Billionaires

Civics 101

NHPR

Society & Culture, Government, History

4.6 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In sixty years, we have gone from 2 billionaires in the United States to just under 2,000. How on earth did that happen? Today, Timothy Noah from the New Republic takes us all the way from our framers fearing excessive wealth to the country's first (potential) trillionaire. To learn about their proliferation, their desires, and their outsized effect on American policy, check out his article, How the Billionaires Took Over. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro. Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What was your first job that you ever had?
0:03.2	I was a counselor at the same theater summer camp that I attended as a child.
0:09.1	What did you make?
0:11.8	Probably like $6 an hour, maybe $6.50.
0:16.2	That's not good.
0:21.0	What was your first job?
0:22.4	I was a dishwasher at Hermannos Cochina Mexicana with the firm wage of $4.25 an hour.
0:29.0	All right.
0:29.7	It adds up, you know.
0:30.9	I served Stephen Tyler Nachos once.
0:33.1	Okay.
0:33.4	Well, that's your payment.
0:36.0	So I calculated how long I'd have to work at Hermanos to make a billion dollars.
0:40.6	It's really not Hermano?
0:43.2	No, but no.
0:44.4	It's in New Hampshire.
0:46.0	It's Hermannos.
0:48.1	All right.
0:48.7	How long?
0:49.7	Nonstop.
0:50.5	No sleeping.
0:52.1	30,000 years.
	...

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