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Robert Reich on Inequality & Economic Policy

Professor Robert Reich is the co-founder of Inequality Media, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies.  He has…

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Quotes

I've been teaching for most of the last 40 years, and I've not come across a generation as dedicated to public service and the common good as my current generation of students. They will inherit the future, and I have great confidence that they know what they must do.

— Robert Reich

Labor Secretary & Economist; Leading Voice on Inequality

There is very little that matters more in democracy, than truth. I think cynicism is dangerous - that's a self-fulfilling prophecy as well. That's a very dangerous position, and I think we've got to fight cynicism.

— Robert Reich

Labor Secretary & Economist; Leading Voice on Inequality

When social distrust mounts- when people feel like the game is rigged against them- they are especially vulnerable to demagogues who come along and want them to channel their rage, anxiety and distrust toward scapegoats who have nothing to do with the underlying problems.

— Robert Reich

Labor Secretary & Economist; Leading Voice on Inequality

To be a billionaire in America today is less a matter of merit than it is a matter of being at the right place at the right time, and being a beneficiary of a set of rules designed to benefit billionaires.

— Robert Reich

Labor Secretary & Economist; Leading Voice on Inequality

America has a class system, and it's becoming more rigid all the time. As inequality widens the damage spills over to children, and the ladder becomes so long that you have little hope of getting too far up it in your lifetime.

— Robert Reich

Labor Secretary & Economist; Leading Voice on Inequality

It's not that capitalism is failing, but rather that the organisation of capitalism is succumbing to wealth and power. People with extraordinary power and wealth will organise and enforce markets in such a way that it benefits their wealth and adds to their power- it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy- a vicious cycle of more wealth and power.

— Robert Reich

Labor Secretary & Economist; Leading Voice on Inequality

When social distrust mounts- when people feel like the game is rigged against them- they are especially vulnerable to demagogues who come along and want them to channel their rage, anxiety and distrust toward scapegoats.

— Robert Reich

Labor Secretary & Economist; Leading Voice on Inequality

To be a billionaire in America today is less a matter of merit than it is a matter of being at the right place at the right time, and being a beneficiary of a set of rules designed to benefit billionaires.

— Robert Reich

Labor Secretary & Economist; Leading Voice on Inequality

America has a class system, and it's becoming more rigid all the time. As inequality widens the ladder becomes so long that you have little hope of getting too far up it in your lifetime.

— Robert Reich

Labor Secretary & Economist; Leading Voice on Inequality

It's not that capitalism is failing, but rather that the organisation of capitalism is succumbing to wealth and power. People with extraordinary power and wealth will organise and enforce markets in such a way that it benefits their wealth and adds to their power- it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy- a vicious cycle of more wealth and power.

— Robert Reich

Labor Secretary & Economist; Leading Voice on Inequality