Why doesn't our schools have a "life preparedness" class? They could teach things like: -Buy a house -Open an IRA -Buying a car -Bouncing Checks -How Credit Cards work -Balancing your funds -Simple Stocks -etc That would solve so many problem in the long term.
***** That would be so helpful! Also a girl in Germay twittered that with her 19 years she has no idea how to continue with her life after school. That tweet got very very famous and ended up in every newspaper in Germany.
Living in Australia, we hear a fair bit about what is going on in America. But because I live in Australia what I don't hear is all the context to know why things are the way they are. As the kids say, mad props to you guys for clarifying many things for me about what's happening in the US and why. So thanks from a non-US fan for clearing all that stuff up :)
How can you a) know John well enough to be perplexed that you didn't know semething important about him and b) know the Fault in Our Stars, but c) don't know that John Green wrote The Fault in Our Stars??? :D That's like...watching a video of Obama and then write in the comments "Biggest mind fuck of this video was learning that Barack is the president of the USA." ^-^ (Just kidding, it just amused me.)
so im procrastinating by learning about the economy of a country I don't live in. The thing is, America's debt is a lot more interesting than Canada in the 20th century, which is what I'm supposed to be writing a paper on.
As a US airman and a fellow nerdfighter, I'm really glad you made this video. The cuts are hitting deep around here, my office of four is now an office of two with the same obligations. My tuition assistance has been cut. Our pensions and even our salaries are at risk. ... but I'm willing to speak for a good portion of us that we will sooner take these personal sacrifices rather than lose our effectiveness as a military whole(such as some comments suggest). Our mission is much to important.
John Green was pulling his hair out by the end of this 6 minute video just talking about the dysfunction of congress. If he had to deal with them personally he'd probably go insane within 6 minutes.
I want to personally thanks both of you for all the hard work you put into making these videos to make the world more educated! But mostly for making me more educated = ) Thanks again! You guys rock!
Hi, John! I just got your book today, and I can't wait to read it! Never before have I read a book knowing the face of it's author BEFORE reading it. I feel like I "know" you, and I am in a way proud that I "know" the writer of the book I'm reading. It's quite an interesting feeling.
I couldn't agree more! As a Head Start teacher, someone directly affected by this and still being affected by this, it irritates me that the government went this route. It not only affects jobs, it's affecting the children I teach and the parents I work with.
I'm so sick of news people playing the blame game! Why don't they actually like inform me of facts instead of their opinions! A lot of what I hear from those around me is "The government is spending too much money!" and then the speaker cannot elaborate at all because they have no idea what they're talking about! You're the only sane person I've heard talk about this, John. Thank you for putting this in plain English.
I love how he takes the time to explain things for us because, let's face it, I probably wouldn't get someone else to tell me how this works in such an understandable way, you know?
Thanks for this video! You were able to explain in a few minutes what no else could explain with all the time in the world. NOW I understand why everyone is angry with congress. Thanks again!
this is actually very educational. it completely does include john's opinion. this does not mean it is not educational. he tells you everything you need to know about the sequester and also what he thinks about the sequester. just listen to what he is saying and you will "gather information from it". also, what do you have against john's opinion it makes perfect sense.
Thank you for a good description, the news just spouts the babble and catch phrases, nobody explained it as a whole better than you have. Shared this on my facebook for all my non-nerdfighter friends.
Dear John, We've had a vote and we've decided that you are the one to lead the Revolution. We are behind you 100% Signed, The John Green Revolutionary Committe.
Just a fun fact: Government nonprofit contractors which fall into that 36% are being hit with sequestration and MOST are actually cutting and shrinking as many contracts as possible then giving any excess money to the more important contracts. However, like John said, actual government agencies are just cutting back ten percent over all. Which from what I hear tends to fall towards the contractor budgets. So honestly I think it's a start at cleaning house.
I'm impressed at how interesting and engaging you made this sound, even though I do not not live in American and it will not affect me. You made me wish I did so I could be outraged with you!
