Michael Zweig

These candidates have emphasized economic inequality, universal healthcare, affordable housing, higher taxes on the wealthy, workers' rights, and reducing corporate influence over government.

And with us to discuss this issue is Michael Zweig, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Working Class Life at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and author of his most recent book titled Class, Race, and Gender: Challenging the Injuries and Divisions of Capitalism.

Much appreciation, Michael.

Um, and I should also mention you're co-host, along with Richard Hill, on WPKN's monthly program L- the Labor Report.

Thank you for that, uh, excellent summary of these, uh, issues that are, are so often confused [laughs] in our political rhetoric.

Uh, this is Counterpoint here on listener-sponsored WPKN in Bridgeport.

My name is Scott Harris, and we're speaking this evening with Michael Zweig, emer- emeritus professor of economics.

Um, and he's the author of the book, Class, Race and Gender: Challenging the Injuries and Divisions of Capitalism.

We'll be talking about the really critically important issues of the growing concentration of U.S. media ownership in the hands of Trump-friendly oligarchs.

A little later tonight, Michael Zweig will be here, emeritus professor of economics and founding director of the Center for the Study of Working Class Life at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

We're going to be talking about the discussion and debate that's opened up in this midterm election season after the victory of a handful of prominent Democratic Socialist of America candidates and progressive and left-wing candidates that are on their way, many of them, to win seats in the House of Representatives and some Senate candidates as well.

But we'll be talking about the meaning of the word socialism, the controversy that the Republican Party and some moderate or right-wing Democrats are causing within the party about those descriptions and what it all means.

And she's doing quite well in Florida, a traditionally red state.

These candidates have emphasized economic inequality, universal health care, affordable housing, higher taxes on the wealthy, workers' rights, and reducing corporate influence over government.

And with us to discuss this issue is Michael Zweig, emeritus professor of economics, founding director of the Center for the Study of Working Class Life at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and author of his most recent book titled Class, Race, and Gender, Challenging the Injuries and Divisions of Capitalism.

Much appreciation, Michael.

I got some figures from one text which I read recently.

It's called The Working Class Majority, America's Best Kept Secret by Michael Zweig, published in 2001 and then republished in 2012.

He gives figures, I'm not going into the details of them, which shows that roughly 62, 63% of the population considers itself working class and is de facto working class.

It's wage labor.