Kicking off the fourth Season of All Ears, Abby gets on the line with one of her economic heroes, Robert Reich. Reich understands the issues at the heart of The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales, Abby’s new documentary, better than almost anyone, because he’s been speaking out about exploitative labor practices and corporate greed for decades. From within the halls of power, when Reich was Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, he was vocal about rising inequality, and he’s in no mood to stop now. In recent years, Reich has become one of the most powerful and effective voices explaining the inequality crisis in clear, unequivocal language. Over the course of their rousing conversation, Reich shares his vision for a bottom-up economics and provides some introspection on his own commitment to fighting inequality. He also clues Abby into the real cause of rising inflation last year (hint: it’s not labor!) and lets her know when he’ll believe corporations deserve the same rights as people (hint: something to do with Texas!)
Special Guest
Robert Reich
Berkeley professor, former Secretary of Labor. Co-founder, Inequality Media & Inequality Media Civic Action
Robert B. Reich is the Carmel P. Friesen Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a senior fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He has served in three national administrations, including as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written eighteen books, including the bestsellers The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, The Common Good, Saving Capitalism, Aftershock, Supercapitalism, and The Work of Nations, which has been translated into twenty-two languages. He is co-creator of the 2017 Netflix original documentary Saving Capitalism and of the award-winning 2013 film Inequality for All. He is co-founder of Inequality Media, co-founder of the Economic Policy Institute, and co-founding editor of The American Prospect.
Episode Links
- Robert Reich on linkt.ree
- Robert Reich's Substack
- What Ownership Society? (The American Prospect)
- Civil Right Workers Remembered 50 Years After Slaying (USA Today)
- It’s A Wonderful Life Trailer
- Republicans block bill requiring dark money groups to reveal donors (The Hill)
- Meet The 24 Robber Barons Who Once Ruled America (Business Insider)
- Meet The 24 Robber Barons Who Once Ruled America (Business Insider)
- When Did Corporations Become People? (NPR)