While there is technically no federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate in the United States, widespread vaccine mandates among public and private institutions have formed a “de facto…nationwide mandate” that is “creating a two-tier society” in which the unvaccinated are systematically ostracized, warns economist and author Jim Rickards. “Whether you had [COVID-19] or not, need [the vaccine] or not, young or not, vulnerable or not, you have to take it, or you’re going to be pushed to the margins of society,” Rickards, author of “The New Great Depression: Winners and Losers in a Post-Pandemic World,” told The Epoch Times. In addition to government institutions mandating vaccines—including the Pentagon recently requiring that military members get vaccinated—private companies requiring employee vaccinations include Walmart, Google, Netflix, Disney, and Tyson Foods. President Joe Biden specifically thanked these companies in an August press briefing “for their recent actions requiring vaccination for employees,” and said, “I know this …