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The wealth of the world’s very richest people — a list dominated by U.S. billionaires , many of whom backed President-elect Donald Trump — has soared to record levels since the election. Billionaires’ investments to elect one of their own in Trump is paying off as Wall Street cash floods into the companies they control. Already, data shows that the ultra-wealthiest segments in the U.S. control a greater share of wealth than during the Gilded Age . Since 1989, the top 0.1 percent got over $14 trillion dollars richer than the entire bottom 50 percent of America, whose share of wealth has actually fallen. I closely track inequality in the U.S. and around the world. Americans should brace for an explosion in inequality under the next Trump administration. The Republican Party is preparing gigantic tax cuts for billionaires and corporations ; in 2017, then-President Trump gave the top 0.1 percent a tax cut 277 times larger than the middle-class. Tariffs would burden the poorest . In the firing line are workers’ rights . Our trend data had expected the first trillionaire to arrive within a decade; expect him — and it will be him — to get here sooner. The United States and the world would be wise to also brace for a greater threat to freedom from extreme wealth. An oligarchy now has democracy in its grip. Their weaponization of racism and sexism has served them well, dividing the working-classes and pitting neighbors against one another — as they plunder more wealth. Consider the horrors of the mass deportation that Trump has planned, and the chaos that would ensue. I use the word oligarchy, usually associated with rogue states, intentionally. Oligarchs are “ those empowered politically by massive wealth .” Today’s very richest Americans have not only amassed such startling levels of wealth but also power — concentrating their monopoly control across industries, the media, and politics — that to call them billionaires feels insufficient. It turns out they’ve bought a couch, if not a seat, in the Oval Office. Trump has already given a big job to Elon Musk , a man who bankrolled his victory, to oversee “drastic change” in a government that funds (and investigates) his companies. Who’s in charge? Editor’s picks The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time The Republican Party deserves the spotlight for fueling astronomical wealth — yet it would be a mistake to assign blame only to one party’s doing. This moment is the long triumph of a bipartisan embrace of oligarchy over our politics . This path was chosen. For 40 years, Republicans and too many Democrats let the wealth of corporations and the ultra-rich rip: slashing taxes , deregulating labor markets , stagnating wages , subjugating public goods , and offering subservience to the power of monopoly and of capital . The future of our politics must reckon with uncomfortable truths. It is customary to lament the role that Ronald Reagan and other right-wing figures played in fueling inequality. But it’s also important to analyze, objectively, how Bill Clinton shredded the country’s social safety net , and how billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk saw their corporate power grow under Barack Obama. Or how the Obama presidency was able to bail out the banks but not some 10 million Americans who lost their homes . This path was also paved by compelling, if fictional, stories. We’re still being told wealth trickles down ( it does not ), and that only big corporations innovate ( the public often has a critical role). Such fictions undermine efforts to tackle poverty, and flow wealth upwards. When Sen. Joe Manchin gutted an expanded child tax credit — that cut child poverty in half — he assured the nation, “ We all have to do our part. The federal government can’t run everything .” So that’s how you justify pushing millions of children back into poverty . Related Content Pete Hegseth Is the Pentagon’s Reckoning Matt Gaetz Is the Latest Disgraced Politician to Join Cameo Team Trump Is Furious Hegseth Hid Sex Assault Claim: ‘This Is the F--king Pentagon!’ Trump's Hush Money Sentencing Delayed Indefinitely Often, fables are told by the liberal economics establishment — as when it first denied, then reluctantly came to recognize , the role of big corporations’ price gouging in driving inflation that made life for ordinary families even less affordable. It’s worth imagining where we would be had we enacted windfall taxes on extreme profits and targeted price controls . Above all, the path of oligarchy has been about power, acting as the ultimate special interest group. Corporate monopolies are spending more than ever on federal lobbying . But big money countered not just policy but people-powered efforts — be it labor unions , grassroots economic movements, or organizers for public housing and health care who fought against inequality. As Sen. Chris Murphy describes, so often they were “ shunned as dangerous populists .” Still, advocates and activists carved out an interregnum from neoliberal economics as the anger against inequality became unavoidable. The Biden administration attempted new economic approaches, for a time. Workers chalked up victories . Anti-monopolists began to recast public policy against corporate concentration in favor of workers and small businesses, taking on non-compete clauses for example. Policymakers prepared proposals to, finally, tax billionaires . But even these limited attempts for a new economics have been fought tooth and nail by monied elites. A telling example of the bipartisan approach in action was seen during the election campaign when Democratic billionaire surrogate Mark Cuban and Republican billionaire surrogate Elon Musk both wanted the anti-monopolist chair of the Federal Trade Commission fired, and when both opposed proposals to make the tax system fairer. Heads they win, tails you lose. The capture of our political economy by a few is relevant to every question in our society. It includes the platforms we get our news from, many of which have been decimated by tech companies and deprived of independent voices . It includes war: The working-class know too well an establishment that is too broke to tackle rising hunger at home but rich enough to fund U.S. bombs that kill many thousands of children in Gaza . Who can blame working folks angry at elites for making a world that put them on the scrapheap? A generational contest for an economic vision that’s different to the past 40 years is on. President-elect Trump and indeed Vice President-elect J.D. Vance (known for “ opposing Milton Friedman-backed policies ”) seem to grasp the anger that the working class feel — even as all signs point to an actual policy agenda right out of a billionaire’s playbook. Their rush to deliver more tax cuts for their ultra-wealthy friends shows whose side they are on. The time is for choosing. An anti-oligarchy economics is due: one that serves multi-racial working-class interests and can address everyday financial issues. An economics that listens to people from the ground up — backing the workers, innovators, and small businesses that make our economy tick — as it breaks with big capital from above. Oligarchs look strong, but their self-centeredness is exposed when faced by popular and sensible politics that benefit ordinary folks, like strong unions; public goods like universal health care that make life affordable; bold climate action; taxing extreme wealth. Resistance is inevitable. But Franklin D. Roosevelt’s words, taking on big money, instill fortitude: “They are unanimous in their hate for me — and I welcome their hatred.” Nabil Ahmed is an anti-inequality advocate and Director of Economic and Racial Justice at Oxfam America.
