@lionroar224 Taxing the rich (like Clinton did) leads to more revenues, reduced deficit and better social programs. It also leaves money to employ people.
Someone with 10 millions in profits is just as happy as someone with 9 million. Of course those who work exclusively for the "upper 1%" would find bumper sticker slogans to deny this. "Socialism"? Be careful of words you choose. Capitalism is no longer as popular as you think!
Americans are starting to be leary of the 1% lingo. Are YOU?
Why would you suggest to throw money in a hole, when the idoits in charge keep making the hole larger? Tha main guy has never had a job, no responsibility, and he wants more of your money to spend.
"Now for something really depressing. And no, I'm not talking about my voice. I made a funny. Heh. Heh." I agree with Ben Stein here but the first thing I thought of when Ben Stein said he was going to talk about something depressing was his whiny, monotone voice. It's always depressing. LOL.
Warren Buffett wants to raise taxes on the rich. And he's rich!!! Why would he want to raise taxes on himself unless he was being honest? That wouldn't make sense. That wouldn't make sense AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wha?Wha?What?:Stein advocating taxing the rich?Republicans are going whack aren't they? Noticed it was for the Military industrial complex though.Well,no surprise there.
This guy is a piece of shit. Our military? is he FUCKING serious? We out spend the rest of the world military wise, all put together. We can blow up the world multiple times over. What else does he really want? A space military?
@drshlotzkin you are flattering you country man, you cant blow up the whole world others have nukes too. . .
e.g russia china pakistan india DPRK have more than you,spending more money doesnt necessarily mean its making you better, for all i know this money may be wasted. ffs you cant even win in afghanistan against some cavemen with all that spent money. not to mention your average american soldier is a silk wearing soft weak faggot.
I suppose Venezuela should have continued to suffer under the tyranny of the top down bureaucracies and private oligarchies that left it in shambles so that Hugo Chavez could win this social darwinist's approval. If they had only continued to suffer due to the disaster capitalism caused I'm sure the top 1% would be very rich by now.
Hugo Chavez has helped save Venusuala from the shambles the World Bank left it in, and his respect for Fidel Castro as a man who has helped mobilize his people around very limited means and give them some modest degree of prosperity despite natural disasters and economic pressures that would have been a death blow to any other small country is well deserved.
Ben Stein hates Hugo Chavez because Venezuela is now not only recovering but is beginning to prosper due to employee owned businesses.
@Laughingblades It isn't prospering, go down there, the soilders come up to your car and beg for money. Inflation is rampent and distroying their middle class, and they are on a ocean of oil and production is tanking.
@EasyEs Lulz, Venusuala was destroyed by capitalism, the economy is rebounding thanks to the cooperative movement and oil exports and is much better off today than it was when Ben "I'm the 1% - God Dun It - Atheists are Hitler" Stein made his comments.
@Laughingblades No by any objective look the nation which you seem to be un able to spell, is doing much worse under socialism, the numbers have gotten worse. They didn't even have capitalism before, your average citizen had no property rights etc. Their oil exports are falling and they have to ration power. They export less oil and gas , and have higher inflation and less acess to normal goods. Again disaster, go see for your self.
@EasyEs Sorry bro but by any objective look at the nation today it's much better off than it was four years ago when capitalism ran it into the ground. The global economic collapse lead to the collapse of their economy and it was socialism that saved it brah. Ben "Dinosaurs and Cavemen lived side by side" Stein is wrong about Venusuala. Any objective look at their economy after the crash caused by capitalism and today shows steady improvement and they're doing a lot better than you say they are.
@Laughingblades Ahh yes the global economic collapse, casued by governments messing around with markets, lending standards and intrest rates. Sorry but the economy has gotton worse. Inflation over 20%, shortages of energy, soap, milk, eggs etc. One fourth of the economy now spends half their income on food. Their oil industry is falling apart, and the only prosperty chavez brought was due to high oil prices. I know the nation, it is getting worse sorry to tell you.
North Korea has a smaller, and less powerful army than South Korea. Not much to worry about there. South Korea's military budget is larger than ALL of North Korea's total budget. The majority of the Chinese imports come from the United States. Attacking the Taiwanese would most likely affect the American economy, thereby pissing off the United States AND causing damage to the Chinese industry. Most of the Chinese income is foreign, which makes it highly unlikely that they'll attack anyone.
@MegaSteadfast North Korea is forced to keep it's military heavily funded and on high alert because it faces down threats of invasion on all sides, which is intended not only as a military pressure but as an economic pressure. Maintaining a military is expensive, and forcing communist countries to maintain a massive defense force under perceived threat of invasion is a favorite US tactic for toppling countries it doesn't like, right up there with covert ops and blockades, which NK also faces.
im sorry did i literally just here those words? 'america has a relatively small armed forces that can barely fight a small gorrila war'. America is the most paranoid country in the world and spends more money on arms than any other country in the world!
Not another dime to those wasteful jackasses in Washington. Ypu people don't get it - they are literally blowing your money and getting very little in return. Some of you likely don't remember the $400 hammers and $1000 toilet seats our dear leaders bought in the 1970's - but if you have a clue you'll se they continue this crap 30-40 years later - read about $16 muffins or !15 cocktails that the taxpayers paid for? Don't ask me to send one more damn dime to those slimeballs.
Ben Stein, you ignorant shit head. Tax the rich, feed the poor, until there are no rich no more? SPEND LESS dumb ass. That is how you get out of debt. Live within your means. Our PERS systems rewards government employees at about 100 times the rate of Social Security. And they pay it out of the Social Security System, which PERS members do not pay into. Cut that moronic crap, not tax the brightest and best out of existence. Ben, do you miss your intellect? It seems to be missing.
USA is the top spender in military might for the best equipment. They can handle a 3 front assault. The tough parts are the guerrilla wars after conventional military forces are suppressed. Ben is only part correct.
IM SO ANGRY AT BEN STEIN, WHAT A MORON, GOD IM SO FUCKING ANGRY ON THE INTERNET, I HATE STEIN SO MUCH THAT I GO TO HIS VIDEOS AND CALL HIM AN IDIOT, THAT'LL SHOW HIM! AHHAHAHAHAHHA GOD IM SO ANGRY.
@WildlyOptimistic1 He's smarter than you because he doesn't trust those in power. Like the rich! Absolute power corrupts absolutely and trust is dumb.
BOBBY JINDAL IN POLITICAL SCANDAL IN LOUISIANA! BREAKING NEWS STORY BREWING! This is concerning the SYNTHETIC MARIJUANA law that Mr Jindal just signed. The media is Louisiana is trying to cover this story up for him by NOT investigating it. I cant put a link to a website here so in order to see the details just do a google search for;
Over the course of a lifetime, the FairTax would collect more revenue from the rich than the current flawed income tax system. Taxing incomes too much means people will vote with their feet--ship jobs and wealth overseas.
What's even worse is that these same rich corporations are outsourcing our jobs to China, A communist country, and when we raise they're taxes just a percentage, they call you a socialist. It's ridiculous, it's the rich that don't want a fair tax, because they don't their share right now. Don't vote for Democrats that spend wastefully, Don't vote for Republicans that give tax breaks to the rich. Vote for Republicans that have moral values.
We need more Republicans like Ben Stein!! Stop voting for Republicans that favor the rich over the middleclass. Part of the 50% that don't pay taxes are the super rich!! That's what they don't tell you. Take a look a G.E. which was one of the biggest receiver of the Bailout and Stimulus, and then on top of it we're going to give them a tax break? Don't be stupid, It's the middleclass that create the most jobs, they are the biggest consumers. Without customers, who are the rich going to hire?
Ben, Ahmadinejad is a holocaust denier and you are an evolution denier. There is evidence to prove that both have happened so that makes you some kind of selective hypocrite. You don't ignore the dug up bones in germany and poland but you ignore millions of fossils of transitional forms and the geological record.
I think our military budget's way too big as it is. I'm for having a strong defense, but I think we have some serious overkill in that department. It seems that the US is the only counter to the threats he mentioned here(?) - where's the rest of the free world on this? Why is it always up to the good ol' USA to save the world? I do think that the rich should pay their fair share one way or another on their personal income taxes, but we need to lay off of taxing businesses.
Just saying "Tax the rich" without actually looking at the numbers and seeing exactly how that would effect the national defecit is silly. This is not the answer. There are a number of videos on YouTube that you can view that will show you what taxing the rich will really do. Check out the video "Taxing the rich" by YouTube user OscarJohn. Great data to shed some light on this subject.
@AntiYouist contrary to what you've been told, aside from the 9/11 recession and our current situation the economy wasn't that bad. gdp growth averaged about 3%, unemployment dropped 2 percentage points under bush, and we had low inflation and low interest rates. making the rich pay more isn't going to help us. history shows that the top 1% almost always pay more of the tax burden at lower rates and less of it at higher rates. if the middle class is shrinking its because they're getting rich!
