Actually, this is NOT "the way the world works". Rather it is the view of an immature, confused, angry, bitter little whiner who can't always have things the way he wants. And so he whines and pouts about "YOU can't FORCE ME!!! Governments have NO RIGHT to MAKE ME!!!"
He's like a 12 year old who obnoxiously insists on getting what "I WANT" no matter what. Like most "libertarians", he's only concerned with his own wants and everyone else is "restricting my freedom of choice."
@bnannylv Your comment references nothing in this video, puts forward no logical arguments, and insults people who're advocating for your freedom and benefit. The problem is that what you do say IS logically flawed, aside from being trashy nonsense. Libertarians do not just say they want things. They earn the things they want. Statists are the ones who wish to see some profit at the expense of others. "I WANT MY FREE HEALTHCARE" "I WANT FREE SCHOOL" "I WANT RICH PEOPLE TO PAY FOR MY ROADS!" WAA
1. It's impossible for taxes to be taken from the rich and to the poor because as he explained tax breaks go to the rich. Wages have been decreasing against inflation and taxes.
2. Young people make less. No shit.
3. Unions are huge groups of people coming together for one cause. All the top individuals work for corporations.
4. Yes, Bush spent to much and allowed the banks to borrow off one another causing this hole that the Government has to fill some how. The economy needs to be watched.
@StateExempt Its not only that reagan and obama were thought to be a likely to win when they started gaining traction in the primaries they poured in the donations and now obama thinks he wont win unless he was a billion dollars to spend just mccain and he did in 08
@raizumichin most of what he says is factually correct, but i do believe he reaches the wrong conclusions and leaves out critical information that is important to the subject of which he is speaking.
@Mrinebriation I suppose leaving important info out is closer to his MO. But he gets things outright wrong from time to time too. Down to having the earth rotating in the wrong direction in his old intro. Ah, the irony.
@HowTheWorldWorks I find it ironic that when you criticised 'the paradox of choice' [10:15] you attacked the idea of redistribution of wealth yet here you seem ok if not in support of the share of income of the people at the bottom increasing at the expense of those at the top.
"income redistribution will make everyone better off, not just poor people because of how this excess choice plays us" - Barry Schwartz -- essentially on the same track as you are here.
Look at all your hate mail! You must be doing something right. Hell, you've got clueless trolls bickering with other clueless trolls who are on the same side! Keep it up-- he who has no enemies has no character.
Union donations are a problem as well, but corporate influence over our election process isn't just seen through campaign donations. Look at the debate commission, and corporate owned media.
everytime these people say white male i cringe. Anyone catch that hostile undertone? why would anyone use such a term, referring specifically to race and gender and then implying that they somehow take jobs away from minorities? That's bullshit and racist.
@ComeLeVent It sure is. But that's the typical undertone used by those who want to debunk others through racial/class based tension. It's what the Main Stream Media does and more than anyone else, Obama.
@1963danno Economics 101. You should take that again. Health Care Benefits, like anything else, has economic worth. It is a good/service. It has worth. His point was that wages have increased, along with more/better health care benefits. This adds to your overall "income". Income in itself is not just the cash you get in your check, it includes benefits, stock options, along with other things. Example: The president has an income that includes all expenses paid vacations.
It is an utter lie to say that the bottom 40% get more money back in tax refund than they pay in tax revenue. The 47% which pay no net federal income taxes are scattered throughout all income brackets, not just the bottom.
yeah yeah I bet he thinks Stockdale and reagan were right. Screw you republican/libertarian asshole. I hope i live to see the day modern bolsheviks drag scum like you into the streets and rip you to shreds! Teabag scum!
Are you speaking in real or in nominal terms? Just because an individual now makes $20,000 instead of $10,000 does not mean that individual is making more in REAL terms. Remember, real terms matter much more than nominal terms. Also I couldn't imagine transfer payments should be that large of weight in calculating income. Finaly if you would like to say the prices of consumer goods have gone down that is because the price increases from monetary policy have not yet happend as there is a timelag
i managed to get thru the first two rebuttals of reich. total nonsense, "transfer payments", and health care insurance as "income"? health care has sky rocketed genius, deductibles are as much as $2000 now, straight out of the pocket every year before seeing a single benefit, not to mention health care costs are keeping people from seeing the doctor.
reich was talking about the income level and income disparity, no one is disputing his facts. well except pseudo economists like you.
Robert Reich lied about revenues being down. Tax revenues are at 18% of GDP, the same level they've always been since world war 2. Government spending has simply increased.
While I disagree with what you've said, you've said it in a very clear, concise manner and cited sources, so I respect you for that. But yeah, I don't agree.
God, you're an poppas ass. You are so BIAS that you have compromised your objectivity and I doubt you even know it. You ignore the facts that you don't agree with. That's not to say that you don't have a few points that are valid...it's just that you're a dick. You have lost your sense of social empathy. And you really ARE a dick. Between rational asshole conservatives and idiotic bleeding-heart liberals...no wonder we are a divided nation...
So what is the economic share with "transfer payments" included? HtWW says Reich didn't cite, but then fails to even make a specific countering claim. The blacks vs. whites thing was a bit of a random ad hominem that doesn't really pertain to the economy. As far as the list of campaign contributors, there is one political party that outspends the other by many times, and well, it's not the one that the unions are supporting. I'd like to see a rebuttle on Reich, but this isn't it.
LOL, you really don't understand HTWW. The Middle class is all but vanished. There is next to no middle class jobs left. Unions have also lately been corrupted by business influence lately, they need to take a tougher stance.
This is how the economy works, as long as business is allowed to incorporate slave labor from developing nations to manufacture goods, not talking producing raw materials for sale, the world will continue to be unsustainable and the wealth/poverty gap will continue to grow.
@whitehorsejason I think you mean there "ARE" no middle class jobs left. If you learned how to write properly, people might take you a bit more seriously. Just a tip, dear.
@TheHogwartsdiva No I meant what I said, learn to read dear. There are no middle middle class jobs is very definitive. There "are" next to no middle class jobs left, meaning there is some left, but not for long is we keep heading in this direction.
Thanks for pointing out my minor grammatical error even though it does not take away from the message. HTWW has no idea on how the world works. If you have been around 30 to 50 years and you open your eyes and mind you can see what's going on.
There are some amazingly blind leaps of faith in the last 45-seconds. Guess this is the old last-word-wins-the-argument. Flesh and blood example right here: I'm making the same amount I was making 10 years ago, but my healthcare costs have exploded, my house is worthless, and I have no idea how my kids will afford college. Maybe I need a fun hobby like yours to take my mind off reality, too.
21 yrs ago I made $11.00 an hour as a floating teller at a local bank. The yr was 1990. About two weeks ago (October, 2011) I had an interview at a credit union in my area. Freedom Credit Union to be exact. The job was for a floating teller. The pay.....$10.64 per hour.
After seeing Robert Reich's points video the first thing I did was come to your channel to see what you had to say about it. I was dissappointed that I have no idea what you are talking about in this video.
this is a typical right wing attack based on fast talking. In the end the conclusion is that no one is going to inveest ifthey do not know what their tax rates will be .... but no one ever knows that for sure, and over the last 20 years those rates have all gone down, and taken the economy with it.
