npr--2020-12-23--How COVID-19 Became A 'Tremendous Windfall' For The Ultra Rich

How COVID-19 Became A 'Tremendous Windfall ' For The Ultra Rich '' You have a group of 650 people whose wealth has gone up a trillion dollars since mid-March , '' says Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies .
He recommends taxing a portion of those gains .
This is FRESH AIR .
I 'm Terry Gross .
While millions of Americans have lost their jobs because of the pandemic , the combined wealth of just 10 billionaires has increased by more than $ 127 billion since the beginning of the pandemic .
Those billionaires include the principal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Tyson Foods .
My guest , Chuck Collins , has been writing about that and how the pandemic has increased income inequality in the U.S. Economic inequality has been his subject since he was 26 and gave away his inheritance .
Collins is the great-grandson of Oscar Mayer , the founder of the meatpacking company famous for its hot dogs , the Oscar Mayer wiener , and the Wienermobile .
Collins is the director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies , where he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Born On Third Base : A One Percenter Makes The Case For Tackling Inequality , Bringing Wealth Home , And Committing To The Common Good '' and the forthcoming `` The Wealth Hoarders : How Billionaires Pay Millions To Hide Trillions . ''
That book is scheduled for publication in March .
Chuck Collins , welcome to FRESH AIR .
It 's a pleasure to have you on our show .
CHUCK COLLINS : Thanks for having me .
GROSS : Who are the billionaires who made the most money since the start @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , there 's an overall trend .
You know , 657 billionaires have seen their combined wealth go up a trillion since mid-March .
But there 's a couple that have just seen their wealth surge .
Elon Musk seen his wealth go up almost 500 % , 120 billion .
Jeff Bezos has seen his wealth go up about 74 billion , an increase of 65 % .
And there 's a guy , Dan Gilbert , who 's the Quicken Loans founder , CEO , his wealth has gone up 600 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it 's a surge of wealth for some .
You know , some have ridden the stock market .
But others have just seen - they 've kind of delinked from the amount of wealth they had before .
GROSS : So is the numbers that you 're giving us , is that linked to the stock market ?
- because the stock market fluctuates so much .
It can go up , you know , hundreds of points or go down hundreds of points .
COLLINS : Yeah .
The stock market @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But some of these billionaires have just seen their wealth surge , you know , in the double digits or much higher than the market itself .
I mean , four billionaires - Jeff Bezos , Elon Musk , Bill Gates , Mark Zuckerberg - now have a net worth of about 550 billion combined .
And the whole group of U.S. billionaires now has a combined wealth of 4 trillion , which is double the wealth of the bottom half of all U.S. households , you know , in the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fortunes accelerate during the pandemic .
GROSS : So some of the companies that have had their , you know , wealth increased vastly during the pandemic are providing services so many people are using , like Amazon and Instacart , helping people get what they need without having to go to stores where they could be exposed to the virus .
In that sense , it 's no surprise that they 're doing really well during the pandemic .
But is the money that the companies are making being reflected in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who are making these services possible ?
COLLINS : No .
And that 's one of the things I think we 've been trying to point out in our reports is that these companies are benefiting from having their competition effectively shut down during the pandemic .
And they 're seeing their own - you know , we 're thankful that some of them are in business and able to provide , you know , online retail services and food delivery .
But they 're not really sharing those enormous gains with their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their workers into kind of the viral line of fire while the owners are reaping enormous rewards in kind of a , you know , unprecedented circumstance .
GROSS : You have some recommendations for what the leaders of these companies could be doing to help protect their workers and acknowledge the risk that they 're taking in providing the services that they provide .
COLLINS : Absolutely .
I mean , they should be paying hazard pay .
If you remember , at the beginning of the pandemic , there was a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of essential , front line workers , that they should be paid better , that they should have access to health care and paid family leave and hazard pay .
And they should share in the wealth that they 're creating for these companies .
And as we go into this winter of , you know , more infections and more disruption , we should be reinstituting that .
And if the companies ca n't figure out how to do that , then the government should play an important role in mandating that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any idea of how many workers at Amazon or Instacart or Tyson Foods have gotten COVID or have died from COVID ?
And do you think those companies could have done more to protect them ?
COLLINS : Amazon , by its own admission , has had over 20,000 employees infected with COVID .
Several of them have died .
That was in October .
I 've talked to lots of Amazon workers , Amazon workers who work in warehouses , who say , you know , initially , Amazon did n't do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has hired , you know , 350,000 new workers .
And it 's wedging them into the same warehouses and infrastructure .
And it 's impossible to do kind of social distancing and proper protection .
So there 's just more Amazon could do .
Tyson Foods also has had , you know , over 11,000 employees infected .
You know , the meatpacking industry , which is something our family knows something about , is a side-by-side worker , elbow-to-elbow industry .
And it is very difficult .
And that 's another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have seen their wealth go up , you know , half a billion dollars in a couple months .
And they can afford to spend more to protect their workers , their front line workers .
GROSS : If you had your way , you 'd want to institute an emergency pandemic wealth tax on billionaires .
What would your intention be if you had your way , which you do n't ?
And I should say , the suggestion you 're about to make is probably never going to happen in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it 's important to talk about it even if our captured political system is n't capable of it .
I think it 's a commonsense idea .
You know , you have a group of 650 people whose wealth has gone up a trillion dollars since mid-March .
Why would n't we - like any kind of windfall profit during a time of war or crisis , we should tax away a portion of that gain and invest it in something that 's going to help people , like the stimulus package or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ passed .
One of the ways to pay for it is by taxing folks who 've gotten a tremendous windfall in this moment .
GROSS : Jeff Bezos is a centibillionaire , which means he has over $ 100 billion .
Several other people became centibillionaires during the course of the pandemic .
Who are they ?
COLLINS : Well , they are the the top four in the U.S. , Jeff Bezos , Elon Musk , Bill Gates , Mark Zuckerberg .
And there 's one centibillionaire in France .
But that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , we - you know , Jeff Bezos was the first centibillionaire , maybe , in 2017 .
It 's a new trend .
I mean , just for perspective , in 1983 , there were only 18 billionaires in the United States .
And now there are 657 today .
So - and I do n't consider that a good economic indicator .
I think it 's a troubling sign that too much of society 's wealth and income is flowing upwards to that small group of people .
GROSS : Meanwhile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be married to Jeff Bezos , gave away $ 6 billion in gifts to hundreds of organizations this year alone .
What is her approach to giving away parts of her fortune ?
COLLINS : Well , I think she 's made a couple of really great first moves .
You know , unlike a lot of these billionaires , she 's not creating a kind of perpetual legacy foundation that 's going to be around for generations , you know , where her great-grandchildren will be giving the money away still .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ charities .
She 's enlisted a lot of advisers who are not wealthy , who understand the issues in underrepresented communities , communities of color .
Her first wave of giving was primarily to racial justice groups .
And this most recent 4.2 billion is mostly going to what we could call the works of mercy - you know , food banks and shelters and YWCAs and groups that are sort of on the front lines of helping people right now .
And she 's done it in a very low-key way .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ you know , infrastructure .
In a way , she 's - I think she 's saying , come on , boys , let 's go here , you know .
This is an urgent moment .
And she 's stepping up in a way that , I think , embarrassing to the other billionaires who are sitting on their vast treasure during this pandemic .
GROSS : Another thing she 's doing is giving away this money with no strings attached .
Often when you get a grant , it 's for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ purpose might not be what your organization most needs to survive .
It might be just what 's most fundable .
But she has no strings attached .
You do n't have to pledge to use it for a specific purpose .
You can - I think she 's been saying , use your judgment .
I trust you .
COLLINS : Yeah , she 's communicating with a bit of humility that she does n't understand all the issues .
But basically she 's communicating that I trust you to do the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I 'm not going to try to control it .
And this is my first couple of big donations .
And she 's - I think we 're going to see billions more moving in the next couple years .
But what 's striking is her response is in pitch to the times , you know ?
Short of giving hazard pay to Amazon workers - which is the source of her wealth , which I think she still should do - she 's made a bold move to do direct-giving and really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of - you know , many of these billionaires have foundations with , you know , thousands of staff , hundreds of staff who are part of the decision-making process .
And they 're giving away less money than she gave away in one year .
GROSS : I 've heard you make an interesting comparison between the tax laws of the 1950s and the programs of the 1950s that help bring people into the middle class compared to the tax system that we have now .
COLLINS : Yeah .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tax system of the post-war - post-World War II era helped fund a shared prosperity economy .
You know , we taxed the wealthy , and it was invested in infrastructure , access to education , help for first-time homebuyers - with a huge caveat , which is that it was racially exclusive .
Many people of color were not able to benefit from the low-cost education and housing benefits .
But it was a model for how we could have , you know , an economic policy that was about broadening middle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , since the late '70s , inequality has grown .
And since the '80s , tax policy has kind of - we 've seen massive reductions in taxes paid by the super wealthy , the wealthiest segments , to the point where last year , billionaires paid an effective tax rate , you know , lower than middle-income workers .
So we 've seen taxes go down for the most wealthy people in society .
GROSS : So let me reintroduce you here .
If you 're just joining us , my guest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies , where he co-edits inequality.org .
We 'll be back after we take a short break .
This is FRESH AIR .
GROSS : This is FRESH AIR .
Let 's get back to my interview with Chuck Collins , who 's been writing about how the pandemic has widened the gap between the super rich and everyone else .
He directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the author of the forthcoming book , `` The Wealth Hoarders : How Billionaires Pay Millions To Hide Trillions . ''
That 's scheduled for publication in March .
You 've been working against economic inequality for most of your adult life .
Your great-grandfather was Oscar Mayer of the meatpacking company , famous for its hot dogs , the Oscar Mayer Wiener .
People might remember the Wienermobile , which was like a hot dog on wheels - a huge hot dog on wheels that would travel around .
You inherited money @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 21 .
Five years later , you decided to give it away .
Why did you decide to do that ?
COLLINS : Well , I think in my 20s , I had kind of a revelation , which was , you know , I 'd been , like a lot of wealthy people , raised in a bubble - suburban Bloomfield Hills , Mich .
Occasionally I would notice that there was the city of Detroit there with this incredible racial and economic divide .
But , you know , I grew @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a narrative , if you will , that we 're all well here , and we 're all deserving of the wealth we have .
And then I got this job in my 20s helping tenants who were facing eviction , trying to buy their buildings or mobile home parks and own them as residents .
And I got very immersed in a lot of people 's personal financial information .
And then I would come home , and I would open up a statement - a financial statement - about my own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , oh , your wealth just increased 25 % through no sweat of your own .
So I had this bizarre , intimate front row seat in the 1980s to how wages were going down for a lot of people and wealth was rising for people like me .
And then I later worked in a refugee camp in El Salvador , which kind of gave me a window into the global inequality .
And it was around when I was 25 or 26 .
I just could n't come up with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my good fortune and the circumstances of these people .
I just could n't - all the , sort of , stories of deservedness and meritocracy and we 're from a virtuous family - all that kind of rang not true .
And so I just could n't live with that contradiction .
I did n't really want to be the beneficiary anymore of a system where some people were inheriting vast amounts of wealth and others were just struggling to survive .
GROSS : Did you save a financial cushion for yourself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grew up in a sort of a Catholic worker , Dorothy Day culture , and I just felt like the wealth was almost a spiritual barrier to making my own way .
Now , in retrospect - so the answer is no , I did n't maintain the large reserve - any reserve .
I really wanted to make it on my own .
That , I later realized , was ridiculous , that I had so much other forms of advantage , you know , growing up white and male and multigenerational @ @ @ @ @ @ @ literacy and 101 other advantages that had helped propel me along so the money being just one of them .
But , you know , I 've kind of been focused on not depending on something that happened generations ago .
GROSS : I know that some people told you that you were being selfish in giving away your money because you were depriving the next generation of your family from inheriting the money that you inherited and inheriting those advantages that you inherited .
What 's your response to that ?
COLLINS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wealthy families , there are several cardinal rules , and one of them is do n't touch the principle .
Do n't touch the corpus of assets because we 're all just passing through , and if you 're from a kind of dynastically wealthy family , your responsibility is to keep passing the wealth on so that the next generation - you know , my view is we should n't have dynastically wealthy families in the United States , you know ?
We should - it should be shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And if a family is four or five generations into seeing their wealth accelerate , then it starts to undermine kind of core American principles of , you know , mobility and , you know , work in exchange for wealth , and in the end , you know , you start to see now these dynastically wealthy families in the United States that use their wealth and power to rig the rules of the economy to get more wealth and power .
And that 's the ultimate risk when you have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ GROSS : Can you be more specific about that point , about how the wealthy use the levers of power to keep their wealth ?
COLLINS : Yeah .
I mean , if you look at the list of billionaires , there 's some fairly wealthy families .
I mean , we 're seeing the Mars candy family in the fourth generation on the Forbes list , you know , the Koch brothers , the Koch family , the Waltons of Walmart , the Cox family .
There are these dynastic American families @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And they use their power to give to political candidates , to think tanks and other groups to advocate for an agenda of low taxation .
And I got a lesson in this when I was in my 30s because there was a whole movement to abolish the inheritance tax , the U.S. estate tax .
And , you know , I got involved in that working with Bill Gates 's dad to coordinate a campaign to defend the estate tax , but what I noticed was on the other side were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ using their clout to ensure that their great-grandchildren were still going to be billionaires .
So it 's not just about wealth .
It 's about the power that goes with it to shape the culture , including philanthropy , how they use their philanthropy and political giving to rig the rules of the economy .
GROSS : Are you finding that there 's a culture of people who are wealthy who want to do good things with their money and who want to have progressive tax policies , people who , perhaps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Yeah .
There 's actually a network called the Patriotic Millionaires , which is a couple hundred , you know , high-net-worth business leaders and millionaires and billionaires who are actually publicly lobbying for fair tax policies to eliminate these kind of hidden wealth systems because they understand on some level that extreme inequality is undermining the whole society .
It 's undermining the quality of life for everybody , including the very wealthy .
Now , during this pandemic , I think it 's even more complicated because the wealthy have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , so that gap , that understanding , that proximateness that 's required to have empathetic society is kind of eroded by the fact that people are not in connection right now .
But there are plenty of wealthy people I talk to every day who are saying , how can we reverse these extreme inequalities , rebuild some kind of social safety net and not keep going down this road toward economic Jenga and precariousness ?
GROSS : Chuck Collins , thank you so much for coming on our show .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year better than this year has been .
COLLINS : Wishing you and everyone else the same .
GROSS : My guest has been Chuck Collins , director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies , where he co-edits inequality.org .
After we take a short break , we 'll hear from Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco .
He has a new book about songwriting and his approach to writing songs .
I 'm Terry Gross , and this is FRESH AIR .

