of income taxes. the average ‘murican pays a 14% tax rate, while the richest 25 americans pay a tax rate of...3.4%.
2. daddy Bezos claimed to be so poor in 2011 that he claimed a child tax credit of $4000, which was designed to help low and middle class americans with the costs of raising families - despite his wealth increasing by $18 billion that year.
3. these fat cats sidestep income tax by using their stock holdings and other investments as collateral for loans. they then pay for their extravagant lifestyles (and/or more investments) with that borrowed money, and - wait for it - deduct the interest on their loans from their taxes.
4. nothing we’ve mentioned so far is illegal, and that’s really the problem here. expect this to amp up calls for a wealth tax from progressives in DC, among other tax reform ideas. republicans, as always, are focused on the wrong issue - they want to know who leaked these tax reports, probably because they’re afraid their donors will be the next targets.

story to watch: college athletes are gonna be $$$

1. the senate held hearings this week on potential federal legislation to allow college athletes to prostitute themselves to big business to license their names and likenesses. in a nutshell, that means that kid who got into UMich with a 2.9 high school GPA because he knew how to throw an inflated orange ball at an elevated metal hoop can become a TikTok influencer and sell branded CBD oil from a local dispensary.
2. well...it’s clear what we think about this. colleges shouldn’t be in the business of athletics, and all these NCAA teams should be spun off into independent amateur leagues (like how hockey and baseball work). universities lose tens of millions of dollars a year on their athletics programs, and now it looks like the student-athletes will be able to get in on the scam too.
3. it’s unlikely any federal legislation will be passed soon, but expect movement by the end of this month from state legislatures and the NCAA. some states have already legalized college athletes putting themselves up on OnlyFans, and universities are pushing for a uniform set of rules for everyone to play by.

this week’s image: terrorist attack in canada

• (AP) a mother talks to her daughter at the site of the fatal terrorist attack against muslims in london, canada this week. 
• three generations of a single family were killed when a radical extremist drove over five people crossing the street. while the perpetrator has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder, no terrorism charges have been filed. canadian muslims are rightfully outraged, as no terrorism charges were ever filed against the quebec city mosque shooter, who killed six people in 2017, either.

this week’s number: new alzheimer’s drug will cost $56k

1. the FDA approved the first new alzheimer’s drug in almost 20 years, with a sticker price of $56,000 per year of treatment. medicare will likely be on the hook for most of that, as the drug is aimed at older americans.
2. asides from the pricetag, what’s particularly disturbing about this drug is that it was approved over the objections of FDA scientific advisors, three of whom have resigned in protest. the scientists argued that the drug, while safe, is not effective against preventing memory loss. the FDA is essentially willing to give the pharma company a chance to prove its effectiveness after several years on the market - and after several billions of dollars of what are basically subsidies from medicare.
3. this is a complicated bioethical issue, but it’s clear big pharma won this battle. who knew helping old people could become so problematic? we probably should’ve learned that lesson after helping our mom join Facebook...

and, in case you missed it:

• turns out Apple helped He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named spy on house dems and their families in an attempt to pin down intelligence leaks
• Zahid Quraishi was confirmed as the first-ever American Muslim federal judge
• prices of popular consumer goods rose by 5.4% in may, the biggest single month inflationary jump in about thirteen years
• 60 million J&J vaccine doses produced by a troubled muslim-owned biotech company will be thrown out because of contamination
• a Canadian cop dressed in a full tactical vest...to pull a disposable cup off of a skunk’s head

the weekly rundown is produced by Yunus, Faisal (@faisalc93), and Ahmed (@ahmedhcheema). learn more about us and email us your comments and feedback!