Check out the trailer for Robert Reich film Inequality for All

I confess to being a much bigger fan of U.S. economist Robert Reich than of any actor or musician on the planet.

That's because Reich's two recent books offer the best explanation I've found for why the North American economy seems to be perpetually on the skids.

(To be fair, economist Jeff Rubin has also weighed in with valuable insights behind the current economic malaise, as have Paul Krugman, Nouriel Roubini, Loretta Napoleoni, Linda McQuaig, and Neil Brooks.)

One of Reich's books, written after the 2008 global meltdown, is appropriately called Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future.

It provides an impressive examination of the roots of the 1929 stock-market crash, which led to the Great Depression.

Aftershock also explains why growing inequality today raises the likelihood of fascism in the future.

His follow-up, Beyond Outrage: What Has Gone Wrong with Our Economy and Our Democracy, and How to Fix It, is a handbook for citizens to counter right-wing demagogues and prevent the worst from occurring.

So you can imagine my delight when I heard that Reich, a former U.S. secretary of labor, is behind a new documentary. It's attempting to enhance economic literacy in the same way that Al Gore promoted far greater awareness of climate change.

You can see the trailer above for Reich's film, Inequality for All.

Reich will speak on Thursday (October 3) at the Orpheum Theatre as part of SFU's Community Summit on the B.C. economy.

It's too bad that his movie isn't showing in Vancouver, because my bet is that it would be playing to full houses.