May-July 1998
Economic Inequality:
The Growing Gap Between the Rich
and the Rest of Us
Not since 1929 on the eve of the Great Depression, have wealth and income disparities been so extreme. One man, Bill Gates, owns $8 billion -- more than the combined assets of 105 million Americans. The richest 385 individuals on the planet hold more assets than 2.5 billion people. The richest fifth of humanity possess 85% of the world's wealth, the poorest fifth 1.4%. Aside from concerns for social justice, economists now warn that we are undermining the purchasing power of the majority and putting the prosperity of the middle classes at risk. "We are conducting an enormous social and political experiment," writes MIT's Lester Thurow, an economist. "Something like putting a pressure cooker on the stove over a full flame and waiting to see how long it takes to explode." The Mainstream Media Project organized the Economic Inequality campaign to address the consequences of this rapidly widening chasm between the rich and the rest of us.
In a society that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos, this topic is taboo in much of the media. But we garnered 244 interviews on commercial and public radio stations and networks large and small. Twenty-six of these interviews were syndicated nationally or internationally, and more than two-thirds of the interviews were conducted on commercial radio. More than 40 national authorities and 30 regional and local experts and activists participated.
Guest Speakers by Topic
On Income and Wealth Inequality
Jared Bernstein, Labor Economist, Economic Policy Institute
Marc Breslow, Economist; Co-Editor of Dollars and Sense
Chuck Collins, Co-Founder and Co-Director, United for a Fair Economy
Barbara Ehrenreich, Author; Essayist for Time magazine
Jeff Faux, President, Economic Policy Institute; Co-Author, Rebuilding America
Janice Fine, Founder, New England Money and Politics Project
James K. Galbraith, Economist, University of Texas; Author, Created Unequal
John Kenneth Galbraith, Author; Economist, Harvard University; Former Ambassador
Robert Greenstein, Executive Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Iris J. Lav, Deputy Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Julianne Malveaux, Author, Economist, Syndicated Columnist and Radio Host
S.M. (Mike) Miller, Professor, Boston College; Senior Fellow, Commonwealth Institute
Frances Fox Piven, Professor, City University of New York; Co-Author, Regulating the Poor
Holly Sklar, Writer and Political Analyst; Author, Chaos or Community?
Edward J. Wolff, Economist, New York University; Expert on U.S. Income Inequality
Felice Yeskel, Co-Director, United for a Fair Economy
Inequality and the Global Economy
Maude Barlow, Chair, Council of Canadians; Author, Class Warfare
John Cavanagh, Director, Institute for Policy Studies
William Greider, Journalist; Author, One World, Ready or Not
David Korten, Author, When Corporations Rule the World
Mark Ritchie, President, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Excessive CEO Salaries
Sarah Anderson, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies
Marc Bayard, Campaign Coordinator, United for a Fair Economy
Thea Lee, Labor Economist, AFL-CIO
Sam Pizzigati, Journalist; Author, The Maximum Wage
Rep. Martin Sabo (D-MN), Congressman, Lead sponsor of the Income Equity Act
John Schmitt, Labor Economist, Economic Policy Institute; Co-Author, The State of Working America
Race and Gender Inequality
Libero Della Piana, Senior Research Associate, Applied Research Center; Former Editor of ARC's RaceFile
Chester Hartman, President and Executive Director, Poverty & Race Research Action Council
Manning Marable, Institute for Research in African-American Studies, Columbia University
Inequality and Tax Policy
Mike Ettlinger, Tax Policy Director, Citizens for Tax Justice
Robert (Bob) McIntyre, Founder and Executive Director, Citizens for Tax Justice
Responsible Use of Wealth
Members and Tax Break Pledgers of the new group, "Responsible Wealth," a project of United for a Fair Economy, including:
Bob Burnett, Former First Vice President, CISCO Systems
Tracy Gary, Donor, Activist, and Philanthropist; Founder, Resourceful Women
Jenny Ladd, Philanthropic Advisor; Coordinator, Donor Organizers' Network
Mike Lapham, Project Director, Responsible Wealth
Robin Lloyd, Video Producer; Great-Granddaughter of Charles Demarest Lloyd, Well Known 19th Century Journalist
Michele McGeoy, Founder, Tailored Solutions
George Pillsbury, Founder, Haymarket People's Fund; Grandson of Charles Pillsbury, Founder of Pillsbury Co.
Community Economics
Michael Shuman, Former Co-Director, Institute for Policy Studies; Author, Going Local
Women and Economic Inequality
Heidi Hartmann, Director, Institute for Women's Policy Research
+ nearly two dozen local participants from all regions of the country