@Antiyouist you need understand that 15% of american households earn more than 100,000 dollars per year. that's an amazing accomplishment, and its ALOT of people! those are the people that create jobs, you cannot tax them more. people complain about the revenue side of things but its spending that's the problem. "trickle-down" theory does work, and it has. the economy did well in the 80s and 90s and (yes clinton was a supply-sider) because of trickle down theory. now were back to class warfare
But that was when a Million Dollars bought a lot of crap, and inflation didnt kill the purchasing power of every US citizen on average. The fact remains until our moronic Government can start cutting down obscene regulations and bureaucratic crap. At this point raising taxes is giving the US Gov a Blank check to spend it without oversight. A 10 year plan that calls for cutting regulation, government spending, deficit and raising taxes would foster better growth then doing neither.
@sk8bow No history shows that when the the USA cuts spending, is the worlds leading oil producer, has the deck stacked towards them Breton Woods, has a giant boom in population, and oh yeah has a global industrial monoply for 15 years the economy will do well. Also no one paid that top tax rate because of the loop holes etc.
Trickle down economics isn't an economy theory, or practice. No one uses that term becasue it doesn't come close to describing reality. Investment pays the investors last
@sk8bow That makes zero sense, if someone who has lots of money or capital invests into a company or a group of people do, the middle class and poor workers get paid well before the investors do. That is if the company turns a profit which not all companies do. Tax cuts will not allways stimulate an economy with such structural problems as the USA has today, but the wealth trickles up. The richest hedge funds et al deal with government debt etc, so spending trickles down not up.
@sk8bow Um, Last I checked, the "rich" still paid a higher income tax than the middle class, in the "progressive" tax system we have. I'm not sure that you are aware of this, but we don't have a flat tax rate. and I'm sure you also are not aware of this, but the to 1% of wage earners pay 40% of the taxes in this country! Furthermore, the top 10% pay 70% of the taxes. And, news to you, I'm sure. The bottom 50%, due to tax credits and other "income equalizing" programs, pay 0% of the taxes! NONE!
The % of tax paid by the highest brackets has steadily gone up. It was HIGHER during the Bush era than during Clinton. Bottom line is, the top pay the lions' share of taxes.
you can show statements but in the end, there are many loopholes.
for example-
capital gains and dividend taxes should be more progressive. Why should someone who earns $100,000/yr in capital gains pay the same rate (15%) as a hedge fund manager who earned $1 billion in capital gains?
the average middle class tax payer doesn't have these luxuries.
@sk8bow The flat tax rate of capital gains makes sense to me. But I admit I'm not historical tax expert. I presume there must be some fundamental reason that a flat tax doesn't work in a broader sense. And despite claiming unfair loopholes, the statistics flat out show that the top earners paid more taxes proportionally. It comes down to a spending problem. You COULD flat tax and close every loophole. But the budget for this year would require 38% of your pay.
@sk8bow And before you go blaming the "evil" corporations who "don't pay taxes", the total profit in 2010 of every single Fortune 500 company was $391 billion. BARELY 10% of the federal budget for this year. So we'll tax all businesses at 100%, and reduce your flat tax down to about 34% of every cent you earn. Or MAYBE the government should consider finding a way to limit spending? Now THERE'S a novel idea.
Worse than that. According to the Congressional Budget Office records, the bottom 40% got money BACK in the most recent tax data they published (2007). Oh wait, that was under Bush, too. Crazy! That "redneck religious right wing nutjob" who only looks out for the rich sure was giving back a boatload of money to people that have below average pay...
NEOCONS like Stein tend to have the interests of other countries (ahem, Israel) above our own - why else would he want a larger military? No sane person would advocate more military spending because countries like Iran and China are perceived as dangerous. They're not going to invade the US. They could invade Taiwan or Israel, but that's not America's burden, it's the UN's.
Why do people give this nut any airtime? He has no credentials.
If you tax every household (thats 119,000) that make over 250k with tax rates at 100%, you only get 1.414 trillion dollars, enough to run the government under the obama budget for about 3 and a half months....Here's my solution: BE LIKE CANADA! They cut taxes, cut SPENDING, and their debt has been dropping ever since!!! 30 years straight!!!
This has to be one of the dumbest, if not THE dumbest thing Stein has ever said, in a long history of saying dumb things. There are millions of what COULD happen in his deluded mind. Shit China and Russia could just decide to start a nuclear war with America... The LAST thing this country needs is to spend more money on the military.
@christo930 Please forgive the trolling, seriously please forgive me, it's just so easy to look at the upload comments here now and say, "Navy Seal Team 6 just greased that assh*le Bin Laden!". Ben Stein is my hero, but time can make our assumptions and speculations look ridiculous. What a different feeling there was in the USA the day I saw that news clip. God Bless America, the rich, the poor, & the FREE! You made your comment a month ago, how do you feel now?
@shizzleman8 I just watched the video again and I feel the same way. I am not against taxing the rich, but I am CERTAINLY against enlarging our military. IF we feel our military is too thin to deal with real emergencies, I got a GREAT idea.... Lets get the fuck out of the middle east! We spend more then then next 4 smaller militaries combined. We don't need more military spending, especially to deal with Ben Steins ridiculous what if scenarios.
@christo930 Do you know what the biggest complaint is of the soldier on the ground?
Are you familiar with the caste system? Military ranks above professional people, and labor, and in my humble opinion as the head of the church should rank above the relligious as well here in the USA. If you watch Charlie Wilson's War you'll get the message that abandoning people you save only pisses them off more than if you never rescued them in the first place. Read Sun Tzu The Art of War. Shalom
@shizzleman8 I don't accept any kind of caste system that puts military above homeless people, let alone professionals or laborers. I also believe the church should pay taxes on all their income and their real estate and be allowed to deduct from their income their in-country charitable work. I don't think they should get tax free money and then proselytize people in foreign land with a gov subsidy (which is what their tax status really is).
I take into my home the homeless so they're homeless no more, do you? We're on the same page mostly, except if we don't fight for freedom there's none to be had. We need to continually honor our military with our money first and foremost, other wise we have sharia law.
@shizzleman8 Actually I have a border that used to be homeless though he wasn't homeless when he moved in, but would have been homeless in less than a week. He is disabled so he got on SS and is able to pay a small rent to help me with my bills... We both win.
@jakehubbb There should be a flat tax, one of the biggest problems we have is the middle class not paying taxes, there's too many loopholes for them to get their money back. Plus our government doesn't really have a revenue problem they have a spending problem, both democrats and republicans are guilty
@currie175 I don't really have a problem with the middle class not paying as much tax because the middle class has been shrinking for decades. But we do need to close loopholes for the super rich who don't pay taxes and corporations who don't. Exxon is the second most profitable company and they pay NO taxes in the US and they even get taxpayer subsidies! That is just ridiculous! They have bought our politicians so I don't think this will change any time soon.
@jakehubbb Yeah I mean nobody should have any loopholes, the only reason we should cut taxes on the rich is because the money they have isn't just sitting in their wallets, it's circulating through our economy and cutting their taxes allows more jobs to stay and to stay here in America, everyone should pay the same percentage of their income towards tax
@currie175 Idk about that because "trickle down" economics has never really worked.. the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. Really it's just been the top 2% getting richer for the past few decades and everyone elses income has been going down.
Sorry but that's bull, the rich are outsourcing the jobs because production in the US is too expensive already, what's a better way to make them leave then to tax the hell out of them instead of letting them use the money to employ people, every time tax goes up, more employees are laid off, food stamps are for people who cant afford food not for the 40% of America that's using them, it's social programs like food stamps, medicaid, medicare, and welfare that are bankrupting our country.
@currie175 Many corporations pay no taxes because of loop holes in the system... even if they are paying nothing it is still cheaper to outsource many manufacturing to places like China because people are so poor they can get by with paying them hardly nothing. The loop holes in the tax system should be closed and rich people should pay their taxes like everyone else.
This guy's an idiot, it's not the US's responsibility to protect everyone in the world from everyone else.... and why would you tax the rich if they're the one's giving everyone else the jobs? You tax the rich too much and they can't supply the jobs.
@currie175 - Ben Stein is one of the biggest neocons in the US. By the way the rich aren't the ones that are giving everyone else jobs. They're the ones that finding every tax loophole possible and outsourcing jobs to china. Basic economics that republicans seem to forget. 1 dollar tax brake for the wealth has a negative effect on the economy, while 1 dollar in food stamps (a program they hate) actually has a multiplier effect on the economy.
I agree. This very video has shown me he's an absolute lunatic. If I didn't know any better, I would SWEAR it was a joke! He's for:
-expanding the military
-protecting every "good" country on earth
-raising taxes on the rich
He also claims the military has "shrunk", when in fact it has hundreds of bases all over the world and is still by far the largest in the world. This freak shouldn't be on TV, and anyone who listens to him needs professional help.
Ben Stein is a neo-con filth that wants others to die so that the US and Israel can run the world. Can you imagine that wuss fighting as a troop himself? It's too pathetic to even think about.
