March 18, 2026                                                         Home   Subscribe  Open in Browser

The crisis at the Washington Post doesn’t seem to be cooling down. Weeks after layoffs decimated the Post newsroom, several of the paper’s star journalists have decided to decamp to other outlets. How has Post owner Jeff Bezos reacted? In his infinite billionaire wisdom, he has tried to stem the bleeding by hosting a glitzy lunch at his mansion in D.C.’s posh Kalorama neighborhood.

At this four-hour affair with editors and reporters, Bezos fielded questions on everything ranging from Amazon’s financial backing of the Melania Trump documentary to why he wouldn’t accept offers to sell the Post. But this show of transparency — and, notably, wealth — hasn’t restored his staff’s faith in Bezos’s commitment to run a news outlet that respects its journalistic responsibilities.

And why should we expect Bezos to do that respecting? Over the last few decades, billionaires have come to occupy critical roles in everything from our media to our government. Their wealth has bought them responsibility. Are any of them respecting that responsibility? I sure can’t think of any.

Chris Mills Rodrigo
for the Institute for Policy Studies Inequality.org team

Rewriting the Power Dynamics of Renting in America’s Heartland

This week’s frontline face: Cynthia Barlow, a tenant organizer based in Raytown, Missouri.

What she’s doing to help create a more equal world: Barlow and her neighbors at Bowen Tower Apartments did something very special earlier this year: They took on their landlords and won. After years of unanswered building complaints and rising rents, tenants banded together to go on a rent strike.

Four months later, with the help of the activist group KC Tenants, Bowen Tower residents won “good cause” eviction protections, two-year leases, and repair commitments. And, maybe most impressively of all, they'll only have to pay back 35 percent of the rent they withheld.

What makes this fight so important: “It’s time for landlords to take accountability for their actions,” Barlow recently wrote for Inequality.org. “As tenants, the only way we can make sure they do is by forming unions and sticking together, no matter how tough the fight gets.”

Billionaires Are Making Fortunes Off Low-Wage Workers: Let’s Tax the Rich!

Sixteen U.S. billionaires, a new Institute for Policy Studies report details, owe their wealth to America's 20 largest low-wage employers — corporations where a significant share of workers earn so little they have to rely on public assistance. Walmart, Amazon, Tyson Foods, Home Depot, Best Buy, Starbucks, and Chipotle each have representatives in this elite club. 

Taxing away excessive wealth could encourage corporations to share profits equitably instead of extracting from those at the bottom to make wealthy executives and shareholders even richer. The proposed Billionaires Income Tax Act, for instance, addresses an existing tax loophole that lets the ultra-rich avoid paying any taxes on the gains from their financial assets while allowing them to borrow against these assets to fund their lavish lifestyles.

Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Pramila Jayapal are leading the charge for the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, legislation that would apply a 3 percent annual tax to the net worth of billionaire households and a 2 percent tax on those with wealth between $50 million and $1 billion.

Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ro Khanna have recently introduced a slightly different tax-the-rich model that would set a 5 percent annual wealth tax on billionaires. Their proposal mirrors a proposed California state ballot initiative that would place a 5 percent one-time wealth tax on billionaire residents of that state.

For more, read our co-editor Sarah Anderson’s analysis below. 

Billionaires abound on Wall Street. According to Bloomberg estimates, the financial world’s 10 highest-earning hedge fund managers alone collectively brought in about $22 billion last year. New York Mets owner Steve Cohen topped this annual ranking, with $3.4 billion in 2025 compensation.

For an interactive version of this chart and more on inequality, click the link below.

A CEO ‘Athletic Country Club’ King Is Fretting About His Fortune

This week’s dour deep pocket: Bahram Akradi, the Iranian-born CEO of Life Time, a Minnesota-based fitness center giant. Public filings last week revealed that Akradi’s annual compensation totaled $218.2 million in 2025, becoming, in the process, Minnesota’s highest-ever corporate executive pay package.

What has Akradi sour: The rain that Donald Trump’s tariffs may yet rain on his fitness parade. Tariff, says Akradi, doesn’t rate as “a beautiful word.” One reason Akradi feels that way: His fitness empire depends on a long list of components that need importing, everything from dumbbells to floor mats.

Akradi opened his first fitness center in 1992, 14 years after his worried father — an air force officer under the Shah — sent his 17-year-old son to the United States not long before Iranians ended the Shah’s rule. But Akradi’s fitness empire wouldn’t start truly soaring until Akradi, after Covid, refocused his entire corporate operation on attracting an upscale clientele. 

Life Time’s new “athletic country clubs” would feature resort-style pools, fine dining, and wait-lists that gave off an enticing air of exclusivity. The company, at one point, even introduced a luxury duffle bag that sold for a sweet $2,400.

The last word: Life Center’s typical employee, a news report noted last March, makes $8,359 a year.

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