{"id":44654,"date":"2025-10-22T12:33:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T19:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=44654"},"modified":"2025-10-22T12:33:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T19:33:19","slug":"protesting-donald-trump-is-not-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/10\/22\/protesting-donald-trump-is-not-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Protesting Donald Trump is not enough"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We need to demand elected officials address economic inequality at every level\u2014including here at home<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Tim Redmond<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

October 20, 2025 (48hills.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved the No Kings demonstration<\/a>. I loved the massive numbers of people in the streets, the fun and energy, the great signs, the clear indication that people in San Francisco aren\u2019t bowing down to Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The speakers were inspiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
No kings\u2014and no billionaires<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They didn\u2019t ask me to speak, but if they had, this is what I would have said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s beautiful to see so many people all over the country standing up for democracy and against authoritarianism. This is no time for factions or political infighting; we face an existential emergency, and we all need to unite against that threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see signs all over supporting so many causes, and I love them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I want to take a moment to talk about why we are here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s election had a lot to do with racism and sexism, and Joe Biden clinging too long to office, and a lot of other issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also about economic inequality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For way too long, the Democratic Party has also been the party of Wall Street, of the billionaires. Economic inequality has wrecked the country, and people are angry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Trump talks about immigrants taking American jobs, or Venezuelans moving fentanyl into the country, he\u2019s looking for diversions. All these things drive attention away from the fact that the 400 richest Americans now have $6.6 trillion, $1.2 trillion more than they did a year ago, and more than the total wealth of the 170 million people in the lower 50 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That has happened because of policy decisions that Trump promoted, but they started with Ronald Reagan, who dramatically cut taxes on the rich, and continued through both Democrats and Republicans, and the Democratic Party hasn\u2019t made economic inequality an issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am going to stand here today and say that if we can\u2019t address radical economic inequality, I\u2019m not sure we can address anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will never have universal health care. We will never have high-quality free public education, at every level. We will never end homelessness. We will never end poverty. We will never have affordable housing for working people. We will never address climate change. We will never be able to deal with the shocks to the system as AI and robots put millions of humans out of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Piketty, the eminent French economist, says if we don\u2019t address economic inequality, we will not be able to stop the decay of civilization, which is under way all over the globe (and Trump is a symptom of that).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have to stop Trump. We have to elect Democrats to Congress, to save what\u2019s left of our democracy. But that\u2019s not enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what Sen. Bernie Sanders said at the DC rally:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But let\u2019s be clear: This is not just about one man\u2019s greed, one man\u2019s corruption or one man\u2019s contempt for our Constitution. This is about a handful of the wealthiest people on earth who, in their insatiable greed, have hijacked our economy and our political system in order to enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. I\u2019m talking about Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and the other multi-billionaires who were sitting right behind Donald Trump when he was inaugurated \u2013 the very same billionaires who funded his campaign, who have bestowed gifts upon him and who have seen huge increases in their wealth and power since Trump took office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I\u2019m talking about the insanity of one person, Mr. Musk, now owning more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m talking about the incredible injustice of the top 1% in this country now owning more wealth than the bottom 93%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m talking about the richest people in America becoming much, much richer, while 60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck, struggling every day to pay their rent and mortgages, pay for childcare and education, pay for their health care and prescription drugs, afford decent quality food for their kids and put aside a few bucks for their retirements.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We need to recognize that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we also have to demand that our elected officials at all levels\u2014from the Berkeley City Council to the SF Board of Supes, to the state Legislature to Congress\u2014make taxing the rich a key part of their agendas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because as Piketty proves, nothing\u2014not \u201ctraining for the jobs of the future,\u201d not the Yimby housing agenda, none of the things the Democrats talk about\u2014will solve the problem. The only solution is taxation, at a high level: At least a 3 percent annual wealth tax on fortunes of more than $100 million, at least an increase in the marginal tax rate on the highest incomes, at least a change in the tax laws<\/a> so Jeff Bezos can\u2019t be a $400 million boat and pay no taxes at all.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This starts right here at home. San Francisco could have a local income tax on the very rich<\/a>, and we would have no budget crisis. We could fund Muni, and affordable housing, and health care, and schools:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

If we just take the 5,073 San Francisco households with earned income of more than $1 million, and we again make a very, very conservative assumption that the average take-home pay is $1.5 million, those folks made $7.6 billion last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on Congressional Budget Office estimates, the tax savings on that money under the Trump tax cuts is about $451 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guess what: Over two years, that\u2019s $902 million\u2014more than the two-year local budget deficit.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I asked state Sen. Scott Wiener if he would sponsor a bill to allow the city to impose a local income tax. He shrugged it off, saying it would never pass, so he won\u2019t try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s because we aren\u2019t insisting that our elected officials stand up against the billionaire agenda. Even in liberal San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state Legislature could increase taxes on the rich, impose a wealth tax, and hike the corporate tax rate. With all the budget problems, not a peep from anyone in Sacramento.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you marched against Trump, and then accept candidates for local and state office who support the immigrant agenda, we are going to fail. Former Sup. Dean Preston notes that we are already failing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me repeat that: If we oppose Trump but support local candidates, all of them Democrats, who support the billionaire agenda and groups like Together SF, Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, and the rest of the billionaire-backed astroturf groups, We Will Fail. As a city, as a state, and as a nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can do better. We must do better. It starts right here at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you all for listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit\u00a0here<\/a>. We also invite you to join the conversation on our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Redmond<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We need to demand elected officials address economic inequality at every level\u2014including here at home By Tim Redmond October 20, 2025 (48hills.org) I loved the No Kings demonstration. I loved the massive numbers of people in the streets, the fun and energy, the great signs, the clear indication that people in… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44654"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44655,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44654\/revisions\/44655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}