John, can you explain the news more often? Hearing all the context explained from an informed, unbiased perspective is surprisingly helpful. I think a lot of nerdfighters appreciate the clarity. :)
Great explanation John! But to quote the great Milton Friedman "I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it's possible."
First off as a Brit studying US politics this was fascinating. Also, the retired lobby in the US is so powerful that there is no way medicare is ever being cut. Washington's problem (erm apart from the gridlock/ rhetoric) are the special interest groups that basically write your legislation.
"scenario is way to complex to make a sweeping statement like that." Greece is an example of what would happen here if we didn't require states to balance their budgets. By having a common currency with no restrictions on debt obligations, Greece was incentived to borrow money and reap all the benefits of having the same currency value as Germany, before another nation did so, and raised prices on all Europeans just the same. Fact: most goods are more expensive Europe, that's no coincidence.
ONE credit agency downrated our debt one level. And it was because it had concerns that we might not raise the debt ceiling in the future, not any concern about long term spending. That act also had the paradoxical effect of spurring people to buy up US bonds, since they are still the safest place to put your money.
i was coming home from an international flight and i noticed while going through immigration that there were many lines for people to get their papers stamped but only about 10 were being used. There were about 1,000 people in line and only about 10 booths open. I guess it was because it meant there were less people to work at those closed lines, because of job cuts. i just felt like acknowledging that this helped me understand a little bit more about what is going on.
When medicare was first introduced, it payed care providers in the 70th percentile of what doctors in the area charged, in otherwords, above average. This resulted in healthcare costs skyrocketing, as Medicare was paying above the average cost. This was later changed, but we still live in a system where healthcare costs are pretty much set by Medicare, rather than being set by the market of consumers and insurance providers.
Too much money being spent in the near future on things that you guys don't need. I agree wholly with this video! Keep on doing your work vlog brothers! May your messages get out soon hopefully!
I kinda take back what I said. I had a very informative guest lecturer in Political Science today, and while there is no actual money changing hands, there is plenty of appointments and IOUs and other stuff changing hands for a better place, and that's just in Congress. Also, I totally agree with you.
I'm not sure where you tailed off to at the end there... but my point was that current market systems tend to privatize the profits but socialize the costs. From 1977 - 2007, the US military spent ~$244B per year securing Persian Gulf oil tankers (Stern, 2010) which comes out of the public's pockets in the form of taxes. Considering the US only imported $337B worth of oil in 2010 (Pickens, 2011), it's fairly safe to say you're only paying directly for half the cost of the gas you use.
I work at a us army library overseas. We work to serve our military community, providing entertainment and education and promoting literacy to the service members stationed here. After three years, what do I get as a thank you for my hard work? A 20% reduction in work hours and pay for almost 6 months. The sequestration is not just bananas, it is actively destroying lives of those who have actively worked towards the betterment of their communities.
The biggest financial problem facing the country is the aging population and the cost of their future medical care. One of the most expensive illnesses to treat is dementia, which is also one of the most prominent illnesses in adults over 65. Finding a treatment for dementia would remove a TREMENDOUS amount of financial strain from the government. I am a scientist that studies dementia HOWEVER because of the sequester I just lost a significant portion of money for my research. That makes sense.
This should not be boring. It is important to understand. If no one were to care to understand what's happening in our country, we would end up with a bunch of deadweight, poorly informed, parasitic citizens. Well. More of them than we already have. Sorry, I'm very passionate about this.
Though I slightly disagree with you I felt obliged to come here and say I appreciate your views and opinions. Too often on RUclips people just throw profanities around and do not explain/understand the situation. Rather they blindly follow irrational nationalism, 'MERICA!' and so forth. So thank you AlaskaFinal, You have shown that not everyone on RUclips is completely ignorant. Nice argument, well put.
"It's like the doctor told you you had a slow growing tumor in your fingernail and you responded by saying 'Quick! Remove my gall bladder!'" Lovely! That quote comes between Liz Lemons "women are allowed to get angrier than men about double standards" and Jane Austens "There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well." (Not because there are any realtions between those quotes, just because I think they are awesome...)
