December 24 - Michael Lind on Rentier Capitalism; The AP Study that Finds 4 Out of 5 Americans Struggling with Joblessness and Near Poverty; The Executive Excess Report

Full Program

Part 1

As this year comes to a close, we look back on some of the stories that dominated the news in 2013. Today we focus on the growing income inequality in America that may well become a theme in the 2014 election, assuming the Democrats find the courage of their conviction to broach a subject all too many of our fellow citizens are painfully aware of. We begin with a broadcast of “Background Briefing” from March 27, 2013 and speak with Michael Lind, the author of “Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States” on the real nature of American capitalism that is no longer about creating wealth, but extracting it in a new form of rentier capitalism that rewards the real “takers”, as opposed to the industrial capitalists of old who were the “makers”. Michael Lind offered his arguments in a series of articles at Salon.com; “Private sector parasites”, “How rich ‘moochers’ hurt America”, and “Defeating useless rich people”.

Part 2

Then from July 28, 2013 we speak with Tom Hirschl, a Professor of Sociology at Cornell University and Director of the Population and Development Program. We discuss the new report that he worked on for the Associated Press that finds 4 out of 5 U.S. adults struggling with joblessness and near poverty in an economy in which President Obama says the income gap is fraying America’s social fabric.

Part 3

Then finally from September 1, 2013, in contrast to the flat or falling wages for working Americans, we look into the scandal of CEO pay and how corporate heads who either preside over massive failures and losses, are engaged in fraud and deception, or are bailed out by the taxpayer - the bailed out – the booted – or the busted – are rewarded. Veteran labor journalist Sam Pizzigati joins us the discuss the new report released by the Institute for Policy Studies he co-authored “The 20^th Anniversary Executive Excess Report” that examines the “performance” of 241 corporate chief executives.