How about America minding its own fucking business?
N-Korea attacks S-Korea...? So what?
China invades Taiwan...? Who the hell cares?
Now, with Iran attacking S-Arabia, obviously we have oil-interest over there, so we will stop them from doing that, since Iran does not even have a serious Navy. My country's navy is even more dangerous then Iran's.
Stop worrying about all these things, and get your people some decent healthcare.
yes their legal liability is to make as much money as possible. But taxes eat alot of profit they make. Lower taxes equals more money for them to invest in other areas. Im poor, I dont buy shit. Rich people have money they actually use it. Yeah the government wouldn't have as much to spend on things. But most of the government programs in practice are inefficient and need to be scrapped anyways. Which would help out
How about we just get rid of all the taxes in this country, keep the bailouts rolling and increase the spending sprees, and just print our way out of the Debt?!!!
Tax the rich? Sure this seems to be the easiest way to cut our losses. But it would cripple our economy further. Hell if we stopped taxing corporations, companies would be falling over themselves just to get back into this country to make money. Giving everyone the jobs that they deserve. Tax the rich? What the hell do you think we've been doing? What the hell do you think sent companies fleeing out of the USA towards other countries?
callenification, either you failed your economics class, or you were sleeping. Nothing you are saying is making sense. Companies would be flocking in here if he had no taxes? i highly doubt that. Their legal liability to their shareholders is to profit as much as possible, no matter what the conditions. Plus how would the government pay for all our services?..........Pay attention in those classes man. its important.
@slicbro I misstated when I said stop taxing corporations and the rich. What I really meant was lower taxes for the rich and businesses in general. Less taxes taken out of profit equals more money for companies to invest in other areas. As for the rich, im poor i dont really buy stuff, rich people buy things they employ people. Your right the government would have less money to use, but most of the government programs in place are inefficient and need to be scrapped anyways. That would help
@callenification greed is what sent companies fleeing out of the USA towards other countries . exxon mobil paid 0 dollars in federal taxes last year to the us government. is that right ? 45 billion in profits and 0 federal taxes paid . you think this is a good idea . you are an idiot . exxon mobil will never get another one of my dollars.
@MSG685 yeah I did read that recently. I'm not saying that corporations don't find loop holes to not pay taxes, I'm against corporatism in all forms. And the way the U.S. government spends money they dont have is ridiculous as well. But taxing the rich would only put a small dent in the deficit and thousands or more jobs would be lost to compensate the money they pay out. The problem has to be nipped in the bud, spending is that problem. And I wouldn't insult other peoples intelligence.
This can completely be ignored... not because of what he says in this video and not because of any of his points. But simply because this is Ben Stein... one of the dumbest, most ignorant people on the planet these days. If it's Ben Stein, and he's talking, you can be assured that there's 100% bullshit spewing from him. 'Expelled', enough said.
This ENTIRE speech is fucking STUPID and so is anyone who agrees with it.
Right! Tax the rich (and everyone else) so we can grow our over bloated military and provoke conflicts based on "what if" "what if" (how many times did he say "what if" in this clip) scenarios? And THEN get involved in other countries internal affairs...... to what end?
WTF is this guy serious. Who is stupid enough to believe this? Man this guy is annoying.
@LeftLiberalSoCal I don't agree with Ben Stein... no one would ever even listen to him. But we certainly should be taxing the rich. And if you don't agree with that you're fucking STUPID, to use your own words.
@mooseflier I agree. Tax the rich. But NOT so we can grow our over bloated military and provoke conflicts based on "what if" scenarios as he suggests we should.
WHY is this guy even on TV? His advise is awful. His economic advise (to buy Merrill Lynch right before it tanked) is equally bad. WHY is he on TV posing in such an important forum? This is just the guy from the clear eyes commercials !
@LeftLiberalSoCal I think you missed the point... the point was, for anyone to make the statement, "This ENTIRE speech is fucking STUPID and so is anyone who agrees with it." ...they should not be taken seriously, as it's just about as open-minded as Ben Stein. "If you don't agree with me, then you're wrong" No progress has ever been made with that sort of attitude, and it's as ridiculous as any creationist or holocaust deniers' attitudes.
When the KaL 007 was shot down, some people thought the U.S. military should have seen that happen. The military site where they might have caught that, were no longer doing 24 hour surveillance. At 10 PM, the last man out the door of that site, turned out the lights. Military power is not just a matter of big guns, it includes hours for personnel to do the ground work. At one time in history the Roman Empire was the most powerful military in the world; they're just history now.
@karlkarlkarl1234 Of course the moment Rupert Murdoch's favorite pet Jew strays away from the party line, it's all a big Jewish Zionist Israeli conspiracy isn't it?
He is calling the US military small? US military assets are bigger than the next 13 odd military powers COMBINED. Who the fuck is this guy kidding? If a world war occurred and the US could worry less about human rights, they'd fucking lay waste to their enemies. Fact is, there is no immediate threat to the USA, and if they cut their military to 6% of its size (yes, 6%) and changed defence spending and foreign policy to suit, they'd be fine.
@Mirason you realize that most of defense spending goes to personnel salaries right? and that money doesn't stay in the military, it gets spent elsewhere. of course our military assets are larger than the next 13 countries, that includes bases and land which we have all over the world. if you're looking at just guns, tanks, and men, our military isn't anywhere as big as people think it is. im not advocating growing it, but our ready military force isn't that big.
the Chinese spend 50 billion on military we spend 700 billion trust me we spend more on defense more than the next 15 countries in line behind us COMBINED. and this would actually be good we attack china they fall and we don't have to pay back our loans to them.
@Thor101101 We spend just $450 billion on paying our troops. Chinese troops don't get paid as much as the United States and their figures aren't fully shown to the public.
@Thor101101 Compared to most other government programs that is small/medium. The 2 wars combined cost around $250 billion. It's not like we can't pay off these wars, it's just that unfortunately the Bush administration as well as the Obama administration don't really have a plan.
He's an idiot. Our military is made for a situation like this. We spend more than EVERYONE else COMBINED on our military. This we can handle. you just send an aircraft carrier group to North Korea, and Saudi Arabia to bomb the crap out of the Iranians and North Koreans. We don't have to invade, just blown up their military bases. I can't believe ol' tightwad Stein wants to spend even more on bombs that we don't need.
"I have an idea, lets feed in to the massive military industrial complex even more than we are now. I will get you to go along with this by scaring you out of your mind. I'm rich, and will profit heavily from the defense contracts." GTFO you piece of worthless scum!
He does not mention the fact that the draft would have to return, how else would one fight these potential wars? I still do not believe that North Korea has the bomb. They have radioactive materials, but so far their "test" remains inconclusive. If I were a despot, I would certainly try to make the US believe I had a nuke, whether I had one or not, just so they would not fuck with me. A bluff is as good as a royal flush as long as your opponent believes you actually hold the cards.
I agree that we should tax the rich, but the scenario proposed is preposterous. Nutty though Iran may be, they would never attack Saudi Arabia, since they would be able to do nothing about it. If China wanted to invade Taiwan, they would have done so, and if North Kore attacked Japan, they would be obliterated. Not to mention, the US already spend almost 1 trillion on defense (far less than half of which is on the wars).
I agree about taxing the rich more, but if we spend any more on our military, it will be rich enough to break away and form its own ultra-wealthy nation.
Take money from the rich and use it to massively increase the number of government employees? Socialism anyone?
Now, I'm a stinky liberal hippie and I would support such a concept, the problem however is that the very man who proposes it is a fierce enemy of socialism...
The people who shout 'tax the rich' can't seem to understand that our economy is linked. If you raise taxes on business owners the burden gets passed right back to worker in the form of lost jobs and increased price of goods. You're taxing yourselves.
@AnduinX well who else will pay for police, army, social services, higghway maintenance, rubbish collectors, street cleaners, fire service and ambulances? It obviously comes out of taxes. Low tax economies have more poverty, more crime, more murder.. these are facts. High tax economys have fantastic quality of living standards. This idea that low tax means better society is utter crap, and the evidence shows it
@markgg1: So where's the evidence? You've made the claim and not backed it up. What low-tax economies are you comparing to what high-tax economies? More poverty? Probably, because unlike most high-tax systems a low-tax system does not sustain a rampant parasitic welfare population. The worker certainly doesn't win by having to pay for every bum and crack head out there. As for crime and murder, bring on your evidence or I'm calling bull.
@AnduinX Hi tax economies of western europe. We have more money to spend on sorting our social problems, so have less of them. The USA has virtually no welfate, whereas Denmark has extensive welfare. You find that unemployment stays at around 4%. Why is this? Becuase people want to work and not sit idle being bums, so this idea that a welfare system contributes to unemployment is not true.
