Bloomberg The widening rich-poor divide in America has robbed the economy of a year’s worth of consumption, according to the International Monetary Fund. Middle-class households declined as a share of the population between 1970 and 2014, while the proportion in high- and low-income brackets expanded, according to new research by IMF economists Ali Alichi, Kory Kantenga and Juan Sole. …

  “See that little stream? We could walk to it in two minutes. It took the British a month to walk to it — a whole empire walking very slowly, dying in front and pushing forward behind.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Tender Is The Night” WASHINGTON The walk began at 7:30 a.m., July 1, 1916, when British infantry advanced towards German …

  Adam Minter A new list of the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers suggests that China might be speeding past the U.S. in the race for technological supremacy. China now holds the two top spots, and placed a total of 167 machines on the list. The U.S. had only 165 on the list, with its fastest placing a very distant third. …