The charts above are from the Strength in Numbers / Verasight Poll -- done between March 16th and 18th of a nationwide sample of 1,530 adults.
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
The Wealth/Income Gap Is Wide - And Growing Much Wider Under Trump/Republicans
The following is part of an article by Shannon Pettypiece at NBC News:
How’s the economy?
Not bad if you’re rich.
Demand for luxury yachts and private jets is surging thanks to last year’s tax law. Sales of $10 million-plus mansions are booming as stocks hit new highs. And the wealthy and powerful will get to enjoy a new ballroom for galas at the White House.
What if you aren’t rich?
The typical American can’t afford the median-priced home. A new car is out of reach for many, with the average monthly payment exceeding $700. Food banks are seeing a growing number of people skipping meals because they can’t afford groceries, and more middle-class Americans are selling their plasma to make ends meet.
The divide between rich and poor in America is the widest it’s been in at least a generation — and growing. The amount of wealth held by the top 1% increased at more than double the rate of the bottom 90% in the first nine months of last year, according to Federal Reserve figures. At the very top, Elon Musk’s fortune is approaching that of legendary 19th-century businessman John D. Rockefeller when looked at as a share of the overall U.S. economy.
A variety of factors have shaped the struggles of everyday Americans and fueled the gains of the wealthy: The pandemic disrupted the housing market, making it harder to afford a home. Stocks have surged, driven by enthusiasm over AI. Manufacturing has waned, hiring has slipped and costs continue to rise.
President Donald Trump’s policies are amplifying these trends. One year into his second term, his administration has cut programshelping lower-income households while advancing policies benefiting the wealthy and corporations. He’s signed legislation to cut food stamps and Medicaid benefits and put new restrictions on low-income housing assistance and student loans. To cope with higher costs from tariffs, he has suggested Americans buy fewer dolls for their children.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has given billions of dollars in tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy and loosened regulations on banks while easing rules around cryptocurrency, which he’s benefited from personally. . . .
What’s clear is that the divide between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else has been growing for decades — and shows no sign of slowing. The ramifications of Trump’s policies widening this divide could go beyond Americans’ bank accounts, shaping the political landscape ahead of November’s midterm elections, with multiple polls showing a growing number of voters disapproving of Trump’s handling of the economy.
For many people, these trends are shaking a core belief: that it is possible to get ahead in America. . . .
Americans born in the 1980s were less likely to earn more than their parents, compared with those born in the 1940s, a 2016 study by Stanford University economists found. Today’s households are also facing higher costs, including spiking health care premiums and deductibles, as well as child care expenses.
These struggles are not equally felt. As of last October, the top 1% held 32% of America’s wealth, up from about 23% in 1990. The wealth held by white households far outstrips that of Black and Hispanic households.
Slowing wage gains have contributed to the widening gap between rich and poor. Since 1979, wages for the bottom 90% of earners have increased 44%, while wages for the top 1% of earners have risen more than 180%, a 2024 report from the Economic Policy Institute found. . . .
The Trump administration’s regulatory cuts, along with tax breaks for corporations in last year’s tax law, sent stocks to record highs last year. Those heavily invested in technology companies are gaining the most — just seven tech companies, including Amazon and Meta, were responsible for 40% of the gains last year in the S&P 500.
While most Americans have some investment in the stock market, a disproportionate share of gains have gone to the wealthy, with the richest 10% of households owning around 90% of all stocks, according to Federal Reserve data.
Those same households were responsible for around half of all consumer spending in 2025, the highest rate since at least 1989, according to Moody’s Analytics. Wealthy households also buoyed the housing market and new car sales over the past year. Walmart said last month that most of its growth was coming from households making more than $100,000. . . .
Among the ways Trump has affected Americans’ bottom line is through his tariffs, which have driven up retail prices, said Doug Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, who worked in the George W. Bush administration. Higher prices disproportionately affect those with less disposable income to absorb price hikes. . . .