How COVID-19 Became A 'Tremendous Windfall' For The Ultra Rich
"You have a group of 650 people whose wealth has gone up a trillion dollars since mid-March," says Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies. He recommends taxing a portion of those gains.
TERRY GROSS, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. While millions of Americans have lost their jobs because of the pandemic, the combined wealth of just 10 billionaires has increased by more than $127 billion since the beginning of the pandemic. Those billionaires include the principal owners of Amazon, Instacart, Walmart and Tyson Foods. My guest, Chuck Collins, has been writing about that and how the pandemic has increased income inequality in the U.S. Economic inequality has been his subject since he was 26 and gave away his inheritance. Collins is the great-grandson of Oscar Mayer, the founder of the meatpacking company famous for its hot dogs, the Oscar Mayer wiener, and the Wienermobile.
Collins is the director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits inequality.org. His books include "Born On Third Base: A One Percenter Makes The Case For Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, And Committing To The Common Good" and the forthcoming "The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions To Hide Trillions." That book is scheduled for publication in March. Chuck Collins, welcome to FRESH AIR. It's a pleasure to have you on our show.
CHUCK COLLINS: Thanks for having me.
GROSS: Who are the billionaires who made the most money since the start of the pandemic?
COLLINS: Well, there's an overall trend. You know, 657 billionaires have seen their combined wealth go up a trillion since mid-March. But there's a couple that have just seen their wealth surge. Elon Musk seen his wealth go up almost 500%, 120 billion. Jeff Bezos has seen his wealth go up about 74 billion, an increase of 65%. And there's a guy, Dan Gilbert, who's the Quicken Loans founder, CEO, his wealth has gone up 600% - almost 38 billion. So it's a surge of wealth for some. You know, some have ridden the stock market. But others have just seen - they've kind of delinked from the amount of wealth they had before.
GROSS: So is the numbers that you're giving us, is that linked to the stock market? - because the stock market fluctuates so much. It can go up, you know, hundreds of points or go down hundreds of points.
COLLINS: Yeah. The stock market has been steadily going up as well. But some of these billionaires have just seen their wealth surge, you know, in the double digits or much higher than the market itself. I mean, four billionaires - Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg - now have a net worth of about 550 billion combined. And the whole group of U.S. billionaires now has a combined wealth of 4 trillion, which is double the wealth of the bottom half of all U.S. households, you know, in the United States. So they are seeing their fortunes accelerate during the pandemic.
GROSS: So some of the companies that have had their, you know, wealth increased vastly during the pandemic are providing services so many people are using, like Amazon and Instacart, helping people get what they need without having to go to stores where they could be exposed to the virus. In that sense, it's no surprise that they're doing really well during the pandemic. But is the money that the companies are making being reflected in the pay or the protection of the workers who are making these services possible?
COLLINS: No. And that's one of the things I think we've been trying to point out in our reports is that these companies are benefiting from having their competition effectively shut down during the pandemic. And they're seeing their own - you know, we're thankful that some of them are in business and able to provide, you know, online retail services and food delivery. But they're not really sharing those enormous gains with their workforce. So they're essentially sending their workers into kind of the viral line of fire while the owners are reaping enormous rewards in kind of a, you know, unprecedented circumstance.
GROSS: You have some recommendations for what the leaders of these companies could be doing to help protect their workers and acknowledge the risk that they're taking in providing the services that they provide.
COLLINS: Absolutely. I mean, they should be paying hazard pay. If you remember, at the beginning of the pandemic, there was a much broader societal recognition of the role of essential, front line workers, that they should be paid better, that they should have access to health care and paid family leave and hazard pay. And they should share in the wealth that they're creating for these companies. And as we go into this winter of, you know, more infections and more disruption, we should be reinstituting that. And if the companies can't figure out how to do that, then the government should play an important role in mandating that.
GROSS: So do you have any idea of how many workers at Amazon or Instacart or Tyson Foods have gotten COVID or have died from COVID? And do you think those companies could have done more to protect them?
COLLINS: Amazon, by its own admission, has had over 20,000 employees infected with COVID. Several of them have died. That was in October. I've talked to lots of Amazon workers, Amazon workers who work in warehouses, who say, you know, initially, Amazon didn't do enough to protect them. Now Amazon has hired, you know, 350,000 new workers. And it's wedging them into the same warehouses and infrastructure. And it's impossible to do kind of social distancing and proper protection. So there's just more Amazon could do.
Tyson Foods also has had, you know, over 11,000 employees infected. You know, the meatpacking industry, which is something our family knows something about, is a side-by-side worker, elbow-to-elbow industry. And it is very difficult. And that's another industry where - the Tyson family members have seen their wealth go up, you know, half a billion dollars in a couple months. And they can afford to spend more to protect their workers, their front line workers.
GROSS: If you had your way, you'd want to institute an emergency pandemic wealth tax on billionaires. What would your intention be if you had your way, which you don't? And I should say, the suggestion you're about to make is probably never going to happen in the near future.
COLLINS: I think it's important to talk about it even if our captured political system isn't capable of it. I think it's a commonsense idea. You know, you have a group of 650 people whose wealth has gone up a trillion dollars since mid-March. Why wouldn't we - like any kind of windfall profit during a time of war or crisis, we should tax away a portion of that gain and invest it in something that's going to help people, like the stimulus package or the recovery package that's recently been passed. One of the ways to pay for it is by taxing folks who've gotten a tremendous windfall in this moment.
GROSS: Jeff Bezos is a centibillionaire, which means he has over $100 billion. Several other people became centibillionaires during the course of the pandemic. Who are they?
COLLINS: Well, they are the the top four in the U.S., Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg. And there's one centibillionaire in France. But that's a new thing. I mean, we - you know, Jeff Bezos was the first centibillionaire, maybe, in 2017. It's a new trend. I mean, just for perspective, in 1983, there were only 18 billionaires in the United States. And now there are 657 today. So - and I don't consider that a good economic indicator. I think it's a troubling sign that too much of society's wealth and income is flowing upwards to that small group of people.
GROSS: Meanwhile, MacKenzie Scott, who used to be married to Jeff Bezos, gave away $6 billion in gifts to hundreds of organizations this year alone. What is her approach to giving away parts of her fortune?
COLLINS: Well, I think she's made a couple of really great first moves. You know, unlike a lot of these billionaires, she's not creating a kind of perpetual legacy foundation that's going to be around for generations, you know, where her great-grandchildren will be giving the money away still. She's moving the money directly to charities. She's enlisted a lot of advisers who are not wealthy, who understand the issues in underrepresented communities, communities of color. Her first wave of giving was primarily to racial justice groups. And this most recent 4.2 billion is mostly going to what we could call the works of mercy - you know, food banks and shelters and YWCAs and groups that are sort of on the front lines of helping people right now. And she's done it in a very low-key way. She hasn't created this vast, you know, infrastructure. In a way, she's - I think she's saying, come on, boys, let's go here, you know. This is an urgent moment. And she's stepping up in a way that, I think, embarrassing to the other billionaires who are sitting on their vast treasure during this pandemic.
GROSS: Another thing she's doing is giving away this money with no strings attached. Often when you get a grant, it's for a very specific purpose, and that purpose might not be what your organization most needs to survive. It might be just what's most fundable. But she has no strings attached. You don't have to pledge to use it for a specific purpose. You can - I think she's been saying, use your judgment. I trust you.
COLLINS: Yeah, she's communicating with a bit of humility that she doesn't understand all the issues. But basically she's communicating that I trust you to do the right thing with this money. And I'm not going to try to control it. And this is my first couple of big donations. And she's - I think we're going to see billions more moving in the next couple years. But what's striking is her response is in pitch to the times, you know? Short of giving hazard pay to Amazon workers - which is the source of her wealth, which I think she still should do - she's made a bold move to do direct-giving and really doing it in a way that a lot of - you know, many of these billionaires have foundations with, you know, thousands of staff, hundreds of staff who are part of the decision-making process. And they're giving away less money than she gave away in one year.
GROSS: I've heard you make an interesting comparison between the tax laws of the 1950s and the programs of the 1950s that help bring people into the middle class compared to the tax system that we have now.
COLLINS: Yeah. I mean, in a way, the tax system of the post-war - post-World War II era helped fund a shared prosperity economy. You know, we taxed the wealthy, and it was invested in infrastructure, access to education, help for first-time homebuyers - with a huge caveat, which is that it was racially exclusive. Many people of color were not able to benefit from the low-cost education and housing benefits. But it was a model for how we could have, you know, an economic policy that was about broadening middle class wealth and opportunity.
And really, since the late '70s, inequality has grown. And since the '80s, tax policy has kind of - we've seen massive reductions in taxes paid by the super wealthy, the wealthiest segments, to the point where last year, billionaires paid an effective tax rate, you know, lower than middle-income workers. So we've seen taxes go down for the most wealthy people in society.
GROSS: So let me reintroduce you here. If you're just joining us, my guest is Chuck Collins. He's the director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits inequality.org. We'll be back after we take a short break. This is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. Let's get back to my interview with Chuck Collins, who's been writing about how the pandemic has widened the gap between the super rich and everyone else. He directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits inequality.org. He's the author of the forthcoming book, "The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions To Hide Trillions." That's scheduled for publication in March.
You've been working against economic inequality for most of your adult life. Your great-grandfather was Oscar Mayer of the meatpacking company, famous for its hot dogs, the Oscar Mayer Wiener. People might remember the Wienermobile, which was like a hot dog on wheels - a huge hot dog on wheels that would travel around. You inherited money when, I think, you were 21. Five years later, you decided to give it away. Why did you decide to do that?
COLLINS: Well, I think in my 20s, I had kind of a revelation, which was, you know, I'd been, like a lot of wealthy people, raised in a bubble - suburban Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Occasionally I would notice that there was the city of Detroit there with this incredible racial and economic divide. But, you know, I grew up in comfort and a kind of a narrative, if you will, that we're all well here, and we're all deserving of the wealth we have. And then I got this job in my 20s helping tenants who were facing eviction, trying to buy their buildings or mobile home parks and own them as residents. And I got very immersed in a lot of people's personal financial information. And then I would come home, and I would open up a statement - a financial statement - about my own wealth. And it would be like, oh, your wealth just increased 25% through no sweat of your own. So I had this bizarre, intimate front row seat in the 1980s to how wages were going down for a lot of people and wealth was rising for people like me.
And then I later worked in a refugee camp in El Salvador, which kind of gave me a window into the global inequality. And it was around when I was 25 or 26. I just couldn't come up with a theory or justification for the gap between my good fortune and the circumstances of these people. I just couldn't - all the, sort of, stories of deservedness and meritocracy and we're from a virtuous family - all that kind of rang not true. And so I just couldn't live with that contradiction. I didn't really want to be the beneficiary anymore of a system where some people were inheriting vast amounts of wealth and others were just struggling to survive.
GROSS: Did you save a financial cushion for yourself?
COLLINS: You know, I grew up in a sort of a Catholic worker, Dorothy Day culture, and I just felt like the wealth was almost a spiritual barrier to making my own way. Now, in retrospect - so the answer is no, I didn't maintain the large reserve - any reserve. I really wanted to make it on my own. That, I later realized, was ridiculous, that I had so much other forms of advantage, you know, growing up white and male and multigenerational sort of security and financial training and literacy and 101 other advantages that had helped propel me along so the money being just one of them. But, you know, I've kind of been focused on not depending on something that happened generations ago.
GROSS: I know that some people told you that you were being selfish in giving away your money because you were depriving the next generation of your family from inheriting the money that you inherited and inheriting those advantages that you inherited. What's your response to that?
COLLINS: Yeah, you know, within wealthy families, there are several cardinal rules, and one of them is don't touch the principle. Don't touch the corpus of assets because we're all just passing through, and if you're from a kind of dynastically wealthy family, your responsibility is to keep passing the wealth on so that the next generation - you know, my view is we shouldn't have dynastically wealthy families in the United States, you know?
We should - it should be shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations. That's the idea. And if a family is four or five generations into seeing their wealth accelerate, then it starts to undermine kind of core American principles of, you know, mobility and, you know, work in exchange for wealth, and in the end, you know, you start to see now these dynastically wealthy families in the United States that use their wealth and power to rig the rules of the economy to get more wealth and power. And that's the ultimate risk when you have great concentrations of wealth over generations.
GROSS: Can you be more specific about that point, about how the wealthy use the levers of power to keep their wealth?
COLLINS: Yeah. I mean, if you look at the list of billionaires, there's some fairly wealthy families. I mean, we're seeing the Mars candy family in the fourth generation on the Forbes list, you know, the Koch brothers, the Koch family, the Waltons of Walmart, the Cox family. There are these dynastic American families, and they're very politically engaged. And they use their power to give to political candidates, to think tanks and other groups to advocate for an agenda of low taxation.
And I got a lesson in this when I was in my 30s because there was a whole movement to abolish the inheritance tax, the U.S. estate tax. And, you know, I got involved in that working with Bill Gates's dad to coordinate a campaign to defend the estate tax, but what I noticed was on the other side were these wealthy, dynastic families who were using their clout to ensure that their great-grandchildren were still going to be billionaires. So it's not just about wealth. It's about the power that goes with it to shape the culture, including philanthropy, how they use their philanthropy and political giving to rig the rules of the economy.
GROSS: Are you finding that there's a culture of people who are wealthy who want to do good things with their money and who want to have progressive tax policies, people who, perhaps, you're working with?
COLLINS: Yeah. There's actually a network called the Patriotic Millionaires, which is a couple hundred, you know, high-net-worth business leaders and millionaires and billionaires who are actually publicly lobbying for fair tax policies to eliminate these kind of hidden wealth systems because they understand on some level that extreme inequality is undermining the whole society. It's undermining the quality of life for everybody, including the very wealthy.
Now, during this pandemic, I think it's even more complicated because the wealthy have socially distanced, economically distanced even more, so that gap, that understanding, that proximateness that's required to have empathetic society is kind of eroded by the fact that people are not in connection right now. But there are plenty of wealthy people I talk to every day who are saying, how can we reverse these extreme inequalities, rebuild some kind of social safety net and not keep going down this road toward economic Jenga and precariousness?
GROSS: Chuck Collins, thank you so much for coming on our show. I wish you a healthy 2021 and a year better than this year has been.
COLLINS: Wishing you and everyone else the same.
GROSS: My guest has been Chuck Collins, director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits inequality.org. After we take a short break, we'll hear from Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco. He has a new book about songwriting and his approach to writing songs. I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF DAVE MCKENNA'S "IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR")
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-12-23--Russian Lawmakers Pass Bills That Could Block Social Media Sites — And Stifle Dissent

