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Selling the Poor on Spending Like They’re Rich [link removed]

The rich have a gravitational pull on the economy, dragging it in their direction, producing an unclear picture of the economy and making things more expensive for everyone. With a president obsessed with gold and material wealth, the Second Gilded Age metaphors write themselves; just look at the literally gilded add-ons to the Oval Office.

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To Be Black, Female, and Unemployed [link removed]

The systemic racism and sexism Black women face complicate their affordability challenges, which differ dramatically from those of most white Americans. When Black women lose jobs, household expenditures take a major hit. The truism “When white America catches a cold, Black America catches pneumonia” still applies: Black women in the Trump era are finding themselves having to power through these serious economic repercussions.

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Prices in the Machine [link removed]

AI can depict you as an anime character. It can respond half-intelligently to questions about the Franco-Prussian War or concentrations of sulfur in the upper atmosphere. It can delight and distract and maybe help you get work done. But none of that is as prized by corporate America as its data-driven approach to the previously conjectural world of pricing.

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Meet the Connectors [link removed]

If you want to understand why things have gotten so expensive, you need to understand middlemen, and why they may have too much power. Middlemen, our economy’s most shadowy characters, sit in between buyers and sellers and get rich in the process. It can even be a matter of life or death. [link removed]

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The $79 Trillion Heist [link removed]

Americans increasingly understand that our current economy isn’t meeting their interests and that it’s rigged to favor the wealthy. Creating a more equitable economy—effectively, reinventing a vibrant American middle class—will be an arduous task.

****The

**Prospect**’s Weekly Roundup:****

****Inside the Affordability Issue****

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**David Dayen** and

**Emma Janssen** discuss the

**Prospect**’s latest issue on affordability. You can catch the Weekly Roundup live every

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