@markgg1: You're very misinformed if you believe the USA has virtually no welfare. Welfare varies based on what State you're in, but many have huge entitlement cultures. Unemployment is calculated by taking a sample population and finding how many of those people are seeking jobs.So, those who are not seeking a job at all are not counted in the unemployment figures. It seems odd to use unemployment to make your point when everybody who is on welfare and has no intention of working is not counted
@AnduinX Huge businesses like Wal-Mart are succesful not because they have a unique business model, but because thier huge contracts mean they have great power so can demand to producers that they want cheap produce regardless of where it comes from, how much the workers get paid etc etc... Small businesses suffer as a result due to frank unfairness. How can a small shop who sources locally compete with a supermarket who can pay hardly anything for grain imoirted from a third world country?
@markgg1: I think employment is based on both. Businesses use the profits they make to expand, hire more workers, or lower their prices to compete with rivals. When you tax the rich to pay for welfare the result is less money to hire workers and expand. Businesses that are already in the red and faced with higher taxes often have to liquidate workers or raise prices. Whenever you tax the people you are destroying private jobs, and that includes taxation for welfare.
@AnduinX Im not saying tax rich just for welfare. Welfare is infact not very expensive to maintain I say tax everybody, but the rich more as they can afford it. This money can go on schools, fire service, police etc.. Its more important that our education systems are well resourced, than having a few more cents out of a dollar to spend
@AnduinX Also, high tax means business needs to be more resourceful, and innovative to stay in business. This means better quality products and more efficiency all around. Better advances in technology etc... Windows hasn't developed hardly at all because their massive monoploys means they dont need to. I guarantee you that now Apple is doing so well, you will see improvements in all windows products.
Capitalism should be a fierce battle of natural selection. If you fail, you go under.
@markgg1: High taxes does not mean business needs to be more resourceful at all, especially while our governments have been using that money for bailouts left and right. A high tax drives producers out of the country where they can operate at lower cost and ship the cheaper goods back into the country for profit. This is what we see happening in the States now.
@markgg1: Wal-Mart is actually a prime example of this in action. It is cheaper for them to import from China only because it is so much more expensive to operate here in the States. Without government interference local sources could compete with China on equal footing. We are trying to compete with high taxes, minimum wage, bloodsucking lawyers, and various labor laws against countries that have no such hindrances.
@AnduinX Yes in the US case, agreed.. loads of money is squandered on cruise missiles, which is a shame. Its as if the US has forgotten what its protecting, when thinking about pretection (if that makes sense). I hate to sound like a crazy hippy, but whilst children are literally starving to death alongside billions being spent on guns and bombs, something really is not right here
@markgg1: Whenever somebody makes a stand for lower taxes and smaller government somebody brings up that argument. It’s an argument that doesn’t hold true in the States because despite our high tax rates the amount of money our government spends on social services like firemen, police, and schools is minimal. Most of our budget goes to Social Security, Medicaid, and our enormous military.
This has been flagged as spam show
@lionroar224 Taxing the rich (like Clinton did) leads to more revenues, reduced deficit and better social programs. It also leaves money to employ people.
Someone with 10 millions in profits is just as happy as someone with 9 million. Of course those who work exclusively for the "upper 1%" would find bumper sticker slogans to deny this. "Socialism"? Be careful of words you choose. Capitalism is no longer as popular as you think!
Americans are starting to be leary of the 1% lingo. Are YOU?
multitalentino 2 weeks ago
How retarded. Who are the 121 idiots that voted this up?
H1TMANactual 1 month ago 2
when was this video made! haha
StantonHigh 1 month ago
If you think he sounds crazy here...just be lucky he isnt on one of his creationist rants. Youre an economist Ben, not a biologist. Dont forget it!
MaxxUS08 2 months ago
ben stein is PRO-SEMITIC. Tax The Rich!!!!! big deal, all the tax money goes back to them. any ways!!!!!!!!!!!
TheFuanon 2 months ago
@TheFuanon i couldnt have said it better
ghettokaiba 2 months ago
He is a smart moron...
Why would you suggest to throw money in a hole, when the idoits in charge keep making the hole larger? Tha main guy has never had a job, no responsibility, and he wants more of your money to spend.
AEP00dl3 2 months ago
stein used to be rational. however it appears as though recently he's fallen and hit his head.
aristotled1 2 months ago
"Now for something really depressing. And no, I'm not talking about my voice. I made a funny. Heh. Heh." I agree with Ben Stein here but the first thing I thought of when Ben Stein said he was going to talk about something depressing was his whiny, monotone voice. It's always depressing. LOL.
GenerationX1984 2 months ago
ben stien stanks like pooie jew or worse jewy poo
woods8870 2 months ago
Warren Buffett wants to raise taxes on the rich. And he's rich!!! Why would he want to raise taxes on himself unless he was being honest? That wouldn't make sense. That wouldn't make sense AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4squaredby4times4 2 months ago
Wha?Wha?What?:Stein advocating taxing the rich?Republicans are going whack aren't they? Noticed it was for the Military industrial complex though.Well,no surprise there.
stillbreathing37 3 months ago
why is this guy still relevant?
notadirector 3 months ago
This guy is a piece of shit. Our military? is he FUCKING serious? We out spend the rest of the world military wise, all put together. We can blow up the world multiple times over. What else does he really want? A space military?
drshlotzkin 3 months ago
@drshlotzkin you are flattering you country man, you cant blow up the whole world others have nukes too. . .
e.g russia china pakistan india DPRK have more than you,spending more money doesnt necessarily mean its making you better, for all i know this money may be wasted. ffs you cant even win in afghanistan against some cavemen with all that spent money. not to mention your average american soldier is a silk wearing soft weak faggot.
marobra00 3 months ago
i have nothing against jews, but god damn, that is a fking sleezy jew
bajskorvaren 3 months ago
I suppose Venezuela should have continued to suffer under the tyranny of the top down bureaucracies and private oligarchies that left it in shambles so that Hugo Chavez could win this social darwinist's approval. If they had only continued to suffer due to the disaster capitalism caused I'm sure the top 1% would be very rich by now.
Laughingblades 3 months ago
Hugo Chavez has helped save Venusuala from the shambles the World Bank left it in, and his respect for Fidel Castro as a man who has helped mobilize his people around very limited means and give them some modest degree of prosperity despite natural disasters and economic pressures that would have been a death blow to any other small country is well deserved.
Ben Stein hates Hugo Chavez because Venezuela is now not only recovering but is beginning to prosper due to employee owned businesses.
Laughingblades 3 months ago
@Laughingblades It isn't prospering, go down there, the soilders come up to your car and beg for money. Inflation is rampent and distroying their middle class, and they are on a ocean of oil and production is tanking.
EasyEs 3 months ago
@EasyEs Lulz, Venusuala was destroyed by capitalism, the economy is rebounding thanks to the cooperative movement and oil exports and is much better off today than it was when Ben "I'm the 1% - God Dun It - Atheists are Hitler" Stein made his comments.
Laughingblades 3 months ago
@Laughingblades No by any objective look the nation which you seem to be un able to spell, is doing much worse under socialism, the numbers have gotten worse. They didn't even have capitalism before, your average citizen had no property rights etc. Their oil exports are falling and they have to ration power. They export less oil and gas , and have higher inflation and less acess to normal goods. Again disaster, go see for your self.
EasyEs 3 months ago
@EasyEs Sorry bro but by any objective look at the nation today it's much better off than it was four years ago when capitalism ran it into the ground. The global economic collapse lead to the collapse of their economy and it was socialism that saved it brah. Ben "Dinosaurs and Cavemen lived side by side" Stein is wrong about Venusuala. Any objective look at their economy after the crash caused by capitalism and today shows steady improvement and they're doing a lot better than you say they are.
Laughingblades 3 months ago
@Laughingblades Ahh yes the global economic collapse, casued by governments messing around with markets, lending standards and intrest rates. Sorry but the economy has gotton worse. Inflation over 20%, shortages of energy, soap, milk, eggs etc. One fourth of the economy now spends half their income on food. Their oil industry is falling apart, and the only prosperty chavez brought was due to high oil prices. I know the nation, it is getting worse sorry to tell you.
EasyEs 3 months ago
@EasyEs Corporations bought the government kiddo.
Laughingblades 3 months ago 4
@EasyEs Also, USODA about Venusuala, you're just wrong bro. Their economy is on the rebound.
Laughingblades 3 months ago
North Korea has a smaller, and less powerful army than South Korea. Not much to worry about there. South Korea's military budget is larger than ALL of North Korea's total budget. The majority of the Chinese imports come from the United States. Attacking the Taiwanese would most likely affect the American economy, thereby pissing off the United States AND causing damage to the Chinese industry. Most of the Chinese income is foreign, which makes it highly unlikely that they'll attack anyone.
MegaSteadfast 3 months ago
@MegaSteadfast North Korea is forced to keep it's military heavily funded and on high alert because it faces down threats of invasion on all sides, which is intended not only as a military pressure but as an economic pressure. Maintaining a military is expensive, and forcing communist countries to maintain a massive defense force under perceived threat of invasion is a favorite US tactic for toppling countries it doesn't like, right up there with covert ops and blockades, which NK also faces.
