Tue., September 27
Income and Wealth Gap

Minding the Wealth Gap

The latest poverty rates show that more Americans are poor than ever before. On top of this, we now have a racial wealth gap that’s the widest it’s ever been between whites, African Americans, and Latinos. Today, the median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households, according to a Pew study, and the pressures of this economic inequality are leading to debt. With the top one percent commanding one-third of all wealth, the bottom 99 percent are using credit cards to keep up with the proverbial Joneses. We’ll explore these issues- from the forces that are creating and sustaining economic inequities to a program in Boston that’s getting people out of debt.

GUEST: Tom Shapiro: Pokross Professor of Law and Social Policy and Director of the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University. Author of: Black Wealth / White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality and The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality