Labor activist Les Leopold is the author of Runaway Inequality: An activist’s Guide to Economic Justice. This book connects growing economic inequality to some of the most pressing social issues of the day—from mass incarceration to environmental degradation to lack of access to affordable quality healthcare, to crushing student debt. It makes the case that runaway inequality is the ultimate culprit in the demise of the American dream. Leopold will discuss the book and what we can do here and now to reverse runaway inequality

Using easy-to-understand charts and graphs, Runaway Inequality explains the process by which corporation after corporation fell victim to systematic wealth extraction by banks, private equity firms, and hedge funds. It reveals how “financial strip-mining” puts enormous downward pressure on jobs, wages, benefits, and working conditions, while boosting the incomes of the financial elites.

But Runaway Inequality does more than make sense of our economic plight. It also shows why all the key issues that we face―from climate change to the exploding prison population―are intimately connected to rising economic inequality.

Most importantly, Runaway Inequality calls upon us to build a common movement to tackle the sources of increasing income and wealth inequality. As the author makes clear, the problem will not cure itself. It will take enormous energy and dedication to bring economic justice and fairness back to American society

Sponsored by:
Progressive Caucus of the NC Democratic Party, Communication Workers of America, Alliance for Economic Justice, SENC Central Labor Council