Editing Greg Palast (section)

== Early life, family, and education ==

Palast was born in [[Los Angeles]], growing up in the [[San Fernando Valley]] community of [[Sun Valley, Los Angeles|Sun Valley]]. [[Geri Palast]] is his sister.

Palast said his desire to write about [[class warfare]] is rooted in his upbringing in what he describes as the "ass-end of Los Angeles," a neighborhood wedged between a power plant and a dump. He said that kids in that neighborhood had two choices: Vietnam or the auto plant. "We were the losers," he said. He was saved from the war by a favorable draft number. "A lot of people didn't make it out. Because I made it out, and my sister (Geri, a former Clinton administration assistant secretary of labor) made it out, I feel I have this obligation to tell these stories on behalf of all of those people who didn't make it out."<ref>[http://www.gregpalast.com/a-determined-voice-lost-in-the-wilderness-of-us-mass-media ''San Francisco Chronicle'', December 7, 2007]</ref>

He attended [[John H. Francis Polytechnic High School]], and transferred to San Fernando Valley State College (now [[California State University, Northridge]]) in 1969 before completing his senior year of high school. Palast said about high school: "Basically they were melting my brain, and I had to save myself. Before I finished high school, I talked my way into college. Before I finished college, I talked my way into graduate school."<ref name="current bio"/> Palast then attended the [[University of California, Los Angeles]], [[University of California, Berkeley]], and [[University of Chicago]], from which he graduated in 1974 with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] in [[economics]] and in 1976 with a [[Master's of Business Administration]]. Palast majored in economics at Chicago from the advice of a [[Weather Underground]] member he met at Berkeley who suggested Palast "familiarize himself with [[right-wing politics]] and learn about the 'ruling elite' from 'the inside.'"<ref name="current bio"/>