I have watched 5 of these right wing attacks on Reich, and none of them make sense, they are use this fast talking goobledygook to confuse people while using disproven slogans.from the right wing.
if you are just going to judge life by how low your taxes are there is no reasonable argument or facts that will get to you ... like the kid with the marshmallow who has to eat the marshmallow before the adult comes back with two you are appealing to the infantile nature of Republicans ... sure, get some cash now while the economy goes down the the drain ... not very sensible.
@justgivemethetruth I don't judge life on how low taxes are. I don't understand what your analogy is saying. Also please stop using the word 'Republican" like it matters. I am not a Republican, I'm a Libertarian.
That is always what the most far right Republicans say. You just do not get it, the Libertarian party is like the TEA Party, another wing of the Republican party, you have been marketed.
You are making a bunch of assumptions based on nothing.
You are also supporting the corrupt cost of living numbers.
Just because a person gets economically stronger over their lives does not mean their full economy curve integrated as a share of the economy is going up.
not really, he is setting of the framing to allow you and other right wingers to jump to conclusions as you have been doing for quite a while now ... it's not working very well for most Americans, and most Republicans if the truth be told.
@justgivemethetruth As I said, it doesn't matter if we lower taxes, we have to lower spending. That is the flip side of this coin. The one that people hate and they vote out anyone who cuts anything. The sad thing is that you can't spell America without "me". Entitlements are a cancer on this nation.
@Domophobia Because 50% of Americans don't pay ANY income tax to the federal government, also because we are 14 trillion dollars in debt. We could always print more....... oh wait, we can't.
@quetzalel Because he doesn't want to. That's like saying that if you know anything about politics you should run for office, he likes his job and the White house life isn't something he thinks he would enjoy.
Robert's graphical visualization CLEARLY shows how the RICH received tax breaks = Rich were given taxes dollars taken from middle class. There4 Richer income GREW while middle class income remained flat. Labor is not in top 10. Big Oil, Banks, Insurance ,Infrastructure, & Defense rule top 10 Lobbying. The Middle class don't benifit from capitol gains, the rich do. Every point U made was false, U should be embarrassed to spew lies online. Y
@rstacie08 If they're receiving tax breaks how are they taking from the middle class? Also, could you cite your source for where you got your top ten list?
sooooooooo what are you trying to prove? that there is nothing wrong with the economy? that corporate greed does not exist at all ? that this economic situations is all just a bunch of accidents caused by the crabpeople ?
Wait, you're suggesting Labor contributes to campaigns more than Business? In 2009-2010 Business contributed $1.3B vs. $96M from Labor (source opensecrets-dot-org).
You are absolutely correct about the difference between private and public unions. This is why I wish the labor movement would now focus all its attention on rebuilding private unions. The ruthlessness of private employers in crushing unionization efforts is what needs to be stopped more than anything else, and I'm willing to go as far as to advocate criminal incarceration for employers guilty of ILLEGAL union-busting tactics.
One of the biggest moral failings of the post-Reaganite economy, IMNSHO, is the indisputable fact that millions of middle-aged workers ended up being pushed from unionized, high-wage manufacturing jobs into non-unionized, low-wage service jobs. The shift to a service sector was an economic inevitability; the failure of union representation to follow suit into the service sector was not. That was almost certainly caused by a resurgence in brutally anti-union political and business attitudes.
I don't find this argument very convincing for a number of reasons, but comment space is limited. Let me just comment on 1:47. The thing you're missing here is historical trends. If you track individuals from DIFFERENT GENERATIONS over the course of their lives, you'll find that the there's a widening gap in upward mobility among each generation's workforce; a few young workers today get huge pay raises as their career progresses but many promotions come with a meager pay raise.
@KarlBonner1982 - You missed a spot there: more compensation comes in the form of pensions and medical benefits - not income. This does not mean that overall "pay" for the same work has become more stratified.
I get why poor whites go Repub, it's a simple wish to belong with the popular kids, the mega rich. They know they are poor, but, they don't wanna be associated with what they perceive as the ultimate gutter, African-Americans. It's racism, xenophobia, combined with manipulations by the rich. Thomas Sowell, has a similar form of "rich mans fever" He noticed that he could make money when he crapped on the poor. Most blacks don't have the stomach for that.
@TheSteelGeneraI Tax cuts mean lowering taxation on someone, not forcing someone else to pay for them (of course if you cut taxes, you should also cut spending). Taxation itself, however, is forcing people to pay for something at gunpoint, essentially.
Yah right. Wait, soooo because before, 1000 white people owned 40 percent of America, but now it's 400 Whites and 200 Chinese, there's no problem? This makes no sense.
See, this is the problem with ALL rightwingers: you can't deal with large numbers, so you come up with BULLCRAP like: But ooooh my ONE neighbor used to be poor but now he's rich!!
The problem is of course, that 10 others have barely increased, or have impoverished.
Basic logic eludes you. You should teach at Fait-Based Uni.
This one is hilarious: a "group of people have become soooo much richer" Around 2:29. you conveniently forget to mention that A FAR LARGER LARGER GROUP OF PEOPLE HAVE BECOME POORER.
Your whole reasoning falls flat because the income gap has become HUGELY wider. And if you think that it doesn't matter that the rich get twice as rich while you get just a 3 percent increase, look at the state of classrooms, roads, bridges, OVERWORKED POLICE.
this guy is a Corparate Tool. He makes money this way!
I don't understand how people find those individuals who live in mansions and make a ton of money pure evil. I mean, they make it sound like CEOs are Satans minions, when there are far more evil things humans can do than be rich.
@TheReviewer777 Yeah, I don't understand why people do that too. Considering that most CEO's work 60+ hour weeks. Somehow people don't realize that most CEO's don't have a life outside of being CEO.
@dkchen Yah I also don't get that. Teachers, policemen are so lazy, they only work 50 hour weeks, earning 30,000 50,000 dollars per year. Those extra 10 hours that billionaires work fully deserves them the extra 2 million or so that they get.
I mean, a billionaire works ten thousand times as hard as a cop, right? He also spend ten thousand times more hours on his job, so his millions are fully deserved.
@TheSteelGeneraI loL, when did I ever say that Teachers or policemen are lazy? So you don't think that a person who works their whole life to create a product should deserve his millions? On the side of that having to work and compete with other products? Hey I work hard to run my business, but there are people out there thinking its unfair that I worked hard and smart to sell a good product. You are basically saying that smart entrepreneurs who create jobs is evil.
@HowTheWorldWorks Lee, I've been trying to find the FULL debate between you and TheAmazingAtheist, and I can't find it anywhere. Do you know where it is?
@riderpoet Economics and social issues are two different battles, of course the battle between liberals and conservatives on social issues is real but when it comes to economics both parties are bought by corporations. The problem with American politics is the deeply rooted practices of loopholes and corporate interests. Without a real revolution the same shit is going to keep happening until WW3.
Crap. Democrats want to LIMIT corporate influence, Repubes wanna INCREASE IT EVEN MORE! What we have witnessed in the last 30 years is A CORPORATE TAKE OVER. Like all succesfull revolutions, they bought the media first. First, with the media savy Reagan, who convinced us that GOVT is evil, then with the Media Conglomerate.