John, I truly hope you do a video on why health care cost what it does in the United States. See where the money goes and ask if the more we spend really equals better care? Considering how much we spend every year, I think it is worth while to ask why.
No it don't. The uploader was the best economist in their state at the age of 17 so I assume he did not misunderstood the tax structure of your country. And he is the best novelist EVER.
John Green, how do you feel about the machines that smash pennies for souvenirs? My parents wouldn't let me do it when I was little because it "cost too much". But now I never use change and it makes perfect sense.
That's what I thought! I think they have a special clause exempting or extending the maximum duration for videos of an educational nature, since some important topics can only be compressed so much before they lose meaning or accuracy.
I can understand that people in America are probably living less healthy, smoke more, are obese and thus get cancer and heart diseases more often. But still you've got to admit that considering France offers universal healthcare for all, and America is just giving a discount to elderly, it's rather inefficient use of the money.
John: Sometimes I have to pause your videos for various reasons while watching them, but I feel bad about pausing because I'll often land on an unsavory still and I don't want some creepy distorted John face staring at me when I come back to the video. But sometimes when I find a decent freeze frame, but it's fuzzy because you move around so much. That bothers the animator/graphic designer in me so I can't tolerate those either. There isn't much you can do about that, I just thought I'd share.
my teacher tried to explain this to my class a few weeks ago, i had no idea what she was talking aobut even after an half hour..watching 6 minutes of this and its all clear
He works in maintenance at a military building. He is a vet, with health problems and his wife is also a disabled vet who cannot work. this is literally taking food off of the table for them.
You should do videos like this about other countries too because it's getting to the point where I know more about american systems than my own country's! :)
Yeah this is unfortunate. I'm about to graduate from college and go into the military, and it's looking like because of sequestration and budget cuts I'm either not going to go active duty for a year (having to get a meaningless in-between job in the meantime) or when I do go active duty I'll be trying to do the workload of 20 people with only 13 because we can't afford to hire more.... fabulous timing.
As a non-American I think it would be great if John made a video explaining how the American government works. If the President doesn't have much (if at all) say in the creation of legislation, what do they actually do?
LOL my mother had to learn to use the internet when I went away to college. One day, she called me up and went, "do i have email?" and i went, "no, i didn't send you anything." "no, but do i have an email? so i can send things?" "uh... yes. it comes with your internet services." "i don't think i have that." "mom, go click the little button that looks like an envelope." "oh hey! i have email!"
NASA had an internal memo saying they're suspending all outreach and education activities. Naturally, the site is down now from traffic since it was on Reddit, and I can't read into it. I hope this doesn't effect the USLI competition I've been working on... FOR A YEAR.
Ahh! That makes sense. I don't think that having less kids should be seen as a problem seeing as there are already too many people on this planet in relation to our wasteful lifestyles, but that really is a dilemma. Maybe instead of pushing up the retirement age or encouraging people to have more children, the cost of living needs to come down so that the budgets don't need to be as high.
Missing the old Vlogbrothers set up where we got videos every other day. :( Wondering if the punishments are still in effect? Waiting for my Tuesday video. :)
"Capital Gains are not taxed twice" I took a tax class for my accounting minor, yes they are. People invest in Corporations, and corporation's money is taxed at the corporate rate (38%). At that point, the investor's expected return on their investment, is lower than if the Government was not taxing said corporation. The money is then taxed AGAIN as they receive their return, in the form of Dividends (capital gains). So, their return on investment is not simply 14% lower, it's over 30% lower.
I know you only just mentioned it, but either in Vlogbrothers or one of your many other channels, could you do a video summary on why Greece is in the economic situation it is. I have various discussions/debates on why Greece is in the position it is in right now with my family and friends and it would be interesting to hear your reasons.
I was lectured by my father (who is a government employee) about this literally 12 hours ago and how it's illegal for them to strike. They are being force to take one day off a week without pay for 22 weeks. And they can't strike. Damn you Congress!
"Presidents do not set tax rates and they do not decide the budget"
Something Americans should know, but don't.
