You’re paying a $4K TRUMP TARIFF TAX

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fEPzvxnTgEA

 

Record renter-owner wealth gap leaves many priced out : NPR

In fact, they've been shocked at how quickly prices have gone up. Places listed in the mid-300s when they started looking are now valued at half a million dollars and more. They watched an investor buy a house across the street, expand it, and sell it for much more than that...

 https://www.npr.org/2026/07/30/nx-s1-5910711/renter-owner-wealth-gap

Is the American Dream in Decline? (Open to Debate podcast)

The American Dream – the idea that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can achieve success in the U.S. through hard work and determination – is under scrutiny. Compared to post-World War II where most people could create a comfortable lifestyle, the viability of homeownership and stable employment doesn’t seem attainable to younger Americans and immigrants, according to some economists and policymakers. 

 Those who see a challenge say there’s a growing wealth gap between the richest and poorest people and that increasing healthcare, education, and housing costs create hardships for many. They also argue that the shift towards a more gig-based economy and the impact of automation and globalization on traditional jobs create uncertainty. Those who remain optimistic about a meritocratic path to success, say that compared to other countries, the U.S. still offers more opportunities for personal and financial growth and that new industries and technologies continually emerge, creating new pathways for advancement. Younger Americans also see different ways of achieving the American Dream than their parents, opening possibilities of a less rigid definition of the term in the future.

Interview: 

https://opentodebate.substack.com/p/is-the-american-dream-in-decline

The luxury gap: Trump builds his palace as Americans face going hungry

"Are you fucking kidding me?" exclaimed Kamala Harris, the former vice-president, during an interview on Jon Stewart's Comedy Central podcast The Weekly Show. "This guy wants to create a ballroom for his rich friends while completely turning a blind eye to the fact that babies are going to starve when the Snap benefits end in just hours from now."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/02/trump-cost-ballroom-government-shutdown

 

Why is the Communist Party clamping down on China's biggest stars and fan clubs? - CNN

…The sky-high income of some A-list celebrities is a glaring reminder of China's gaping wealth gap. Zheng was reportedly paid more than $24 million for two and a half months of filming for a romantic drama, earning an average daily wage of more than $300,000. Last year, by way of comparison, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang revealed that more than 600 million Chinese were earning barely $140 per month…

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/30/china/china-entertainment-crackdown-mic-intl-hnk/index.html

Black appraisers call out industry's racial bias and need for systemic change

… Racial-based appraisal bias is a well documented and pervasive issue that has long contributed to the rising wealth gap for Black families, and much of it has been driven by "historical racialized appraisals that influence contemporary values and appraisers' racialized assumptions about neighborhoods to drive appraisal method," according to a study published in the journal Social Problems...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/black-appraisers-call-out-industry-s-racial-bias-need-systemic-n1269452

America's 1% Has Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90% | Time

...No, this upward redistribution of income, wealth, and power wasn't inevitable; it was a choice—a direct result of the trickle-down policies we chose to implement since 1975. We chose to cut taxes on billionaires and to deregulate the financial industry. We chose to allow CEOs to manipulate share prices through stock buybacks, and to lavishly reward themselves with the proceeds. We chose to permit giant corporations, through mergers and acquisitions, to accumulate the vast monopoly power necessary to dictate both prices charged and wages paid. We chose to erode the minimum wage and the overtime threshold and the bargaining power of labor. For four decades, we chose to elect political leaders who put the material interests of the rich and powerful above those of the American people....
https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/

How America Created Its Shameful Wealth Gap with Robert Reich

https://youtu.be/9diZJks95Ko

Kamala Harris unveils $100 billion black homeownership plan - CNN Politics

California Sen. Kamala Harris unveiled a $100 billion plan to invest in black homeownership — a proposal the 2020 presidential candidate said that, if elected, would set in motion her broader plan to tackle the US racial wealth gap.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/06/politics/kamala-harris-black-homeownership-plan-racial-wealth-gap/index.html

Should America pay reparations for slavery? Ta-Nehisi Coates v Coleman Hughes

At a congressional hearing on reparations on Tuesday, two black writers offered strikingly different visions of America’s racial legacy. Here is the full text of their testimonies ...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/19/reparations-slavery-ta-nehisi-coates-v-coleman-hughes

A new explanation for the stubborn persistence of the racial wealth gap - The Washington Post

Few data points more clearly illustrate how decades of discrimination affected black Americans than the racial wealth gap. As of 2016, the typical black family had a net worth of $17,100, roughly one-tenth the $171,000 accumulated by a white household, federal research shows...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/03/14/new-explanation-stubborn-persistence-racial-wealth-gap/

Housing market racism persists despite ‘fair housing’ laws

In the US, where homeownership speaks to class, African Americans are being denied mortgages at rates much higher than their white peers....
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/24/housing-market-racism-persists-despite-fair-housing-laws

‘We haven’t made any progress’: Black homeownership is stuck near 30-year lows - The Washington Post

The black-white employment gap has closed, but the homeownership gap has not. Here's why. ....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-black-white-employment-gap-has-closed-but-the-homeownership-gap-has-not-heres-why/2018/07/06/1c6943dc-7ef6-11e8-b0ef-fffcabeff946_story.html

Billionaire Ray Dalio: For the 'bottom 60 percent' of the country, it’s a ‘miserable economy' -- CNBC

The founder of legendary hedge fund Bridgewater Associates says technology is only going to make the wealth gap worse. ...
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/07/billionaire-ray-dalio-for-many-in-the-us-its-a-miserable-economy.html