Americans are more bitterly divided along political lines today than they have been in nearly a century. While the advent of social media and the shout-fests of opinionated radio and cable TV have played a role, the greatest factor driving today's political polarization is income inequality.

So says UC Berkeley Professor of Public Policy and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who argues that the erosion of the middle class - and the social contract that kept those in the middle from falling too far below - has led to a search for scapegoats, feeding the demagogues, the trolls and the sowers of division. -- YT