Russian Lawmakers Pass Bills That Could Block Social Media Sites — And Stifle Dissent Russian lawmakers have approved a range of new measures that could further stifle dissent and allow tighter restrictions on online content — including blocking websites like YouTube and Twitter .
One bill would allow for the blocking of foreign websites that it says `` discriminate '' against Russian media .
A second law would allow it to levy large fines against companies that do n't take down content banned in the country .
A third law would establish jail terms for those convicted of making slanderous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A person found guilty of slander could face up to two years in jail and be fined up to 1 million rubles ( about $ 13,300 ) , Reuters reports .
The bills were passed by Russia 's lower house , the State Duma .
If they become law , as expected , they would mean that Russia could block websites like YouTube , Facebook and Twitter that label content produced by Russian state media outlets as being just that .
Under the legislation , Russian authorities will be able to block or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Twitter has been labeling the accounts of Russian media outlets as being `` state-affiliated , '' angering Russia , Reuters reports .
President Vladimir Putin has called for Russia to come up with its own social media platforms to gain greater control .
Kremlin critics , including opposition leader Alexei Navalny , have used Twitter and YouTube to reach millions of Russians , bypassing censorship on state television .
When the draft bill to allow blocking foreign sites was introduced last month , Navalny tweeted : `` Great .
Let them pass @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whole country will finally install a VPN '' — a tool that can be used to evade government censors .
Human Rights Watch notes that Russian authorities already have a number of ways to restrict online content : `` The 2019 'sovereign Internet ' law for example , allows the government to use technology to track , filter and reroute Internet traffic , raising concerns over the arbitrary and extrajudicial blocking of legitimate content . ''
Alexei Makarkin , deputy director of the Center for Political Technologies in Moscow , told Bloomberg that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incoming Biden administration .
`` They are preventively crafting a shield against the support of Russia 's opposition from Joe Biden that they expect , '' he said .
`` We are ready — that 's what they are demonstrating to America now . ''
NPR 's Lucian Kim contributed to this report from Moscow .

