Latest news with #wealthgap
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
"A Lot Of Us Can't Afford Groceries": People Are NOT Impressed By The News That Elon Musk Is On Track To Become The World's First Trillionaire
Editor's Note: While we can't endorse what X has become, we can bring you the worthwhile moments that still exist there, curated and free of the surrounding chaos. In case you want to feel worse about your bank account than you already do, Elon Musk is on track to become the world's first trillionaire in 2027. As a millennial with zero hope of buying a house near my friends and family, I know that's just what I want to hear about on a Monday morning: the rich growing absurdly richer. Like, so wealthy that it's difficult to even fathom. Related: According to Forbes, Elon's net worth currently sits at $412 billion, up a whopping $6.4 billion in the past trading day. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO remains the richest man in the world despite all the backlash he faced during his time with DOGE. Over the past year, several publications have reported the likelihood of Elon being the first to hit this disgusting milestone, but a recent, viral tweet has sparked further conversation. Understandably, the internet is not pleased. Many people pointed out that he has the means to solve world hunger and homelessness, but has not: Related: Others shared thoughts about us as a society... ...and their thoughts on capitalism: Related: Folks pointed out that people are struggling to buy groceries: Some focused on how ridiculous the idea of a trillionaire is: Related: This account suggested a wealth cap: And finally, this person summed it up perfectly: What do you think of all this? LMK in the comments below! Also in In the News: Also in In the News: Also in In the News:
Fox News
6 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Why Fetterman is right: The fight against cashless stores defends Main Street and working-class Americans
Sen. John Fetterman may be a Democrat, but on the issue of banning cashless-only businesses, he's 100% right – and every small business owner, working-class American and financial realist should take note. As a financial planner and entrepreneur, I've seen how pushing the U.S. toward a fully cashless society doesn't just inconvenience people – it hurts them. It widens the wealth gap, excludes millions from daily commerce and puts Main Street businesses at a competitive disadvantage. When Fetterman says, "It's simple – it's legal tender. If you accept money, you have to accept all money," he's not just making a populist statement. He's standing up for every American who gets punished simply for trying to pay with the money they earned. Cashless Policies Punish the Working Class Let's look at the numbers: When a store refuses cash, it's essentially telling millions of people – especially seniors, low-income earners and minorities – that their money isn't welcome. As the Pennsylvania senator put it, "We can't let stores discriminate against people just because they don't have a credit card or a smartphone." Cashless = Classless This push toward a cashless economy is driven by tech elites who assume everyone has digital access. Aren't you sick and tired of the guilt tipping button that now asks you for 20 or 25 or 30% tip with a server watching over you to see what you are going to give them. But this isn't Silicon Valley – it's America. Here, you should be able to buy lunch or medicine with a few bucks in your pocket. And for many Americans, cash isn't optional – it's essential. Why It's Bad for Business As someone who works with business owners every day and having owned a concrete driveway installation company, I can tell you, going cashless is bad for business. Here's why: Privacy and Surveillance Concerns Every digital transaction is tracked. Your location, purchases and habits are cataloged and monetized by Big Tech and banks. Cash, on the other hand, protects privacy. No monthly statements, no tracking, no algorithms. The more we give up cash, the more control we give away – to institutions that charge fees, track behavior and limit access. The Federal Fix: A Simple Ban on Refusing Cash Cities like Philadelphia, San Francisco and New York have already banned cashless-only retail. It's time to go national. Fetterman's proposed federal law would: It's not about resisting innovation – it's about ensuring inclusion. Legal tender should mean what it says: legal for all debts, public and private. Final Thought: Cash Is Economic Freedom Once we lose cash, we lose a piece of our freedom. We become more dependent on banks, apps and companies that profit off our transactions and control access to our own money. Fetterman nailed it: "We're going to keep pushing until every American – regardless of income – can walk into a store and buy what they need with a few bucks in their pocket." He's right. And if we care about fairness, privacy and keeping Main Street open to all, we need to get behind him. Because cash isn't just currency. It's economic liberty – and it's worth protecting.
