Gaping Inequality, The American Nightmare for Workers: Abigail Disney

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Laura and guest, Abigail Disney, ask how long can corporations sustain the “American Dream” at the expense of their workers.  Is the American Dream dead?  While most Americans are earning less than their parents and economic mobility is on the decline, the median net worth of the top 10 billionaires in the world has nearly tripled over the last decade.  Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of Roy Disney, one of the founders of Disney, discovered that some employees were earning one two-thousandth of the earnings of CEO Bob Iger.  She wrote to Iger, testified in Congress and ultimately made a film, “The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales.”  Abigail underscores the need to tax the top 1%, speaks out against corporate greed and calls out the policies and values that created such gaping inequality at Disney and across the business world.  Abigail Disney is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, and an activist. The film, co-directed with Kathleen Hughes is available for streaming now. 

“There was a woman who played Winnie the Pooh for many years . . . six days a week, who died in her car. That was really a galvanizing moment for a lot of the folks that I spoke to, because the wrongness of this was all concentrated in this one moment.” - Abigail Disney

“Absent collective bargaining, we are all subject to the tender mercies of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Collective bargaining is the only way workers have to democratically represent their own interests in the workplace.” - Abigail Disney

Guest:  Abigail Disney, Documentary Filmmaker & Social Activist; Co-Director & Producer, The American Dream & Other Fairy Tales; Founder Fork Films; Producer & Host "All Ears"

Full Show Notes are located HERE.  They include related episodes, articles, and more to dive deeper.

This podcast includes an endorsement for Best of the Left, with host Jay! Tomlinson.  We think you'll dig it too!

Music In the Middle:  “Black Fros Black Gold - All You Zombies Dig the Luminosity” by Burnt Sugar, The Arkestra Chamber from their ‘Twentieth Anniversary Mixtapes: Groiddest Schizznits, Volume 3’.

Additional Music: "Many Hands & "Steppin" by Podington Bear

Chapters (full conversation)

00:00:00  Best of the Left podcast endorsement from Laura

00:05:40 Gaping disparities between the Disney Corporation and employees at Disney theme parks; it’s personal for Abigail Disney.

00:08:43  From the founders to the current CEO, Abigail Disney investigates, and reflects on what happened

00:13:27 Shifting the status quo toward justice, civil rights, assault on unions, wage disparities, capitalism

00:21:37  Re-introduce guest & subject.

Music in the Middle: “Black Fros Black Gold - All You Zombies Dig the Luminosity” by Burnt Sugar, The Arkestra Chamber from their ‘Twentieth Anniversary Mixtapes:  Groiddest Schizznits, Volume 3’

00:24:13  Gap between have’s and have not’s, what to do? Money in politics

00:28:00  Hope for the future addressing injustices and inequities.  Raising wages vs raising taxes. Auditing, the tax code.

00:37:00  Reconstruction, shared dreams, well being and accomplishments.

00:41:00 Woke Capitalism, fruits of labor, aspirations

00:44:46  Closing commentary from Laura on history, anxiety and change

00:46:37  FIN

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