Paul Krugman Tells Bill Moyers That Inherited Wealth Is Destroying Our Country

By Bill Moyers

April 18, 2014 | In this clip, economist Paul Krugman tells Bill Moyers that America is on the road to becoming a society controlled not by self-made men or women, but by their offspring. “Those of you who talk about the 1 percent, you don’t really get what’s going on. You’re living in the past. You’re living in the ’80s. You think that Gordon Gekko is the future,” he says, referring to the character in Wall Street, who became a symbol of unrestrained greed.

“[R]ight now, what we’re really talking about is Gordon Gekko’s son or daughter. We’re talking about inherited wealth playing an ever-growing role,” he concludes. Watch the entire show to learn more about what the Nobel prize winning economist has to say about Thomas Piketty’s new book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century.