Laughingblades 3 months ago
Comment removed
MegaSteadfast 3 months ago
Wow this man is a moron...
TheWhocares233 3 months ago
im sorry did i literally just here those words? 'america has a relatively small armed forces that can barely fight a small gorrila war'. America is the most paranoid country in the world and spends more money on arms than any other country in the world!
socialist123 3 months ago
woooow, who can take this shit seriously? this man is insane:D
juliusreea 4 months ago
Not another dime to those wasteful jackasses in Washington. Ypu people don't get it - they are literally blowing your money and getting very little in return. Some of you likely don't remember the $400 hammers and $1000 toilet seats our dear leaders bought in the 1970's - but if you have a clue you'll se they continue this crap 30-40 years later - read about $16 muffins or !15 cocktails that the taxpayers paid for? Don't ask me to send one more damn dime to those slimeballs.
calditz1 4 months ago
ben stein is a soulless hack
mike8903 4 months ago
Ben Stein, you ignorant shit head. Tax the rich, feed the poor, until there are no rich no more? SPEND LESS dumb ass. That is how you get out of debt. Live within your means. Our PERS systems rewards government employees at about 100 times the rate of Social Security. And they pay it out of the Social Security System, which PERS members do not pay into. Cut that moronic crap, not tax the brightest and best out of existence. Ben, do you miss your intellect? It seems to be missing.
damnitgumby 4 months ago
Country. $2010 Army Actv, Army Res. Air(eq). Navy(eq). Nuke.
USA $668.1B..1.5M..1.5M ...9735..340..9600
IRAN $9.1B......500K..1.8M...655.....39....0
N.KOREA $N/A.........1M......8.2M....661.....98....9(est)
CHINA $114B.....2.2M...800K..1900..282..200
USA is the top spender in military might for the best equipment. They can handle a 3 front assault. The tough parts are the guerrilla wars after conventional military forces are suppressed. Ben is only part correct.
ebr0d 4 months ago
Ben Stein for president. Only problem is the rich don't have taxable incomes and there isn't enough rich people to pay for it all.
Marcus29fan 4 months ago
IM SO ANGRY AT BEN STEIN, WHAT A MORON, GOD IM SO FUCKING ANGRY ON THE INTERNET, I HATE STEIN SO MUCH THAT I GO TO HIS VIDEOS AND CALL HIM AN IDIOT, THAT'LL SHOW HIM! AHHAHAHAHAHHA GOD IM SO ANGRY.
antisadism 4 months ago
This guy is a super-jew. Greedy little fucker too.
PakaloloSwami 4 months ago
Why on earth would we want to protect Saudi Arabia
crashnburn254 4 months ago
COOKIES! (thumbs up if you dont give a crap)
KingOfAnime2005 5 months ago
Ben is a fucking idiot. His liberal views are nauseating.
WildlyOptimistic1 5 months ago
@WildlyOptimistic1 I don't think any liberal would be willing to accept a former member of the Nixon administration into their own collective.
Derekrife 5 months ago
@WildlyOptimistic1 He's smarter than you because he doesn't trust those in power. Like the rich! Absolute power corrupts absolutely and trust is dumb.
4squaredby4times4 2 months ago
Oh god, the propaganda! It... burns!
TheAsymmetrical 5 months ago
this zionist moron is an absolute idiot
almaster666 5 months ago
BOBBY JINDAL IN POLITICAL SCANDAL IN LOUISIANA! BREAKING NEWS STORY BREWING! This is concerning the SYNTHETIC MARIJUANA law that Mr Jindal just signed. The media is Louisiana is trying to cover this story up for him by NOT investigating it. I cant put a link to a website here so in order to see the details just do a google search for;
DEM LEGAL SCENTS
stevespell2 5 months ago
what an idiot
anryth 5 months ago
Over the course of a lifetime, the FairTax would collect more revenue from the rich than the current flawed income tax system. Taxing incomes too much means people will vote with their feet--ship jobs and wealth overseas.
pdwheaton 5 months ago
What's even worse is that these same rich corporations are outsourcing our jobs to China, A communist country, and when we raise they're taxes just a percentage, they call you a socialist. It's ridiculous, it's the rich that don't want a fair tax, because they don't their share right now. Don't vote for Democrats that spend wastefully, Don't vote for Republicans that give tax breaks to the rich. Vote for Republicans that have moral values.
coolguy98 5 months ago
We need more Republicans like Ben Stein!! Stop voting for Republicans that favor the rich over the middleclass. Part of the 50% that don't pay taxes are the super rich!! That's what they don't tell you. Take a look a G.E. which was one of the biggest receiver of the Bailout and Stimulus, and then on top of it we're going to give them a tax break? Don't be stupid, It's the middleclass that create the most jobs, they are the biggest consumers. Without customers, who are the rich going to hire?
coolguy98 5 months ago
Ben, Ahmadinejad is a holocaust denier and you are an evolution denier. There is evidence to prove that both have happened so that makes you some kind of selective hypocrite. You don't ignore the dug up bones in germany and poland but you ignore millions of fossils of transitional forms and the geological record.
baxtar1963 5 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
youtube.com/watch?v=661pi6K-8WQ
JEREMY99218 5 months ago
Fuck Ben Stein fucking ignorant fuckboy.
MrMattgreider 6 months ago
youtube.com/watch?v=661pi6K-8WQ
JEREMY99218 5 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
ben stein needs a big dick up his ass
quantum023 6 months ago
I think our military budget's way too big as it is. I'm for having a strong defense, but I think we have some serious overkill in that department. It seems that the US is the only counter to the threats he mentioned here(?) - where's the rest of the free world on this? Why is it always up to the good ol' USA to save the world? I do think that the rich should pay their fair share one way or another on their personal income taxes, but we need to lay off of taxing businesses.
supinlick2000 6 months ago
Just saying "Tax the rich" without actually looking at the numbers and seeing exactly how that would effect the national defecit is silly. This is not the answer. There are a number of videos on YouTube that you can view that will show you what taxing the rich will really do. Check out the video "Taxing the rich" by YouTube user OscarJohn. Great data to shed some light on this subject.
jrm637 6 months ago
What a fucking lunatic! Ben seriously seek some help.
AntiYouist 6 months ago
@AntiYouist contrary to what you've been told, aside from the 9/11 recession and our current situation the economy wasn't that bad. gdp growth averaged about 3%, unemployment dropped 2 percentage points under bush, and we had low inflation and low interest rates. making the rich pay more isn't going to help us. history shows that the top 1% almost always pay more of the tax burden at lower rates and less of it at higher rates. if the middle class is shrinking its because they're getting rich!
Welsh77 6 months ago
@Antiyouist you need understand that 15% of american households earn more than 100,000 dollars per year. that's an amazing accomplishment, and its ALOT of people! those are the people that create jobs, you cannot tax them more. people complain about the revenue side of things but its spending that's the problem. "trickle-down" theory does work, and it has. the economy did well in the 80s and 90s and (yes clinton was a supply-sider) because of trickle down theory. now were back to class warfare
Welsh77 6 months ago
history shows that when the rich paid the same percentage rate in taxes as the middle class, the economy prospered and we all prospered.
the last 10 years with the bush tax cuts makes your comment false.
TRICKLE DOWN THEORY DOES NOT WORK.
but now middle class america is not needed. the growing countries of the world is the new targeted consumer.
it shouldn't matter to the people of the u.s. we can't expect anyone to fight for us.
WE HAVE TO FIGHT FOR US!
sk8bow 6 months ago 13
@sk8bow well said and accurate!
duftyboxing 5 months ago in playlist buffett
@sk8bow
But that was when a Million Dollars bought a lot of crap, and inflation didnt kill the purchasing power of every US citizen on average. The fact remains until our moronic Government can start cutting down obscene regulations and bureaucratic crap. At this point raising taxes is giving the US Gov a Blank check to spend it without oversight. A 10 year plan that calls for cutting regulation, government spending, deficit and raising taxes would foster better growth then doing neither.
avdquick 4 months ago
@sk8bow No history shows that when the the USA cuts spending, is the worlds leading oil producer, has the deck stacked towards them Breton Woods, has a giant boom in population, and oh yeah has a global industrial monoply for 15 years the economy will do well. Also no one paid that top tax rate because of the loop holes etc.
Trickle down economics isn't an economy theory, or practice. No one uses that term becasue it doesn't come close to describing reality. Investment pays the investors last
EasyEs 3 months ago
@EasyEs
well please, enlighten us. i want to know more about how this economy works. i want to know, so please
feel free to explain how you see what is going on.
i'm not joking. i'm very inquisitive.
LET US KNOW!!!!!
sk8bow 3 months ago
@EasyEs
it's all relative.
sk8bow 3 months ago
@sk8bow That makes zero sense, if someone who has lots of money or capital invests into a company or a group of people do, the middle class and poor workers get paid well before the investors do. That is if the company turns a profit which not all companies do. Tax cuts will not allways stimulate an economy with such structural problems as the USA has today, but the wealth trickles up. The richest hedge funds et al deal with government debt etc, so spending trickles down not up.