@Goldni8372 I agree!!! it's the damn unions that force the corporations profit to drop from 20 billion to 19 billion!! I mean who would take that? I mean, who's gonna fund their 3rd yacht, 4th house, 12th Lexus?
SOMEONES gotta pay!
I mean, it;s not like Millionaires OWE America ANYTHING. the stable environment, the laws, the roads, the educated workers, that you grew up together sometimes. Means nothing, I say. Let's go Chinese, MUCH nicer people!
please address the gini index which proves that the middle class is vanishing, not bracket shifting.
also, the change in income as people age is a red herring. it is irrelevant to any point in the current discussion. You clearly have no understanding of analyses of cross-sectional panel data or longitudinal data, for that matter.
it also doesn't matter if who is in the top 1% at any point in time changes from time to time. The degree of influence one has isn't categorical, but continuous
My only question is when you say the middle class wages are increasing are you factoring in inflation? Seems you are based on yoru hours worked per item consumed comparison but it's a good point to verify.
The world works on exchange of added value, that is consumed, or equvalent exchange for goods and services to be consumed. The problem with US economy, is that it doesn`t manufacture meaningful items, that they want to consume leading to trade imbalances, forcing the government to borrow. And it is a result of delapidating the backbone of complex manufacturing- electronics, industrial robots, consumer electronics, you name it- US doesn`t make it!
@unatics This is not the ONLY problem the US has. The problem is that the US/Republicans have no sense of solidarity with each other. Hence 'states rights'
Why is Germany/Europe doing so much better? Because they stick out for one another. in the usa, private vs collective is a ridiculous 99,3 % vs 0.7 % Obama, the poor sod wants to increase that to 1.3% which is demonised as communistic socilialistic nazism.
@TheSteelGeneraI Democrat here, Have you READ the Constitution. States rights was a LARGE part of the Constitution. Congress was never meant to be more than a PART TIME JOB for the people elected to REPRESENT US in Congress. The people YOU elect are NOT your Leaders... They are YOUR EMPLOYEES.
The problem with free speech is these pampered babies that have no life experiences whatsoever other than what can be paid for have a right too spread there jargon and bullshit all over the world. Unfotunatly they get theough too a few people and it keeps alot of us from evolving our ideas and intelligence.
@HowTheWorldWorks Then know this, Mr. Hobby: The real political battle in America isn't between liberal and conservative. That's just a red herring, designed to distract us. The real political battle is the super rich and their corporations, vs We the People for control of our government. The federal government has been bought and owned by big money, (the Citizen's United verdict is both proof and means of this) and congress now works for monied interests, not Americans'. Pick a side.
@TheSteelGeneraI He didn't say he didn't get any kind of compensation, hobby merely implies a primary reason for him doing it is his own pleasure. I'm pretty sure he'd be in jail if he didn't pay taxes.
This is pretty dumb. There isn't room in this youtube comment to explain why the statistics he uses are nonsense, but keep this in mind any time you see conservatives give statistics - averages across the whole population are misleading (any honest statistician uses the median) and any figure showing economic growth does not imply an increase in real income for most Americans.
Conservatives do not have reality on their side - it's why they appeal to "common sense."
What the hell does Robert Reich know about economics? I mean, he's only Chancellor's Professor at UC Berkley, and served in only three presidential cabinets. It's obvious Reich is hiding behind hyperbole to cloud the fact that he knows little to nothing about economics. Thanks for posting this. You have really solidified my opinion.
@Maxwerm hey, didn't you know that Lee has a tenured professor position at Pat Robertsons Faith Based Business school? Only the bible is required reading.
The usual republican gobbeldygook - rebutting a clear picture of the big/real picture with minutia and redirection to arcane incidentals that have no bearing on the statements they are supposed to be rebutting. This guy is arguing against his own PRESUMPTIONS, not against what was actually said.
The old syntactic trick (why accuse only the right wing when ZEALOTS of all stripe are guilty) of using misdirection and "rephrasing" of a statement to AVOID substantive rebuttal to it.
Wages have not kept up with inflation but people have maintained a decent lifestyle because goods are now made in Asia. Increased credit has also helped. But this only works in a growing economy, which is why this dream is over - time to take the pain. Without real earnings the economy suffers. I disagree with your claim about the top 1% just because their income decreased by 25%. There is still a disparity of a small minority owning most wealth, even if it alters. (cont)
@RockingMrE Furthermore 2% own 50% of wealth, another disparity to add to the mix. Also, you only need to look at media influence and FED bailouts to see where power is truly concentrated.
@BorgKing001 Crony Capitalism serving elites above all is not a free market - that's what's wrong with it. In a truly free market such a disparity would never exist. I'm all for Capitalism, as long as it doesn't serve the oligarchs first and foremost, which is what we have now with all these bailouts keeping failed businesses afloat. It's a flaw of the system if coroprations were allowed to amass such wealth that they were too big to fail. Failing businesses are what drives competitive.
@BorgKing001 Ever since the tax cuts instituted by Reagan, median income for the bottom 90% has been stagnant, only increasing by ~1% (when adjusted for inflation, of course). In the thirty years before Reagan, the bottom 90% saw an increase of 75% in median real income. Widening of the wealth gap has always been directly associated with stagnant income for the vast majority of the population.
Most wealthy people were born to wealthy parents; they aren't creating jobs.
@treysparker Well that is just stupid. A miner will have a broken body and health at 60, because of the hard work, a man working as a manager won't, at least not because of his work. The manager may be smarter and more ambitious, but he is in no way working harder. Oh and guess who makes more money.
As a tax accountant only can I answer. If you are rich and have a business and hire a worker that you don't really need just to lower taxable income (a common tax planning tool) and your tax rate decreases, your need to shelter profit from high tax rates diminishes. You get rid of the marginal worker. Since most of your marginal workers are low income/no benefits/bottom 90% to begin with, their income decreases. I see it all the time in my practice.
@treysparker Historically, speaking in all caps has only worked for Billy Mayes. For everyone else, it just derides your intelligence.
When an employer doesn't have enough money to go around, he must decrease his and his employee's income, or lay people off. If minimum wage doesn't allow an income decrease, you lay people off.
When an employer DOES have money to go around, he can afford to give himself and his employees raises, as well as hire more workers.
@treysparker So why don't employers just give themselves the money? Well, the higher up in a business you are (and similarly, the smaller the business), the more directly concerned you are for your business's success. Giving yourself more income, if you have control of it, instead of increasing staff or inventory is a pretty terrible idea if you're trying to beat out the competition.
For the sake of those around you, please research and think your opinions through before speaking.
@treysparker Lower revenue for the government means reduced wages and benefits for public sector workers as well as less government jobs. This increases the supply of workers available in the private sector as well as decreases their expectations. Does this make sense to you?
@treysparker There's no need to speculate - just look at past data. Tax rates were much higher from around 1940-1980 or so, and the median income of the bottom 90% increased by 75% (from 1950-1980). Highest tier tax rates have been low ever since Reagan - never higher than ~35%, while rates ranged from 58% to 90% during 1940-1980. Ever since Reagan, the median income has been stagnant.
