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Friday Nite Videos -- August 22, 2014

Portside
How Economic Inequality Harms Societies. Peter Case -- House Rent Party. The Racial Wealth Gap in America. Guantanamera Around the World. The Racism of the US Criminal Justice System in 10 Charts.

How Economic Inequality Harms Societies

We feel instinctively that societies with huge income gaps are somehow going wrong. Richard Wilkinson charts the hard data on economic inequality, and shows what gets worse when rich and poor are too far apart.

Peter Case -- House Rent Party

Peter Case tells the tale of a modern day house rent party. Filmed during the Music Fog sessions at the 2010 Americana Music Festival in Nashville, TN.

The Racial Wealth Gap in America

Though the United States is one of the wealthiest countries, to many Americans this prosperity remains out of reach. Blacks and Hispanics who are striving to make a better life for themselves and their families are not given the same asset building opportunities. Full research here.

The Racism of the US Criminal Justice System in 10 Charts

The shooting of Michael Brown offers Americans yet another reminder that their criminal justice system is riddled with racial disparities. From encounters with police to prison sentences, Ferguson is another drop in a very full bucket.

The Coming Race War Won’t Be About Race

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar TIME
Kareem Abdul Jabar says that Ferguson is not just about systemic racism — it's about class warfare and how America's poor are held back

Obama Administration Calls the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby Bluff

Ian Millhiser ThinkProgress
The Obama Administration’s new rules will likely put an end to the Supreme Court’s ability to move the goalposts every time someone raises a new objection to the administration’s policy. Now, the country will have to wait to find out whether Hobby Lobby actually permits this latest set of rules — or whether the language in the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision was simply Lucy pulling away the football one more time

The Fed Should Be Meeting In Ferguson, Not Jackson Hole

Isaiah J. Poole Campaign for America's Future
The central bankers and the Ferguson residents would do well to switch places. Ferguson is actually a much better place from which to understand the consequences of the past six years of economic policies.