STONY BROOK, N.Y. (AP) — Joseph Octave scored 24 points as Stony Brook beat Maine 74-72 on Saturday. Octave also added five rebounds for the Seawolves (4-8). Ben Wight shot 4 of 7 from the field and 3 for 3 from the line to add 11 points. CJ Luster II shot 3 for 8 (2 for 5 from 3-point range) and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line to finish with 11 points. Kellen Tynes led the way for the Black Bears (8-6) with 15 points, four assists, four steals and two blocks. Jaden Clayton added 15 points, four assists and three steals for Maine. AJ Lopez finished with 13 points and four assists. Stony Brook went into halftime leading Maine 34-30. Octave put up 10 points in the half. Octave led Stony Brook with 14 points in the second half as his team was outscored by two points over the final half but held on for the victory. Both teams next play Sunday. Stony Brook visits Albany (NY) and Maine plays Boston University at home. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
U.S. District Court Awards 10x Genomics Permanent Injunction in Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Bruker Corporation's GeoMx Products
No. 1 South Carolina women stunned by fifth-ranked UCLA 77-62, ending Gamecocks' 43-game win streakNASSAU, Bahamas — Scottie Scheffler birdied every hole but the par 3s on the front nine at Albany Golf Club on Friday and finished his bogey-free round with an 8-under 64 that gave him a two-shot lead in the Hero World Challenge. Two months off did nothing to slow the world's No. 1 player. Scheffler already has eight victories this year and is in position to get another before the end of the year. Scheffler was at 13-under 131, two ahead of Akshay Bhatia (66) and Justin Thomas (67), both of whom had to save par on the 18th hole to stay in range going into the weekend. Scheffler started with a lob wedge to 2 feet for birdie and never slowed until after he went out in 29 to seize control of the holiday tournament against a 20-man field. Scheffler cooled slightly on the back nine, except it didn't feel that way to him. "Front nine, just things were going my way. Back nine, maybe not as much," Scheffler said. "A couple shots could end up closer to the hole, a couple putts go in, just little things." Asked if he felt any frustration he didn't take it lower — he once shot 59 at the TPC Boston during the FedEx Cup playoffs — Scheffler sounded bemused. "I think in this game I think a lot of all y'all are looking for perfection out of us," he said. "Today I shot 8 under on the golf course, not something I hang my head about. A lot of good things out there — clean card, bogey-free, eight birdies. Overall, I think I'm pretty pleased." Thomas felt his 67 was stress-free, particularly the way he was driving the ball. The wind laid down again, rare for the Bahamas, though it is expected to pick up on the weekend. Thomas wasn't concerned to see Scheffler get off to a hot start, especially with three par 5s on the front nine and a short par 4 that at worst leaves a flip wedge to the green. "You literally can birdie every hole as soft as the greens are," Thomas said. "He's a great player, a great wedge player, and you have a lot of birdie holes to start. I'm honestly surprised he only shot 8 under. It's a sneaky course because if you fall asleep on some shots, you can get out of position. But if you're on and focused and really in control of everything — like these last two days with no wind — you can just make so many birdies." Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley had a 67 and was four shots behind. No matter how benign the conditions, it wasn't always easy. Cameron Young, who opened with a 64 for a two-shot lead, followed with a 75 despite making five birdies. That included a double bogey on the final hole when his approach tumbled down the bank into the rocks framing the lake that goes all the way down the 18th hole. Patrick Cantlay was trying to keep pace playing alongside Scheffler, but he had three bogeys over the final seven holes and fell seven shots behind with a 71. The tournament, hosted by Tiger Woods, is unofficial but offers world ranking points to all but the bottom three players because of the small field. It's the weakest field in 25 years, but Scheffler at No. 1 gives it enough cachet. He is the first player since Woods in 2009 to start and finish a year at No. 1 in the world. And even after a layoff — giving him time to tinker with a new putting stroke — it looks like it might be a while before anyone changes that.