Russian Lawmakers Pass Bills That Could Block Social Media Sites — And Stifle Dissent
Enlarge this image toggle caption Dmitry Astakhov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images Dmitry Astakhov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
Russian lawmakers have approved a range of new measures that could further stifle dissent and allow tighter restrictions on online content — including blocking websites like YouTube and Twitter.
One bill would allow for the blocking of foreign websites that it says "discriminate" against Russian media. A second law would allow it to levy large fines against companies that don't take down content banned in the country.
A third law would establish jail terms for those convicted of making slanderous comments online or in the media. A person found guilty of slander could face up to two years in jail and be fined up to 1 million rubles (about $13,300), Reuters reports.
The bills were passed by Russia's lower house, the State Duma. If they become law, as expected, they would mean that Russia could block websites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter that label content produced by Russian state media outlets as being just that. Under the legislation, Russian authorities will be able to block or slow down such sites.
Since August, Twitter has been labeling the accounts of Russian media outlets as being "state-affiliated," angering Russia, Reuters reports. President Vladimir Putin has called for Russia to come up with its own social media platforms to gain greater control.
Kremlin critics, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny, have used Twitter and YouTube to reach millions of Russians, bypassing censorship on state television.
When the draft bill to allow blocking foreign sites was introduced last month, Navalny tweeted: "Great. Let them pass it as soon as possible, the whole country will finally install a VPN" — a tool that can be used to evade government censors.
Human Rights Watch notes that Russian authorities already have a number of ways to restrict online content: "The 2019 'sovereign Internet' law for example, allows the government to use technology to track, filter and reroute Internet traffic, raising concerns over the arbitrary and extrajudicial blocking of legitimate content."
Alexei Makarkin, deputy director of the Center for Political Technologies in Moscow, told Bloomberg that the moves are in anticipation of the incoming Biden administration.
"They are preventively crafting a shield against the support of Russia's opposition from Joe Biden that they expect," he said. "We are ready — that's what they are demonstrating to America now."
NPR's Lucian Kim contributed to this report from Moscow.


