Michael Bloomberg said just the other day that the Federal Reserve's low interest rates have, as he put it, "exacerbated the wealth gap between the poor and the rich because the rich have assets. And that is what is being hiked here because of low interest rates, whether they own stocks or real estate or whatever the case may be."

Now Rupert Murdoch has joined the issue with two tweets:

@graylondon explain how rich hot richer. Easy! Fed printed trillions but regulations scared big and small from investing. Ended in W St.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) August 1, 2015

Actually Fed trillions ended inflating existing assets. Stocks, real estate, art. Is it a bubble?

Today's appearance by Jeb Bush at the national Urban League conference is a fine opportunity to circle back to the flap earlier this month about limiting the ride-sharing service Uber in New York City. Facing off against Mayor de Blasio, Uber attracted support from celebrities including supermodel Kate Upton and NY1 political anchor Errol Louis.

At the Urban League conference, Mr. Bush talked about charter schools, but not about Uber. It was a fine speech, but connecting the two issues has the potential to make an even bigger, stronger point.

President Obama apparently thinks he can get his Iran deal past Congress by using his favorite tactic, class warfare.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports from Washington:

In a phone call with supporters on Thursday, President Barack Obama characterized opponents of the Iran deal as being backed by "billionaires"..."As big of a bully pulpit as I have, it's not enough. And if you've got a whole bunch of folks who are big check writers to political campaigns, running TV ads, and billionaires who happily finance SuperPACs and they are putting the squeeze on members of Congress, even well-meaning ones, and good folks, and they don't hear from you, this opportunity could slip away."

Why is Donald Trump leading the Republican presidential polls? One reason is that one of the most powerful voices in conservative media, Rush Limbaugh, has been a strong supporter. Mr. Limbaugh on Mr. Trump: "I was playing golf at Trump's course here a couple years ago. I happen to be a member of Trump International...I love the guy. I'm telling you, I love the guy. I don't know how far his campaign is gonna go, but I'm telling you: Somebody is fighting."

The golf club, in West Palm Beach, Fla., reportedly has an initiation fee of $250,000 and annual dues of $25,000.

The solicitor general has asked the Supreme Court to review the Second Circuit's decision clearing two traders, Todd Newman and Anthony Chiasson, who were prosecuted for insider-trading-related issues by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara. The court could do a service either by declining the request for review (thus letting the Second Circuit decision stand) or by taking the case, reining in Mr. Bharara, and clarifying the issues involved (or asking Congress to do so). Bloomberg News has a story.

A New York Times article helpfully enumerates the possible responses a fast-food franchise operator might take to the New York State dictating a $15 minimum wage for fast-food workers who work for a chain with at least 30 locations. "A wage increase applying to such a narrow segment of the economy is bound to have unintended consequences," the Times reporter says:

A business owner who previously ran chain fast-food franchises might choose instead to open independent stores to avoid the wage requirement. An owner who already has 29 stores might choose not to expand. If subject to the requirement, an owner could install iPads at the counters to take orders instead of live, wage-earning humans. An owner could buy food that is already prepared by an outside vendor (who wouldn't have to pay the higher wage) and employ fewer workers in the kitchen.

From Harry Binswanger, adding a voice to the discussion here about the supposedly negative effect of immigration on the wages of low-skill American workers, particularly African-Americans:

Should we fear the future effect on workers when an American family has its third child? The logic of the anti-immigrationists would require either limiting family size to two children. Or maybe deporting any "extra" children, to "protect" the wages of labor in the future. It's absurd.

Yesterday I promised that I would post a detailed rebuttal of the argument that increased immigration will hurt the wages of American workers. Luckily, Dylan Matthews of Vox.com got there first and saved me the trouble. He writes:

Even according to George Borjas, the single most-cited anti-immigration economist, immigration doesn't make the existing workforce worse off on average. But it does, he claims, most likely reduce wages substantially for people lacking high school degrees.

The Boston Globe takes a look inside the Verona, Wisconsin headquarters of Epic Systems, which includes a treehouse. The newspaper says Massachusetts hospitals and health systems have announced more than $2 billion in spending on Epic software and systems for electronic medical records. There's also some skepticism:

Critics, including health care analysts and Epic's competitors, say Epic's products cost too much, rely on outdated technology, and make it difficult for doctors to share patient records across different systems. The company, they say, is selling closed, proprietary systems at a time when technology overall is moving to open, Internet-based applications.

"It's a beautiful relic from another era," said Jonathan Bush, the chief executive of Watertown-based athenahealth, another maker of electronic health records and medical software.

Bloomberg Television has a pretty interesting conversation between Michael Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein (video here, here, here, and here). From a transcript, here is Mr. Blankfein talking about the difference between a (mostly) capitalist economy like America and a (mostly) communist economy like China:

China, you do not have capital markets. So how do you write off your mistakes?

To the long list of problems with the health care system in America that have not been solved by ObamaCare (or, for that matter, by RomneyCare) add what Mass. General Hospital in Boston calls the crisis in pediatric psychiatric emergency rooms:

On the immigration issue, socialist Democrat Bernie Sanders of Vermont sounds like the Manhattan Institute's City Journal — and I don't mean that as praise for either one of them. From Vox:

Ezra Klein

You said being a democratic socialist means a more international view. I think if you take global poverty that seriously, it leads you to conclusions that in the US are considered out of political bounds. Things like sharply raising the level of immigration we permit, even up to a level of open borders. About sharply increasing ...

Bernie Sanders

Open borders? No, that's a Koch brothers proposal.

Ezra Klein

Really?

Bernie Sanders

Of course. That's a right-wing proposal, which says essentially there is no United States. ...

Ezra Klein

But it would make ...

Bernie Sanders

Excuse me ...

Ezra Klein

It would make a lot of global poor richer, wouldn't it?

Hillary Clinton's campaign pledge that on day one as president she would commit to an "ambitious national goal" of "half a billion solar panels installed across the country by the end of my first term" is the subject of my column this week. Please check it out at the New York Sun (here), Reason (here), and Newsmax (here).

The New York Times sheds further light on the solar issue in a news article:

Reason has an interview about with Steve Forbes about the 2016 presidential campaign. Mr. Forbes cautions Republican presidential candidates against tax-reform proposals featuring two different rates:

take Rubio: he's put a plan out there but it has two rates instead of one. And when you put two tax rates together, it's like putting two rabbits together—they will multiply. We should have learned that from 1986 when we got it down to two rates. Within a few years, the weeds were growing again. So you've gotta do one. Because if you have one and you want to make a change, you can't say, "Oh, that guy will pay. You won't." And if you're going to make a change, the simplicity is its best defense. If you're gonna make a change, everyone sees what you're doing. Whereas, with the current code today, you can put something in, it'll be two years before somebody discovers it.

Mr. Forbes is also critical of Republican proposals to dramatically expand the child-tax credit:

The Boston Globe takes a look at the pay for heads of New England prep schools:

Among leaders of more than 30 top private high schools in New England, the median pay package was nearly $450,000 in 2012, a 23 percent climb from 2009, according to complete data from the most recent tax filings. Some 2013 figures are also available.

The head of Belmont Hill School, a private boys' school with about 440 students, received $700,000 in compensation in 2013, according to the school's latest tax filings. The head of Buckingham Browne & Nichols in Cambridge received $627,000, while the leaders of Deerfield Academy in Western Massachusetts, Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut, and St. Paul's School in New Hampshire were each paid more than $500,000.

At Noble and Greenough, a Dedham prep school with just over 600 students, head of school Robert Henderson Jr. received nearly $1.3 million in salary and compensation in 2012 — an amount that included what a school official said was a one-time only payment.