Yes it's true but the president decides how to spend the budget in several ways.
But he just said they propose it. Didn't he?
@@gilmarianimer4926 House of Reps. can also. The real power is veto
I am an Army research physicist facing 22 days without pay this year because of the Sequester. Thank you for helping to explain this to people.
Why doesn't our schools have a "life preparedness" class?
They could teach things like:
-Buy a house
-Open an IRA
-Buying a car
-Bouncing Checks
-How Credit Cards work
-Balancing your funds
-Simple Stocks
-etc
That would solve so many problem in the long term.
***** That would be so helpful! Also a girl in Germay twittered that with her 19 years she has no idea how to continue with her life after school. That tweet got very very famous and ended up in every newspaper in Germany.
***** generally that's called Business Class.
worldfullofbooks Most High Schools don't have a "Business Class", that's the problem that I am stating.
+Mason Geloso not even when you do GCSEs/BTECs?
***** really? That's surprising.
I learn more about the government from John in a series of four to six minute videos than I did in four years of high school.
No you just aren’t aware of what little you would know if you didn’t attend high school.
John Green 2020!
Green / Green ? That would make my day. Hank would be in charge of our energy policy...
Living in Australia, we hear a fair bit about what is going on in America. But because I live in Australia what I don't hear is all the context to know why things are the way they are.
As the kids say, mad props to you guys for clarifying many things for me about what's happening in the US and why. So thanks from a non-US fan for clearing all that stuff up :)
Biggest mind fuck of this video was learning that John wrote The Fault in Our Stars.
How can you a) know John well enough to be perplexed that you didn't know semething important about him and b) know the Fault in Our Stars, but c) don't know that John Green wrote The Fault in Our Stars??? :D That's like...watching a video of Obama and then write in the comments "Biggest mind fuck of this video was learning that Barack is the president of the USA." ^-^ (Just kidding, it just amused me.)
so im procrastinating by learning about the economy of a country I don't live in. The thing is, America's debt is a lot more interesting than Canada in the 20th century, which is what I'm supposed to be writing a paper on.
Sitting in South Africa trying to write three essays. I feel you man.
As a US airman and a fellow nerdfighter, I'm really glad you made this video. The cuts are hitting deep around here, my office of four is now an office of two with the same obligations. My tuition assistance has been cut. Our pensions and even our salaries are at risk.
...
but I'm willing to speak for a good portion of us that we will sooner take these personal sacrifices rather than lose our effectiveness as a military whole(such as some comments suggest). Our mission is much to important.
John Green for President!
John Green for President? Everyone would know when and where our pressure is needed to be applied to our representatives!
I will not vote for a candidate who hates unicorns!
Daan Dekker That is actually a deal breaker. Unicorn master race!
John Green was pulling his hair out by the end of this 6 minute video just talking about the dysfunction of congress. If he had to deal with them personally he'd probably go insane within 6 minutes.
I want to personally thanks both of you for all the hard work you put into making these videos to make the world more educated! But mostly for making me more educated = ) Thanks again! You guys rock!
This literally blew my mind: scraping off 8 percent less bird poop
'and Greece' the best part of the video.....
Hi, John! I just got your book today, and I can't wait to read it! Never before have I read a book knowing the face of it's author BEFORE reading it. I feel like I "know" you, and I am in a way proud that I "know" the writer of the book I'm reading. It's quite an interesting feeling.
Your government frustrates me.
The Jenna Pearl it frustrates all of us too
I couldn't agree more! As a Head Start teacher, someone directly affected by this and still being affected by this, it irritates me that the government went this route. It not only affects jobs, it's affecting the children I teach and the parents I work with.
I'm so sick of news people playing the blame game! Why don't they actually like inform me of facts instead of their opinions!
A lot of what I hear from those around me is "The government is spending too much money!" and then the speaker cannot elaborate at all because they have no idea what they're talking about! You're the only sane person I've heard talk about this, John. Thank you for putting this in plain English.
I love how he takes the time to explain things for us because, let's face it, I probably wouldn't get someone else to tell me how this works in such an understandable way, you know?