The reason: Lower top tier tax rates = less money for social programs, which hurts the poor/middle class
Figures don't lie, but people do. Statistics can not be eloquent by itself. The person who interprets the figures is the main factor determining whether or not the analysis is accurate. Reading books and searching for references is just the ABC of a good analysis. Observation is also very important, but when you observe the reality you may be tempted to ignore some aspects, just because YOU think that they are not important. There is a dose of subjectivity in any analysis dealing with social sc
I really want to see you in a debate with my high school philosophy teacher Ray Linn, writer of the "A teacher's introduction to postmodernism" (if you google his name, he's the guy with the red hat)
Actually, this is NOT "the way the world works". Rather it is the view of an immature, confused, angry, bitter little whiner who can't always have things the way he wants. And so he whines and pouts about "YOU can't FORCE ME!!! Governments have NO RIGHT to MAKE ME!!!"
He's like a 12 year old who obnoxiously insists on getting what "I WANT" no matter what. Like most "libertarians", he's only concerned with his own wants and everyone else is "restricting my freedom of choice."
What a loser.
bnannylv 1 week ago
@bnannylv Your comment references nothing in this video, puts forward no logical arguments, and insults people who're advocating for your freedom and benefit. The problem is that what you do say IS logically flawed, aside from being trashy nonsense. Libertarians do not just say they want things. They earn the things they want. Statists are the ones who wish to see some profit at the expense of others. "I WANT MY FREE HEALTHCARE" "I WANT FREE SCHOOL" "I WANT RICH PEOPLE TO PAY FOR MY ROADS!" WAA
clemonsx90 2 days ago
*clap clap clap*
That is all.
Patience1138 1 week ago
1. It's impossible for taxes to be taken from the rich and to the poor because as he explained tax breaks go to the rich. Wages have been decreasing against inflation and taxes.
2. Young people make less. No shit.
3. Unions are huge groups of people coming together for one cause. All the top individuals work for corporations.
4. Yes, Bush spent to much and allowed the banks to borrow off one another causing this hole that the Government has to fill some how. The economy needs to be watched.
HobbsO 2 weeks ago
take your time next time, this makes no sense
dreamihad 3 weeks ago
You made some important points, but you far from debunked what he said.
MrPizzapoika 1 month ago in playlist Lisää videoita käyttäjältä HowTheWorldWorks
the money politics chart you showed is wrong. go to opensecretsDOTcom for Facts on lobbying
Mrinebriation 1 month ago
@Mrinebriation - I learned a lot from that site. Like the fact that most donors from the financial sector are supporting Obama for 2012.
StateExempt 1 month ago
@StateExempt true and they did the same with clinton and bush and bush senior and reagan.
Mrinebriation 1 month ago
@Mrinebriation - It all depends on who will give the greatest return on their "investment."
I suspect any candidate that speaks out against bailouts will see their campaign budget diminished for this reason.
StateExempt 1 month ago
@StateExempt Its not only that reagan and obama were thought to be a likely to win when they started gaining traction in the primaries they poured in the donations and now obama thinks he wont win unless he was a billion dollars to spend just mccain and he did in 08
Mrinebriation 1 month ago
@Mrinebriation Nothing new then, everything this guy says is usually wrong.
raizumichin 1 month ago
@raizumichin most of what he says is factually correct, but i do believe he reaches the wrong conclusions and leaves out critical information that is important to the subject of which he is speaking.
Mrinebriation 1 month ago
@Mrinebriation I suppose leaving important info out is closer to his MO. But he gets things outright wrong from time to time too. Down to having the earth rotating in the wrong direction in his old intro. Ah, the irony.
raizumichin 1 month ago
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TWSceptic 1 month ago
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TWSceptic 1 month ago
546 people are ignorant.
TWSceptic 1 month ago
That's really not how the world works...Hahaha. This guy is in LaLa Land.
Trev10Brink 1 month ago
@Trev10Brink Strong rebuttal.
llcoolray3000 1 month ago
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TWSceptic 1 month ago
"To the best of my knowledge....I have to assume...." This guy doesn't stand up to scrutiny either.
Trev10Brink 1 month ago
@HowTheWorldWorks I find it ironic that when you criticised 'the paradox of choice' [10:15] you attacked the idea of redistribution of wealth yet here you seem ok if not in support of the share of income of the people at the bottom increasing at the expense of those at the top.
"income redistribution will make everyone better off, not just poor people because of how this excess choice plays us" - Barry Schwartz -- essentially on the same track as you are here.
Oblivionplayer12345 1 month ago
Look at all your hate mail! You must be doing something right. Hell, you've got clueless trolls bickering with other clueless trolls who are on the same side! Keep it up-- he who has no enemies has no character.
fleetcenturion 1 month ago
Union donations are a problem as well, but corporate influence over our election process isn't just seen through campaign donations. Look at the debate commission, and corporate owned media.
PhysicallyMental 1 month ago
@1963danno Then why are you asking "You include health care benefits in wage increases,really?????" Obviously you aren't Sherlock you dumb fuck.
chuck3668831 1 month ago
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@1963danno Then why were you asking "you add health benefits really?????" Get a clue you fuckin retard.
chuck3668831 1 month ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@1963danno Then why were you asking "you add health benefits really?????" Get a clue you fuckin retard.
chuck3668831 1 month ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@1963danno Then why were you asking "you add health benefits really?????" Get a clue you fuckin retard.
chuck3668831 1 month ago
@1963danno Then why were you asking "you add health benefits really?????" Get a clue you fuckin retard.
chuck3668831 1 month ago
@1963danno Health care is a bill. So if you are getting Health benefits it costs money and therefore counts as money to you.
chuck3668831 1 month ago in playlist Top Videos HowTheWorldWorks
You were the perfect guy for this video. You just exude untrustworthiness :)
poolehart 1 month ago
everytime these people say white male i cringe. Anyone catch that hostile undertone? why would anyone use such a term, referring specifically to race and gender and then implying that they somehow take jobs away from minorities? That's bullshit and racist.
ComeLeVent 1 month ago in playlist Top Videos HowTheWorldWorks
@ComeLeVent It sure is. But that's the typical undertone used by those who want to debunk others through racial/class based tension. It's what the Main Stream Media does and more than anyone else, Obama.
loveisamistake 1 month ago
@1963danno Economics 101. You should take that again. Health Care Benefits, like anything else, has economic worth. It is a good/service. It has worth. His point was that wages have increased, along with more/better health care benefits. This adds to your overall "income". Income in itself is not just the cash you get in your check, it includes benefits, stock options, along with other things. Example: The president has an income that includes all expenses paid vacations.
loveisamistake 1 month ago in playlist More videos from HowTheWorldWorks
It is an utter lie to say that the bottom 40% get more money back in tax refund than they pay in tax revenue. The 47% which pay no net federal income taxes are scattered throughout all income brackets, not just the bottom.
thehipi 2 months ago
You made your stupidity so obvious in this video, you should delete it, I'm ashamed by you.
sdfsdfs13 2 months ago
yeah yeah I bet he thinks Stockdale and reagan were right. Screw you republican/libertarian asshole. I hope i live to see the day modern bolsheviks drag scum like you into the streets and rip you to shreds! Teabag scum!
fourtwentymuleteam 3 months ago
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WeejeeTube 3 months ago
Are you speaking in real or in nominal terms? Just because an individual now makes $20,000 instead of $10,000 does not mean that individual is making more in REAL terms. Remember, real terms matter much more than nominal terms. Also I couldn't imagine transfer payments should be that large of weight in calculating income. Finaly if you would like to say the prices of consumer goods have gone down that is because the price increases from monetary policy have not yet happend as there is a timelag
bpolley0 3 months ago
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bpolley0 3 months ago
i managed to get thru the first two rebuttals of reich. total nonsense, "transfer payments", and health care insurance as "income"? health care has sky rocketed genius, deductibles are as much as $2000 now, straight out of the pocket every year before seeing a single benefit, not to mention health care costs are keeping people from seeing the doctor.
reich was talking about the income level and income disparity, no one is disputing his facts. well except pseudo economists like you.
tomitstube 3 months ago
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tomitstube 3 months ago
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tomitstube 3 months ago
Robert Reich lied about revenues being down. Tax revenues are at 18% of GDP, the same level they've always been since world war 2. Government spending has simply increased.
curtastic 3 months ago
While I disagree with what you've said, you've said it in a very clear, concise manner and cited sources, so I respect you for that. But yeah, I don't agree.