The slowing job market is putting significant pressure on households. Wages aren’t rising as quickly as in recent years, and employers have pulled back on hiring. The U.S. added just 584,000 jobs in 2025, the worst year for hiring since Covid. And most of the growth was driven by a handful of industries, like health care and education.
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
CBS Poll - U.S. Public Is Very Unhappy With Trump's War On Iran
The charts above are from the CBS News / YouGov Poll -- done between March 17th and 20th of a nationwide sample of 3,335 adults, with a 2.1 point margin of error.
Yahoo Poll - Public Is Upset With Trump Economy And Rising Gas Prices
Trump Says Talks With Iran Are Happening - Iran Says They Aren't - Where Is The Truth?
The following post is by Paul Krugman at paulkrugman.substack.com:
Donald Trump has, at least for the time being, called off plans to bomb Iran’s civilian infrastructure. He has done so because, according to him, highly productive negotiations are underway involving the government of Iran, an invisible six-foot white rabbit, and his Canadian girlfriend.
What I just said is not strictly true, or it’s not all true. Trump did not say anything about the invisible rabbit or the Canadian, but the gist of it is true. He said that there’s highly productive talks underway. And shortly afterwards, the Iranian government and Iranian state media said, no, they aren’t. This is not happening.
I’m not going to say that Iranian state media is necessarily a credible source, but the odds are that they are in fact telling the truth and the President of the United States is either lying or fantasizing or both. There’s really no reason at all to believe that anything like what he said is happening is in fact happening.
Why do I say that, Aside from the fact that Trump has not exactly been truthful on a lot of things? But beyond that, there are three important reasons to believe he might be making this stuff up.
First, he put himself in a very bad spot with his threat to commit a massive war crime if Iran doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz. and must be looking for a way out. Another president at another time might say that on careful consideration, We have recalibrated the policy or something like that. Trump doesn’t do that. Trump is always winning, never admits that he’s had a setback, never admits that he’s changed his mind.
So saying that, oh, the Iranians have come to the table, probably big, strong Iranians with tears in their eyes, but anyway, that the Iranians have come to the table and that’s why we’re not doing what I said we would do is a very Trumpian out.
Second, Why would the Iranians be making a deal at this point? We can talk a lot about how the war is going, but it’s pretty clear that as the Iranians are likely to see it, they’re winning. I mean, they’re not winning militarily, but that was never on the cards. They are, they have successfully turned what was supposed to be a lightning decapitation of their government into a protracted contest in relative ability to bear pain and all indications are that the Iranians are nowhere near cracking and all indications are that the United States, although obviously we’re not losing thousands of people, and we are having our whole life disrupted, but the American public really doesn’t like higher gas prices, does not believe Trump. The clock is ticking for Trump on this in a way that it is apparently not for the Iranian regime. So Iran has has the upper hand here. And very hard to see why they would be wanting to make a deal until they basically humiliated us substantially more.
Finally, consider possible motives. Imagine that you were somebody close to Trump, somebody close enough to actually have an influence on his decisions as well as inside knowledge. Here’s what you could have done really just between last night and now. You could have sold a bunch of crude oil futures, at very high prices, Brent was over $112 over the weekend, then bought them back immediately after Trump’s announcement of triumphal progress, but before the Iranians said that is not happening. And you could have turned a very, very nice, very large profit.
To say that insider trading might be driving U.S. policy would have been outrageous. in the past. Who thinks that that’s beyond the realm of possibility now? So all of this could be happening.
Last point to make here. Think about how much America’s position in the world has been weakened, not just by apparent failure to subdue a fourth-rate power, but by the fact that everybody now knows that you cannot trust anything, cannot trust any promises the United States makes, you cannot count on the United States carrying through with promises, with threats, not just promises, but threats are also incredible in the sense of not being all credible, and that the default assumption should be that anything that this administration says is a lie.
That is a really, really bad thing. That is, you know, influence in the world power is not simply a matter of missiles and bombs, although we seem to be running low on those too. It’s very much a matter of people taking what you say and what you promise and what you threaten seriously. And we are not ruled by serious people.
Monday, March 23, 2026
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