John Green is a great beacon of light and knowledge. You teach me so much.
That was incredibly informational and entertaining at the same time. Subscribed!
there's a lot of things I don't understand in this video, but your voice makes me happy.
Crash course economics would be an amazing thing to see. Love your videos!
John, I love to hear your rants about the government and how poorly it does. Helps me to understand who to be disappointed in...
hey John, thank you so much for coming to england. I got to meet you and Hank and my life is now complete.
Thank you
Thanks for this video! You were able to explain in a few minutes what no else could explain with all the time in the world. NOW I understand why everyone is angry with congress. Thanks again!
this is actually very educational. it completely does include john's opinion. this does not mean it is not educational. he tells you everything you need to know about the sequester and also what he thinks about the sequester. just listen to what he is saying and you will "gather information from it". also, what do you have against john's opinion it makes perfect sense.
Thank you for a good description, the news just spouts the babble and catch phrases, nobody explained it as a whole better than you have. Shared this on my facebook for all my non-nerdfighter friends.
Dear John,
We've had a vote and we've decided that you are the one to lead the Revolution.
We are behind you 100%
Signed,
The John Green Revolutionary Committe.
Just a fun fact: Government nonprofit contractors which fall into that 36% are being hit with sequestration and MOST are actually cutting and shrinking as many contracts as possible then giving any excess money to the more important contracts. However, like John said, actual government agencies are just cutting back ten percent over all. Which from what I hear tends to fall towards the contractor budgets. So honestly I think it's a start at cleaning house.
Why can I only vote this comment up once? This deserves extra points, as does your science teacher.
I like educational videos because I get to hear you talk at my face for longer.
I'm impressed at how interesting and engaging you made this sound, even though I do not not live in American and it will not affect me. You made me wish I did so I could be outraged with you!
John, can you explain the news more often? Hearing all the context explained from an informed, unbiased perspective is surprisingly helpful. I think a lot of nerdfighters appreciate the clarity. :)
John, can you just teach everyone? The world needs your knowledge!
Great explanation John! But to quote the great Milton Friedman "I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it's possible."
First off as a Brit studying US politics this was fascinating. Also, the retired lobby in the US is so powerful that there is no way medicare is ever being cut. Washington's problem (erm apart from the gridlock/ rhetoric) are the special interest groups that basically write your legislation.
This is one of the best explanations of the actual root of the problem with sequester.
"scenario is way to complex to make a sweeping statement like that."
Greece is an example of what would happen here if we didn't require states to balance their budgets. By having a common currency with no restrictions on debt obligations, Greece was incentived to borrow money and reap all the benefits of having the same currency value as Germany, before another nation did so, and raised prices on all Europeans just the same.
Fact: most goods are more expensive Europe, that's no coincidence.
ONE credit agency downrated our debt one level. And it was because it had concerns that we might not raise the debt ceiling in the future, not any concern about long term spending. That act also had the paradoxical effect of spurring people to buy up US bonds, since they are still the safest place to put your money.
Actually, we've defaulted on our debt like five times already, but people keep lending the government money. Strange, I know.
i was coming home from an international flight and i noticed while going through immigration that there were many lines for people to get their papers stamped but only about 10 were being used. There were about 1,000 people in line and only about 10 booths open. I guess it was because it meant there were less people to work at those closed lines, because of job cuts. i just felt like acknowledging that this helped me understand a little bit more about what is going on.
john you're one of my favorite people
When medicare was first introduced, it payed care providers in the 70th percentile of what doctors in the area charged, in otherwords, above average. This resulted in healthcare costs skyrocketing, as Medicare was paying above the average cost. This was later changed, but we still live in a system where healthcare costs are pretty much set by Medicare, rather than being set by the market of consumers and insurance providers.
Too much money being spent in the near future on things that you guys don't need. I agree wholly with this video! Keep on doing your work vlog brothers! May your messages get out soon hopefully!
seriously, this guy's channel is awesome. you need to check it out.
Paper towns is awesome, just awesome. I love your books John!!!
