Film Screening: Inequality for All
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The DAUK Film Committee screened Inequality for All on June 20th, 2014 with an after-screening discussion led by Professor Peter Kingstone, Co-director of the International Development Institute at Kings College, University of London
In this award-winning documentary, Robert Reich analyses our country’s widening income gap with entertaining visuals and engaging humor. See this important film which examines whether the consolidation of wealth by a few is a threat not only to economic recovery and growth and the viability of the USA middle class, but also to our democracy itself.
From President Obama, to Elizabeth Warren and Bill de-Blasio, Democrats are talking about these issues and debating economic policy. Join our lively discussion afterward to get ready for debates which will be central to the November mid-term elections.
A passionate champion on behalf of the middle class, Robert Reich (professor at UC-Berkeley, Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration, and best-selling author) demonstrates how the widening income gap has a devastating impact on the American economy. He argues that:
We’re in the biggest economic slump since the Great Depression, and we can’t seem to get out of it. Why? Because, exactly as in the 1920s, so much of the nation’s income and wealth are going to the top, that the vast middle class doesn’t have the purchasing power to keep the economy going.
He explains economics with a light touch and is a favorite on shows such as The Daily Show, Colbert Report, and With Bill Moyers. As Bloomberg Business Week puts it: “As a narrator Reich is engaging and endearing…and presents complex economic in information in a way that neither confuses nor condescends.”
For more information and videos from Robert Reich: www.robertreich.org
Peter Kingstone (Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley. B.A. Swarthmore) is Professor and Co-Director of the International Development Institute at King's College London. Prior to coming to King's, he taught Political Science at the Universities of Connecticut and Vermont (where he won the Kroepsch-Maurice Award for Outstanding Teaching). Before getting his Ph.D., he worked in the Canadian government as Parliamentary Advisor to the Honourable Jean Charest, Minister of State (Youth).
He is author of several books on Latin America, including Crafting Coalitions for Reform: Business Preferences, Political Institutions and Neoliberal Reform in Brazil , The Political Economy of Latin America: Reflections on Neoliberalism and Development , as well as co-editor of Democratic Brazil: Actors, Institutions and Processes, Democratic Brazil Revisited and the Handbook of Latin American Politics. He has published various articles and book chapters on the subject of democratisation and the politics of neoliberal economic reforms.
Alongside his research focus on Latin America, Professor Kingstone has had a continuing interest in the debates on American political economy and its relation to increasing inequality in the US. He has taught this subject to US undergraduate students for over 10 years.
About the Film
For more information about the film, go to the Inequality for All film website
Join discussions about the film on Twitter and on Facebook
To read more from Robert Reich, go to his website, follow him on Twitter
Film Reviews
Carole Cadwalldr, "Inequality for All – another Inconvenient Truth?" Observer Saturday 2 February 2013
Democrats talking about inequality and related policy issues: send us any other links you can recommend to pancoordinator@daukpan.org.uk
- President Obama. See the December 2013 White House Blog discussion of his speech on "Making Our Economy Work for Every Working American"
- Bill deBlasio made his successful campaign theme for Mayor of New York city "the Tale of Two Cities" -- see his speech at the New School in August 2014.
- Elizabeth Warren has recently published a book A Fighting Chance, Metropolitan Books, 2014 and has often spoken on these issues.
Information on the issues raised in the film
Thomas Piketty (Paris School of Economics) discussed Capital in the Twenty-First Century at the Graduate Center of CUNY on April 23 2014
Kate Sheppard, "Income Inequality and the Fracking Boom" Mother Jones. July 23,2013. Linking these issues with some very interesting maps.
Disclaimer:
The information we provide is intended for educational use and offered as a public service.The views expressed do not reflect the views of Democrats Abroad UK or of the Democratic Party of the United States.Links to other organizations or publications imply neither endorsement of their policies nor association with the Democratic Party or Democrats Abroad - UK.