EWDi Will Support Research, Conduct Educational Outreach, and Drive Cultural Narrative Change to Highlight the Urgent Need for Tax Policy Solutions and Other Changes in America
The Excessive Wealth Disorder Institute (EWDi) launched today with a unique focus – the richest 0.1% of Americans – and a mission to mobilize nonprofit institutions, elected representatives, and the public to combat the societal problems caused by excessive wealth.
Excessive Wealth Disorder (EWD) was coined by Alan S. Davis for an Economic Policy Institute conference in 2019, and is broadly defined as a range of social, economic, and political crises created by the extreme concentration of income and wealth in the hands of a small segment of society. The effects of EWD include threats to our democracy, a racial wealth and opportunity gap, corruption, and slower economic growth. Extreme wealth inequality is also directly correlated with poor outcomes on virtually all social indicators such as life expectancy, incarceration rates, and education.
As one of its first actions, the EWDi is partnering with Americans for Tax Fairness, Health Care for America Now, Other98, Working America Education Fund, and Amalgamated Foundation to launch the Tax the Ultra-Rich Now (TURN) campaign. The TURN campaign will expand public support for taxing the ultra-rich by collaborating with grassroots organizations across five key states – Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – with a focus on organizations centered in communities of color. More states and actions may be added as additional funds are raised.
TURN launches with a webinar today at 2 PM Eastern featuring Gabriel Zucman (author of Hidden Wealth of Nations), and leaders from state organizations working on the TURN campaign. Registration for the webinar is here.
“For too long, a small number of individuals have rigged our political and economic system, hoarding so much wealth and power that they are threatening our nation’s democracy and the well-being of hundreds of millions of individuals across the country,” said Alan S. Davis, founder of EWDi. “The culture of greed and the hoarding of extreme wealth takes a toll on everything we care about and on everyone, including the hoarders. It’s time for us to stop talking about this problem as if it were inevitable and take serious steps to combat it. The public is waking up to the effects of excessive wealth disorder and EWDi will be working with numerous partners to push for the legislative, administrative, and cultural changes we need to flatten the wealth curve and restore faith in our economy and democracy.”
The EWDi is guided by a nine-member Board of Directors:
- Alan S. Davis, President of the Leonard and Sophie Davis Fund and Director of The WhyNot Initiative
- Rajasvini Bhansali, Executive Director of Solidaire Network and Solidaire Action
- Ellen Dorsey, Executive Director of the Wallace Global Fund
- Darrick Hamilton, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy and Founding Director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School
- Chuck Collins, Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies
- Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Chief of Race, Wealth and Community for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition
- Scott Ellis, Founder and CEO of MasteryTrack
- Devin Fergus, Arvarh E. Strickland Distinguished Professor, History and Black Studies at the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri
- Nancy MacLean, William H. Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University
EWDi’s mission is to reduce excessive wealth by elevating policy solutions that focus exclusively on the nation’s ultra-rich. It aims to achieve these goals by: (1) funding research and conducting educational outreach to raise issue awareness among policy makers, thought leaders, philanthropists, and community advocates; (2) participating in – and amplifying – public-policy campaigns led by existing nonprofits addressing various aspects of wealth inequality; and (3) working directly with ultra-wealthy individuals and institutions to generate support for both tax policies and increased levels of charitable giving.
More information about EWDi can be found on the website www.excessivewealth.org. More information about TURN can be found here.
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