peter certo
@petercerto.bsky.social
editor, rust belt returnee. comms director at @ips_dc. this acct is personal + i'm mostly here to lurk.
NEW: Private jet use is increasing among the wealthiest 0.003% of people - and the rest of us are subsidizing it. It's time to make private jet users pay their fair share and tax this reckless consumption. REPORT: ips-dc.org/report-high-...
High Flyers 2026: The High Cost of Private Jet Excess - Institute for Policy Studies
High Flyers 2026: The High Cost of Private Jet Excess
ips-dc.org
No, you’re not crazy. Your pay isn’t enough. New IPS @inequality.org findings on @msnowreports.bsky.social:
“While the world frequently reads about Puerto Rico’s blackouts, the quiet collapse of the water system has pushed the island to its absolute limit.” Coenia Sanchez reports on the federal policies and funding delays behind the crisis.
Congress Has a Responsibility to Reverse the Water Crisis It Caused in Puerto Rico
Federal neglect—and restrictive aid conditions—have broken the infrastructure meant to sustain human life in the Caribbean U.S. colony.
inthesetimes.com
Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Alex Pretti. Renee Good. These are just a few of the more than 50 people killed by ICE agents since President Trump took office last year. We cannot allow ourselves to let these deaths to become routine. Sofia Leyba on OtherWords:
We’re Getting Dangerously Used to ICE Abuse - OtherWords
No matter where you were born or how you feel about immigration, no government should have the power to kill or jail people with so little accountability.
otherwords.org
IPS stands in solidarity with the researchers at @americanprogress.bsky.social, along with all of the scholars, activists, journalists, and others targeted by this administration. Speaking truths to power is not a privilege, it's a right.
NEW: At 100 major U.S. companies last year — including Target, Walmart, and DoorDash — the average CEO took home $17.5 million while turning a blind eye to workers losing Medicaid and SNAP or being attacked by ICE. Protect workers. Curb this out-of-control CEO greed. REPORT:
Executive Excess 2026 - Institute for Policy Studies
Executive Excess 2026
ips-dc.org
Despite some walking back of his initial threats, President Trump’s devastating cuts to funding for the World Food Program—which won a Nobel Prize for its work— have had a catastrophic effect, resulting in an increase in suffering and death worldwide. Lawrence S. Wittner on @fpif.bsky.social:
World Hunger and Starvation Have Reached a Crisis Level - FPIF
The Trump administration has tried to eliminate all U.S. food assistance.
fpif.org
Before TPS protections were eliminated by the Supreme Court, Haitian immigrants were made into targets with a groundwork of lies. In 2024, @petercerto.bsky.social reported on what those lies were meant to do.
The Disturbing Reason Trump and Vance Peddle Lies About Immigrants
The influx of Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio is a success story, not a scandal. But when powerful people don’t want to share prosperity, they lie.
inthesetimes.com
On July 23, IPS invites you to join us for our 3rd Annual Henry A. Wallace Symposium, featuring speakers @raskin.house.gov, @ariassulma.bsky.social, @keyachatterjee.bsky.social, @lindsayowens.bsky.social, @aru-shiney-ajay.bsky.social, and more! Reserve your in-person or live stream tickets today!
Forging a Democracy that Works for All - Institute for Policy Studies
IPS, The Nation, and We Build Progress in partnership with the Wallace Global Fund present the 3rd Annual Henry A. Wallace Symposium.
ips-dc.org
NEW: Last week, a Chilean judge convicted three former secret police agents for the murder of IPS colleague Ronni Karpen Moffitt fifty years ago, killed alongside Orlando Letelier on orders of Chilean dictator Pinochet. This is a huge step toward justice.
