according to a recent study, the program is responsible for more than a quarter of brazil s reduction in poverty over the past decade. but while brazil has taken steps to reduce inequality, the u.s. has been moving in a different direction. this chart from a new book capital in the 21st century shows income inequality in the u.s. spiking to levels not seen since the great depression. american ceos are now paid 257 times the salary of an average worker in the u.s. fast food workers and other low wage workers have launched protests for better pay and working conditions, but it s not just low income individuals who are saying that the hollowing out of the middle class is a real problem. income inequality is a very destabilizing thing in the country. too much of the gdp has gone to too few of the people. when even lloyd blankfein is worried about inequality, you know you ve got a problem. how can we reverse this trend that threatens the middle class?
optimistic about it, that they are in the right area, and that they will find the plane sooner rather than later. it s hard coming when you search the location that you have the best hopes for and so far nothing is coming zblup katie tur, also on a personal note i m glad to see your arm out of the sling. good to see that. let s go to the economy that in a surprise the talk of the amazon.com best seller list. this book is called capital in the 21st century and its main focus is income inequality and what s driving that. joining me is jared bernstein, former chief economist for joe biden. good morning to you. good morning, alex. what is it about this book that s attracted so much attention do you think? i think it s because it presents such a wealth of evidence and it does so in a very clear manner but it also does so in an historical manner that i ve found and i ve been digging into the data for decades, have never seen before.
advocates to go to the homes to make sure there s a connection to home and school if a child isn t showing up. sending someone to the home? yeah. wow. after school programs would also programs that focus on mentoring youth who might not necessarily want to stay for a basketball program but who might need jobs. those types of things. so all this kind of array of things. this year we did not have that funding. and so the start of the year was a difficult and challenging year for us because the bottom line is that kids need those types of supports in order to grow. one example is i think our read 180 program that we had that we weren t able to fund this year. for kids who are below reading scores. innovation is helping at fenger and alum helps start a fund-raising effort on crowd rise. so far it s raised more than $85,000 for the school. thank you for spending saturday smart with us on your money. this book capital in the 21st century is amazon s numb bur