EasyEs 3 months ago
@sk8bow Um, Last I checked, the "rich" still paid a higher income tax than the middle class, in the "progressive" tax system we have. I'm not sure that you are aware of this, but we don't have a flat tax rate. and I'm sure you also are not aware of this, but the to 1% of wage earners pay 40% of the taxes in this country! Furthermore, the top 10% pay 70% of the taxes. And, news to you, I'm sure. The bottom 50%, due to tax credits and other "income equalizing" programs, pay 0% of the taxes! NONE!
MetroIceberg 2 months ago
@MetroIceberg
show your proof. send links.
sk8bow 2 months ago
@sk8bow
cbo.gov/publications/collections/tax/2009/tax_liability_shares.pdf
The % of tax paid by the highest brackets has steadily gone up. It was HIGHER during the Bush era than during Clinton. Bottom line is, the top pay the lions' share of taxes.
cbo.gov/publications/collections/tax/2009charts.cfm
Most recent tax data shows the top paid higher effective tax, too.
Please note, these aren't some "right wing" propaganda pages. This is straight from federal records.
whiteboyofvernon 2 months ago
@whiteboyofvernon
?????
you are sending me links that do not work.
sk8bow 2 months ago
and if a billionaire paid 1% of his annual income compared to 33% of mine, he/she would still pay way more than i.
that still isn't fair.
don't try to pull any crap like that on me.
sk8bow 2 months ago
@sk8bow
cbo.gov/publications/collections/collections.cfm(QM)collect=13
YouTube hates URLs. Replace the (QM) with a question mark.
Look at "Average Tax Rate" and "Share of Taxes Paid" below the graph.
Share of before-tax income of the top quintile: 55.9% of all income.
Share of taxes paid on an individual basis: 86.0% of all taxes paid.
In lay terms, the top 20% of earners earned 56% of the money, but paid 86% of the taxes. You're right. Totally unfair.
whiteboyofvernon 2 months ago
@whiteboyofvernon
you can show statements but in the end, there are many loopholes.
for example-
capital gains and dividend taxes should be more progressive. Why should someone who earns $100,000/yr in capital gains pay the same rate (15%) as a hedge fund manager who earned $1 billion in capital gains?
the average middle class tax payer doesn't have these luxuries.
THERE IS A PROBLEM AND WE HAVE TO FIX IT.
sk8bow 2 months ago
@sk8bow The flat tax rate of capital gains makes sense to me. But I admit I'm not historical tax expert. I presume there must be some fundamental reason that a flat tax doesn't work in a broader sense. And despite claiming unfair loopholes, the statistics flat out show that the top earners paid more taxes proportionally. It comes down to a spending problem. You COULD flat tax and close every loophole. But the budget for this year would require 38% of your pay.
whiteboyofvernon 2 months ago
@sk8bow And before you go blaming the "evil" corporations who "don't pay taxes", the total profit in 2010 of every single Fortune 500 company was $391 billion. BARELY 10% of the federal budget for this year. So we'll tax all businesses at 100%, and reduce your flat tax down to about 34% of every cent you earn. Or MAYBE the government should consider finding a way to limit spending? Now THERE'S a novel idea.
whiteboyofvernon 2 months ago
@whiteboyofvernon
??????
nah.
the military needs to be fed.
the bush tax cuts and the wars.
gotta luv it.
sk8bow 2 months ago
@MetroIceberg
Worse than that. According to the Congressional Budget Office records, the bottom 40% got money BACK in the most recent tax data they published (2007). Oh wait, that was under Bush, too. Crazy! That "redneck religious right wing nutjob" who only looks out for the rich sure was giving back a boatload of money to people that have below average pay...
whiteboyofvernon 2 months ago
alot of rich? watch the video "eat the rich"
michaeljon954 6 months ago
guys crazy.
michaeljon954 6 months ago
this guy is high
wisebbq1 6 months ago
all a bunch of fucking idiots!
Ghost10251 6 months ago
The problem is you tax the rich and they pass it on to the middle and poor man.
devmanl 6 months ago
Bueller Bueller Bueller Bueller Bueller Bueller Bueller Bueller Bueller Bueller Bueller
LikableDesi 6 months ago
NEOCONS like Stein tend to have the interests of other countries (ahem, Israel) above our own - why else would he want a larger military? No sane person would advocate more military spending because countries like Iran and China are perceived as dangerous. They're not going to invade the US. They could invade Taiwan or Israel, but that's not America's burden, it's the UN's.
Why do people give this nut any airtime? He has no credentials.
pilam2013 6 months ago
We do not have to be all of those places at once. We do not have to be, nor can we realistically be the police of the world.
DynamicUnreality 6 months ago
If you tax every household (thats 119,000) that make over 250k with tax rates at 100%, you only get 1.414 trillion dollars, enough to run the government under the obama budget for about 3 and a half months....Here's my solution: BE LIKE CANADA! They cut taxes, cut SPENDING, and their debt has been dropping ever since!!! 30 years straight!!!
iluvpoliticzz 7 months ago
Taxing the rich = more government = less liberty = more poor = european nanny state
iluvpoliticzz 7 months ago
he plays the pixies on fairly odd parents
MrAlexChryler 8 months ago
99people are poor 56 people are rich
TorresProductionz 9 months ago
This has to be one of the dumbest, if not THE dumbest thing Stein has ever said, in a long history of saying dumb things. There are millions of what COULD happen in his deluded mind. Shit China and Russia could just decide to start a nuclear war with America... The LAST thing this country needs is to spend more money on the military.
christo930 10 months ago
@christo930 Please forgive the trolling, seriously please forgive me, it's just so easy to look at the upload comments here now and say, "Navy Seal Team 6 just greased that assh*le Bin Laden!". Ben Stein is my hero, but time can make our assumptions and speculations look ridiculous. What a different feeling there was in the USA the day I saw that news clip. God Bless America, the rich, the poor, & the FREE! You made your comment a month ago, how do you feel now?
shizzleman8 8 months ago
@shizzleman8 I just watched the video again and I feel the same way. I am not against taxing the rich, but I am CERTAINLY against enlarging our military. IF we feel our military is too thin to deal with real emergencies, I got a GREAT idea.... Lets get the fuck out of the middle east! We spend more then then next 4 smaller militaries combined. We don't need more military spending, especially to deal with Ben Steins ridiculous what if scenarios.
christo930 8 months ago
@christo930 Do you know what the biggest complaint is of the soldier on the ground?
Are you familiar with the caste system? Military ranks above professional people, and labor, and in my humble opinion as the head of the church should rank above the relligious as well here in the USA. If you watch Charlie Wilson's War you'll get the message that abandoning people you save only pisses them off more than if you never rescued them in the first place. Read Sun Tzu The Art of War. Shalom
shizzleman8 8 months ago
@shizzleman8 I don't accept any kind of caste system that puts military above homeless people, let alone professionals or laborers. I also believe the church should pay taxes on all their income and their real estate and be allowed to deduct from their income their in-country charitable work. I don't think they should get tax free money and then proselytize people in foreign land with a gov subsidy (which is what their tax status really is).
christo930 8 months ago
@christo930 Body armor.
I take into my home the homeless so they're homeless no more, do you? We're on the same page mostly, except if we don't fight for freedom there's none to be had. We need to continually honor our military with our money first and foremost, other wise we have sharia law.
shizzleman8 8 months ago
@shizzleman8 Actually I have a border that used to be homeless though he wasn't homeless when he moved in, but would have been homeless in less than a week. He is disabled so he got on SS and is able to pay a small rent to help me with my bills... We both win.
christo930 8 months ago
This man is the filthiest thug living in America.
Promoted the Iraq war, promoted, denied the real estate bubble, defended BP after the oil spill (he is a shareholder).
He is one of the people who helped to ruin America.
Repulsive man!
.