IPS Applauds the Convictions of Three Chilean Secret Police Agents in the 1976 Assassination of Ronni Karpen Moffitt - Institute for Policy Studies
IPS Applauds the Convictions of Three Chilean Secret Police Agents in the 1976 Assassination of Ronni Karpen Moffitt
ips-dc.org
Ronni Moffitt's life was cut short at 25 when she was killed in 1976 by agents of the Pinochet dictatorship while on her way to work at @ips-dc.org. A Chilean judge has just sentenced 3 men for her murder. Proud to work for an org that doesn't stop fighting for justice. ips-dc.org/ips-applauds...
NEW: The Iran War has cost Americans nearly $50 billion at the gas pump. "The economic damage from this conflict is already done." @jeffcolgan.bsky.social of @watsonschoolbrown.bsky.social:
Don't Expect Cheap Gas Anytime Soon - OtherWords
The Iran War has cost Americans nearly $50 billion at the pump. We should hold the leaders responsible for that pain accountable.
otherwords.org
More than 300,000 companies are set to collect from the $166 billion raised by Trump’s tariffs. Meanwhile, unless Congress steps in, American consumers who paid the price at the grocery store and the gas pump aren't likely to see a dime.
You Paid for Trump’s Tariffs. Corporations Get the Refund. - OtherWords
Trump’s tariff refunds are going to corporations — not the consumers who got stuck with the higher prices.
otherwords.org
“Societies fall apart when a tiny elite captures political and economic power, walls itself off from ordinary life, and uses that power to entrench its own privilege.” @igorvolsky.bsky.social #taxtherich otherwords.org/i-fled-the-u...
I Fled the USSR. That's Why I Support Taxing Billionaires. - OtherWords
Taxing extreme wealth in order to reduce the influence of a tiny, ultra-rich elite isn’t how democracies fall. It’s how they survive.
otherwords.org
By weakening the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court has undermined over five decades of essential progress towards equal racial representation in our government, damaging democracy for Americans of all races, writes IPS fellow Dedrick Asante-Muhammad.
The Supreme Court’s War on the Voting Rights Act Sends America Backwards - OtherWords
It took 60 years for Black Americans to get representation in Congress proportionate to their numbers. Now we’re likely to backslide.
otherwords.org
Virginia’s “Data Center Alley” provides a revealing look at Big Tech’s new vision for America—one that entitles corporations to extract resources from any community with no regard for the residents’ health and safety. Danny Caine on @inequality.org:
I Was Already Suspicious of the Data Center Boom. Then I Stood In Data Center Alley
Pockets of opposition to the data center boom are emerging all over the country.
inequality.org
While centrist Democrats have cautioned against alienating “moderate” voters with left-leaning policies, recent elections show that populist economic policies focused on affordability are a hit with moderates and progressives alike, writes @ruwithsonali.bsky.social.
Progressive Economic Populism is a Winning Issue - OtherWords
When voters support universal health care, taxing corporations, and addressing climate change, it’s the “centrists” who are out of touch.
otherwords.org
NEW: Findings out today show that between August 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026, U.S. strikes in Venezuela, the Caribbean, and the Eastern Pacific cost at least $4.7 billion. IPS scholar @hannahomestead.bsky.social and @jekavanagh.bsky.social of @defpriorities.bsky.social with @costsofwar.bsky.social:
What Did the U.S. Attack on Venezuela Cost? - Institute for Policy Studies
What Did the U.S. Attack on Venezuela Cost?
ips-dc.org
If you paid taxes for 2025, you likely paid: $124 — school lunch & nutrition programs $49 — diplomacy to prevent wars $19 — USPS $19 — Federal Aviation Administration $18 — national parks and $4,049 — weapons and war. These priorities are hurting us all. We need change. #TaxDay
NEW: If you paid federal taxes for 2025, you likely paid $4,049(!) for Pentagon contractors, military personnel, nuclear weapons, aid to foreign militaries, and last year’s bombing of Iran’s nuclear energy facilities. IPS @nationalpriorities.bsky.social research out now in @commondreams.org:
‘Shameful’: $4,049 of Average US Taxpayer's Bill Last Year Went to War and Weaponry | Common Dreams
"Our tax dollars are doing more to bomb children in Iran and other countries than to feed and educate children here."
commondreams.org
GOP politicians are brazenly attempting to stoke another wave of Islamophobia. We must all demand that our elected officials honor the Constitutional right Muslim Americans to exist and live in this country, free from hate and bigotry.
