The Plutonomy—AI Edition—and the Coming Crisis
Driven by speculative finance, stagnant wages, and AI hype, today’s tech-heavy economy mirrors the fragile plutonomy that collapsed into the Great Crash of 1929.
January/February 2026
Issue 382
features
Starving the Safety Net
The government shutdown’s pause in SNAP payments was a preview
of how the coming cuts to the safety-net program will reverberate through communities.
BY KALENA THOMHAVE
The Social Causes and Economic Impact of Weight Gain
Economics can shed light on the problem, but only if it gets beyond individualist assumptions and stigmatizing bias.
BY MARK MAIER
Forsake Some, Fleece the Rest
How U.S. Home Insurers Are Responding to Climate Change
BY KENNY STANCIL
the regulars
the short run
two cents | Mamdani and Small Business
up against the wall street journal | Trump’s Bifurcated Economy
economy in narrative | Money, Meaning, and Madness
economy in numbers | Federal Jobs Bloodbath