Today on the Consumerism Commentary Podcast, Jay Frosting and Luke Landes talk with Tavis Smiley, host of Tavis Smiley on PBS. With Dr. Cornel West, Tavis Smiley is the co-author of The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto. The interview in today’s podcast was scheduled to include Cornel West as well, but a court appearance prevented him from participating.
They discuss the causes and possible solutions of the growing problem of poverty in America, which Tavis says is a threat to democracy itself. Read this Consumerism Commentary article for more discussion about poverty with Tavis Smiley.
Table of contents
[00:00] Introduction from Jay Frosting
[00:33] Interview with Tavis Smiley
– [01:08] How many Americans are affected by poverty
– [04:03] Who poverty affects and why
– [06:55] The social safety net and austerity
– [10:26] The role of education
– [13:58] How to fix poverty
[18:33] End
We always welcome feedback from listeners. If you have any comments for this episode or for any other, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, please leave us comments here or email us at podcast at this domain name.
Theme music by Mindcube.
Published or updated May 11, 2012. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
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Luke Landes founded Consumerism Commentary in 2003 and has been building online communities since 1990. Luke, also known as Flexo, has contributed to PC World Magazine, US News, Forbes, and other publications. 
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Luke and Jay,
This was one of the best podcasts that Consumerism Commentary has ever produced.
It is great to see that Consumerism Commentary is bringing these issues to its visitors and listeners. Tavis Smiley has brought out issues that has been a concern for so many of us.
With so many people close to poverty, it is hard to say that our values of people having opportunity is disappearing. Tavis Smiley’s statistics and discussion shows why there are so many who are doing things that do not even seem to make financial sense.
Whew! Tavis can sure take over an interview.
Luke and Jay, this was a very insightful discussion. I don’t always agree with Mr. Smiley’s views and methods, but I certainly find value in discussing the issue of poverty today, as it affects most of us, directly or indirectly.
I 100% agree that education is no longer the great equalizer in escaping poverty. Any visit to your local shopping center can find employees teeming with degrees/certifications that are unable to find suitable work – and those are the ones who DO have jobs.
I’d love if you guys would consider a series on a selected chapter or two from the book for discussion amongst your readers.
I think a lot of people have false misconceptions about about the poor that would do well to read what is in the book. I was hoping more of the 10 lies would have been mentioned. This was a great podcast. Can’t wait to get the book to read.