Regardless of party affiliation, few Americans support taxpayer subsidies for the rich and well-off. But if you look closely at his plans for electric vehicles, that’s exactly what President Biden is currently promoting.

Last month, Washington State passed a capital gains tax aimed at the state’s ultra-wealthy. The tax is historic because Washington, despite its progressive reputation, until now had the worst tax code in the nation when it comes to fairness, behind Texas, Florida, and South Dakota.

A landmark 2018 report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that the poor and working class pay 18 percent of their income in state and local taxes, while the ultra-wealthy only pay 3 percent.

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the Federal Reserve has gotten plenty of kudos for moves that have helped stabilize the economy, kept house prices from tanking and supported the stock market. But those successes have obscured another effect: the inadvertent impact the Fed’s ultra-low interest rates and bond-buying sprees are having on economic inequality.

Longstanding inequality in the U.S. has been exacerbated by the Fed’s role in touching off a multitrillion-dollar boom in stock markets — and stock ownership is heavily skewed toward the wealthiest Americans.

As the coronavirus pandemic upended the restaurant industry in March 2020, fast-casual burrito chain Chipotle instituted a 10% “appreciation pay” bonus for employees willing to risk their health to keep working during the crisis. For frontline workers earning around $12 or $13 an hour, that amounted to a pay boost of a dollar and change.

In his 50-odd years as an appraiser of gems and fine jewelry, Warren Morss has laid eyes on some dazzling pieces.

There was the eye-popping, 17-carat diamond, and the pair of diamond earrings weighing 4 carats apiece, roughly the same as Hailey Bieber’s engagement ring. There was the emerald necklace boasting not one big pendant, but large-cut stones all the way around the collar and more emeralds dripping down the front. (“Really too much in my opinion,” he said decorously.)

Here’s a rich fact: The 660 billionaires in the U.S. have increased their collective net worth by $1.1 trillion since the start of the pandemic. The jaw-dropping statistic, contained in a report by Americans for Tax Fairness and based on data from Forbes, hints at the sharp divergence in the economic fate of Americans. While over 40 million Americans relied on unemployment benefits in 2020, the richest of the rich saw their wealth soar over $1 trillion.

In next month’s presidential election, America’s richest and poorest places will likely vote for the same candidate. That fact, peculiar enough on its own, is all the stranger when you consider that rich and poor Americans won’t be voting for the same person. To understand contemporary US politics, you have to understand this apparent contradiction—and the divisions that create it.

It probably won’t take a great deal of persuasion to convince investors that there’s an “age of disorder.”

That’s the title of a new Deutsche Bank research note, which says the world is entering its sixth distinct era of modern times.

When the coronavirus first began spreading from China to the rest of the world, public health experts issued dire warnings about the toll the virus would take on poor countries. The United Nations predicted in early April that as many as 3.3 million people in Africa may die from COVID-19. Philanthropist Melinda Gates warned of “bodies out on the street” on the continent. Similarly dire forecasts were made about developing nations in Latin America, Asia and elsewhere.

Highlighting the consequences of decades of U.S. policies that have contributed to rising economic inequality, a new study released Tuesday by Stanford University’s Center on Poverty and Inequality found a widening gap between the nation’s rich pets and poor citizens.