US tax policy deprives the government of revenue and overwhelmingly serves the interests of the rich

After the House passed its version of Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) last year – the one that paired a $5tn-plus tax cut with $1tn-plus of cuts from food stamps and Medicaid – the House speaker, Mike Johnson, explained that “this is not giving tax cuts to the millionaires”. The beneficiaries, he said, were “small business owners” that “provide the jobs in every community in America”.

Johnson was playing to the myth of the modest, sturdy Main Street job creator. It is an appealing story. It’s also the most consequential piece of BS distorting American policy that deprives the government of tax revenue, stunts American capitalism, twists regulations, thwarts competition and overwhelmingly serves millionaires’ interests.

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© Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

A group of sociologists broke away in protest from their colleagues over disagreements about Israel. Some worry the political stances are harming the field.

© Jackie Molloy for The New York Times

Tech billionaire’s $158.3bn deal an outlier in report showing widening gap of CEO to worker pay at top companies

Elon Musk received over 2.5m times as much compensation at Tesla as the company’s average worker, according to a new report on the growing gap between top corporate executives and their workers.

Musk’s $158.3bn pay deal was an outlier but came as the gap between CEO and worker pay continued to grow. Excluding Musk, last year the average ratio of CEO to worker pay for the top S&P 500 companies was 312 to 1, up from a 285:1 ratio in 2024. With Musk, the average pay ratio was 5,387:1, according to the executive pay watch report released this week by the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the US.

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© Photograph: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

© Photograph: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

© Photograph: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

Community organizers demand systemic changes after police killed Corey Ruiz, a 38-year-old Black man, in Madison

After bystander footage of police killing Corey Ruiz – a 38-year-old Black man in Madison, Wisconsin – spread online, many questioned why the officers were not wearing body cameras, a standard practice for more than 80% of police nationwide.

Police said Ruiz was wielding a knife and injured an officer; multiple bystander videos showed he was shot while already detained and on the ground. Ruiz’s family called for mandatory body cameras in the city, along with charges for the four officers involved. People across the political spectrum echoed the demand for cameras, including Madison’s police chief.

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© Photograph: Kayla Wolf/AP

© Photograph: Kayla Wolf/AP

© Photograph: Kayla Wolf/AP

Latin America’s deep-seated inequalities prevailed over the grimly equalizing force of the Venezuela earthquakes, and set even the dead apart.

© Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times