My course "Wealth and Poverty" starts right here
14 lectures.
Click the link for: Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, Class 4, Class 5, Class 6, Class 7, Class 8, Class 9, Class 10, Class 11, Class 12, Class 13, Class 14.
I’m so pleased to be able to bring you the big 750-student undergraduate course I teach on Wealth and Poverty. I’m also posting an abbreviated syllabus so you can do the key readings, should you wish.
You’ll have my lectures and slides — and see how my 700 students respond to interactive quizzes, puzzles, and short role-playing scenarios. I don’t tell students what to think; I challenge them to think harder (which often means playing devil’s advocate).
Each class is posted here (Click the link for: Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, Class 4, Class 5, Class 6, Class 7, Class 8, Class 9, Class 10, Class 11— and the last three coming soon), so it's okay to be tardy for class!
The first half of the class is remote, because the university was closed due to COVID). The second half is live, in the classroom.
I promise I won’t grade you too harshly. (In fact, I won’t give you any exams.)
I designed the course to give students — and now, you — a deeper understanding of why inequalities of income and wealth have widened significantly over the last 40 years in the United States.
Given that most of the underlying factors causing this trend here are also prevalent in other nations, the lessons learned are likely to be relevant elsewhere. But we’ll also examine why such inequalities are more extreme in the United States than in other rich countries.
The course is also intended to provide insights into the political and public policy debates that have arisen in light of these widening inequalities, as well as possible means of reversing them.
Because I’m such a fan of Dolly Parton, I usually begin my class (as students are filing into the lecture hall) with her spectacular “9 to 5.” So …
See you in class!
Sounds great! Have you alerted Congress to this opportunity?
I am excited to learn more about these courses over the next 14 weeks. I find it interesting Bill Gates, Jeff Bezo and Elon Musk can have so much money. I find it interesting in America football players are paid millions. I find it interesting the Hollywood elite have mansions and walls built around their homes. I find it interesting some career politicians have accumulate immense wealth while serving in office for decades. But every, single day I see humans on the side of our streets begging for money. I traveled all over the world for 10 years. In every American city I saw what is called beggars, poor people, panhandlers. In the media we can now witness "camps and tents" of homelessness. What will happen when we go to digital money. How will poor people beg for dollar bills? More than anyone else, the media bear responsibility for stirring up hate, creating political division and polarizing Americans against each other. I hope your courses over the next 14 weeks gives us answers so we can help make changes for the future of our grandchildren. Gob Bless you Robert Reich for caring and your passion for America and our planet. At some point America needs to quit talking and make change happen. Its called working together. Check out the trucker convoy in Canada. People want change. They want freedom. The good news is that more and more people are waking up to the insanity, realizing where the problem actually lies. Our problem is not with each other, regardless of political affiliation. Our problem is with leadership that refuse to adhere to the U.S. Constitution, which spells out the rights of all Americans and upon which this nation was founded. Freedom is not free. Is being poor or rich a choice? I am excited to learn more. Thank you for offering these courses to us. God Bless America.