By host Tom Ashbrook:

America is far and away the richest country in the world. For much of the 20th century, that wealth was widely and joyfully shared. But lately, the sharing has changed. The bottom half of the country’s households now have just 2.5 percent of the country’s wealth. The top one percent has more than a third.

Because Americans so support free markets and rich rewards to those who work hard and take risks, this new situation of growing and extreme inequality is hard to talk about at a personal level. But today we’re going to do it.

We’ve put together a roundtable of three Americans — super-rich, poor, and in the middle — to hash it out. You’re welcome, too.

Guests:

Gil Lamphere, manager of private equity funds, Managing Director of Lamphere Capital Management in New York City

Danielle Axon, Certified Registered Nurse

Roger Bailey, Operations director for a Boston area Television and Audio production facility.