BROADCASTS.com

On today's show:\xa0 During Trump's government shutdown, we saw remarkable, heart-wrenching stories about furloughed federal workers struggling to afford food and medical care. Meanwhile, Republicans have been slashing taxes for the wealthy and corporations for decades, as middle-class wages remain stagnant and poverty grows. Racial inequality means that economic inequality is even worse for those who aren't white. As the rich get obscenely richer, Americans are told we simply can't afford our existing social safety nets, much less expansions to include Medicare for All, a Green New Deal or free college tuition, all wildly popular ideas. Did the month-long federal government shutdown teach us anything about how close most Americans are to the brink of poverty? Did our elected officials (ahem, Republicans) actually notice or care? This week, Senate Republicans Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley and John Thune introduced a bill to repeal all estate taxes for the very wealthy, even though the current estate tax applies to fewer than two dozen people in those three senators' states combined. CHUCK COLLINS, an expert on U.S. inequality and the racial wealth divide at the Institute for Policy Studies, explains how and why the inequality gaps have grown so wide in the U.S., why some voters tend to vote against their own economic interests, how attitudes about race exacerbate the problem, and if we may finally be heading into a potential awakening of the American people who have been conned for last 40 years. Also today: an update on House Democrats' much-needed omnibus election and ethics reform bill, HR-1.\xa0 South Dakota Republican lawmakers are now working to restrict voting in the state. Plus a must-listen conversation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where a panel on income inequality confronted the millionaires and billionaires in attendance about shirking their responsibility to pay their fair share in taxes...