He shouldn't be just taxed.... All his wealth should be taken from him.
pepintheshort100 11 months ago
And if the rich aren't giving people jobs then exactly who is?
currie175 1 year ago
@currie175 Rich people are giving jobs but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be taxed
jakehubbb 10 months ago
@jakehubbb There should be a flat tax, one of the biggest problems we have is the middle class not paying taxes, there's too many loopholes for them to get their money back. Plus our government doesn't really have a revenue problem they have a spending problem, both democrats and republicans are guilty
currie175 10 months ago
@currie175 I don't really have a problem with the middle class not paying as much tax because the middle class has been shrinking for decades. But we do need to close loopholes for the super rich who don't pay taxes and corporations who don't. Exxon is the second most profitable company and they pay NO taxes in the US and they even get taxpayer subsidies! That is just ridiculous! They have bought our politicians so I don't think this will change any time soon.
jakehubbb 10 months ago
@jakehubbb Yeah I mean nobody should have any loopholes, the only reason we should cut taxes on the rich is because the money they have isn't just sitting in their wallets, it's circulating through our economy and cutting their taxes allows more jobs to stay and to stay here in America, everyone should pay the same percentage of their income towards tax
currie175 10 months ago
@currie175 Idk about that because "trickle down" economics has never really worked.. the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. Really it's just been the top 2% getting richer for the past few decades and everyone elses income has been going down.
jakehubbb 10 months ago
Sorry but that's bull, the rich are outsourcing the jobs because production in the US is too expensive already, what's a better way to make them leave then to tax the hell out of them instead of letting them use the money to employ people, every time tax goes up, more employees are laid off, food stamps are for people who cant afford food not for the 40% of America that's using them, it's social programs like food stamps, medicaid, medicare, and welfare that are bankrupting our country.
currie175 1 year ago
@currie175 Many corporations pay no taxes because of loop holes in the system... even if they are paying nothing it is still cheaper to outsource many manufacturing to places like China because people are so poor they can get by with paying them hardly nothing. The loop holes in the tax system should be closed and rich people should pay their taxes like everyone else.
jakehubbb 10 months ago
Taxing the rich is a good idea. The US needs additional sources of income to stay alive.
ruggimi 1 year ago
this is the history of the federal income tax since 1913: tax the "rich" to make war
xaviqaz 1 year ago
This guy's an idiot, it's not the US's responsibility to protect everyone in the world from everyone else.... and why would you tax the rich if they're the one's giving everyone else the jobs? You tax the rich too much and they can't supply the jobs.
currie175 1 year ago
@currie175 - Ben Stein is one of the biggest neocons in the US. By the way the rich aren't the ones that are giving everyone else jobs. They're the ones that finding every tax loophole possible and outsourcing jobs to china. Basic economics that republicans seem to forget. 1 dollar tax brake for the wealth has a negative effect on the economy, while 1 dollar in food stamps (a program they hate) actually has a multiplier effect on the economy.
dayingyang0 1 year ago
I agree. This very video has shown me he's an absolute lunatic. If I didn't know any better, I would SWEAR it was a joke! He's for:
-expanding the military
-protecting every "good" country on earth
-raising taxes on the rich
He also claims the military has "shrunk", when in fact it has hundreds of bases all over the world and is still by far the largest in the world. This freak shouldn't be on TV, and anyone who listens to him needs professional help.
kommisar 11 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@kommisar This man is the filthiest thug living in America.
Promoted the Iraq war, promoted, denied the real estate bubble, defended BP after the oil spill (he is a shareholder).
He is one of the people who helped to ruin America.
Repulsive man!
.
He shouldn't be just taxed.... All his wealth should be taken from him.
pepintheshort100 11 months ago
Ben Stein is a neo-con filth that wants others to die so that the US and Israel can run the world. Can you imagine that wuss fighting as a troop himself? It's too pathetic to even think about.
tstruss912 1 year ago
How about America minding its own fucking business?
N-Korea attacks S-Korea...? So what?
China invades Taiwan...? Who the hell cares?
Now, with Iran attacking S-Arabia, obviously we have oil-interest over there, so we will stop them from doing that, since Iran does not even have a serious Navy. My country's navy is even more dangerous then Iran's.
Stop worrying about all these things, and get your people some decent healthcare.
Oh, and America, please lose some weight.
tjobv 1 year ago
I take this video as proof that boring and smart are not the same thing.
jmh90 1 year ago
yes their legal liability is to make as much money as possible. But taxes eat alot of profit they make. Lower taxes equals more money for them to invest in other areas. Im poor, I dont buy shit. Rich people have money they actually use it. Yeah the government wouldn't have as much to spend on things. But most of the government programs in practice are inefficient and need to be scrapped anyways. Which would help out
callenification 1 year ago
yeah sure, tax the hell out of all of us so the bloody govs. can buy a few more nukes, problem solved
DrFox2000 1 year ago
RIght idea.
Wrong principal.
MsZeitgeist85 1 year ago
Or why can't we tax China?
Maybe it's time for the Global Tax?
XionXXXX 1 year ago
How about we just get rid of all the taxes in this country, keep the bailouts rolling and increase the spending sprees, and just print our way out of the Debt?!!!
XionXXXX 1 year ago
Tax the rich? Sure this seems to be the easiest way to cut our losses. But it would cripple our economy further. Hell if we stopped taxing corporations, companies would be falling over themselves just to get back into this country to make money. Giving everyone the jobs that they deserve. Tax the rich? What the hell do you think we've been doing? What the hell do you think sent companies fleeing out of the USA towards other countries?
callenification 1 year ago
callenification, either you failed your economics class, or you were sleeping. Nothing you are saying is making sense. Companies would be flocking in here if he had no taxes? i highly doubt that. Their legal liability to their shareholders is to profit as much as possible, no matter what the conditions. Plus how would the government pay for all our services?..........Pay attention in those classes man. its important.
slicbro 1 year ago
@slicbro I misstated when I said stop taxing corporations and the rich. What I really meant was lower taxes for the rich and businesses in general. Less taxes taken out of profit equals more money for companies to invest in other areas. As for the rich, im poor i dont really buy stuff, rich people buy things they employ people. Your right the government would have less money to use, but most of the government programs in place are inefficient and need to be scrapped anyways. That would help
callenification 1 year ago
@callenification greed is what sent companies fleeing out of the USA towards other countries . exxon mobil paid 0 dollars in federal taxes last year to the us government. is that right ? 45 billion in profits and 0 federal taxes paid . you think this is a good idea . you are an idiot . exxon mobil will never get another one of my dollars.
MSG685 1 year ago
@MSG685 yeah I did read that recently. I'm not saying that corporations don't find loop holes to not pay taxes, I'm against corporatism in all forms. And the way the U.S. government spends money they dont have is ridiculous as well. But taxing the rich would only put a small dent in the deficit and thousands or more jobs would be lost to compensate the money they pay out. The problem has to be nipped in the bud, spending is that problem. And I wouldn't insult other peoples intelligence.
callenification 1 year ago
This can completely be ignored... not because of what he says in this video and not because of any of his points. But simply because this is Ben Stein... one of the dumbest, most ignorant people on the planet these days. If it's Ben Stein, and he's talking, you can be assured that there's 100% bullshit spewing from him. 'Expelled', enough said.
mooseflier 1 year ago
LOL what an idiot.
j03y2fly 1 year ago
This ENTIRE speech is fucking STUPID and so is anyone who agrees with it.
Right! Tax the rich (and everyone else) so we can grow our over bloated military and provoke conflicts based on "what if" "what if" (how many times did he say "what if" in this clip) scenarios? And THEN get involved in other countries internal affairs...... to what end?
WTF is this guy serious. Who is stupid enough to believe this? Man this guy is annoying.
LeftLiberalSoCal 1 year ago
@LeftLiberalSoCal I don't agree with Ben Stein... no one would ever even listen to him. But we certainly should be taxing the rich. And if you don't agree with that you're fucking STUPID, to use your own words.
mooseflier 1 year ago
@mooseflier I agree. Tax the rich. But NOT so we can grow our over bloated military and provoke conflicts based on "what if" scenarios as he suggests we should.
WHY is this guy even on TV? His advise is awful. His economic advise (to buy Merrill Lynch right before it tanked) is equally bad. WHY is he on TV posing in such an important forum? This is just the guy from the clear eyes commercials !
LeftLiberalSoCal 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@LeftLiberalSoCal I think you missed the point... the point was, for anyone to make the statement, "This ENTIRE speech is fucking STUPID and so is anyone who agrees with it." ...they should not be taken seriously, as it's just about as open-minded as Ben Stein. "If you don't agree with me, then you're wrong" No progress has ever been made with that sort of attitude, and it's as ridiculous as any creationist or holocaust deniers' attitudes.
mooseflier 1 year ago
Nice to see Rupert Murdoch's favorite pet pissing on the pants leg of the anarcho capitalists at the Fox Corporation.
GodlessInfinity 1 year ago
When the KaL 007 was shot down, some people thought the U.S. military should have seen that happen. The military site where they might have caught that, were no longer doing 24 hour surveillance. At 10 PM, the last man out the door of that site, turned out the lights. Military power is not just a matter of big guns, it includes hours for personnel to do the ground work. At one time in history the Roman Empire was the most powerful military in the world; they're just history now.
calliegal235 1 year ago
The most powerful military power in the world needs more money? Riiiiight...
Morethanlittle 1 year ago
Ben Stein: tax the rich because then my friends in the Zionist banks can steal that money! OR WE CAN GIVE IT TO ISRAEL FOR FREE!
This guy is nothing but scum.
karlkarlkarl1234 1 year ago
@karlkarlkarl1234 Of course the moment Rupert Murdoch's favorite pet Jew strays away from the party line, it's all a big Jewish Zionist Israeli conspiracy isn't it?