Vintus 3 months ago
@Vintus what a bunch of right- wing BS. We tried that stuff for 12 years .
eovid 3 months ago
God, you're an poppas ass. You are so BIAS that you have compromised your objectivity and I doubt you even know it. You ignore the facts that you don't agree with. That's not to say that you don't have a few points that are valid...it's just that you're a dick. You have lost your sense of social empathy. And you really ARE a dick. Between rational asshole conservatives and idiotic bleeding-heart liberals...no wonder we are a divided nation...
Screw this, let's have a civil war...
LordWombaticus 4 months ago
So what is the economic share with "transfer payments" included? HtWW says Reich didn't cite, but then fails to even make a specific countering claim. The blacks vs. whites thing was a bit of a random ad hominem that doesn't really pertain to the economy. As far as the list of campaign contributors, there is one political party that outspends the other by many times, and well, it's not the one that the unions are supporting. I'd like to see a rebuttle on Reich, but this isn't it.
HughWalenski 4 months ago
Here's where Reich might have gotten point one:
cbo.gov/ftpdocs/124xx/doc12485/10-25-HouseholdIncome.pdf
ArtisticSpaz 4 months ago
LOL, you really don't understand HTWW. The Middle class is all but vanished. There is next to no middle class jobs left. Unions have also lately been corrupted by business influence lately, they need to take a tougher stance.
This is how the economy works, as long as business is allowed to incorporate slave labor from developing nations to manufacture goods, not talking producing raw materials for sale, the world will continue to be unsustainable and the wealth/poverty gap will continue to grow.
whitehorsejason 4 months ago
@whitehorsejason I think you mean there "ARE" no middle class jobs left. If you learned how to write properly, people might take you a bit more seriously. Just a tip, dear.
TheHogwartsdiva 4 months ago
@TheHogwartsdiva No I meant what I said, learn to read dear. There are no middle middle class jobs is very definitive. There "are" next to no middle class jobs left, meaning there is some left, but not for long is we keep heading in this direction.
Thanks for pointing out my minor grammatical error even though it does not take away from the message. HTWW has no idea on how the world works. If you have been around 30 to 50 years and you open your eyes and mind you can see what's going on.
whitehorsejason 4 months ago
Brilliant.
Nunchucks67 4 months ago
Yet another privileged guy crying about how hard he has it. Boo Hoo.
I don't know how you guys can look at yourselves in the mirror in the morning.
ardee1980 4 months ago
1: At 1:16, does he say 40% or 14%? And what percentage of their income is represented by tax credits and healthcare benefits?
TheMightyFiction 4 months ago
There are some amazingly blind leaps of faith in the last 45-seconds. Guess this is the old last-word-wins-the-argument. Flesh and blood example right here: I'm making the same amount I was making 10 years ago, but my healthcare costs have exploded, my house is worthless, and I have no idea how my kids will afford college. Maybe I need a fun hobby like yours to take my mind off reality, too.
onetruefish 4 months ago
21 yrs ago I made $11.00 an hour as a floating teller at a local bank. The yr was 1990. About two weeks ago (October, 2011) I had an interview at a credit union in my area. Freedom Credit Union to be exact. The job was for a floating teller. The pay.....$10.64 per hour.
MsOxygengirl 4 months ago
After seeing Robert Reich's points video the first thing I did was come to your channel to see what you had to say about it. I was dissappointed that I have no idea what you are talking about in this video.
Also, 3:54 "incredibly erotic?"
Kiwirnango 4 months ago
great rebuttal. minor point: wish the audio didn't go out-of-sync half way through
BabyEater9000 4 months ago
this is a typical right wing attack based on fast talking. In the end the conclusion is that no one is going to inveest ifthey do not know what their tax rates will be .... but no one ever knows that for sure, and over the last 20 years those rates have all gone down, and taken the economy with it.
I have watched 5 of these right wing attacks on Reich, and none of them make sense, they are use this fast talking goobledygook to confuse people while using disproven slogans.from the right wing.
justgivemethetruth 4 months ago
@justgivemethetruth Oh my god taxes have gone down!!! EVERYONE CELBRATE!!!
It doesn't matter if taxes go down, unless spending decreases with it.
You also missed the second part of his conclusion, "regulations".
Sounds good "in theory" however in practice has never worked.
albania614 4 months ago
@albania614
if you are just going to judge life by how low your taxes are there is no reasonable argument or facts that will get to you ... like the kid with the marshmallow who has to eat the marshmallow before the adult comes back with two you are appealing to the infantile nature of Republicans ... sure, get some cash now while the economy goes down the the drain ... not very sensible.
justgivemethetruth 4 months ago
@justgivemethetruth I don't judge life on how low taxes are. I don't understand what your analogy is saying. Also please stop using the word 'Republican" like it matters. I am not a Republican, I'm a Libertarian.
albania614 4 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@albania614
>> I am not a Republican, I'm a Libertarian.
That is always what the most far right Republicans say. You just do not get it, the Libertarian party is like the TEA Party, another wing of the Republican party, you have been marketed.
justgivemethetruth 4 months ago
You are making a bunch of assumptions based on nothing.
You are also supporting the corrupt cost of living numbers.
Just because a person gets economically stronger over their lives does not mean their full economy curve integrated as a share of the economy is going up.
This is fast talking lies.
justgivemethetruth 4 months ago
@justgivemethetruth You didn't looked at any of his sources did you?
He is not making "assumptions" he is stating econamic fact.
albania614 4 months ago
@albania614
not really, he is setting of the framing to allow you and other right wingers to jump to conclusions as you have been doing for quite a while now ... it's not working very well for most Americans, and most Republicans if the truth be told.
justgivemethetruth 4 months ago
@justgivemethetruth As I said, it doesn't matter if we lower taxes, we have to lower spending. That is the flip side of this coin. The one that people hate and they vote out anyone who cuts anything. The sad thing is that you can't spell America without "me". Entitlements are a cancer on this nation.
albania614 4 months ago
@justgivemethetruth what conclusion do you mean?
albania614 4 months ago
@albania614 He is not stating fact, merely point of view. There are a lot of factors which he chooses to ignore.
whitehorsejason 4 months ago
@whitehorsejason What are the factors he ignores? please tell me them so I can prove your wrong.
albania614 4 months ago
@justgivemethetruth
Well said.
xaxjx88 4 months ago
The monetary system is the problem. We need a Resource Based Economy. Youtube for "Zeitgeist Moving Forward".
boumar19721972 4 months ago
"We have deficits because we spend too much money." Okay... why is there not enough money?
