Episode 28 - Chuck Collins

Chuck Collins is a Senior Policy Analyst for the Institute for Policy Studies. He is the author of many books including "Born on Third Base", "The Community Resilience Reader" and "Is inequality in America irreversible?". He is the co-editor of the "Inequality.org" website. Chuck has dedicated his life to understanding the basis of economic inequality in the US, and has pioneered countless efforts to connect investors, business leaders, and one-percenters to the common wealth of their place in the world. He is an organizing force behind "Patriotic Millionaires", a united network of high-net worth Americans, business leaders and investors who are united in their concern about the destabilizing concentration of wealth and power in America. Chuck’s story of wealth inequality is a first hand account…His great grandfather was the meat-packer, Oscar Mayer and Chuck grew up with the inherited wealth from his family fortune. He realized in his mid-twenties that the “mountain of privilege” that had defined his life so far…did not resonate with him…and he gave away his inheritance, to several foundations that funded “change, not charity”. He has been advocating for solutions to the ever-increasing wealth inequality in our country ever since. And as Chuck describes, "you can’t have community without real need and vulnerability". He speaks of the “invitation home” to wealthy people in our country...to bring their wealth back to community and invest in place and people. Chuck proposes that, “People are waiting to be invited to something bigger than consumption….and that is community”.