Are you short, too? I will not as short as you, but yes, I'm short. When short people came out, that Randy Newman song, people sent me 900 copies. It's very irritating. Well, I like being short. Well, I think that from an environmental standpoint, we short people are much more responsible. We take less oxygen. If everybody were our size, things would be better, don't you think?

Yes. And if not, if not we're going to bite your fucking knees. That's what I say.

That's right.

Hi, everyone from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

This is On with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher.

My guest today is Robert Reich, the former Labor Secretary, retired professor of public policy at UC Berkeley,

and author of over a dozen books, including the forthcoming memoir, Coming Up Short.

He is also Louis Swisher's favorite person on the internet, apparently.

In his book, Reich tells the story of how he was bullied relentlessly as a child for being short.

I can relate.

He didn't receive a diagnosis until he was an adult, but he suffers from Fairbanks disease,

a genetic mutation that slows bone growth, and he's only four foot 11. But some of Reich's

teachers realized how smart and ambitious he was, and they nurtured his talents. He was voted class

president at Dartmouth University, and from there he went on to Yale Law School. He eventually

got a job in, of all places, Gerald Ford's administration, and from that point on, he bounced between policy work and academia.

Along the way, he maintained a relentless focus on income inequality, money in politics,

abuse of power, and the working class. He's also got an amazing social media talent.

I'm excited to talk to him for lots of reasons.

He's a delightful person as anyone's ever spent time with him. He's got a lot to say. He has

great debates and he really is someone who is very open-minded and he's actually very genuine and

willing to debate people. And in that vein, our expert question comes from Larry

Summers, the former Secretary of Treasury, Chief Economist of the World Bank and President

...