PDF files on this site require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. RealMedia files on this site require the free RealPlayer.

Welcome to the Press Room

Press Releases | Telephone Press Conferences | Op-eds and Articles | Books and Reports

If you would like to be on our press list, contact communications director Betsy Leondar-Wright:
Phone: 617-423-2148 x13
Fax: 617-423-0191
Email: bleondar-wright@faireconomy.org

Give us your name, title, media outlet, mailing address, phone, fax, and email; whether you prefer to receive releases by fax or email or both; and any other information that would be helpful.

Press Releases

2004

Bush Tax Cuts = Tax Shifts New UFE Report: Tax Burden Shifting off Wealthy onto Everyone Else - $197 Billion in Tax Cuts to Top 1% of US Taxpayers as Big as States’ Budget Shortfalls of $200 Billion (4/7/04)

Volcker and Gates, Sr.: Accelerating Estate Tax Repeal is Fiscally Irresponsible (3/8/04)

New Report: The State of the Dream: Black-White Gaps Still Wide — Some Even Widening — Since Dr. King's Death (1/15/04)

2003

Repeal of Estate Tax Would Cut Funds Available for Public Services, Charities in Washington State (10/16/03)

Oregon Would Lose $77 Million Per Year in Charitable Gifts if Federal Estate Tax is Repealed, New Study Shows (10/15/03)

Labor Day "Executive Excess" Report: CEOs Profit from Layoffs, Pension Shortfalls, and Tax Dodges (8/26/03)

Parents Give Away Child Tax Credit to Counter Bush Tax Agenda (7/24/03)

Rep. Pomeroy, Bill Gates, Sr., National Farmers Union oppose H.R. 8, permanent repeal of the estate tax (6/17/03)

Shareholders: “Keep Taxing My Dividends!” (5/8/03)

CEOs at Defense Contractors Earn 45% More; Campaign Contributions Tied to Bigger Contracts (4/28/03)

Bill Gates, Sr. Joins the National Farmers Union to Demand Reform of the Estate Tax, Not Repeal (3/2/03)

2002

Fidelity Mutual Fund Owners Press for Voting Disclosure (12/2/02)

Labor Day Report: CEOs Who Cook the Books Earn More (8/26/02)

Americans Support Reforming, Not Repealing Estate Tax (6/12/02)

Gramm-Kyl Estate Tax Plan Threatens Taxpayers with $850 Billion Price Tag (5/29/02)

Reform, Don't Repeal Estate Tax (5/22/02)

New Report: Harmful Enron Practices Widespread (4/10/02)

Shareholders Ask Disney to Spread the Wealth (2/13/01)

Pre-2002

Archive

Telephone Press Conferences

2003

Bill Gates Sr. and Chuck Collins, authors of Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes (4/3/03) (RealMedia, 3.3MB)

Op-eds and Articles

Taxing Concentrated Wealth to Broaden The American Dream: Good Policy, Good Politics, Good for America (Feb., 2004) Dedrick Muhammad and Chuck Collins

Is it Time for a Progressive Corporate Income Tax? (2/13/04) Scott Klinger

Giving and Taking from the Common Pool (12/18/03) Betsy Leondar-Wright

The Conning of Black America (CommonDreams.org, 11/18/03) Dedrick Muhammad

Shrink, Shift, and Shaft (TomPaine.com, 12/14/03) Chuck Collins

White Affirmative Action (CommonDreams.org, 6/25/03) Betsy Leondar-Wright

Democracy's Trust Fund (TomPaine.com, 6/20/03) Chuck Collins (Estate Tax)

Books and Reports

"The State of the Dream 2004: Enduring Disparities in Black and White (1/15/04)
Racial inequities in unemployment, family income, imprisonment, average wealth and infant mortality are actually worse than when Dr. King was killed. This report contrasts the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with the reality of the continued racial divide.

Executive Excess 2003: CEOs Win, Workers and Taxpayers Lose (August 26, 2003)
CEOs at companies with the largest layoffs, most underfunded pensions and biggest tax breaks were rewarded with bigger paychecks.

Bush Tax Cut Unfair, Won't Help Economy (Revised June 6, 2003)
The only thing this plan "stimulates" will be more economic inequality in the U.S. Plus: "double taxation" hogwash.

More Bucks for the Bang: CEO Pay at Top Defense Contractors (April 28, 2003)
Median CEO pay at the 37 largest defense contractors rose 79 percent from 2001 to 2002, while overall CEO pay climbed only 6 percent.

Federal Reserve: Racial Wealth Gap Has Grown (March 7, 2003)
The gap between the net worth of typical white families and families of color grew by 21% between 1998 and 2001.

Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes (Beacon Press, 2003)
A sound and compelling case for estate tax reform, not repeal from Bill Gates Sr. and UFE Program Director Chuck Collins.

"Executive Excess 2002: CEOs Cook the Books, Skewer the Rest of Us." (August, 2002)
CEOs of companies under investigation for accounting irregularities earned 70% more from 1999 to 2001 than the average CEO at large companies.

Titans of the Enron Economy: The Ten Habits of Highly Defective Corporations (4/10/02)
Reveals that key maneuvers leading to Enron’s meltdown are legal and widely practiced. The report ranks the worst companies in 10 categories and gives Enny Awards to companies that exemplify Enron’s harmful behavior in each area.

Executive Excess 2001 (8/28/01)
Annual CEO pay report reveals that CEO pay skyrocketed 571% between 1990 and 2000, while worker pay barely outpaced inflation. Also: CEOs who laid off workers paid more on average than other CEOs.

The Bigger They Come, The Harder They Fall (4/5/01)
High Levels of CEO Pay Foreshadow Poor Stock Performance

Executive Excess 2000 (8/30/00)
Annual CEO pay report finds that CEO pay shot up 535% between 1990 and 1999; worker pay barely outpaced inflation.

Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity (7/26/00)
A handbook on economic inequality and what we we can do about it. By UFE co-directors Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel.

Choosing the High Road: Businesses That Pay a Living Wage and Prosper (3/29/00)
Responsible Wealth report documents business benefits of raising pay.

Divided Decade: Economic Disparity at the Century's Turn (12/15/99)
More billionaires, more bankruptcies: UFE report shows the record-breaking economic boom of the 1990s has left Americans more polarized and debt-ridden. PDF Version (75 K)

A Decade of Executive Excess: The 1990s (9/1/99)
Annual UFE report reveals that CEO pay soared between 1990 and 1998; US CEOs are paid far more than CEOs abroad.

Shifting Fortunes: The Perils of the Growing American Wealth Gap (1999)
Barbara Ehrenreich, Jim Hightower, Molly Ivins and others praise new UFE book on the true state of the American economy in the 1990s.