In our hyper-capitalist, neo-liberal world, belief in the superiority of private property and the free market verges on the religious. In the case of the Republican Party - it borders on the fundamentalist. But as powerful as the idea of the free market might be - especially here in the United States - the truth is that it's not the only way or organizing our society There is a real alternative to the endless commodification of resources and accumulation of wealth. It’s called The Commons - and my guest for tonight's Conversations with Great Minds is one of the world's foremost experts on it. Joining me now is David Bollier - Activist -Co-Founder of the Commons Strategies Group - and author numerous books - including "Think Like a Commoner: A Short Introduction to the Life of the Commons."

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

Joel D. Joseph, Made In the USA Foundation/Inequality in America: 10 Causes and 10 Cures joins Thom. The United States of America is the most unequal society in the developed world. Is that just a natural result of capitalism or is it the consequence of specific policies that have been put in place since the Reagan years?

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

Caroline Fredrickson, American Constitution Society for Law and Policy / Demos / Under the Bus: How Working Women Are Being Run Over joins Thom. More than 50 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act - the wage gap is still a fact of life in America. Why is that? And what does it have to do with our troubled history of slavery and racial discrimination?

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - we're going to take a look at Part 2 of my interview with legendary TV and film producer Norman Lear. The creative force behind some of the 20th century's most famous television shows including "The Jeffersons", "All in the Family", "Good Times" and "Sanford & Sons" - Norman is a titan of modern American culture. He’s also the founder of the People for the American Way - one of America's most influential political advocacy groups - and the author of the new book "Even this I Get to Experience."

Norman Lear, (Pt. 1) is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times, and Maude. As a political activist, he founded the advocacy organization People For the American Way in 1981 and has supported First Amendment rights and progressive causes. Shows like "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons" didn't just shatter ratings charts - they changed the way we thought about American society. Why is that - and what can that tell us about the power of socially-conscious art? I'll ask legendary television producer Norman Lear - the man behind "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons" - in tonight's Conversation with Great Minds. His new book is Even This I Get to Experience.

Peggy is the Chairperson of the Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy (the JUCCCE). She is internationally-recognized for her expertise on China's sustainability efforts - and is also an advisor to the World Economic Forum Project Board on Sustainable Consumption. Peggy has been honored as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader - a Time Magazine Hero of the Environment- a Forbes "Woman to Watch in Asia" - and one of China's top 50 innovative business leaders by China Business News Weekly. In 2007 - she organized the MIT Forum on the Future of Energy in China - which at the time was the first public dialogue between US and Chinese government officials on clean energy in China. China and the United States are the world's two biggest powers and polluters- so how important is an open dialogue between the two superpowers when it comes to combatting global warming and climate change?

For tonight's Conversations With Great Minds - we're going to take a closer look at the refugee crisis on our southern border, and the ongoing fight for comprehensive immigration reform. Since October of last year - almost 60,000 children - virtually all of them from Central American - have crossed without their parents and without documentation into the United States from Mexico. While at it's core it's a humanitarian crisis - the surge in undocumented children has rapidly become a political crisis - bringing with it new questions about how we can fix our broken immigration system. Joining me now to discuss this crisis and what the response to these children says about America today and the future of immigration reform are three leading experts on the topic. Miriam Yeung is the Co-Chair of We Belong Together Campaign: Women for Common Sense Immigration Reform, and Executive Director of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum. Oscar Chacon is the Executive Director of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities and Mary Small is the Assistant Director for Policy at the Jesuit Refugee Service USA. It’s been more than a year since the Senate passed the bipartisan immigration bill reform - and John Boehner STILL hasn't brought that bill to the floor in the House. Is immigration reform dead or is there still time left to fix our broken system?