American Muslims Don't Need to Defend Our Existence - OtherWords
It's bigoted politicians, not Muslims like me, who threaten our way of life in this country.
otherwords.org
While normal Americans are paying the price for Donald Trump’s illegal war on Iran, the wealthy fossil fuel corporations are cashing in. The solution is clear—we must tax those profits and reclaim our political system. Meghan Schneider & Cass DiPaola
Tax the Corporations Cashing in on Trump's War - OtherWords
Across the political spectrum, Americans support taxing windfall profits — and billionaires — to help working people weather the affordability crisis.
otherwords.org
Together with the U.S. intervention in Venezuela earlier this year, the war on Iran shows how the race for fossil fuels is compromising global stability. The solution—we must decrease dependency on fossil fuels through renewable energy, writes @ruwithsonali.bsky.social.
Another War for Oil? This Is Why We Need Renewable Energy - OtherWords
Choosing renewables over fossil fuels would mean fewer wars and less economic disruption in the U.S. and around the world.
otherwords.org
The current wave of anti-trans legislation is built on a manufactured hysteria that ignores a mountain of scientific evidence. What's more, these attacks set a dangerous legal precedent for everyone’s access to health care and right to privacy.
Attacks on Trans People Are Attacks on Everyone - OtherWords
The people telling you to fear your trans neighbors are setting a precedent to take away your health care and invade your privacy, too.
otherwords.org
When corporate resources are funneled into the pockets of those at the top while ordinary employees have to rely on public assistance, we are all subsidizing the executive mansions and private jets, write @sarahanderson.bsky.social and @reyannaj.bsky.social of @ips-dc.
Meet the 16 Billionaires Making Bank by Underpaying Their Workers
The poverty wage business model that is so prevalent in Corporate America works spectacularly well for a handful of wealthy and politically powerful executives and shareholders. For the rest of us, not so much.
commondreams.org
"The bombs falling on Iran today will not liberate anyone." Dena Al-Adeeb on spending her life fleeing, surviving, and bearing witness to wars justified by lies.
Women Pay the Highest Price for U.S. ‘Wars of Liberation’
As an Iraqi, I’ve spent my life fleeing, surviving, and bearing witness to wars justified by lies. In Iran, we’re seeing yet another.
inthesetimes.com
finally a president who speaks out against reckless wars and interventions
NEW: While billionaires dismiss the concept of affordability, they're the ones directly driving the crisis — from monopolizing food to hoarding housing. IPS scholar @chuck77.bsky.social in @theprogressivemag.bsky.social:
How Billionaires Worsen Affordability Crisis
Four ways billionaire investors are making daily life more expensive for all of us — and what to do about it.
progressive.org
What to do about companies that pay their workers so little they have to rely on public assistance? @adamshah.bsky.social of @jwj.org proposes a "Bad Business Fee," with community members deciding how to spend the revenue. inequality.org/article/bad-...
Federal Safety Net Cuts Are Hurting States. A ‘Bad Business Fee’ Could Help.
By taxing companies that pay poverty wages, state and local governments can help cover federal cuts to safety net programs low-wage workers rely on.
inequality.org
NEW: Companies are already selling robots that pick fruit and vegetables and weed bots that can tell baby ragweed from baby carrots. Corporations are trying to automate farming. Time for farming communities to come together to resist, writes journalist, organizer, and farmer @suzan63.bsky.social:
Rural America Needs to Band Together Against Corporate Greed - OtherWords
New schemes for fully robotic farming could push the last remaining farmers — and their communities — to fold.
otherwords.org