In sixty years, we have gone from 2 billionaires in the United States to just under 2,000. How on earth did that happen?
Today, Timothy Noah from the New Republic takes us all the way from our framers fearing excessive wealth to the country's first (potential) trillionaire. To learn about their proliferation, their desires, and their outsized effect on Ameri ... Show More
Sep 15
U.S. Versus: The Two Party System
Americans often take issue with our two-party system. So what other options are out there? Today, with the help of political scientists Guillermo Rosas and Robin Best, we explore the reason why we have (and may always have) such a system, and compare it to other democracies aroun ... Show More
29m 40s
Aug 2023
Introducing... Good Bad Billionaire
<p>Coming Tuesday 29th August...</p><p>The podcast that finds out how the richest people on the planet made their billions, and then judges them for it. Are they good, bad, or just another billionaire?
Each episode BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist and podcaster Zin ... Show More
2m 4s
Apr 2022
The Sunday Read: ‘How Many Billionaires Are There, Anyway?’
<p>America is home to 735 billionaires with a collective worth greater than $4.7 trillion, according to Forbes. There were just 424 billionaires in 2012, Forbes found, and only 243 a decade before that. The billionaires keep multiplying.</p><p>In this article, Willy Staley uses i ... Show More
35m 14s
Feb 2024
What Next - The American Oligarch Class
How did America end up back in a Gilded Age of incredible wealth disparity, and how did a new generation of oligarchs bend society to their vision? Guest: Tim Murphy, senior reporter for Mother Jones.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus me ... Show More
23m 4s
Aug 2025
How the Ultra-Rich Think…and What They Fear
Evan Osnos has spent nearly his whole life observing the habits, values, and norms of the wealthy elite, from his childhood in suburban Connecticut to the years he spent reporting on the mega-yachts and underground bunkers of the U.S.’s richest citizens. This week, he talks to An ... Show More
55m 31s
Mar 2025
S2 Ep1002: Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov: The Cheap Whore at the White House
<div>The fastest growing demographic class in America is billionaires—we've gone from 500 to 2,500 in the past 10 years. And they know the cheapest, easiest way to get richer: Give a million bucks to Mr. Pay-to-Play in the Oval Office. Meanwhile, maybe just maybe POTUS's confidan ... Show More
1h 2m