Domophobia 5 months ago
@Domophobia Because 50% of Americans don't pay ANY income tax to the federal government, also because we are 14 trillion dollars in debt. We could always print more....... oh wait, we can't.
albania614 4 months ago
Wages have fallen every since we gotten off the Gold Standard in the 1970s.
nacholibre48 5 months ago
So then if you know how the world works, why don't you run for office....hmm and that's how you work..
quetzalel 5 months ago
@quetzalel Because he doesn't want to. That's like saying that if you know anything about politics you should run for office, he likes his job and the White house life isn't something he thinks he would enjoy.
007chucknorris007 5 months ago
@ 0:08 Not that wages have become stagnant-NO that wages when adjusted for inflation, the don't amount to squat!
quetzalel 5 months ago
Robert's graphical visualization CLEARLY shows how the RICH received tax breaks = Rich were given taxes dollars taken from middle class. There4 Richer income GREW while middle class income remained flat. Labor is not in top 10. Big Oil, Banks, Insurance ,Infrastructure, & Defense rule top 10 Lobbying. The Middle class don't benifit from capitol gains, the rich do. Every point U made was false, U should be embarrassed to spew lies online. Y
rstacie08 5 months ago
@rstacie08 If they're receiving tax breaks how are they taking from the middle class? Also, could you cite your source for where you got your top ten list?
007chucknorris007 5 months ago
sooooooooo what are you trying to prove? that there is nothing wrong with the economy? that corporate greed does not exist at all ? that this economic situations is all just a bunch of accidents caused by the crabpeople ?
taproot12 5 months ago
This guy get's laid. A lot.
Horde4th3win 5 months ago
@Horde4th3win He fucks on the first date.
Tsicar 5 months ago
Wait, you're suggesting Labor contributes to campaigns more than Business? In 2009-2010 Business contributed $1.3B vs. $96M from Labor (source opensecrets-dot-org).
tomalesbay 5 months ago
you don't have enough sources to support your why baby so called FACTS.
Wolf15r 6 months ago
You are absolutely correct about the difference between private and public unions. This is why I wish the labor movement would now focus all its attention on rebuilding private unions. The ruthlessness of private employers in crushing unionization efforts is what needs to be stopped more than anything else, and I'm willing to go as far as to advocate criminal incarceration for employers guilty of ILLEGAL union-busting tactics.
KarlBonner1982 6 months ago
One of the biggest moral failings of the post-Reaganite economy, IMNSHO, is the indisputable fact that millions of middle-aged workers ended up being pushed from unionized, high-wage manufacturing jobs into non-unionized, low-wage service jobs. The shift to a service sector was an economic inevitability; the failure of union representation to follow suit into the service sector was not. That was almost certainly caused by a resurgence in brutally anti-union political and business attitudes.
KarlBonner1982 6 months ago
I don't find this argument very convincing for a number of reasons, but comment space is limited. Let me just comment on 1:47. The thing you're missing here is historical trends. If you track individuals from DIFFERENT GENERATIONS over the course of their lives, you'll find that the there's a widening gap in upward mobility among each generation's workforce; a few young workers today get huge pay raises as their career progresses but many promotions come with a meager pay raise.
KarlBonner1982 6 months ago
@KarlBonner1982 - You missed a spot there: more compensation comes in the form of pensions and medical benefits - not income. This does not mean that overall "pay" for the same work has become more stratified.
StateExempt 5 months ago
I get why poor whites go Repub, it's a simple wish to belong with the popular kids, the mega rich. They know they are poor, but, they don't wanna be associated with what they perceive as the ultimate gutter, African-Americans. It's racism, xenophobia, combined with manipulations by the rich. Thomas Sowell, has a similar form of "rich mans fever" He noticed that he could make money when he crapped on the poor. Most blacks don't have the stomach for that.
TheSteelGeneraI 6 months ago
It's tempting to speculate about the mindset of those middle classers or poor that defend and support the transfer of wealth to the mega rich.
Are you gamblers, thinking that one day, you'll be rich too?
Do you have a slave mentality which tells you that the rich must always BE right because they are rich? (Warren Buffet? Obama?)
Are you opportunists, simply going with who's in power now?
TheSteelGeneraI 6 months ago
You don't have to believe me: re-allocation of wealth from rich to poor works ALREADY quite well in Canada, Europe, Japan, Costa Rica.
America's BIGGEST problem is the HUMONGOUS income+wealth inequality.
Canada/Europe does that MUCH better. Sweden just LOOKS much better than the US, and they haven't even got oil.
What you want is Mexico and Somalia
But I love how you wanna steal from the poor to give to rich. It's a stable system, I admit, because the poor have not much power.
TheSteelGeneraI 6 months ago
@TheSteelGeneraI Somalia had a socialist state that ultimately collapsed, Mexico is a corporatist sack of crap. Who here wants to steal anything?
1000g2g3g4g800999 5 months ago
Also a screamer:
Public unions have the government on their site! Ooooh sooo unfairl
Well, private unions have Big Corp on their side, with vast amounts of money, like the KOKE brothers, who completely financed the Teaparty.
You're a big hypocrite, because you want my money to pay for Defense and taxcuts to BILLIONAIRES, but you don't wanna help AMERICANS get healthy.
Basic diff:
We wanna help the weak, you wanna help the rich.
TheSteelGeneraI 6 months ago
@TheSteelGeneraI Tax cuts mean lowering taxation on someone, not forcing someone else to pay for them (of course if you cut taxes, you should also cut spending). Taxation itself, however, is forcing people to pay for something at gunpoint, essentially.
1000g2g3g4g800999 5 months ago
Yah right. Wait, soooo because before, 1000 white people owned 40 percent of America, but now it's 400 Whites and 200 Chinese, there's no problem? This makes no sense.
See, this is the problem with ALL rightwingers: you can't deal with large numbers, so you come up with BULLCRAP like: But ooooh my ONE neighbor used to be poor but now he's rich!!
The problem is of course, that 10 others have barely increased, or have impoverished.
Basic logic eludes you. You should teach at Fait-Based Uni.
TheSteelGeneraI 6 months ago
This one is hilarious: a "group of people have become soooo much richer" Around 2:29. you conveniently forget to mention that A FAR LARGER LARGER GROUP OF PEOPLE HAVE BECOME POORER.
Your whole reasoning falls flat because the income gap has become HUGELY wider. And if you think that it doesn't matter that the rich get twice as rich while you get just a 3 percent increase, look at the state of classrooms, roads, bridges, OVERWORKED POLICE.
this guy is a Corparate Tool. He makes money this way!
TheSteelGeneraI 6 months ago
I don't understand how people find those individuals who live in mansions and make a ton of money pure evil. I mean, they make it sound like CEOs are Satans minions, when there are far more evil things humans can do than be rich.
TheReviewer777 6 months ago
@TheReviewer777 Yeah, I don't understand why people do that too. Considering that most CEO's work 60+ hour weeks. Somehow people don't realize that most CEO's don't have a life outside of being CEO.
dkchen 6 months ago
@dkchen Yah I also don't get that. Teachers, policemen are so lazy, they only work 50 hour weeks, earning 30,000 50,000 dollars per year. Those extra 10 hours that billionaires work fully deserves them the extra 2 million or so that they get.
