Most drugs cost pennies per dose to manufacture. But the higher the risk to the smuggler — like the risk of getting arrested, or blown up — the more they can charge. In short, our policies are making trafficking more profitable, not less. @sanho.bsky.social:

NEW REPORT: As the G20 approaches its 20th summit, a new independent assessment finds it has failed to tackle inequality and deliver economic justice. The report warns that the forum must do more than fight fires - it needs to reform a broken international system. 🧵1/7

NEW: In close to 20 years, the G20 summit has consistently failed to address the systemic inequities driving debt burdens, ecological collapse, and widening social insecurity. A new independent assessment from @neweconomics.bsky.social, IPS, and others shows key steps to change that. REPORT:

The Trump administration claims it can't use $8 billion to fund SNAP in November. Simultaneously, it's pushing to use $156 BILLION for Department of War projects during the shutdown, including $24 billion for Trump’s absurd Golden Dome. This is policy violence.

The future will not be saved by algorithms or distant leaders; it will be shaped by ordinary people in ordinary places choosing to work together.

Private planes make up nearly 12% of all flights. And yet even with major air traffic control safety concerns, the DOT is planning to exclude them from its plan to order 10% cut in flights at 40 major U.S. airports. People who can afford to charter flights will be fine. Everyone else is screwed.

NEW: When the Great Recession began in 2008, many state lawmakers responded with cuts, layoffs, and austerity measures that only harmed the economy more. Right now, we must choose differently. Amber Wallin of the State Revenue Alliance:

When parents and caretakers can’t get child care, they lose work, educational opportunities, and enrichment opportunities for their kids. New Mexico's new free child care is not just an investment in kids — it's an investment in thriving communities.

In 2006, a huge immigration raid in Marshalltown, Iowa tore the community apart and tanked the economy. Since then, immigrant residents have helped the town open new businesses, recover from a natural disaster, and thrive. We're stronger when everyone — immigrant or not — is free to pitch in.

Peter Weiss was a fearless lawyer who cooked up wildly creative ways of going after the baddies, from Henry Kissinger to corporate criminals. He also had a wicked dry wit. Grateful to have had the chance to spend time with him during his 99 yrs. @ips-dc.org tribute: ips-dc.org/remembering-...

IPS mourns the immense loss of Peter Weiss, a path-breaking international human rights lawyer who led the Institute’s board of directors with a steady and courageous hand through Nixon-era political repression and the assassination of two IPS colleagues.

NEW: Yesterday, Colorado voters passed a policy securing FREE breakfast and lunch for all public school kids and support for SNAP — all through a tax on the rich. This isn’t a far-fetched idea. It’s a popular, commonsense solution.

NEW: "If you have $30 million, you have multiple houses, you fly first class or private jet. When you start to get above that, you're not just buying a jet or another house. You're buying senators." @chuck77.bsky.social breaks down the "billionaire class." Listen:

Just as rural communities were on the cusp of a massive investment in reliable fiber broadband, the Trump administration derailed the program and restructured it around a giveaway to Elon Musk’s Starlink and Jeff Bezos’s Kuiper.

NEW: When our politics feel distant and impersonal, place-based organizing is how we restore politics to a human scale: neighbors coming together to defend what they love and demand accountability where they live. IPS Rural Organizing Fellow @katehesspace.bsky.social of @hoosieraction.bsky.social:

Few programs can claim the success of nearly $300 billion mobilized annually, millions of jobs supported, and thousands of communities transformed. The CDFI fund could — until Trump just eliminated its entire staff.

NEW: National Veterinary Associations, or NVA, have quietly bought up hundreds of local mom and pop pet care practices nationwide. NVA is owned by the Reimann family, the second richest family in Germany with a dark Nazi past. @chuck77.bsky.social in @thenation.com:

NEW: Earlier today, two federal judges ruled that the Trump administration must continue to fund SNAP using contingency funds during the government shutdown. Yes, we should continue funding the program that feeds 1 in 8 Americans.

NEW: In a national first, on November 1 all families in New Mexico will be eligible for universal, no-cost child care. "I see the positive impact our child care programs have on children, including lifelong benefits," writes New Mexico child care teacher Rita Bee:

Think of it this way: the drug war acts like a “price support” for traffickers. Cartels are the last people who want the war to end. We will never make drugs disappear by making them astronomically more valuable. Stop amplifying the motivational feedback loop of the people you’re trying to stop.

NEW: A federal program was set to invest $42.5 billion in expanding rural fiber broadband access. Then, Trump changed the focus to satellite and fixed service that puts billionaires' profits over reliable internet access. @cwaunion.bsky.social president Claude Cummings:

Most drugs cost pennies per dose to manufacture. But the higher the risk to the smuggler — like the risk of getting arrested, or blown up — the more they can charge. In short, our policies are making trafficking more profitable, not less. @sanho.bsky.social:

NEW: As pet ownership grows more popular, billionaires and private equity firms are buying up an unprecedented share of pet services and hospitals. Today, the cost of veterinary care is 60% higher than a decade ago. IPS scholar @chuck77.bsky.social in @thenation.com:

CLIMATE WIN: In 2017, two companies tried to construct a colossal new radioactive waste dump in New Mexico. After years of advocacy from @beyondnuclear.bsky.social and a broad coalition, including late IPS scholar Robert Alvarez, the plan has officially been terminated:

SNAP has been proven highly effective at reducing hunger — *and* it improves school performance, social skills, and overall health. When a program works this well, we should expand it. Instead, the Trump admin is cutting it for 1 in 5 kids in the country.

As millions of Americans worry where their next meal will come from without SNAP, the Trump administration is ending annual USDA reports on hunger levels, calling them “redundant, costly, and politicized.”