I could just listen to him talk all day.
I learn more watching a 6 minute video by john green than i ever have in history class
as soon as i saw the time, i was kinda excited for a punishment. alas, educational video. so bittersweet.
I kinda take back what I said. I had a very informative guest lecturer in Political Science today, and while there is no actual money changing hands, there is plenty of appointments and IOUs and other stuff changing hands for a better place, and that's just in Congress.
Also, I totally agree with you.
the debt ceiling is pretty much a governmental "stop hitting yourself"
I'm not sure where you tailed off to at the end there... but my point was that current market systems tend to privatize the profits but socialize the costs. From 1977 - 2007, the US military spent ~$244B per year securing Persian Gulf oil tankers (Stern, 2010) which comes out of the public's pockets in the form of taxes. Considering the US only imported $337B worth of oil in 2010 (Pickens, 2011), it's fairly safe to say you're only paying directly for half the cost of the gas you use.
I work at a us army library overseas. We work to serve our military community, providing entertainment and education and promoting literacy to the service members stationed here.
After three years, what do I get as a thank you for my hard work? A 20% reduction in work hours and pay for almost 6 months.
The sequestration is not just bananas, it is actively destroying lives of those who have actively worked towards the betterment of their communities.
The biggest financial problem facing the country is the aging population and the cost of their future medical care. One of the most expensive illnesses to treat is dementia, which is also one of the most prominent illnesses in adults over 65. Finding a treatment for dementia would remove a TREMENDOUS amount of financial strain from the government. I am a scientist that studies dementia HOWEVER because of the sequester I just lost a significant portion of money for my research. That makes sense.
I didn't think it was possible, but you have made me ACTUALLY care about history and polotics ^^
this should be mandatory viewing for all news anchors
There are few nations currently with the economic growth that rivaled those before the crisis. But that is quite normal.
I think you might be confused about how social security works... Also, the baby boom. But okay.
This should not be boring. It is important to understand. If no one were to care to understand what's happening in our country, we would end up with a bunch of deadweight, poorly informed, parasitic citizens. Well. More of them than we already have.
Sorry, I'm very passionate about this.
as a german I always find it very interesting when u explain these things to us outsiders
Though I slightly disagree with you I felt obliged to come here and say I appreciate your views and opinions. Too often on RUclips people just throw profanities around and do not explain/understand the situation. Rather they blindly follow irrational nationalism, 'MERICA!' and so forth. So thank you AlaskaFinal, You have shown that not everyone on RUclips is completely ignorant. Nice argument, well put.
"It's like the doctor told you you had a slow growing tumor in your fingernail and you responded by saying 'Quick! Remove my gall bladder!'"
Lovely! That quote comes between Liz Lemons "women are allowed to get angrier than men about double standards" and Jane Austens "There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well."
(Not because there are any realtions between those quotes, just because I think they are awesome...)
John,
I truly hope you do a video on why health care cost what it does in the United States. See where the money goes and ask if the more we spend really equals better care? Considering how much we spend every year, I think it is worth while to ask why.
these econ videos are some of my faves, they so damn good
You are so smart, I love watching these videos!
No it don't. The uploader was the best economist in their state at the age of 17 so I assume he did not misunderstood the tax structure of your country. And he is the best novelist EVER.
John Green, how do you feel about the machines that smash pennies for souvenirs? My parents wouldn't let me do it when I was little because it "cost too much". But now I never use change and it makes perfect sense.
That's what I thought! I think they have a special clause exempting or extending the maximum duration for videos of an educational nature, since some important topics can only be compressed so much before they lose meaning or accuracy.
That's really nice of you to say, thanks!
every person in america should watch this video.
I am officially a subscriber to the nerdfighters (I'm late to the party, I know). DFTBA!
'And Greece.' made my day :D
I can understand that people in America are probably living less healthy, smoke more, are obese and thus get cancer and heart diseases more often. But still you've got to admit that considering France offers universal healthcare for all, and America is just giving a discount to elderly, it's rather inefficient use of the money.
^_^ I love that you attacked this problem...or well, talked about it. You said it much better than I've ever been able to as well!
You're my favorite explainer.
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies" -Groucho Marx
More of these videos. Love it.
John's awesomeness would be wasted in Congress.
Not to mention, he wouldn't have time to make delightful vlogs for us.
John: Sometimes I have to pause your videos for various reasons while watching them, but I feel bad about pausing because I'll often land on an unsavory still and I don't want some creepy distorted John face staring at me when I come back to the video. But sometimes when I find a decent freeze frame, but it's fuzzy because you move around so much. That bothers the animator/graphic designer in me so I can't tolerate those either.
There isn't much you can do about that, I just thought I'd share.
Nice job and thank you for clearing a lot of that up. Kudos!
"Quick! Remove my gallbladder!" is going to be my new response to any small problem that I can't help with, but people come to me with anyway.
my teacher tried to explain this to my class a few weeks ago, i had no idea what she was talking aobut even after an half hour..watching 6 minutes of this and its all clear
He works in maintenance at a military building. He is a vet, with health problems and his wife is also a disabled vet who cannot work. this is literally taking food off of the table for them.
'Sequester' the catch phrase of the year.
The title definitely tricked me into thinking there was some specific provision in the sequester about the import/export of bananas.
You should do videos like this about other countries too because it's getting to the point where I know more about american systems than my own country's! :)
Yeah this is unfortunate. I'm about to graduate from college and go into the military, and it's looking like because of sequestration and budget cuts I'm either not going to go active duty for a year (having to get a meaningless in-between job in the meantime) or when I do go active duty I'll be trying to do the workload of 20 people with only 13 because we can't afford to hire more.... fabulous timing.
As a non-American I think it would be great if John made a video explaining how the American government works. If the President doesn't have much (if at all) say in the creation of legislation, what do they actually do?
LOL my mother had to learn to use the internet when I went away to college. One day, she called me up and went, "do i have email?" and i went, "no, i didn't send you anything." "no, but do i have an email? so i can send things?" "uh... yes. it comes with your internet services." "i don't think i have that." "mom, go click the little button that looks like an envelope." "oh hey! i have email!"
NASA had an internal memo saying they're suspending all outreach and education activities. Naturally, the site is down now from traffic since it was on Reddit, and I can't read into it.
I hope this doesn't effect the USLI competition I've been working on... FOR A YEAR.
Ahh! That makes sense. I don't think that having less kids should be seen as a problem seeing as there are already too many people on this planet in relation to our wasteful lifestyles, but that really is a dilemma. Maybe instead of pushing up the retirement age or encouraging people to have more children, the cost of living needs to come down so that the budgets don't need to be as high.
Missing the old Vlogbrothers set up where we got videos every other day. :( Wondering if the punishments are still in effect? Waiting for my Tuesday video. :)
"Capital Gains are not taxed twice"
I took a tax class for my accounting minor, yes they are.
People invest in Corporations, and corporation's money is taxed at the corporate rate (38%). At that point, the investor's expected return on their investment, is lower than if the Government was not taxing said corporation.
The money is then taxed AGAIN as they receive their return, in the form of Dividends (capital gains). So, their return on investment is not simply 14% lower, it's over 30% lower.
I know you only just mentioned it, but either in Vlogbrothers or one of your many other channels, could you do a video summary on why Greece is in the economic situation it is. I have various discussions/debates on why Greece is in the position it is in right now with my family and friends and it would be interesting to hear your reasons.
Wow, I actually understood that. Thank you, John!
I was lectured by my father (who is a government employee) about this literally 12 hours ago and how it's illegal for them to strike. They are being force to take one day off a week without pay for 22 weeks. And they can't strike. Damn you Congress!
He's the older brother. He's allowed to rewrite the rules to ensure his victory.
-Rinion
I didn't make the connection that you wrote The Fault In Our Stars. Fine work sir, thank you.
"It's over Rock. Nothing on Earth is going to save you now" "Nothins over, just give me sometin to drink."
omfg just finished the fault in our stars and you emotionally scarred me