npr--2020-12-23--A 'Real Easy' Choice: Biden Introduces Education Pick Miguel Cardona

In a speech praising educators , President-elect Joe Biden announced Miguel Cardona was a `` real easy '' choice to be the next secretary of education .
On Wednesday , Biden reiterated his focus on getting schools open amid the pandemic and touted Cardona 's experience this fall balancing online and in-person learning in Connecticut , and getting students connected and outfitted with a device for learning .
`` That 's the vision , resolve and initiative , that 's all gon na help us contain this pandemic and reopen our schools safely , '' Biden said .
Biden has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be a teacher or educator .
`` We need an education secretary who understands that education is n't just what we do , '' Biden said , `` it 's who we are . ''
An educator , Cardona certainly is .
After starting his career as an elementary school teacher , he became a principal for 10 years ( he was named Connecticut principal of the year in 2012 ) , and he then became an assistant superintendent in Meriden , Conn. , a district just south of Hartford that serves about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was born and attended public schools .
In his remarks , Cardona acknowledged what a challenging year this has been for schools .
`` I 've lived those challenges , '' he said , as both a public school parent and as leader of the public schools in Connecticut .
The pandemic , he said , has `` taken painful disparities and wrenched them open even wider .
...
It has stolen time from our children . ''
In the years to come , he said , `` we will carry its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take a pandemic for us to realize how important teachers are , '' he said .
Cardona talked about his background and bilingual upbringing and said he was `` American as apple pie and rice and beans . ''
His parents are from Puerto Rico , and he is the third Latino candidate Biden has put forward for a Cabinet post .
He lived in public housing as a kid , arrived in kindergarten only speaking Spanish and has long drawn on his personal experience to inform his approach to education policy , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ closing achievement gaps between students of color and their white peers , and improving teaching for English-language learners .
In Biden 's talks with Cardona , they discussed how `` public education was the great equalizer . ''
Cardona would replace Betsy DeVos , the education secretary during the four years of the Trump administration .
DeVos has been a big proponent of school choice and often advocated for private and religious schools .
Cardona is certainly a rebuke to that .
He is a product of public schools , where he 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ teachers union leaders happy .
`` Miguel Cardona is not just a proud product of public schools — he 's made strengthening public education and fighting for equity his life 's work , '' Randi Weingarten , president of the American Federation of Teachers , said in a statement .
Lily Eskelsen García , the former president of the National Education Association whom Biden also considered for the secretary position , issued a statement saying , `` I proudly support this nomination .
... [ Cardona ] will defend our students ' civil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all students . ''
And it 's not just union leaders .
Even choice advocates said they too are open to this selection .
`` Like many whose families came here for a better life , Cardona seems to be driven by hard work , respect for education and family , which is a great start , '' Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform wrote in a statement .
`` We hope he will come to embrace fully the notion that such choices for a better life must extend first to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cardona 's experience is predominantly in K-12 education , so his policy goals for higher education are unclear .
But his focus on equity and his support of public colleges has many higher education leaders optimistic .
`` His chief passion is access and achievement for low-income , first-generation students of color — and he 's been very clear that that includes higher education , '' said Ted Mitchell , president of the American Council on Education , which represents college presidents .