Malay Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
‘Eat the rich': Why horror films are taking aim at the ultra-wealthy
This story contains spoilers about Ready or Not and The Menu. LOS ANGELES, July 24 — When Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and fiancée Lauren Sánchez held their lavish three-day wedding celebration in Venice recently, it wasn't just a party — it was a spectacle of wealth, reportedly costing between US$47 million (RM198.6 million) and US$56 million. Critics highlighted the environmental toll of such an event on the fragile, flood-prone city, while protesters took to the streets to condemn the wedding as a tone-deaf symbol of oligarchical wealth at a time when many can't afford to pay rent, let alone rent an island. The excessive show of opulence felt like the opening of a horror film, and lately, that's exactly what horror has been giving us. In films like Ready or Not (2019) and The Menu (2022), the rich aren't simply out of touch; they're portrayed as predators, criminals or even monsters. These 'eat-the-rich' films channel widespread anxieties about the current socioeconomic climate and increasing disillusionment with capitalist systems. In a world where the wealthy and powerful often seem to act with impunity, these films expose upper-class immorality and entitlement, and offer revenge fantasies where those normally crushed by the system fight back or burn it all down. Horror takes aim at the wealthy Originally a quote from social theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau during the French Revolution, 'eat the rich' has re-emerged in recent years in public protests and on social media in response to increasing socioeconomic inequality. In cinema, eat-the-rich films often use grotesque hyperbole or satire to reveal and critique capitalist systems and the behaviours of the wealthy elite. Film scholar Robin Wood argues that horror films enact a return of what is repressed by dominant bourgeois — that is, capitalist — ideology, typically embodied by the figure of the monster. He cites The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), a classic example of anti-capitalist sentiment in horror that depicts Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) and his working-class family as monstrous victims of the 1970s industrial collapse. Rather than accept repression, they return as cannibalistic monsters, making visible the brutality of capitalist systems that exploit and degrade people like obsolete commodities. But in eat-the-rich horror, it is the wealthy themselves who become the monsters. The locus of repression becomes their privilege, which is often built on exploitation, inequality and invisible or normalised forms of harm. These films render these abstract systems tangible by making the elite's monstrosity visible, literal and grotesque. Revenge horror for the 99 per cent Recent horror films are increasingly using genre conventions to critique wealth, privilege and the systems that sustain them. Ready or Not turns the rich into bloodthirsty monsters who maintain their fortune through satanic rituals and human sacrifice. Grace (Samara Weaving) marries into the Le Domas family, board game magnates who initiate new family members with a deadly game of hide-and-seek. She must survive until dawn while her new in-laws hunt her down to fulfil a demonic pact. The film critiques the idea of inherited wealth as something earned or honourable, combining humour and horror to reflect anxieties about class entrenchment and the moral decay of the elite. The Le Domases are monstrous not only for their violence, but for how casually they justify it. When several maids are accidentally killed in the chaos, they react with self-pity, indifferent to who must be sacrificed to maintain their wealth. In The Menu, the rich are portrayed as monstrous not through physical violence, but through their moral failings — like financial crimes and infidelity — and their hollow consumption of culture. Celebrity chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) lures wealthy foodies to his exclusive island restaurant, using food as a weaponised form of art to expose guests' hypocrisy and misdeeds. In one scene, guests are served tortillas laser-printed with incriminating images, such as banking records and evidence of fraudulent activity. The film criticises consumption in an industry where food is no longer a source of enjoyment or sustenance, but a status symbol for the elite to display their wealth and taste. Why these films are striking a nerve now It's no surprise that audiences are turning to horror to make sense of systems that feel increasingly bleak and inescapable. In Canada, the cost of living continues to outpace wages, housing affordability remains an issue for many, while grocery prices are a source of horror in their own right. A university degree, once considered a reliable path to stability, no longer guarantees the financial security of a salaried job. Many Canadians now rely on gig economy jobs as supplementary income. Meanwhile, the wealth gap is increasing and obscene displays of wealth — like a multi-million-dollar wedding — can feel disconnected, even offensive, to people experiencing financial precarity. Eat-the-rich films tap into this collective