The Rise and Fall of the Middle Class: A Conversation with Paul Krugman

Steve Scher
11/01/2007 at 9:00 a.m.

Economist and Op-ed Columnist Paul Krugman says that America "has returned to Gilded Age levels of inequality". As the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen, has the middle class lifestyle become a fantasy? Using history, Krugman's book The Conscience of a Liberal traces the rise and fall of the middle-class. He also presents the solutions he sees; a way to reestablish a healthy, competitive democracy.

"It's clear that Horatio Alger has moved to someplace in Europe," Krugman writes. Will the industrious be rewarded in the future, or was it a myth to begin with?

Guests:
Paul Krugman writes a twice-weekly column for the op-ed page of the New York Times. He was named Columnist of the Year by Editor and Publisher magazine and won the John Bates Clark Medal, the most prized award given to American economists. He is a professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, author or editor of 20 books and more than 200 articles. His new book is The Conscience of a Liberal.