Peter Hurst

“According to a report in the New York Times, “the richest 0.1 percent of American households own 19.6 percent of the nation’s total wealth, up from 15.9 percent in 2005 and 7.4 percent in 1980. The richest 0.1 percent now have the same combined net worth as the bottom 85 percent.”
― Brian Merchant, Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech

“In 1880, the US government raised 90 percent of its tax revenue from customs duties (56 percent) and excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol (34 percent). By 1930, income taxes accounted for nearly 60 percent of US government receipts.”
― Thomas C. Leonard, Illiberal Reformers: Race, Eugenics, and American Economics in the Progressive Era

“In 1955, over 740,000 miners were employed in Britain; by 1990, there were fewer than 50,000.”
― Ron Ferguson, Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil NEW EDITION: A Chronicle of Coal, Cowdenbeath and Football

“It’s difficult to definitively gauge the size of the gig or contract labor economy, but a 2018 Marist/NPR survey found that some 1 in 5 US workers participate in it.”
― Brian Merchant, Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech