The Story of Broke (2011)

http://bit.ly/storyofbroke — The United States isn't broke; we're the richest country on the planet and a country in which the richest among us are doing exceptionally well. But the truth is, our economy is broken, producing more pollution, greenhouse gasses and garbage than any other country. In these and so many other ways, it just isn't working. But rather than invest in something better, we continue to keep this 'dinosaur economy' on life support with hundreds of billions of dollars of our tax money. The Story of Broke calls for a shift in government spending toward investments in clean, green solutions—renewable energy, safer chemicals and materials, zero waste and more—that can deliver jobs AND a healthier environment. It's time to rebuild the American Dream; but this time, let's build it better.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• subsidies
• story of stuff
• annie leonard
• taxes
• investment
• election day
• economy
• economics

[bryallen1987]

So we should stop giving handouts to companies you don't like and start spending it on companies you approve of? How about we just stop giving money to corporations altogether?

[ToSaveANationDotCom]

Sadly this video highlights part of the solution as still giving subsidies, but to just give subsidies to "good" companies that are "helping" instead of "bad" ones. All subsidies will turn into Dinosaur subsidies. Evidence today! Subsidies are the status quo and they are the problem; better subsidies won't fix that. Politicians have been trying this for decades and look where we are! End them all! End the ability of politicians to pay back their special interests, even the ones you agree with.

[christo930]

@adamnmn86 Absolutely! There are losses in every step and there are(huge) energy losses as well.

[MrLazyleader]

The more power the government has over the the market, the more profitable it is for corporations to invest in lobbyism instead of innovations and improving their goods and services.

It's just wrong to say, they are using their power not wisely and i would do it much better.

As history has proven:

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

[adamnmn86]

@christo930 because the laws of thermodynamics are super pertinent in regards to recycling policy.

[christo930]

WTF is zero waste? Has this idiot never heard the word entropy before?

[christo930]

It's so funny that she can't put 2 and 2 together, that the more gov has to give,the more lobbyists will ensure that the firms or industries they represent will get the money. She is like all big gov liberals who are absolutely sure that the only problem with gov is that we have the wrong people there! Oh, if only we could find angels willing to become politicians!

[docawesomeisawesome]

Also global warming is complete bull too. Yes the climate is changing but its not man made. Do you recall that in the 1980's people were saying that we were heading towards another ice age? How could the climate have changed that much that we can go from ice age to meltdown in 20 years? And you claim that in 5-10 years the sea levels will rise well here's something to think about, scientists can barely predict what the weather is going to be in less than a week. Get your heads out of your asses!

[docawesomeisawesome]

Okay lady if you got off your high horse you could clearly see that your "great recycling" is doing more bad then good. Think about it does it really make sense to have extra trucks going around and picking up and emptying extra bins? No, that wastes more gas than it saves. And we can only recycle about half of the things we put in our recycling bins. So it would be more logical to stop recycling so we can ge those extra trucks that waste gas off the road and actually make a difference.

[MalcolmHeardSB]

I like the message of this video but to be fair not all of it is honest. A- The biggest bill is Medicare/medicaid, war comes in 3rd but Obama has cut it which is good. B- Small farmers ALSO get tax subsidies C- It is never going to happen, people tend to complain from inside their homes

[TheHeidelbergKid]

2:25 You really should have used a tank to represent the government in the original Story of Stuff.

[Charlesperalo]

Did anyone hear one plan to reduce the budget deficit? Also she basically said revert everything we're spending on she doesn't like and put it in things she likes. So she's saying spend the same. This should have been titled "Story of Annie Leonard's Shopping List".