“We’re increasingly becoming a country with a tiny number of extraordinarily wealthy people, a large underclass, and no middle class. Societies that are structured like this do not end well for anyone, including the rich people.”

That’s Erica Payne, founder of Patriotic Millionaires, a group that advocates for greater wealth equality through restructuring the American tax system. She and Morris Pearl, former Wall Street executive and now the chair of Patriotic Millionaires, co-authored a book, Tax the Rich!: How Lies, Loopholes, and Lobbyists Make the Rich Even Richer, published by The New Press earlier this year.

Today on the show, they join guest host Bert Zipperer to talk about the historic levels of wealth inequality in the U.S., how the economy is rigged, their plan for taxing the rich, and more.

Cover photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

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