The Hound | Nov. 11

Hi there,

It’s Wednesday. California billionaires put up more than $330 million to defeat Prop. 40, a proposed 5 percent tax on assets over $1 billion and the nation’s first wealth tax of its kind. AP has called its defeat. They also sponsored Prop. 42, which was leading by 3.2 points as of Monday night and would amend the state constitution to bar future taxes on many kinds of personal wealth.

🖊️ Sign the petition to call on the media to cover this as billionaires spending a fortune to protect their fortunes, and to ask who paid for each ad and who benefits. Prop. 42 deserves the same scrutiny, since it could limit the state’s power to tax extreme wealth for years.

Coverage will likely treat this as voters weighing tax policy. It was an expensive persuasion campaign. Prop. 42’s backers suggested retirement savings were at risk, though every wealth tax lawmakers have proposed targeted only assets above $30 million. The public deserves reporting that follows the money, not just the results.

In addition, COP31 opened this week — the first UN climate summit to take place since scientists acknowledged the world will overshoot its warming limit. And, how Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George will run DC as it’s under the thumb of the Trump administration.

Read about these, and more, in today’s stories:

Oligarchs Got Crushed on Election Day, But Still Managed to Kill California’s Wealth Tax Dreams (Mother Jones)

The Honeypot That Might End the AI Boom (The American Prospect)

How a Socialist Can Govern a City Under the Thumb of the Trump Administration (The Intercept)

Developing! The Democrats Are (Almost) the Working-Class Party Again (The New Republic)

Lawyers in This State Are Allowed to Ghost Clients for Years. Why Don’t More Judges Stop Them? (ProPublica)

COP31 Meets the Overshoot Era (Inside Climate News)

Until next time,

Harry from The Hound

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