In "Plutocrats," Chrystia Freeland explores the growing gap between the working poor and the increasingly disconnected mega-rich.
Why you should listen
Author Chrystia Freeland looks under the hood of global capitalism to expose the technological, economic and structural inequalities pushing society in unforeseen directions. Along the way, she takes the temperature of a rising caste -- the super rich -- and shows how the creation of vast fortunes at the top hollow out the middle class in western industrialised countries. This rising income inequality, she argues, has a structural character, and is becoming a cultural and social issue, with consequences for social cohesion and social mobility.
Freeland began her career as an “accidental journalist” with frontline bulletins from the Ukraine in the heat of the Soviet collapse. She is now an editor at Thomson Reuters, and is frequently featured on media outlets ranging from the International Herald Tribune to The Colbert Report.
What others say
Freeland highlights the danger when a small, self-serving and self-satisfied group dominate public discourse, then seek a system tilted even more in their favour.
Chrystia Freeland’s TED Talk
More news and ideas from Chrystia Freeland
Global Issues
How to keep the plutocracy from becoming an aristocracy: A Q&A with Chrystia Freeland
September 5, 2013
Chrystia Freeland writes about the power of money. As a journalist, she examines how money shapes society, impacts politics and essentially makes the world go ‘round. In today’s talk, given at TEDGlobal 2013, Freeland tackles the growing global plutocracy, looking at how 21st century democratic capitalism is making the rich richer while pulling up the […]
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How to keep the plutocracy from becoming an aristocracy: A Q&A with Chrystia Freeland
September 5, 2013
Chrystia Freeland writes about the power of money. As a journalist, she examines how money shapes society, impacts politics and essentially makes the world go ‘round. In today’s talk, given at TEDGlobal 2013, Freeland tackles the growing global plutocracy, looking at how 21st century democratic capitalism is making the rich richer while […]
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TED News in Brief: Chrystia Freeland runs for office, Matt Damon tells a TED-related story
August 1, 2013
Chrystia Freeland, TEDGlobal 2013 speaker and the author of the book Plutocrats (read more about her talk), has announced her plan to run for political office in Toronto. She tells the Globe and Mail, “In my writing, my reporting and my thinking, I have come to feel that there is a really great challenge that […]
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