From the New York Times, this is the interview. I'm David Marquesie.

For more than 40 years, Robert Reich has been banging a drum about rising inequality in America.

He did it as a member of three presidential administrations, including a stint as Labor Secretary under President Clinton,

and as a revered professor at UC Berkeley, Brandeis, and Harvard.

Currently, he's talking about inequality online.

He's somewhat improbably become a new media star.

He's built a devoted audience of millions across Substack, TikTok, and Instagram.

All along, Reich has warned that inequality, in various forms, chips away at social trust,

diminishes democracy, and creates openings for populist demagogues.

That's why I wanted to talk to Reich about this political moment, which also includes

the rise of democratic

socialists who focus on income inequality, people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Zoran

Mamdani, who won New York City's Democratic mayoral primary just a few days after we first spoke.

I also wanted to talk to him about where he is personally.

He recently retired from teaching.

He's the subject of a new documentary about that called The Last Class.

And he also has a memoir coming out next month, coming up short.

At 79, he's really reckoning with the failures of his generation when it comes to

inequality and how best to correct them. Here's my conversation with Robert Reich.

Hi, Robert. How are you?

David, how are you doing?

I'm good. I'm good.

...