Green & Red: Podcasts for Scrappy Radicals How Billionaires Burn the Rest of Us w/ Author Chuck Collins (G&R 435)
Nov 4, 2025
Chuck Collins, an expert on U.S. inequality and author of "Burned by Billionaires," discusses the troubling impacts of the billionaire class on everyday life. He highlights the mechanisms of wealth concentration through political lobbying and tax avoidance, resulting in increased economic precarity. Collins connects this wealth to climate issues and the erosion of public institutions, all while billionaires manipulate media narratives. He also shares insights on growing resistance movements and potential policy responses like wealth taxes to combat the crisis.
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Billionaires Undermine Everyday Democracy
- Extreme wealth concentration damages daily life by hijacking political power and raising costs like housing and healthcare.
- Chuck Collins links billionaire power to weakened democracy, public health failures, and rising authoritarian tendencies.
Hyper-Extractive Capitalism Explained
- Wealthy investors changed rules to favor asset extraction and rent-seeking over productive business growth.
- Collins calls the current phase "hyper-extractive capitalism," where private equity squeezes hospitals, housing, and services.
Billionaires Buying Your Vet Clinic
- Chuck Collins recounts billionaires buying veterinary clinics and platforms like Rover to monetize pet care.
- He describes emergency pet care bills and private equity ownership as examples of everyday extraction.