A 'Real Easy' Choice: Biden Introduces Education Pick Miguel Cardona
Enlarge this image toggle caption Carolyn Kaster/AP Carolyn Kaster/AP
In a speech praising educators, President-elect Joe Biden announced Miguel Cardona was a "real easy" choice to be the next secretary of education.
On Wednesday, Biden reiterated his focus on getting schools open amid the pandemic and touted Cardona's experience this fall balancing online and in-person learning in Connecticut, and getting students connected and outfitted with a device for learning. "That's the vision, resolve and initiative, that's all gonna help us contain this pandemic and reopen our schools safely," Biden said.
Biden has long said his education secretary nominee would be a teacher or educator. "We need an education secretary who understands that education isn't just what we do," Biden said, "it's who we are."
An educator, Cardona certainly is. After starting his career as an elementary school teacher, he became a principal for 10 years (he was named Connecticut principal of the year in 2012), and he then became an assistant superintendent in Meriden, Conn., a district just south of Hartford that serves about 9,000 students. It is also where he was born and attended public schools.
In his remarks, Cardona acknowledged what a challenging year this has been for schools. "I've lived those challenges," he said, as both a public school parent and as leader of the public schools in Connecticut. The pandemic, he said, has "taken painful disparities and wrenched them open even wider. ... It has stolen time from our children." In the years to come, he said, "we will carry its impacts."
"It shouldn't take a pandemic for us to realize how important teachers are," he said.
Cardona talked about his background and bilingual upbringing and said he was "American as apple pie and rice and beans." His parents are from Puerto Rico, and he is the third Latino candidate Biden has put forward for a Cabinet post. He lived in public housing as a kid, arrived in kindergarten only speaking Spanish and has long drawn on his personal experience to inform his approach to education policy, focusing on making schools more equitable, closing achievement gaps between students of color and their white peers, and improving teaching for English-language learners.
In Biden's talks with Cardona, they discussed how "public education was the great equalizer."
Cardona would replace Betsy DeVos, the education secretary during the four years of the Trump administration. DeVos has been a big proponent of school choice and often advocated for private and religious schools. Cardona is certainly a rebuke to that. He is a product of public schools, where he's worked his entire career.
That makes teachers union leaders happy. "Miguel Cardona is not just a proud product of public schools — he's made strengthening public education and fighting for equity his life's work," Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement. Lily Eskelsen García, the former president of the National Education Association whom Biden also considered for the secretary position, issued a statement saying, "I proudly support this nomination. ... [Cardona] will defend our students' civil rights and focus on the success of all students."
And it's not just union leaders. Even choice advocates said they too are open to this selection. "Like many whose families came here for a better life, Cardona seems to be driven by hard work, respect for education and family, which is a great start," Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform wrote in a statement. "We hope he will come to embrace fully the notion that such choices for a better life must extend first to the education of our kids."
Cardona's experience is predominantly in K-12 education, so his policy goals for higher education are unclear. But his focus on equity and his support of public colleges has many higher education leaders optimistic.
"His chief passion is access and achievement for low-income, first-generation students of color — and he's been very clear that that includes higher education," said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, which represents college presidents.


npr--2020-12-23--The Coronavirus Has Reached Antarctica. Now It's On Every Continent

The Coronavirus Has Reached Antarctica .
Now It 's On Every Continent Antarctica is no longer the only continent free of the pandemic .
Thirty-six people stationed at the General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme Antarctic base had tested positive for the virus , Chilean officials said this week .
The permanent research station is located on tip of the continent south of Chile .
Of those infected , 26 are members of the Chilean army and 10 are civilian maintenance personnel , authorities said in a statement to the Spanish-language television channel 24 Horas .
The officials added that contact tracing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were in isolation .
No other countries have publicly reported positive cases on Antarctica , USA Today reported , and there have been concerted efforts to ensure the virus did not reach the remote continent .
The impacts of the highly contagious virus spreading on the sparsely populated continent could be disastrous , the newspaper noted , because researchers and other staff shelter in close proximity due to the harsh elements and have limited medical supplies .
The U.S. National Science Foundation is aware of the positive virus cases at the Chilean outpost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to NPR .
`` Personnel at U.S. Antarctic Program stations have had no interactions with the Chilean stations in question or the personnel who reside there .
NSF remains committed to not exchanging personnel or accepting tourists at USAP stations , '' the spokesperson said .
Chile has seen a significant outbreak , with more than 590,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 16,200 virus-related deaths , according to Johns Hopkins University .
As of Wednesday , Chile ranked 24th in the world for total confirmed coronavirus cases .

The Coronavirus Has Reached Antarctica. Now It's On Every Continent
Enlarge this image toggle caption Chilean Army/Reuters Chilean Army/Reuters
Antarctica is no longer the only continent free of the pandemic.
Thirty-six people stationed at the General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme Antarctic base had tested positive for the virus, Chilean officials said this week. The permanent research station is located on tip of the continent south of Chile.
Of those infected, 26 are members of the Chilean army and 10 are civilian maintenance personnel, authorities said in a statement to the Spanish-language television channel 24 Horas. The officials added that contact tracing was underway and those who tested positive were in isolation.
No other countries have publicly reported positive cases on Antarctica, USA Today reported, and there have been concerted efforts to ensure the virus did not reach the remote continent.
The impacts of the highly contagious virus spreading on the sparsely populated continent could be disastrous, the newspaper noted, because researchers and other staff shelter in close proximity due to the harsh elements and have limited medical supplies.
The U.S. National Science Foundation is aware of the positive virus cases at the Chilean outpost, a spokesperson said in a statement to NPR.
"Personnel at U.S. Antarctic Program stations have had no interactions with the Chilean stations in question or the personnel who reside there. NSF remains committed to not exchanging personnel or accepting tourists at USAP stations," the spokesperson said.
Chile has seen a significant outbreak, with more than 590,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 16,200 virus-related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
As of Wednesday, Chile ranked 24th in the world for total confirmed coronavirus cases.


npr--2020-12-23--Mask Up! How Public Health Messages Collide With Facebook's Political Ads Ban

Mask Up !
How Public Health Messages Collide With Facebook 's Political Ads Ban Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl 's district sweeps from the beaches of Santa Monica to the San Fernando Valley .
Among the two million people she represents are Latino communities hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic .
`` Many essential workers , many market and pharmacy and food service and restaurant and hotel workers and a lot of health care workers , '' she said .
`` So a lot of people just had to go to work . ''
To reach them — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communication difficult — Kuehl turned to Facebook .
When the virus surged in her district this summer , she put out ads in English and Spanish , urging people to mask up .
And it worked , she says .
Thanks to Facebook 's targeting tools , some of the ads reached more than 100,000 people — almost four times as many who follow Kuehl 's Facebook page .
`` You can tell exactly how many people click on a Facebook ad , '' she said .
`` We could tell that a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ads than we got any kind of response to our own accounts . ''
Now , COVID-19 cases in her district are rising again .
But Kuehl 's efforts to connect with her most vulnerable constituents have hit a hurdle : Facebook itself .
The social network 's drive to limit political misinformation has ensnared seemingly harmless public health messages from elected officials like Kuehl .
Facebook halted political advertising after polls closed on Election Day .
With votes being counted , President Donald Trump and his supporters spread false claims and conspiracy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two months later , the Electoral College has affirmed Joe Biden 's victory and yet Facebook 's temporary pause is still in place .
The ad ban illustrates the difficult tradeoffs Facebook is making , with every decision carrying ramifications for billions of users .
At the same time it is restricting ads , it is also promoting authoritative information about COVID-19 — but as Kuehl 's experience shows , those policies can sometimes seem to conflict .
`` When Facebook makes these sweeping policy decisions , whatever their goals may be , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where people are n't thinking about is enormous , '' said Jesse Lehrich , co-founder of Accountable Tech , an advocacy group critical of Facebook .
The ban came at the end of a year of withering criticism over Facebook 's refusal to fact check politicians .
It was accused of turning a blind eye , letting false claims proliferate .
CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Congress after the election that Facebook paused political ads `` because of a risk of potential abuse or potential unrest or violence . ''
But critics say Facebook @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way too broad .
The social network does n't only ban ads about elections and campaigns .
It also includes ads about social issues like education , immigration and health .
That means some businesses and nonprofits have not been able to run ads since the election either .
In Kuehl 's case , the issue was not the content of the ads .
But because she is an elected official , Facebook told her , it considers any ads from her to be political , and therefore subject to the ban .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ads in November , featuring people who survived COVID urging residents to take precautions , they were rejected .
`` It was a little shocking to me because they were defining political ads as anything that my office did , '' Kuehl said .
Organizers say pandemic needs `` all hands on deck '' approach Facebook says Kuehl 's ads could be posted by the public health department , or anyone who is not an elected official .
Facebook spokesperson Devon Kearns told NPR in a statement : `` While we have temporarily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as part of our work to protect the 2020 election , we 're allowing ads about COVID-19 and have provided guidance to eligible advertisers on how to run them . ''
But Kuehl and local organizers say that does not address the urgency in Los Angeles County .
The county 's worst hit areas include several neighborhoods in Kuehl 's district , such as Pacoima and San Fernando , where infection rates are double the county average .
The situation requires `` an all hands on deck approach , '' says John Kim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nonprofit is working with Kuehl and the county to help Latino and Black communities experiencing an outsized impact from COVID .
`` We need community-based organizations and local leaders , local government departments and local elected officials all saying the same things all the time in all the channels , '' he told NPR .
Facebook wo n't say when it plans to lift the political ad ban .
But recently , the company started allowing ads about the Senate run-off races in Georgia next month .
That exception rankles Kuehl .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up for ads in Georgia , it would make sense to allow us to do these kinds of public service ads , '' she said .
In the meantime , she is working with Los Angeles County 's public health department on their social media campaign .
And she 's posting to her own Facebook page — urging people to mask up and stay safe .
Editor 's note : Facebook is among NPR 's financial supporters .