GodlessInfinity 1 year ago
He is calling the US military small? US military assets are bigger than the next 13 odd military powers COMBINED. Who the fuck is this guy kidding? If a world war occurred and the US could worry less about human rights, they'd fucking lay waste to their enemies. Fact is, there is no immediate threat to the USA, and if they cut their military to 6% of its size (yes, 6%) and changed defence spending and foreign policy to suit, they'd be fine.
Mirason 1 year ago 12
@Mirason u sound like a patriotic fool
packaderm135 10 months ago
@Mirason you realize that most of defense spending goes to personnel salaries right? and that money doesn't stay in the military, it gets spent elsewhere. of course our military assets are larger than the next 13 countries, that includes bases and land which we have all over the world. if you're looking at just guns, tanks, and men, our military isn't anywhere as big as people think it is. im not advocating growing it, but our ready military force isn't that big.
Welsh77 6 months ago
@Mirason Spending does not equal manpower. Not that I agree with Stein, I don't, but I believe he's talking about the number of military personnel.
brandnutopian 5 months ago
the Chinese spend 50 billion on military we spend 700 billion trust me we spend more on defense more than the next 15 countries in line behind us COMBINED. and this would actually be good we attack china they fall and we don't have to pay back our loans to them.
Thor101101 1 year ago 2
@Thor101101 We spend just $450 billion on paying our troops. Chinese troops don't get paid as much as the United States and their figures aren't fully shown to the public.
KingGoomba19 5 months ago
@KingGoomba19 "JUST" 450 billion!
Thor101101 5 months ago
@Thor101101 Compared to most other government programs that is small/medium. The 2 wars combined cost around $250 billion. It's not like we can't pay off these wars, it's just that unfortunately the Bush administration as well as the Obama administration don't really have a plan.
KingGoomba19 5 months ago
lets start with ben stein!
bonfirejovi 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@bonfirejovi
"lets start with ben stein!"
Not likely, like all Zionist shysters his bank account will be run out of Tel Aviv.
karlkarlkarl1234 1 year ago
He's an idiot. Our military is made for a situation like this. We spend more than EVERYONE else COMBINED on our military. This we can handle. you just send an aircraft carrier group to North Korea, and Saudi Arabia to bomb the crap out of the Iranians and North Koreans. We don't have to invade, just blown up their military bases. I can't believe ol' tightwad Stein wants to spend even more on bombs that we don't need.
TighelanderII 1 year ago
"I have an idea, lets feed in to the massive military industrial complex even more than we are now. I will get you to go along with this by scaring you out of your mind. I'm rich, and will profit heavily from the defense contracts." GTFO you piece of worthless scum!
PsychoSocialChange 1 year ago
Some day...China will snap at America...it will cause a nuclear war and destroy us all. See everyone at Vault 101!!
wowfanatic100 1 year ago
He does not mention the fact that the draft would have to return, how else would one fight these potential wars? I still do not believe that North Korea has the bomb. They have radioactive materials, but so far their "test" remains inconclusive. If I were a despot, I would certainly try to make the US believe I had a nuke, whether I had one or not, just so they would not fuck with me. A bluff is as good as a royal flush as long as your opponent believes you actually hold the cards.
timpipe 1 year ago
Ben Stein is rich, lets start with him!
bonfirejovi 1 year ago
I agree that we should tax the rich, but the scenario proposed is preposterous. Nutty though Iran may be, they would never attack Saudi Arabia, since they would be able to do nothing about it. If China wanted to invade Taiwan, they would have done so, and if North Kore attacked Japan, they would be obliterated. Not to mention, the US already spend almost 1 trillion on defense (far less than half of which is on the wars).
vapata989 1 year ago
Bueller, Bueller, Bueller, no .... anyone seen Bueller?
geneva1999 1 year ago
the 1st smart thing i've herd him say in a long time
gibadoo 1 year ago
Weren't North‘ Korea‘s weapons
I agree about taxing the rich more, but if we spend any more on our military, it will be rich enough to break away and form its own ultra-wealthy nation.
vapata989 1 year ago
Take money from the rich and use it to massively increase the number of government employees? Socialism anyone?
Now, I'm a stinky liberal hippie and I would support such a concept, the problem however is that the very man who proposes it is a fierce enemy of socialism...
TheAmazingSatirist 1 year ago
STEIN+TRUMP+BRIAN+BRUCE+DAVID and any other 5 letter NAMES.
MissHelloGeorgus 1 year ago
The people who shout 'tax the rich' can't seem to understand that our economy is linked. If you raise taxes on business owners the burden gets passed right back to worker in the form of lost jobs and increased price of goods. You're taxing yourselves.
AnduinX 1 year ago
@AnduinX well who else will pay for police, army, social services, higghway maintenance, rubbish collectors, street cleaners, fire service and ambulances? It obviously comes out of taxes. Low tax economies have more poverty, more crime, more murder.. these are facts. High tax economys have fantastic quality of living standards. This idea that low tax means better society is utter crap, and the evidence shows it
markgg1 1 year ago
@markgg1: So where's the evidence? You've made the claim and not backed it up. What low-tax economies are you comparing to what high-tax economies? More poverty? Probably, because unlike most high-tax systems a low-tax system does not sustain a rampant parasitic welfare population. The worker certainly doesn't win by having to pay for every bum and crack head out there. As for crime and murder, bring on your evidence or I'm calling bull.
AnduinX 1 year ago
@AnduinX Hi tax economies of western europe. We have more money to spend on sorting our social problems, so have less of them. The USA has virtually no welfate, whereas Denmark has extensive welfare. You find that unemployment stays at around 4%. Why is this? Becuase people want to work and not sit idle being bums, so this idea that a welfare system contributes to unemployment is not true.
So theres your evidence.
markgg1 1 year ago
@markgg1: You're very misinformed if you believe the USA has virtually no welfare. Welfare varies based on what State you're in, but many have huge entitlement cultures. Unemployment is calculated by taking a sample population and finding how many of those people are seeking jobs.So, those who are not seeking a job at all are not counted in the unemployment figures. It seems odd to use unemployment to make your point when everybody who is on welfare and has no intention of working is not counted
AnduinX 1 year ago
@AnduinX Huge businesses like Wal-Mart are succesful not because they have a unique business model, but because thier huge contracts mean they have great power so can demand to producers that they want cheap produce regardless of where it comes from, how much the workers get paid etc etc... Small businesses suffer as a result due to frank unfairness. How can a small shop who sources locally compete with a supermarket who can pay hardly anything for grain imoirted from a third world country?
markgg1 1 year ago
@AnduinX Unemployment is linked to how well the economy is doing, like industry etc.... it has no bearign on the welfare system
This right wing idea of 'common sense' politics makes sense in theory, but in practise it doesnt and the evidence shows it.
markgg1 1 year ago
@markgg1: I think employment is based on both. Businesses use the profits they make to expand, hire more workers, or lower their prices to compete with rivals. When you tax the rich to pay for welfare the result is less money to hire workers and expand. Businesses that are already in the red and faced with higher taxes often have to liquidate workers or raise prices. Whenever you tax the people you are destroying private jobs, and that includes taxation for welfare.
AnduinX 1 year ago
@AnduinX Im not saying tax rich just for welfare. Welfare is infact not very expensive to maintain I say tax everybody, but the rich more as they can afford it. This money can go on schools, fire service, police etc.. Its more important that our education systems are well resourced, than having a few more cents out of a dollar to spend
markgg1 1 year ago
@AnduinX Also, high tax means business needs to be more resourceful, and innovative to stay in business. This means better quality products and more efficiency all around. Better advances in technology etc... Windows hasn't developed hardly at all because their massive monoploys means they dont need to. I guarantee you that now Apple is doing so well, you will see improvements in all windows products.
Capitalism should be a fierce battle of natural selection. If you fail, you go under.
markgg1 1 year ago
@markgg1: High taxes does not mean business needs to be more resourceful at all, especially while our governments have been using that money for bailouts left and right. A high tax drives producers out of the country where they can operate at lower cost and ship the cheaper goods back into the country for profit. This is what we see happening in the States now.
AnduinX 1 year ago
@markgg1: Wal-Mart is actually a prime example of this in action. It is cheaper for them to import from China only because it is so much more expensive to operate here in the States. Without government interference local sources could compete with China on equal footing. We are trying to compete with high taxes, minimum wage, bloodsucking lawyers, and various labor laws against countries that have no such hindrances.
AnduinX 1 year ago
@AnduinX Yes in the US case, agreed.. loads of money is squandered on cruise missiles, which is a shame. Its as if the US has forgotten what its protecting, when thinking about pretection (if that makes sense). I hate to sound like a crazy hippy, but whilst children are literally starving to death alongside billions being spent on guns and bombs, something really is not right here
markgg1 1 year ago
@markgg1: Whenever somebody makes a stand for lower taxes and smaller government somebody brings up that argument. It’s an argument that doesn’t hold true in the States because despite our high tax rates the amount of money our government spends on social services like firemen, police, and schools is minimal. Most of our budget goes to Social Security, Medicaid, and our enormous military.
AnduinX 1 year ago