The U.S. spends billions on programs designed to fight poverty, but it appears that much of that money is actually making corporations richer instead of helping people. This week, Nick and Goldy sit down with Anne Kim, author of Poverty for Profit: How Corporations Get Rich off America's Poor, to talk about the vast industry that siphons public dollars from anti-poverty programs.. From tax prep companies skimming off the Earned Income Tax Credit to private Medicaid contractors denying care to boost their bottom line, Kim exposes the hidden ways corporations profit off economic hardship. How did we end up with an anti-poverty system that enriches shareholders instead of helping people? More importantly—how do we fix it?

Anne Kim is a writer, lawyer, public policy expert, and contributing editor at Washington Monthly. She’s also the author of Poverty for Profit: How Corporations Get Rich off America’s Poor and Abandoned: America’s Lost Youth and the Crisis of Disconnection.

Social Media:

@anne-s-kim.bsky.social

Further reading: 

Poverty for Profit: How Corporations Get Rich off America’s Poor

Abandoned: America’s Lost Youth and the Crisis of Disconnection

The TurboTax Trap: How the Tax Prep Industry Makes You Pay

The True Size of Government

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