Bruce Judson Bruce Judson is a senior faculty fellow at the Yale School of Management and the author of "It Could Happen Here: America on the Brink," which explores the impact of extreme economic inequality and a collapsing middle class on the nation's political stability. Judson is a best-selling author, a successful entrepreneur and one of the nation's leading experts on the impact of technology on businesses. His books, which include "Go It Alone!", "HyperWars" and "NetMarketing," have focused on empowering the individual to succeed in today's business arena. Judson received his JD his MBA from the Yale. He was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Yale Journal on Regulation, as well as a senior editor of the Yale Law Journal. Bruce lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife and two daughters.

New Agenda for America: Income Inequality Threatens America’s Basic Economic and Political Systems

To mark the 80th Anniversary of the Great Crash of ‘29, we asked 15 progressive thinkers to write about lessons learned and what lies ahead. Together, their reflections constitute a New Agenda for America — a message of how the ideals of a fair society should apply to the economic and social policies of our time.

Today, we have the highest level of income inequality in our nation’s recorded history. We must address the structural flaws in our economy that created, and continue to widen, this divide. History teaches that extreme inequality leads to political instability. We cannot assume that we are…

Will Economic Inequality Lead to Terrorism? A Chilling Moment on NPR

In  a recent NPR interview, Roosevelt Institute Braintruster Bruce Judson discussed his recent book, in which he argues that a revolution is possible if Americans begin to view our economic system as illegitimate. During the discussion, a nuclear engineer called to express his fear of just such a scenario.

Last week, It Could Happen Here was the subject of a 45-minute segment of Tom Asbrook’s OnPoint, which airs nationally on NPR. To demonstrate, how inequality can divide a nation, It Could Happen Here, which is a nonfiction book, opens with a fictional scenario involving American terrorists who threaten the nation with dirty bombs demanding…

Citigroup’s A-for-effort doesn’t cut it: too big to fail institutions are too dangerous to exist

Roosevelt Institute Braintruster Bruce Judson argues that Citigroup’s talented management doesn’t cut it when the bank’s abysmal performance put the entire financial system in danger. Is it time to break up too big to fail institutions?

Recently, the WSJ ran an article titled, “Citi Management Gets Generally Good Review.” The Journal reports that an “outside review of Citigroup Inc.’s management team has concluded that it is generally in good shape,” and explains:

“The review, conducted this summer for Citigroup’s board by recruiting and consulting firm Egon Zehnder International, was triggered by the government’s stress tests of top banks last spring. Companies found to…

Glass-Steagall 2.0: The American People Deserve An Explanation

This is the second article in a three-part series on the FCIC and financial regulatory reform.

As a candidate, President Obama decried the removal of Glass-Steagall without an adequate regulatory replacement. In March 2008, speaking at Cooper Union in New York City, he said:

“..we have deregulated the financial sector and we face another crisis. A regulatory structure set up for banks in the 1930s needed to change, because the nature of business had changed. But by the time the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed in 1999, the $300 million lobbying effort that drove deregulation was more about facilitating mergers than creating an…

New Income Inequality Data: Surprising and Frightening

Never before in our nation’s history has the income gap between the rich and the rest of us been so great. Experts said that a recession should mitigate the trend. But they were wrong. Roosevelt Braintruster Bruce Judson examines what this means to our long-term political stability.

The newest economic inequality numbers, which ran counter to the expectations of almost all experts, are frightening. Yesterday, the Associated Press released an article titled, US income gap widens as poor take hit in recession. The opening paragraph of the article, based on recent census data, reads:

The recession has hit middle-income and poor families…

What’s at Stake for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission? Restoring Trust in Our Democratic Institutions

This is the first article in a three-part series on the FCIC by Roosevelt Institute Braintruster Bruce Judson.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC), which started work last week, will have a significant impact on the health of our democracy. When the FCIC completes its efforts, we will either be stronger or weaker as a nation. There is no middle ground. We must fervently hope that the Commission rises to this challenge with a comprehensive investigation. The work of the Commission is important for two reasons. First, by openly educating the public about the causes of the financial crisis, it will…

How the Wall Street Journal fudges the facts on economic inequality

Roosevelt Institute Braintruster Bruce Judson exposes the dirty little secret in the Journal’s data “analysis” — and how that manipulates the true picture of wealth and class in America today.

For anyone with even a passing familiarity with issues associated with economic inequality, The Wall Street Journal front page story last week was shocking. Its use of bad data was a misuse of this important forum. In effect, the article says that economic inequality was never really a problem, and even if it is we no longer have to worry about it. These conclusions are just plain wrong.

The Journal article effectively…