sense of injustice, transforming economic and social anxieties into a cathartic spectacle where ultra-wealthy villains are held accountable for their actions. At the end of Ready or Not, the members of the Le Domas family explode one by one and their mansion burns down. In The Menu, the guests are dressed up like s'mores and immolated. In both films, fire serves as a symbolic cleansing of the wealthy, their power and the systems that protect them. More than that, these films provide someone to root for: working-class protagonists who are targeted by the elite but ultimately survive. Former foster child Grace fights her way through a pack of murderous millionaires, while escort Margot/Erin (Anya Taylor-Joy) is spared when she rejects the pretentiousness of fine dining and orders a humble cheeseburger instead. In this way, horror becomes a form of narrative resistance, illustrating class rage through characters who refuse to be consumed by the systems trying to oppress them. While inequality and exploitation persist in reality, eat-the-rich films offer escape, and even justice, on screen. — Reuters
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Silicon Valley 'pain index' shows growing gap between wealthy
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A new report from San Jose State University researchers is putting a spotlight on a big problem: the growing gap between Silicon Valley's wealthiest households - and everyone else. The report is called the "Silicon Valley Pain Index," because the goal is to measure poverty, inequality and the suffering this can cause. SJSU researchers used more than 200 data points and statistics to put together the report. One of the more startling figures is the fact that more than 70 percent of the wealth in Silicon Valley is concentrated in just nine households. Those nine households made $136 billion more last year alone than they did the year before. Compare that to at least 100,000 households in Santa Clara County with absolutely no assets at all. The authors of the report say the wealth gap in the region has grown, and this extreme income disparity leads to all kinds of problems, especially when it comes to food, education and housing. The report says the average person needs to make at least $125,000 a year to be able to afford San Jose's average $3,200-a-month rent. And that a lack of affordable housing has created a domino effect - with families leaving the area, leading to lower enrollment in schools, and school closures. It also means a shortage of workers for essential jobs. The report's authors say San Jose would have to build about 8,000 new homes every year to reach its long-term housing goals. The most the city has ever built in a year is about 1,700 homes. There are some positive changes the report highlighted - including a decline in police use-of-force incidents in San Jose last year; fewer carbon emissions and pollution; and expanded homeless services in the community last year. The authors of the study say they hope it leads to policy changes amd changes in behavior among the wealthiest individuals. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Most Americans think Trump megabill will benefit wealthy people: Survey
Nearly two-thirds of Americans think the 'big, beautiful bill' will do more to help wealthy people, according to a new AP-NORC poll. That includes 48 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of independents, and 83 percent of Democrats, according to the poll, which was released on Friday. The bill extends many of the tax cuts passed by Republicans in 2017 during President Trump's first term, alongside significant reductions to welfare services. Democrats have assailed the law as a historic transfer of wealth to the rich from the poor. Sixty-one percent of Americans also said the law would do more to hurt low-income people. However, the two parties were divided on the question of low-income Americans. Less than a third of Republicans said the bill would do more to harm low-income people, compared to 90 percent of Democrats. Democrats are hoping to use the bill's cuts to Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and other government support programs as key messaging during the upcoming 2026 midterms. The bill's effects on low-income Americans, however, could take several years to show. The bill's deepest funding cuts to Medicaid, which could result in millions losing their insurance in the next 10 years, will not kick in until 2028, although work requirements could begin by the end of 2026. Changes to SNAP will also not go into effect until 2028. The bill has also garnered criticism for its long-term additions to the national debt, estimated to be in the trillions. Many economists have expressed concerns about its cost at a time when government spending was already thought to be unsustainable in the long run. In the poll released Friday, approval of Trump's handling of government spending was down to 38 percent, compared to 46 percent from an AP-NORC poll in March. About two-thirds of Americans think the government is spending too much, with Republicans and Democrats in agreement, according to the poll. The poll surveyed 1,437 adults between July 10 and July 14, with a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
