Robert B. Reich: Economics in Wonderland

Who knew that Robert Reich, the former U.S. Secretary of Labor, and a frequent commentator and debater on CNBC and The Daily Show, is also a skilled cartoonist? Anyone who watches his podcast, viewed on his Inequality Media website, that’s who. For years, Reich has taken a large sketchpad and a magic marker on speaking tours to help teach the most important topics of the day with illustrations. What do we do about student debt, social security, and gerrymandering? Every week, Reich delivers an informal lecture accompanied by a quick-draw cartoon illustrating the major points of his talk.

Economics in Wonderland is a collection of both his mini essays and the cartoons he drew to illustrate them. Read the text, follow the cartoon. Reich is well known as a tireless advocate of liberalism, and tackles the most volatile issues in our country’s uncertain future — minimum wage, voting rights, wealth distribution, war, how to talk to relatives on the other side of the political spectrum — with only a felt-tipped marker and his signature wit. Reich’s erudite talks are collected here for the first time, accompanied by his clean-line and confident cartoons, clearly explaining the consequences of the disastrous policies of global austerity with humor, insight, passion, and warmth.