As Britain today remembers Margaret Thatcher, Nicholas Jones remembers her government's assault on organized labor. Jones covered the British miners' strike of 1984-85, which Thatcher and her allies brutally suppressed. Also, Gar Alperovitz proposes ways of overcoming capitalist imperatives and elite interests.

It seems logical: if you don't have enough education your economic prospects will be diminished, while those who have a lot are able to succeed in our purportedly knowledge-based economy.  But what if that's only partially accurate? John Marsh posits that economic inequality and poverty are not causally connected to differing levels of education. He argues that we need to reject the appealing notion of education as a cure-all and look deeper at class power and structural inequality.

Inequality in our society seems somehow natural and permanent. Hence thinking about the inverse -- equality -- may be a bit of a challenge, especially if one lives in the United States. Geographer Danny Dorling discusses the myriad benefits of equality, from housing to education, physical wellbeing to the environment. He explores how societies have been made more equal in the past and explains why he supports the idea of a basic income.

The fact of glaring inequalities in income and wealth has been placed front and center by the Occupy movement. But where, in this country, does poverty reside? Margaret Weir describes the dramatically shifting geography of inequality and poverty in metropolitan areas. She highlights the suburbanization of poverty as well as the strong anti-poor bias built into local policymaking. (Encore broadcast.)

He calls the ongoing economic crisis we're in the Second Great Depression. He says the Right is wrong about US corporate taxation. David Ruccio also contends that even mainstream economic logic militates against austerity. Ruccio comments on these and other issues, including the size of the US debt and the nature of the Greek crisis.

It seems logical: if you don't have enough education your economic prospects will be diminished, while those who have a lot are able to succeed in our purportedly knowledge-based economy.  But what if that's only partially accurate? John Marsh posits that economic inequality and poverty are not causally connected to differing levels of education. He argues that we need to reject the appealing notion of education as a cure-all and look deeper at class power and structural inequality.