EP 319 Income Inequality is Real, But What’s the Real Cause?

Our guest, Jonathan Rothwell, is the principal economist at Gallup, so he’s crunched all the numbers and is prepared on this podcast to debunk a lot of the conventional thinking about the real causes of income inequality in America. And the reasons may not sound like the usual suspects trotted out by political leaders in our country.  Democrats often lay the problem at the doorstep of greedy corporations, while Republicans often point to immigrants, trade and general lack of individual motivation and effort as the culprits.  In his weighty analysis of the problem, Jonathan Rothwell makes a compelling, and empirically arrived at, argument that longstanding racism and unequal political and institutional power lie at the root of the matter.   He explains the make-up of the one percent, and some may surprise you, and the disproportionate rewards that accrue to them because of their professions and not their genes, intelligence or work ethic.  Unconventional thinking abounds in this episode.              

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