Mask Up! How Public Health Messages Collide With Facebook's Political Ads Ban
Enlarge this image toggle caption Los Angeles County Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl's district sweeps from the beaches of Santa Monica to the San Fernando Valley. Among the two million people she represents are Latino communities hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
"Many essential workers, many market and pharmacy and food service and restaurant and hotel workers and a lot of health care workers," she said. "So a lot of people just had to go to work."
To reach them — amid a pandemic that has made face-to-face communication difficult — Kuehl turned to Facebook. When the virus surged in her district this summer, she put out ads in English and Spanish, urging people to mask up.
And it worked, she says. Thanks to Facebook's targeting tools, some of the ads reached more than 100,000 people — almost four times as many who follow Kuehl's Facebook page.
"You can tell exactly how many people click on a Facebook ad," she said. "We could tell that a lot more people were clicking on these ads than we got any kind of response to our own accounts."
Now, COVID-19 cases in her district are rising again. But Kuehl's efforts to connect with her most vulnerable constituents have hit a hurdle: Facebook itself. The social network's drive to limit political misinformation has ensnared seemingly harmless public health messages from elected officials like Kuehl.
Facebook halted political advertising after polls closed on Election Day. With votes being counted, President Donald Trump and his supporters spread false claims and conspiracy theories about the results. But nearly two months later, the Electoral College has affirmed Joe Biden's victory and yet Facebook's temporary pause is still in place.
The ad ban illustrates the difficult tradeoffs Facebook is making, with every decision carrying ramifications for billions of users. At the same time it is restricting ads, it is also promoting authoritative information about COVID-19 — but as Kuehl's experience shows, those policies can sometimes seem to conflict.
"When Facebook makes these sweeping policy decisions, whatever their goals may be, the reach of those decisions into places where people aren't thinking about is enormous," said Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, an advocacy group critical of Facebook.
What is "political"?
The ban came at the end of a year of withering criticism over Facebook's refusal to fact check politicians. It was accused of turning a blind eye, letting false claims proliferate.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Congress after the election that Facebook paused political ads "because of a risk of potential abuse or potential unrest or violence."
But critics say Facebook's definition of "political" is way too broad.
The social network doesn't only ban ads about elections and campaigns. It also includes ads about social issues like education, immigration and health. That means some businesses and nonprofits have not been able to run ads since the election either.
In Kuehl's case, the issue was not the content of the ads. But because she is an elected official, Facebook told her, it considers any ads from her to be political, and therefore subject to the ban.
So when she tried to run new ads in November, featuring people who survived COVID urging residents to take precautions, they were rejected.
"It was a little shocking to me because they were defining political ads as anything that my office did," Kuehl said.
Organizers say pandemic needs "all hands on deck" approach
Facebook says Kuehl's ads could be posted by the public health department, or anyone who is not an elected official.
Facebook spokesperson Devon Kearns told NPR in a statement: "While we have temporarily paused ads from elected officials and politicians as part of our work to protect the 2020 election, we're allowing ads about COVID-19 and have provided guidance to eligible advertisers on how to run them."
But Kuehl and local organizers say that does not address the urgency in Los Angeles County.
The county's worst hit areas include several neighborhoods in Kuehl's district, such as Pacoima and San Fernando, where infection rates are double the county average.
The situation requires "an all hands on deck approach," says John Kim of the Advancement Project California. His nonprofit is working with Kuehl and the county to help Latino and Black communities experiencing an outsized impact from COVID.
"We need community-based organizations and local leaders, local government departments and local elected officials all saying the same things all the time in all the channels," he told NPR.
Facebook won't say when it plans to lift the political ad ban. But recently, the company started allowing ads about the Senate run-off races in Georgia next month.
That exception rankles Kuehl. "I certainly think if they open it up for ads in Georgia, it would make sense to allow us to do these kinds of public service ads," she said.
In the meantime, she is working with Los Angeles County's public health department on their social media campaign. And she's posting to her own Facebook page — urging people to mask up and stay safe.
Editor's note: Facebook is among NPR's financial supporters.


npr--2020-12-23--The Story Of 1-Year-Old Abdullah Is The Story Of Yemen

The Story Of 1-Year-Old Abdullah Is The Story Of Yemen '' Losing my child while I am watching is breaking my heart , '' says Mohammed Yousuf as he tries to calm his crying son .
`` I feel so worried for my son .
I wo n't rest until my son is completely healed . ''
Yousuf lives in Yemen .
His 1-year-old son , Abdullah , has been at a health facility in Sana ' a , the capital city , where doctors are feeding him reconstituted milk from powder formulated for children with malnutrition to keep him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weighed 6 pounds on his fifth day of treatment for severe acute malnutrition , says his attending clinician , Dr. Abdelmalek Mohammed .
That 's less than one-third of the average weight for his age .
The doctor 's diagnosis of severe acute malnutrition is a medical classification reserved for the worst cases .
Yousuf and his wife , Fadiah , traveled 15 hours by bus through dozens of military checkpoints to bring their child to the facility in Sana ' a .
He spoke to NPR by phone .
In Yemen today @ @ @ @ @ @ @ malnourished , according to U.N. reports .
The five-year-old civil war has caused the country to plunge deeper into poverty that has been exacerbated by floods and locusts .
And even when there is food available , a 3-year-old , Saudi-led blockade restricts goods coming into the country by land , sea and air .
The resulting delays increase the cost of basic necessities like food .
And for many Yemenis , any price is too high .
Yousuf lost his job as a farm laborer last year when farmers could n't get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for irrigation and drinking water , because of fuel shortages caused by the war .
Now his family depends completely on aid , which he says allows them to eat one small daily meal .
In fact , 80 % of Yemenis depend on aid .
And it 's often not enough to avert tragedy .
Yousuf says his two older children died of malnutrition : his firstborn at age 6 months and his second child at 4 months .
He says both children died during treatment at a health center near their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says lacked medicine and staff .
Fighting in Taiz makes it difficult for parents to get medical attention for their children , says Samuel Mbuto , a nutritionist specializing in severe child malnutrition for the humanitarian group International Medical Corps .
Mbuto has worked through two previous famines , first in his native Uganda and then in Southern Sudan .
Conditions in Yemen , he says , are much worse because the blockade restricts access to aid .
This is his third year in Yemen .
During his nine years of practice , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many children , a major indicator of malnutrition .
He uses a small tape-measure-like device called a MUAC tape ( mid-upper arm circumference ) .
He wraps it around the child 's arm like a hospital bracelet , inserting the end of the tape into a slot and pulling it through to adjust to the width of the arm .
If the arm circumference is in the range of about 5 to 10 inches , the child is in the green zone , indicating a healthy size .
From 4.5 to 5 inches @ @ @ @ @ @ @ section that indicates moderate malnutrition .
Then the MUAC tape is red from 4.5 inches until it ends .
When children measure in the red zone , they have severe malnutrition .
Mbuto has seen arms that measure as little as 3 inches around in Yemen .
At the 27 facilities where Mbuto manages nutritional programs , he says that nearly all the children he sees measure in the yellow and red parts of the tape .
Mbuto says the signs of malnutrition are evident in their sunken eyes , diarrhea , ribs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` chicken drumsticks . ''
`` Once the child is sick , their faces show sadness , the mother is also sad , then you see signs of hopelessness , '' says Mbuto .
`` They do n't know what will happen the next day . ''
He says recovery can require up to two months of close monitoring and feeding .
Other doctors interviewed by NPR have witnessed similar distress .
Dr. Wafa ' a Al-Salali leads a team of nutritionists for International Medical Corps in southern Yemen .
She says most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ centers are severe cases .
Her colleague , Thorya Sallam , a nutritional nurse in western Yemen , says the feeding centers are crowded , and malnutrition cases are compounded by cholera and diphtheria .
`` When I see the children in the feeding ward I am fearful and worried , '' says Al-Salali .
`` Watching the collapse and weakness of the health system is the most difficult thing for me as a doctor during the war . ''
At the health center in Sana ' a , Dr. Abdelmalek Mohammed measures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He tells NPR he believes that one-year-old Abdullah , with an arm measurement of 3.2 inches , will survive .
The doctor says a few beds away is a severe case that he thinks will also survive , 16-month-old Zayed Ali .
After a month of treatment , Zayed weighs the same as Abdullah , 6 pounds , with an arm circumference that measures 2.8 inches , roughly the size of a wine cork .
The doctor has seen an influx of families traveling from distant rural areas of the country seeking medical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He says it 's a significant indication to him that malnutrition has worsened .
Even if a child like 1-year-old Abdullah survives and is discharged from the feeding center , his parents will still have to continue his feeding treatment at home , says Mbuto , and if there is a lack of food at home , it is likely the child will relapse .
The U.N. predicts the situation in Yemen will worsen .
It projects a famine in the next six months with well over half the country malnourished .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the worst famine the world has seen for decades , '' warned António Guterres , secretary-general of the U.N. , in a statement last month .
`` In the absence of immediate action , millions of lives may be lost . ''
`` The famine already exists , '' says Dr. Abdelmalek Mohammed , who sees only a couple of beds free in the feeding ward where he works — for now .
`` It has gotten worse to the point it has become out of control . ''

