Behold and Beware Our New ‘SWAG’ Economy

Today’s swaggering rich are increasingly stuffing their dollars into investments that do America’s 99 percent not one whit of good.

America’s Affluent and the New Bunker Down

Just 40 years ago, most Americans rubbed elbows with neighbors from a fairly wide cross-section of income levels. But today’s rich, Census data show, are keeping everyone else at arm’s length — and more.

Rags to Riches: Who Should Really Care?

Not the 99 percent. We’ve let the cheerleaders for the richest among us get away with myths about mobility for much, much too long. Read more . . .

Plutocracy with a Pleasant Philanthropic Face

Not all plutocrats scheme in the shadows like the rabidly right-wing Koch brothers. We need to learn how to recognize plutocracy’s more subtle putches. The best primer? The battle over education’s future.

Look Out, Here Comes the ‘Feral Underclass’

What made last week’s rioting in London all the more ‘achingly sad’? The rioters weren’t challenging greed. They were celebrating it. We really need to understand why.

Endless Political Paralysis: The New Normal?

The American political system isn’t working for average Americans any more. Don’t blame the Tea Party, new political science research suggests. Blame inequality.

Madison Ave. Declares ‘Mass Affluence’ Over

The American middle class, concludes a new study from the ad industry’s top trade journal, has essentially become irrelevant. In a deeply unequal America, if you don’t make $200,000, you don’t matter.

How Did We Ever Get Higher Ed Backwards?

Back in the mid 20th century, colleges and universities helped America beat down economic inequality. Now they reinforce it.

Our Chronic Cronyism — and Corruption

America’s top bankers and CEOs don’t have any more talent than millions of other Americans. They do have, two timely new data dumps remind us, plenty of generous friends in pivotal places. Read more . . .

The Hazards in Our Fairytale Marketplace

A consumer alert for soccer moms and doting granddads: Outrageous compensation rewards give corporate executives an incentive to behave outrageously — at your expense! The story behind the sad demise of a beloved camera.