Robert B. Reich
Robert Reich, one of the world’s foremost economists, is the Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy and senior fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley. Reich was the Secretary of Labor in the Bill Clinton administration and was named one of Time Magazine’s 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the 20th century.
Reich has written 13 books, including “Aftershock” and “The Work of Nations.” His latest, “Beyond Outrage,” is now out in paperback. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and is chairman of Common Cause, a lobbyist organization that aims for more public disclosure in government policy decisions.
In 2013, Reich released “Inequality for All,” a documentary about the widening income gap in the United States. The film, which won a U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking, is available on Netflix, iTunes, DVD and On Demand.
Reich has been a consistent and eloquent advocate of those on the lower economic rungs of American society. He has championed the cause of income equality and policies that encourage a fairer playing field for working people.
Recent Work
A quarter-century ago, I and other members of Bill Clinton’s Cabinet urged him to reject the Republican proposal to end welfare. It was too punitive, we said, subjecting poor Americans to deep and abiding poverty. But Clinton’s political advisers warned that unless he went along, he... Read More
In 1963, when the newly sworn-in Lyndon Baines Johnson was advised against using his limited political capital on the controversial issue of civil and voting rights for Black Americans, he responded: “Well, what the hell’s the presidency for?” America is again approaching a crucial decision point... Read More
While most of official Washington has been consumed with the Senate impeachment trial, another part of Washington is preparing the most far-ranging changes in American social policy in a generation. Congress is moving ahead with President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which expands health care and... Read More
I’ve been in or around politics for over a half-century now, and I never imagined how low and loony the Republican Party would become. Twelve Republican senators say they will object to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory on Wednesday when Congress meets to formally certify it. They... Read More
Most of the 74.2 million Americans who voted to reelect Donald Trump — 46.8 percent of the votes cast in the 2020 presidential election — don’t hold Trump accountable for what he’s done to America. Their acceptance of Trump’s behavior will be his vilest legacy. Nearly... Read More
How should the huge financial costs of the pandemic be paid for, as well as the other deferred needs of society after this annus horribilis? Politicians rarely want to raise taxes on the rich. President-elect Joe Biden promised to do so, but a closely divided Congress... Read More
“Life is going to return to normal,” Joe Biden promised last week in a Thanksgiving address to the nation. He was talking about life after COVID-19, but you could be forgiven if you thought he was also making a promise about life after Donald Trump. It’s... Read More
Financial regulators subject banks to stress tests to see if they have enough capital to withstand sharp downturns. Now America is being subject to a stress test to see if it has enough strength to withstand Donald Trump’s treacherous campaign to discredit the 2020 presidential election.... Read More
In case you missed the news, Joe Biden was elected president of the United States. With almost all ballots counted, Biden has more than 75 million votes and Trump some 71 million. The Electoral College isn’t even close. But Donald Trump still has not conceded, and... Read More
Donald Trump and many Republicans insist that the decisions whether to wear a mask, go to a bar or gym, or work or attend school during a pandemic should be personal. Government should play no role. Yet they also believe that what a woman does with... Read More
“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters,” Donald Trump boasted in 2016. Trump’s 5th Avenue principle is being severely tested. Some 40 percent of voters have stuck by him even though more than 214,000 Americans have... Read More
After Donald Trump's first bizarre year as president, his apologists told us he was growing into the job and that in his second year he'd be more restrained and more respectful of democratic institutions. Wrong. He's been worse. Read More
I was in Bill Clinton's Cabinet when Newt Gingrich pulled the plug on the federal government in the mid-'90s. It wasn't a pretty picture. A long shutdown hurts millions of people who rely on government for services and paychecks. Read More
Donald Trump has described the payments his bagman, Michael Cohen, made to two women during the 2016 campaign so they wouldn't discuss their alleged affairs with him as "a simple private transaction." Last week... Read More
"I am a Tariff Man," Trump tweeted last week. "When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so. ... We are right now taking in $billions in Tariffs. MAKE AMERICA RICH ... Read More
The "rule of law" distinguishes democracies from dictatorships. It's based on three fundamental principles. Trump is violating every one of them. The first is that no person is above the law, not even a president. Which means... Read More
Make no mistake: America has rejected Trumpism. No one seriously expected the Senate to flip, because Democrats had to defend 26 seats in that chamber, compared with only nine held by Republicans. The real battleground... Read More
I keep hearing that although Donald Trump is a scoundrel or worse, at least he's presiding over a great economy. "The single biggest story this year is an economic boom that is durable and lasting," White House... Read More
Anyone still unsure of how (or even whether) they'll vote in the midterm elections should consider this: All three branches of government are now under the control of one party, and that party is under the control of Donald J. Trump. Read More
As a kid I was always a head shorter than other boys, which meant I was bullied -- mocked, threatened, sometimes assaulted. Childhood bullying has been going on forever. But America has become a culture of bullying... Read More
Millennials (and their younger siblings from Generation Z) are the largest, most diverse and progressive group of potential voters in American history, comprising fully 30 percent of the voting-age population. On Nov. 6, they'll have the power to alter the course of American politics -- flipping... Read More
Ten years ago, after making piles of money gambling with other people's money, Wall Street nearly imploded, and the outgoing George W. Bush and incoming Obama administrations bailed out the bankers. America should have learned three big lessons from the crisis. We didn't, to our continuing ... Read More
Yale Law School, from which Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh got his law degree, issued a statement about him with glowing quotes from professors attesting to his impeccable legal credentials. Read More
The only way I can see the end of the Donald Trump presidency is if there's overwhelming evidence he rigged the 2016 election -- in which case impeachment isn't an adequate remedy. Read More
