America's new Gilded Age
On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti
WBUR
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 14 March 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Donald Trump declared America is entering a “Golden Age” on Inauguration Day. But as inequality grows, some historians say that the country is in a new Gilded Age.
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Transcript
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| 0:40.6 | about how to fairly compensate workers. |
| 0:44.7 | WBUR Podcasts, Boston. |
| 0:52.6 | This is on point. |
| 0:54.2 | I'm Megna Chakrabardi. |
| 0:55.6 | In his inaugural address in January, President Donald Trump declared, |
| 1:01.2 | My fellow citizens, the golden age of America begins right now. |
| 1:08.8 | Trump added that in his golden age, America will, quote, flourish and be respected again all over the world, and that it will, quote, be the envy of every nation. |
| 1:22.3 | During every single day of the Trump administration, I will very simply put America first. |
| 1:32.5 | Seated just behind Trump that day were the titans of technology. |
| 1:38.9 | Met as Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and the richest man on the planet, Elon Musk. |
| 1:46.3 | The three men in combination have a net worth of almost $750 billion. |
| 1:54.7 | That's according to Forbes. |
| 1:56.1 | And yes, that is the same as three quarters of a trillion dollars. |
| 1:59.8 | So if those men were a country, they would be the |
| 2:03.1 | 22nd richest country on the planet. So when Trump speaks of a golden age for the U.S., is he really |
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