Author and activist Chuck Collins has been on a mission to reverse income and wealth inequality by reframing historical analysis and research into personal stories that examine the gaps and gray areas between the wealthy and every else. Chuck Collins - great-grandson of the Chicago meatpacker, Oscar Mayer (yes, the Weinermobile one) - gave away his $500,000 inheritance at the age of 26, and has be
en on the front lines of progressive campaigns and policy debates for the past 30 years. From 1980s Burlington, VT with a hopeful Bernie Sanders running for mayor, to the halls of Congress defending the estate tax with Bill Gates Sr., Chuck Collins has worked behind the scenes with some of the most prominent progressive figures in modern history.
“The true stories of wealth can be told,” Collins assures us. Whether it’s reframing the discussion of free enterprise and Ayn Rand’s objectivist philosophy, or exposing the racial wealth divide as a result of the segregated creation of the American middle class, Collins works to retell the wounds of our past as an antidote to overcoming our present inequalities. Akin to the conversation around climate change, wealth and income inequality is forecast to lead the US, among other nations, into a very real socio-economic apartheid. Through a combination of razor sharp research numbers and a certain sympathy for his fellow one percenters, Chuck Collins’ personal journey and lifelong career bridges the gap, and engages the gray areas, between rich and poor. At a time where racial tensions and economic hardship are heating up, Chuck’s calm and progressive leadership guides us through the persistent polarization into empathy for both sides of the aisle, and the much needed evolution beyond them.