I mean, a billionaire works ten thousand times as hard as a cop, right? He also spend ten thousand times more hours on his job, so his millions are fully deserved.
TheSteelGeneraI 6 months ago
@TheSteelGeneraI loL, when did I ever say that Teachers or policemen are lazy? So you don't think that a person who works their whole life to create a product should deserve his millions? On the side of that having to work and compete with other products? Hey I work hard to run my business, but there are people out there thinking its unfair that I worked hard and smart to sell a good product. You are basically saying that smart entrepreneurs who create jobs is evil.
dkchen 6 months ago
@HowTheWorldWorks Lee, I've been trying to find the FULL debate between you and TheAmazingAtheist, and I can't find it anywhere. Do you know where it is?
schwerinthegreat 6 months ago
@riderpoet Economics and social issues are two different battles, of course the battle between liberals and conservatives on social issues is real but when it comes to economics both parties are bought by corporations. The problem with American politics is the deeply rooted practices of loopholes and corporate interests. Without a real revolution the same shit is going to keep happening until WW3.
GoDiglet 6 months ago
Crap. Democrats want to LIMIT corporate influence, Repubes wanna INCREASE IT EVEN MORE! What we have witnessed in the last 30 years is A CORPORATE TAKE OVER. Like all succesfull revolutions, they bought the media first. First, with the media savy Reagan, who convinced us that GOVT is evil, then with the Media Conglomerate.
TheSteelGeneraI 6 months ago
Unions are the very best allies that manufacturers in China and India have..
Democrats send jobs overseas by the tens of thousands.
Goldni8372 6 months ago
@Goldni8372 I agree!!! it's the damn unions that force the corporations profit to drop from 20 billion to 19 billion!! I mean who would take that? I mean, who's gonna fund their 3rd yacht, 4th house, 12th Lexus?
SOMEONES gotta pay!
I mean, it;s not like Millionaires OWE America ANYTHING. the stable environment, the laws, the roads, the educated workers, that you grew up together sometimes. Means nothing, I say. Let's go Chinese, MUCH nicer people!
TheSteelGeneraI 6 months ago
please address the gini index which proves that the middle class is vanishing, not bracket shifting.
also, the change in income as people age is a red herring. it is irrelevant to any point in the current discussion. You clearly have no understanding of analyses of cross-sectional panel data or longitudinal data, for that matter.
it also doesn't matter if who is in the top 1% at any point in time changes from time to time. The degree of influence one has isn't categorical, but continuous
koche005 6 months ago
If wages went up and the coast of goods went down, howcome maost americans had to go into debt to maintain their standard of living?
awc62 6 months ago
My only question is when you say the middle class wages are increasing are you factoring in inflation? Seems you are based on yoru hours worked per item consumed comparison but it's a good point to verify.
casey3771 6 months ago
The world works on exchange of added value, that is consumed, or equvalent exchange for goods and services to be consumed. The problem with US economy, is that it doesn`t manufacture meaningful items, that they want to consume leading to trade imbalances, forcing the government to borrow. And it is a result of delapidating the backbone of complex manufacturing- electronics, industrial robots, consumer electronics, you name it- US doesn`t make it!
unatics 6 months ago
@unatics This is not the ONLY problem the US has. The problem is that the US/Republicans have no sense of solidarity with each other. Hence 'states rights'
Why is Germany/Europe doing so much better? Because they stick out for one another. in the usa, private vs collective is a ridiculous 99,3 % vs 0.7 % Obama, the poor sod wants to increase that to 1.3% which is demonised as communistic socilialistic nazism.
TheSteelGeneraI 6 months ago
@TheSteelGeneraI Democrat here, Have you READ the Constitution. States rights was a LARGE part of the Constitution. Congress was never meant to be more than a PART TIME JOB for the people elected to REPRESENT US in Congress. The people YOU elect are NOT your Leaders... They are YOUR EMPLOYEES.
Darkeklaw 6 months ago
The problem with free speech is these pampered babies that have no life experiences whatsoever other than what can be paid for have a right too spread there jargon and bullshit all over the world. Unfotunatly they get theough too a few people and it keeps alot of us from evolving our ideas and intelligence.
nukboyjman 7 months ago
So who is paying you? Or are you just being a corporate shill for free?
riderpoet 7 months ago
@riderpoet This is my hobby.
HowTheWorldWorks 7 months ago
@HowTheWorldWorks Then know this, Mr. Hobby: The real political battle in America isn't between liberal and conservative. That's just a red herring, designed to distract us. The real political battle is the super rich and their corporations, vs We the People for control of our government. The federal government has been bought and owned by big money, (the Citizen's United verdict is both proof and means of this) and congress now works for monied interests, not Americans'. Pick a side.
riderpoet 7 months ago
@HowTheWorldWorks Hobby?
Eeer so, you're not a "prostitute", but a LOUSY "prostitute'? I use that word in the sense of Salingers "Catcher in Rye's 'prostitute'
Sorry, but
A. Youtube pays you
B. YOU LIE
Sorry, don't wanna call you names, but this seems ridiculous and highly untruthful that you don't get SOME sort of compensation.
A hobby implies that you don't get paid. Or .... do you "just" get an expense account?
Do you even pay taxes? Or do you think that's just for the little people?
TheSteelGeneraI 6 months ago
@TheSteelGeneraI He didn't say he didn't get any kind of compensation, hobby merely implies a primary reason for him doing it is his own pleasure. I'm pretty sure he'd be in jail if he didn't pay taxes.
1000g2g3g4g800999 5 months ago
@riderpoet No, Lee just explains how the world works.
ManOfDeath567 7 months ago
@riderpoet Good question, I don't know. He's either a sucker or a total sucker.
SamFromNT 6 months ago
@riderpoet You realize corporations aren't the root of all evils right?
DeVaSTaTol2 6 months ago
This is pretty dumb. There isn't room in this youtube comment to explain why the statistics he uses are nonsense, but keep this in mind any time you see conservatives give statistics - averages across the whole population are misleading (any honest statistician uses the median) and any figure showing economic growth does not imply an increase in real income for most Americans.
Conservatives do not have reality on their side - it's why they appeal to "common sense."
BenkaiDebussy 7 months ago
hahaha "health care benefits" have increased? BECAUSE THAT MONEY IS GOING STRAIGHT TO THE SUPER-RICH.
enterthekraken 7 months ago
Nice tongue to reach the bankers from that distance Scooter.
Mightor67 7 months ago
I almost watched this and then I noticed another video by HowTheWorldWorks called Why We Don't Need Socialized Medicine and I threw up in my mouth.
6colin90 7 months ago
What the hell does Robert Reich know about economics? I mean, he's only Chancellor's Professor at UC Berkley, and served in only three presidential cabinets. It's obvious Reich is hiding behind hyperbole to cloud the fact that he knows little to nothing about economics. Thanks for posting this. You have really solidified my opinion.
Maxwerm 7 months ago
@Maxwerm hey, didn't you know that Lee has a tenured professor position at Pat Robertsons Faith Based Business school? Only the bible is required reading.
