Our guest is Devin Fergus, the Strickland Distinguished Professor of History, Black Studies, and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri. He's written on politics, policy, and inequality in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The American Prospect, The Guardian, and so forth. He joins us to discuss his latest book, which is just out in paperback: "Land of the Fee: Hidden Costs and the Decline of the American Middle Class." This book exposes the effects that fees have on wealth redistribution, from the poor and the middle class up to wealthy corporations. It also traces the history of fees from the deregulations of the 1970s to the present day, tracking how these fees have added to the growing inequality in the US. Per The Washington Monthly: "Offers a cogent, historically grounded account of how certain fees have emerged as stealth agents of our gaping wealth disparity."
"Land of the Fee: Hidden Costs and the Decline of the American Middle Class"