NEW: The 2025 Rural Policy Action Report outlines progressive policies that are popular with everyday Americans and immediately actionable by Congress. Yes, there is another way. IPS is proud to be one of 40 groups convened by the Rural Democracy Initiative to develop and illustrate it:

NEW: Instead of learning from past U.S. drug war mistakes — like CIA contractors' killing of an American missionary and her infant daughter — Trump is carrying out still more extrajudicial killings without evidence. IPS scholar @sanho.bsky.social:

Great column @ips-dc.org Otherwords We need to recognize that something profound has shifted and a new epoch is coming. But instead of abandoning hope, this transitional period is the time to envision and begin building the world we want to inhabit on the other side. otherwords.org/rebuilding-h...

"When you steal people’s representation, you steal their healthcare, their wages, and their future."

NEW: The Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund was one of the most effective and bipartisan vehicles for community investment in America. Trump just eliminated its entire staff. Dedrick Asante-Muhammad and Eric Morrissette of @jointcenter.bsky.social:

🏥 NEW: If the Trump-GOP budget's increased spending on military and mass deportation in FY 2026 was instead used for Medicaid, here's how many more people could be insured per state: Kansas: 197,181 Maryland: 583,621 Illinois: 1,926,392 Florida: 3,559,007 Fund health care. Not militarism.

NEW: As Trump sends billions in U.S. dollars to bail out Argentina’s far-right government, regular people in both countries are struggling to survive. Argentine pensioners are in the streets showing how to resist. IPS @inequality.org scholar @millsrodrigo.bsky.social in @jacobinmag.bsky.social:

NEW: It's not inevitable for millions of us to feel daily financial strain. It's a result of billionaires squeezing us for profit in every area of our lives — from groceries to health care to housing. IPS @inequality.org scholar @chuck77.bsky.social:

TONIGHT: The American people have risen against oligarchs before. Occupy Wall Street: An American Dream is an electrifying look at how this populist upsurge swept the nation. Join for the premiere of this film in D.C. tonight at 7:00 with @rightsdissent.bsky.social and Occupy USA Today. Register:

During the government shutdown, some 750,000 federal workers have been on unpaid leave for weeks. Meanwhile, ICE has stayed fully operational — *except* for the staff who inspect detention centers to ensure they meet federal safety standards. These priorities are unacceptable.

NEW: Federal action on reparations has stalled for decades. But on a local level, places like Tulsa, Evanston, and California are pioneering policies to repair the harms of slavery, segregation, and systemic racism. REPORT from IPS scholar @johnfeffer.bsky.social with @rosaluxglobal.bsky.social:

NEW: The Guatemalan Xinka People are defending their territory, water and health by demanding the closure of the toxic Escobal mine — but its Canada-based owner is ignoring them. Show solidarity and send a message to Pan American Silver CEO Michael Steinmann now: act.earthworks.org/page/87881/p...

Undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022, including for Social Security and Medicare, even though they are barred from accessing those programs. They lie that immigrants don't pay fair taxes to distract from who actually doesn't: Billionaires.

NEW: As of September 2025, there were over 59,000 people in immigration detention in the U.S. 71.5% of them had no criminal conviction. Get the new fact sheet on Trump's war on immigrants from IPS scholars @lindsaykosh.bsky.social, @karendolan.bsky.social, and @sarahanderson.bsky.social:

NEW: "This moment is not just about one man... This is about a handful of the wealthiest people on earth who have hijacked our economy and our political system in order to enrich themselves at the expense of working families." Read Sen. Bernie Sanders' No Kings rally remarks in @commondreams.org:

📽️ FILM PREMIERE: In 2011, millions rose up against Wall Street oligarchs. Occupy Wall Street: An American Dream is an electrifying look at how this populist upsurge swept the nation. 📍 IPS office, Washington D.C. 📅 Thurs, 10/23 🕑 7:00 pm ET REGISTER:

NEW: 73% of respondents in a recent Harvard survey reported that technology is making their in-person relationships suffer. Tech corporations selling us AI "friends" are trying to profit off of worsening the problem. @ruwithsonali.bsky.social:

The chaos of government shutdowns hurts our federal workers and the crucial services they provide for us all. But that chaos helps billionaires dodge taxes and regulations. @igorvolsky.bsky.social of @taxgreed.bsky.social:

1. Conservatives push manufactured budget crises to shut down the government. 2. Shutdowns make it harder for the government to regulate and tax billionaires. 3. Billionaires pocket the savings and donate to conservatives. It's a toxic cycle. We need to end it.

NEW: We don't need to wait for lawmakers or pine for a bygone era. We can build a more resilient democracy with simple steps like supporting local economies and interacting face to face with our communities, argues @rsclove.bsky.social:

NEW: If the U.S. immigration enforcement apparatus were its own national military, it would be the 13th most heavily funded in the world. This bloated force is raining violence on Chicago. @sarahlazare.bsky.social and @lindsaykosh.bsky.social of @nationalpriorities.bsky.social in @inthesetimes.com:

Despite little support among mainstream politicians or the media, the immigrant rights movement is making a huge impact in this dangerous time: Nearly 80% of Americans now say immigration is good for this country — a record high. IPS scholar Alliyah Lusuegro of @nationalpriorities.bsky.social:

NEW: At a time when technology is feeding high levels of isolation in our society, AI corporations are trying to capitalize on our loneliness by selling AI "friends." This dystopian joke is laughing at us, not with us, writes @ruwithsonali.bsky.social:

NEW: In 1990, before government shutdowns were normalized, America had 66 billionaires with $240 billion. Today, roughly 700 billionaires hoard over $7 trillion — a 28-fold explosion in wealth. Billionaires profit from shutdowns. @igorvolsky.bsky.social of @taxgreed.bsky.social: