joseph stiglitz is a nobel prize-winning economist. may 2011 vanity fair article, "of the 1%, for the 1% ," serves as the basis of his new book, "the price of inequality: how today's divided society endangers our future." joseph stiglitz teaches at columbia university. we welcome you back to "democracy now!" this figure on page 8 of your book when you say considered the walton family, the six heirs to the walmart empire, and wealth of $69.7 billion which is equivalent to the wealth of the entire bottom 30% of u.s. society. >> it is a comment both on how well off the top are and how poor the bottom are. it is really emblematic of the divide that has gotten much worse in our society. one of the point i tried to make in the book is none of this is inevitable. it is not just market forces. the united states is the country in the world with the highest level of inequality and it is getting worse. >> the highest level? >> of the advanced industrial countries. what is even more disturbing is we have become the country with the least equality

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we spoke with columbia business school professor joseph stiglitz, author of the price of inequality. and we staed with what the price of income inequality is for america's economy. >> most americans are worse off than they were say 15 years ago. just coming in from the fed points out that they have a lower level of wealth than they had say 20 years ago. meanwhile, we become the country with the least economic opportunity of any of the advance industrial countries to look at this data. >> are you equating financial inequality with unfairness, with an unfair economy? >> if you look at the people who are at the top, they're not the people who really transformed our economy. they're not the inventors of the laser, the computer, the discover the dna. they're people who manipulated the system. they're people monopolists who actually use their monopoly power to contract output to increase their profit. >> according to the census bureau the percent of households making over $200,000 per year is close to the highest it's been since the census bureau began tracking this since the late 1960s so

." >>> joseph stiglitz is back. pay attention. to hit you no matter where you live here in the united states. it's very important to understand how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies. oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪ every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned to a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ amen, omen >>> by now we know that europe's crisis is america's problem. >> because matters to us because europe is our largest economic trading partner. if there's less demand for our products in places like paris or madrid, it could mean less businesse

joseph stiglitz. thank you. >> thank you. >> cenk: we're going to talk about vaginas. explain when we come back. >> finally mr. speaker i'm flattered that you're so interested in my vagina, but no means no. happen on current. >>try to be a little more conservative tonight. the airplanes are going to get [[vo]]joy behar is coming to current tv for one week only until the fall. what happens if you ask her to tone down her opinions? >>sorry, i can't hear you. what? [[vo]]or tell her she has to stick to a script? >>forget it. the airplanes are going to get the other without any air traffic controllers. i mean this is ridiculous and mitt romney ought to know better. i stand with our public employees and cops and firefighters and their teachers? it starts at $59 for the entire year for back up. put in code stephanie for your subscription. 18 minutes after the hour. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> cenk: we're back on "the young turks." there was an event debate in michigan about anti-abortion legislation. lisa brown did not like what was going on. there was a letter, and it was strong

it turns out that's not necessarily the way things work and now nobel prize winning economist joseph stiglitz has a new book out in which he argues that the inequality gap has gotten so large that the chances of those at the bottom making it to the middle or the top are even lower now than they were in all the europe here he is discussing his book is titled the price of any quality how today's decision divided society in danger's our future. so the life chances chances of somebody from the top who doesn't do very well in school are better than somebody from the bottom who does well in school so that really says you know your parents make a great deal of difference to your economic fortunes we're not the land of opportunity. so let's talk about this notion that you know in the united states of america it's not the land of opportunity that we thought it was and i only write this all down i've got gerald celente a publisher of the trends journal and the director of the trends research institute good to see you gerald let me just ask you about this theory you know that the american dream is in fa

well it turns out it's not always the way things work out and now nobel prize winning economist joseph stiglitz has a new book out in which he argues the inequality gap has gotten so large that the chances of those at the bottom making it to the middle freshly the top are now so much lower than even in old europe here he is discussing his book titled the price of inequality how today's divided society endangers our future. so the. chances of somebody from the top who doesn't do very well in school are better than somebody from the bottom who does well in school so that really says you know. your parents make a great deal of difference to your economic fortunes we're not the land of opportunity. well earlier i was joined by gerald flint a publisher for the trends journal and the director of trends research institute i asked him about this theory of the american dream quickly becoming a math and here's his take well it wasn't that one time it is now of course when i was a young man just getting into the workforce the gap between the c.e.o. of the average worker was about twenty to one and now dep

a major way i want of this country's most prominent economists economists nobel prize winner joseph stiglitz and his new book he argues that the inequality gap has gotten so large that the chances of those at the bottom making it to the top or even the middle are now very low even lower than they were in old europe even if they study hard in school and work hard in their jobs his book is titled the price of inequality how today's divided society endangers our future and here he is describing what he means so to. hence is of somebody from the time who doesn't do very well in school are better than somebody from the bottom who does well in school so that really says you know your parents make a great deal of difference to your economic fortunes we're not the land of opportunity. so let's talk about this notion that the united states of america isn't a land of opportunity we thought it was well earlier richard wolfe who wrote occupy the economy challenging capital capitalism join me and i asked him if he agreed with this theory that our society in the society it matters more on who your parents

challenged in a major way by one of this country's most prominent economist nobel prize winner joseph stiglitz and his new book he argues the inequality gap in this country has gotten so large that the chances of those at the bottom making it to the middle or the top are now very low lower even than they were in old europe even if they study hard in school and work hard at their jobs still as his new book is titled the price of inequality how today's divided society endangers our future and here he is describing what he means so google. is of somebody from the. who doesn't do very well in school are better than somebody from the bottom who does well in school so that really says you know your parents make a great deal of difference to your economic fortunes were not going out of opportunity as well as talk about this notion that the united states of america isn't that land of opportunity we thought it once was and help me break this down as richard wolffe author of the book occupy the economy challenging capitalism. lolo there richard on let me get your take i mean do you agree with this notio

it goes to "the price of inquality," it goes to nobel laureate joseph stiglitz.your signature on the book. i want to talk about the book and also want to talk about europe and what's going on in the markets. we were talking off camera before. joe had paid me $1 a word to read what made be the antithesis of your book in many ways "the road to freedom" -- >> arthur brooks. >> you make the argument that inekwai inequality and how to fix it. he makes the opposite argument, that it's about the individual responsibility, the individual earned success and that will ultimately solve the problem. make your case. >> the first point is we are paying i think a very high price for inequality. that's the title of the book. we're going through a recession. we're talking about that. there is broad consensus that one of the reasons for the weakness of our economy is the huge level of inequality that emerged in the years before the crisis. one of the problem when you have a high level of inequality is it leads to political division. we're seeing that in the united states, the kind

point out whether or not it makes sense in regards to economic data that's out there take what joseph stiglitz is warning about his latest book where he reaches some very depressing conclusions that america is no longer the land of opportunity that the american dream is a myth he says he points to statistics that show how increasing income inequality is leading to rapidly decreasing social mobility if you're born rich or poor you're more likely to stay there then and any other advanced economy now these are things of the news should be discussing but instead they will just play these clips that to back act as if they are the biggest issues of the day and then one day they'll wake up and we'll all really be in trouble then again maybe they won't wake up because they're the mainstream media and they seem determined if not able to do anything but miss. all right so it is monday and as usual we have a lot to talk about it will discuss the economy sequences warnings about the end of opportunity will talk a little tax policy and will continue to look at europe and the spanish bailout in particular s

joseph stiglitz, thanks very much for joining us. >> a meaty book as well. >> yes. weighty.hich is what you expect as well. thanks so much. >> good work out. >> still to come on "worldwide exchange" things are going from bad to worse at blackberry. slumping revenues. delay in next generation of hand sets. what's the outlook >> futures again, 110 points on the dow still. we'll be back. [ male announcer ] this is the at&t network. a living, breathing intelligence helping business, do more business. in here, opportunities are created and protected. gonna need more wool! demand is instantly recognized and securely acted on across the company. around the world. turning a new trend, into a global phenomenon. it's the at&t network -- securing a world of new opportunities. ♪ >>> welcome to >>> welcome to "worldwide exchange" this morning. if you're just tuning in i'm kelly evans. >> i'm ross westgate. >> eu leaders reach a deal on the financial crisis. >> four british lenders reach a settlement over misselling of hedge funding products. rbs is reported to be facing a fine. >> heads

