The Story Behind the Story: Michael Moran on income inequality

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – To launch “The Great Divide,” GlobalPost Special Reports dispatched correspondent Michael Moran from his home in London to this struggling city to explore the rising level of income inequality in America and the cost it carries.

Moran, a GlobalPost columnist and author of the recently published book, “The Reckoning: Debt, Democracy and the Future of American Power,” came of age here in Fairfield County, which has become one of the most unequal metropolitan areas in the United States. 

As part of GroundTruth’s video series, "the story behind the story," Moran provides his very personal take on the widening gap between the rich and the poor here, where he went to high school.

Moran takes us on a journey from the dilapidated factories and housing projects of the crumbling city of Bridgeport to the well-manicured lawns, the yacht clubs and high couture that is Greenwich.

As Moran writes, the two communities may not be far apart in terms of distance, but they are worlds apart in terms of income, education, health care and economic mobility. In fact, the level of income inequality on these two sides of the divide in Connecticut is comparable to the gap between rich and poor in Thailand.

And, as Moran explains, this rising level of income inequality is exacting a toll on Connecticut, across America and indeed, in every corner of the world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.