The Story Of 1-Year-Old Abdullah Is The Story Of Yemen
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images
"Losing my child while I am watching is breaking my heart," Mohammed Yousuf says as he tries to calm his crying son. "I feel so worried for my son. I won't rest until my son is completely healed."
Yousuf lives in Yemen. His 1-year-old son, Abdullah, has been at a health facility in Sanaa, the capital, where doctors are feeding him reconstituted milk from powder formulated for children with malnutrition to keep him alive.
On Dec. 5, Abdullah weighed 6 pounds on his fifth day of treatment for severe acute malnutrition, says his attending clinician, Dr. Abdelmalek Mohammed. That's less than one-third of the average weight for his age. The doctor's diagnosis of severe acute malnutrition is a medical classification reserved for the worst cases. Yousuf and his wife, Fadiah, traveled 15 hours by bus through dozens of military checkpoints to bring their child to the facility in Sanaa. He spoke to NPR by phone.
(NPR has withheld the family names of the parents and doctor because of concerns about their safety.)
In Yemen today, 1 in 5 children are severely malnourished, according to U.N. reports. The 5-year-old civil war has caused the country to plunge deeper into poverty that has been exacerbated by floods and locusts. And even when there is food available, a 3-year-old, Saudi-led blockade restricts goods coming into the country by land, sea and air. The resulting delays increase the cost of basic necessities such as food.
And for many Yemenis, any price is too high. Yousuf lost his job as a farm laborer last year when farmers couldn't get diesel — required to run the pumps for irrigation and drinking water — because of fuel shortages caused by the war. Now his family depends completely on aid, which he says allows them to eat one small daily meal.
In fact, 80% of Yemenis depend on aid. And it's often not enough to avert tragedy. Yousuf says his two older children died of malnutrition: his firstborn at age 6 months and his second child at 4 months. He says both children died during treatment at a health center near their rural village in Taiz, which he says lacked medicine and staff.
Fighting in Taiz makes it difficult for parents to get medical attention for their children, says Samuel Mbuto, a nutritionist specializing in severe child malnutrition for the humanitarian group International Medical Corps. Mbuto has worked through two previous famines, first in his native Uganda and then in Southern Sudan. Conditions in Yemen, he says, are much worse because the blockade restricts access to aid. This is his third year in Yemen.
During his nine years of practice, Mbuto has measured the arm circumferences of many children, a major indicator of malnutrition. He uses a small tape-measure-like device called a MUAC tape (mid-upper arm circumference). He wraps it around the child's arm like a hospital bracelet, inserting the end of the tape into a slot and pulling it through to adjust to the width of the arm.
If the arm circumference is in the range of about 5 to 10 inches, the child is in the green zone, indicating a healthy size. From 4.5 to 5 inches on the tape is a narrow yellow section that indicates moderate malnutrition. Then the MUAC tape is red from 4.5 inches until it ends. When children measure in the red zone, they have severe malnutrition. Mbuto has seen arms that measure as little as 3 inches around in Yemen.
At the 27 facilities where Mbuto manages nutritional programs, he says that nearly all the children he sees measure in the yellow and red parts of the tape. Mbuto says the signs of malnutrition are evident in their sunken eyes, diarrhea, ribs protruding in sharp relief and knees like "chicken drumsticks."
"Once the child is sick, their faces show sadness, the mother is also sad, then you see signs of hopelessness," Mbuto says. "They don't know what will happen the next day."
He says recovery can require up to two months of close monitoring and feeding.
Other doctors interviewed by NPR have witnessed similar distress. Dr. Wafa'a Al-Salali leads a team of nutritionists for International Medical Corps in southern Yemen. She says most of the children admitted to their health centers are severe cases. Her colleague, Thorya Sallam, a nutritional nurse in western Yemen, says the feeding centers are crowded, and malnutrition cases are compounded by cholera and diphtheria.
"When I see the children in the feeding ward, I am fearful and worried," the doctor says. "Watching the collapse and weakness of the health system is the most difficult thing for me as a doctor during the war."
toggle caption Saddam Saaed
At the health center in Sanaa, Dr. Abdelmalek Mohammed measures and weighs children during visiting hours. He tells NPR he believes that 1-year-old Abdullah, with an arm measurement of 3.2 inches, will survive. The doctor says a few beds away is a severe case that he thinks will also survive, 16-month-old Zayed Ali. After a month of treatment, Zayed weighs the same as Abdullah, 6 pounds, with an arm circumference that measures 2.8 inches, roughly the size of a wine cork.
The doctor has seen an influx of families traveling from distant rural areas of the country seeking medical care for their children in the capital. He says it's a significant indication to him that malnutrition has worsened.
Even if a child such as 1-year-old Abdullah survives and is discharged from the feeding center, his parents will still have to continue his feeding treatment at home, Mbuto says, and if there is a lack of food at home, it is likely the child will relapse.
The United Nations predicts the situation in Yemen will worsen. It projects a famine in the next six months, with well over half the country malnourished.
"Yemen is now in imminent danger of the worst famine the world has seen for decades," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned in a statement last month. "In the absence of immediate action, millions of lives may be lost."
"The famine already exists," says Dr. Abdelmalek Mohammed, who sees only a couple of beds free in the feeding ward where he works — for now. "It has gotten worse to the point it has become out of control."