TheSteelGeneraI 6 months ago
@TheSteelGeneraI - Looks like they picked and intelligent person for once.
StateExempt 5 months ago
@TheSteelGeneraI You know Lee's not a Christian, right?
1000g2g3g4g800999 5 months ago
The sad thing is, Reich's video has over a million views and this video only about 40,000.
stalegum 7 months ago
What a joke.
tazeryoot67 7 months ago
God Bless You dude for doing this.
markeet123 7 months ago
The usual republican gobbeldygook - rebutting a clear picture of the big/real picture with minutia and redirection to arcane incidentals that have no bearing on the statements they are supposed to be rebutting. This guy is arguing against his own PRESUMPTIONS, not against what was actually said.
michael4250 7 months ago
@michael4250 Ah yes the old right wing trick
using statistics and facts to fool the proletariat
tehmaninblack 7 months ago
@tehmaninblack
The old syntactic trick (why accuse only the right wing when ZEALOTS of all stripe are guilty) of using misdirection and "rephrasing" of a statement to AVOID substantive rebuttal to it.
michael4250 7 months ago
Wages have not kept up with inflation but people have maintained a decent lifestyle because goods are now made in Asia. Increased credit has also helped. But this only works in a growing economy, which is why this dream is over - time to take the pain. Without real earnings the economy suffers. I disagree with your claim about the top 1% just because their income decreased by 25%. There is still a disparity of a small minority owning most wealth, even if it alters. (cont)
RockingMrE 7 months ago
@RockingMrE Furthermore 2% own 50% of wealth, another disparity to add to the mix. Also, you only need to look at media influence and FED bailouts to see where power is truly concentrated.
RockingMrE 7 months ago
@RockingMrE so what if 2% own 50%
BorgKing001 7 months ago
@BorgKing001 Crony Capitalism serving elites above all is not a free market - that's what's wrong with it. In a truly free market such a disparity would never exist. I'm all for Capitalism, as long as it doesn't serve the oligarchs first and foremost, which is what we have now with all these bailouts keeping failed businesses afloat. It's a flaw of the system if coroprations were allowed to amass such wealth that they were too big to fail. Failing businesses are what drives competitive.
RockingMrE 7 months ago
@BorgKing001 Ever since the tax cuts instituted by Reagan, median income for the bottom 90% has been stagnant, only increasing by ~1% (when adjusted for inflation, of course). In the thirty years before Reagan, the bottom 90% saw an increase of 75% in median real income. Widening of the wealth gap has always been directly associated with stagnant income for the vast majority of the population.
Most wealthy people were born to wealthy parents; they aren't creating jobs.
BenkaiDebussy 7 months ago
@BenkaiDebussy i guess the poor should stop holding out their hand and go apply for a fucking job
BorgKing001 7 months ago
@BorgKing001 So people got lazier? People like to be poor? Your a fucking idiot the poor work far harder than most of the wealthiest people.
WaddyMuters 7 months ago
@WaddyMuters
If that were true they'd be making more money.
That's just obvious.
treysparker 7 months ago
@treysparker Well that is just stupid. A miner will have a broken body and health at 60, because of the hard work, a man working as a manager won't, at least not because of his work. The manager may be smarter and more ambitious, but he is in no way working harder. Oh and guess who makes more money.
WaddyMuters 7 months ago
@WaddyMuters - Better yet, guess who produced more wealth in the first place.
StateExempt 7 months ago
@BenkaiDebussy
You're a fucking dumbass.
How in the hell does lower tax rates on the rich DECREASE the income for the bottom 90%?
You just essentially said that a decrease in Apple production has CAUSED A DECREASE in the number of Bananas grown in Jamaica. WTF?!
Dont you get it!? lower tax rates for the wealthy simply means less revenue for the government! THATS IT! IT DOESNT DO SHIT TO ANYONES INCOME LOL
treysparker 7 months ago
@treysparker
As a tax accountant only can I answer. If you are rich and have a business and hire a worker that you don't really need just to lower taxable income (a common tax planning tool) and your tax rate decreases, your need to shelter profit from high tax rates diminishes. You get rid of the marginal worker. Since most of your marginal workers are low income/no benefits/bottom 90% to begin with, their income decreases. I see it all the time in my practice.
jazzmojo 7 months ago
@treysparker Historically, speaking in all caps has only worked for Billy Mayes. For everyone else, it just derides your intelligence.
When an employer doesn't have enough money to go around, he must decrease his and his employee's income, or lay people off. If minimum wage doesn't allow an income decrease, you lay people off.
When an employer DOES have money to go around, he can afford to give himself and his employees raises, as well as hire more workers.
aseacucumber07 7 months ago
@treysparker So why don't employers just give themselves the money? Well, the higher up in a business you are (and similarly, the smaller the business), the more directly concerned you are for your business's success. Giving yourself more income, if you have control of it, instead of increasing staff or inventory is a pretty terrible idea if you're trying to beat out the competition.
For the sake of those around you, please research and think your opinions through before speaking.
aseacucumber07 7 months ago
@treysparker Lower revenue for the government means reduced wages and benefits for public sector workers as well as less government jobs. This increases the supply of workers available in the private sector as well as decreases their expectations. Does this make sense to you?
Anglagard1 6 months ago
@Anglagard1 so govt should just employ all unemployed people so unemployment will decrease once and for all?
shotsky94 6 months ago
@shotsky94 No. Please reread the post I was commenting on.
Anglagard1 6 months ago
@shotsky94 no.
Anglagard1 5 months ago
@treysparker There's no need to speculate - just look at past data. Tax rates were much higher from around 1940-1980 or so, and the median income of the bottom 90% increased by 75% (from 1950-1980). Highest tier tax rates have been low ever since Reagan - never higher than ~35%, while rates ranged from 58% to 90% during 1940-1980. Ever since Reagan, the median income has been stagnant.
The reason: Lower top tier tax rates = less money for social programs, which hurts the poor/middle class
BenkaiDebussy 6 months ago
Figures don't lie, but people do. Statistics can not be eloquent by itself. The person who interprets the figures is the main factor determining whether or not the analysis is accurate. Reading books and searching for references is just the ABC of a good analysis. Observation is also very important, but when you observe the reality you may be tempted to ignore some aspects, just because YOU think that they are not important. There is a dose of subjectivity in any analysis dealing with social sc
EEAify 7 months ago
I really want to see you in a debate with my high school philosophy teacher Ray Linn, writer of the "A teacher's introduction to postmodernism" (if you google his name, he's the guy with the red hat)
flipmaya 7 months ago
Liberals =If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. This makes us all equally poor.
AroundSun 7 months ago
Sir Stares-a-lot.
orly444 7 months ago
You sir are a FOOL.
sikajaperkele 7 months ago
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TheReviewer777 7 months ago
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TheReviewer777 7 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@sikajaperkele What an intelligent analysis.
TheReviewer777 7 months ago
Reality has a Libertarian bias.
WMCnotWMD 7 months ago
@WMCnotWMD First rule of Libertarianism: If the tires are flat, abandon the car.
tazer95 7 months ago
@tazer95 The engine is busted and everything else, yes, abandon the car. First rule of libertarian-ism is leave me the hell alone.
AroundSun 7 months ago
im sick of all the trolling on this video. What happened to wh