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tune in next wednesday for our interview with economist joseph stiglitz and our coverage of the recalln of wisconsin gov. scott walker as he competes for the governorship with milwaukee mayor. we will also be speaking next week with congressmember john lewis. we will be covering the verdict in the mubarak trial in egypt. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. new york, new york 10013.

. >>> and creating problems for the u.s., in this week's fortune brainstorm, talking with joseph stiglitz about what it all means for the u.s. recovery. >> should we be looking at europe with real fear about what it does for the u.s. economy? >> yes. you know, with globalization we are one connected system. europe's slowdown is affecting asia. asia's slowdown and europe's slowdown will affect us. two channels. one will be less able to export. you know, a couple years ago, president obama trying to see where we're going to recover said, we ought to do it through exports, but if everybody else is slowing down, it's going to be very difficult for us to export our way to growth. the second part of the problem is, the financial sector. our financial sectors are very -- we saw that with the lehman brother prices. there's going to be a lot of financial turmoil whether you fix the problems or not, i think no one thinks it's going to be easy, and there is going to be a lot of turmoil. unfortunately, we didn't fix our financial system at home. >> you note the issue we should have fixed, one thing o

i saw a quote today from the nobel prize-winning economist joseph stiglitz who said this isn't going to work because the government is bailing out the banks that have bailed out the government by buying government debt. how do you see that? >> that's not the problem here. because that's an issue that we've got which is a dynamic that has pervaded the entire european crisis for years. that relationship between the banks and the sovereigns is one of the dynamics that needs to be broken. so the cycle being broken... >> woodruff: being? the governments. the problem is the first part of your question which is how solvent is the deal? that's why the markets responded as they did today because there are a lot of ambiguities and uncertainties here, not the least of which is where the money coming from and who is it going to and on what terms? most people would consider that could be a rather soft deal if those basic parameters are not defined. >> woodruff: let's take those questions one by one. where is the money coming from? i'll ask you that one. >> it's unclear yet. the money is supposed

and a special interview with though bell prize winning economist joseph stiglitz.on't miss "squawk box" monday starting at 6:00 a.m. eastern. >>> welcome back. u.s. equity futures are indicated down more than 100 points. morgan stanley's james gorman -- >> the industry will be down graded. the question is to what degree. what we have done and the kind of company we are now from a few years ago, it's very different. we've sold assets. we've done all of this long before moodys came along. >> and we are counting down to the jobs report. joe kinahan is standing by. finally action in the cme. hey j.j., joe. you can call me ray. big move in the vix the other day. what is the up side potential now for the vix? sky's the limit. i'm not saying we like volatility, but it does cause people to tune in. we could be on the cusp of something, no? >> you you guys like volatility, it help wills your ratings. traders like because it usually means more trading. the vix we've seen really heavy action in the 30 and 32 calls. which would equate to us obviously going lower. most of the f

joseph stiglitz, thanks so much for your time tonight. mitt romney champion of the individual mandate, really? it's in writing. my view is ahead. and who doesn't want 50% more cash? ugh, the baby. huh! and then the baby bear said "i want 50% more cash in my bed!" phhht! 50% more cash is good ri... what's that. ♪ ♪ you can spell. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? ha ha. ♪ ♪ >> eliot: let's head out west to jennifer granholm. what have you got for us, governor. >> last night's election is a wake-up call to democrats and unions. we'll dive deep into the challenging dynamics of this public sector-private sector union issue. we've got the great larry cohan to pars out the issues, and then there is a question about how much difference the money made in the election in wisconsin. and a bunch more. that's at the top of the hour. >> eliot: sound great. that issue of private sector unions versus public sector unions. that's huge. private sector unionses have been