The evidence is overwhelming. The wealth gap in America is growing. A new study claims that the wealthiest 10% of Americans influence public policy in this country more than any other group. Of that 10%, the top one percent pocketed nearly the entire gains from the recovery from the financial crisis. Yet many pay a lower tax rate than middle class. The top selling book on Amazon is a re-working of Marx's Das Kapital. It argues that income inequality is an inevitable result of free market capitalism, and that it threatens our democratic institutions at almost every turn. Is that just capitalism at work? Has income inequality eroded democracy to a vanishing point? If our country is indeed controlled by the very few and the very rich, how do we level the playing field?
America: Democracy or Oligarchy?
More
- Gilens' 'Affluence & Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America'
- Noah's 'The Great Divergence: America's Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do about It'
- University of Chicago's 'Survey of Economically Successful Americans'
- Thomas Piketty's 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century'
Credits
Guests:
- Martin Gilens - Princeton University - @WilsonSchool
- Timothy Noah - Politico - @TimothyNoah1
- Ross Kaminsky - Heartland Institute - @Rossputin
- Mychal Denzel Smith - The Nation - @mychalsmith