A conservative columnist reports that we're in "the second great Gilded Age."
A liberal author warns that "a bloated over-class can drag down
society." But a New York Times Magazine article is headlined "Don't Hate Them Because They're Rich:
The Trickle-down Effect of Ridiculous, Ostentatious Wealth." America's
median income is $48,000, but the starting salary for some butlers is
$60,000. Those numbers can be used to show that the massive wealth of
the Super Rich "trickles down" to the rest of Americans, but not
everybody sees it that way. In 20 years, the number of billionaires has
gone from 13 to several 1000. Some see a permanent aristocracy in the
making, while the middle class struggles to pay the bills. How did the
super rich get that way? Are they good or bad for the economy?
'Ridiculous, Ostentatious Wealth' in America
Credits
Guests:
- Daniel Gross - Strategy + Business - @grossdm
- Robert H. Frank - Cornell University - @econnaturalist
- Carol Scudere - Owner of Professional Domestic Services & Institue
- Ray Madoff - Professor of Law at Boston College Law School