If you found this video informative, be sure to also watch our video on the failure of trickle-down economics. ruclips.net/video/cABuFmA3nhY/видео.html
Thank you, Mr. Reich. My boss (with whom I thankfully have a great relationship despite being opposites in nearly every way) is an intelligent, kind man, but is totally misguided about the myth of "trickle-down economics." I go crazy every time I hear about the "job creators." I'll definitely be trying to work some of this information into our periodic political discussions/arguments. Of course, I've tripped him up several times by rephrasing some points so it applies directly to him, but to no avail. Can't win them all, I guess.
@@sluttymctits4496 burst his bubble this way; all him how long his business and the jobs 'he' created would last without customers. After all, customers are the REAL job creators and always have been.
@@tylerdavidson9700 I've used that exact argument with him. He had a few moments of silence, clearly in deep thought, but then returned to "I don't care, I've got to get to work." Edit: I work in a higher-end dental office, my boss is the doctor, himself. What if he got $5 million tax kickback? Great! Would he reinvest in the business? Yes, if there was an increase in patients. What constitutes an appropriate increase -- three wealthy people who want a couple of crowns/implants/superficial veneers, or hundreds of middle-income families who want comprehensive care? That's what stumped him.
I've lived in America and Canada. Paid about the same in taxes but get way more for my taxes in Canada. Most Americans hate the government (hate giving them their money even more) because they've never experienced good governance.
I honestly think America needs a completely restructure of their political system. It is just not working. Trump and Biden being elected out of 300 million people to run the country is evidence for that too.
The stock market is unstable at the moment, but if you do the right math, you should be just fine. Strategists have been aiding folks in recording gains over 250k just in a matter of months, so I think there are alot of wealth transfer in this downtime if you have someone who knows where to look like i do.
I just googled her and I'm really impressed with her credentials; I reached out to her since I need all the assistance I can get. I just scheduled a caII.
The thing you said about American hating government because they have never lived under a good one speaks volumes Whenever I bring up investing in public transit people start cringing because many of them have not experienced got public transportation that many other countries have
An economics professor once explained it like this: Suppose you give an extra $1 million per year to someone who already has $200 million. Will they increase spending? They probably already own all the cars, houses, and Lego sets they want. But, if you take that $1million and give 100 regular people each $10,000, they will likely buy cars, furniture, pay off debt, go on vacation, or find some other way to spend that money, that spending fuels the economy like rocket fuel.
Elon musk lives frugally and reinvests most of his money into the corperations he runs and paid 12 billion dollars in taxes what did the government do with Elon musk's money paid 750000 to Harvard to blow lizards off trees with leaf blowers mabey musk should get a tax cut so he can create more environmentally friendly products and employee more people he employees nearly 100000 jobs so who helps the economy more musk or lizard blowing government
Then he or she should not be a economics professor.. If you get 1 mill and have everyting you need, then what do you do with the money?? You invest them. Thats what you do
@@matslunde6238 Right, you buy stocks or you put it in a tax shelter. You don’t go to Walmart and spend that money. You are doing nothing for the economy. If you give a poor person more money, they will spend it. That is money directly into the economy.
@@matslunde6238Exactly. You invest them, the money grows even more and there is even less money in the economy. Rich people don't return as much money into the economy like the ordinary. They literally take and never give back. Thanks for proving the point.
Perfect example of this video in real life: my employer (a mid-sized company of 5,000 employees) boasted last year of crossing the 1 billion mark in revenue. They celebrated this milestone by issuing silver-embossed coffee mugs with the company logo to every employee, and for managerial staff, this was accompanied by a mini crystal trophy with 1 billion engraved on it. There was also a party with a ballroom, catering, lots of fanfare, and where execs lined up at the podium to give congratulatory speeches. Less than a month later, they issued a wage-freeze, cancelled bonuses, and did away with sick-leave. Three months after that, they fired 800 employees, and announced a slew of early retirements. The explanation: we're "restructuring" to position us for an even brighter future. Company stock went through the roof. Moral of the story: all the hard work, dedication, and success of our employees in earning record profits resulted in cuts, not rewards. The rewards go to the top, there's nothing but sacrifice for everybody else. And they think we don't see this!
What a shit company. It’s sad but there are other companies like that. It seems to be the rule not the exception. Companies will do whatever for their bottom line.
Corporate structure and GOP economics favor the wealthy. I started with a small company which became a huge company after several mergers and acquisitions. My experience is the same. The bigger we became the more wealth was centralized at the top. The company did everything it could to reduce labor cost such as out sourcing and frequent layoffs. In many years, there would be layoffs while the CEO and senior management got record bonuses and stock options. I shouldn't complain too much because I did reasonably well but it certainly could have been better.
I worked as an engineer for a small company supplying equipment to Samsung. Year on Year growth was up 60% yet the employer decided to make employees pay for healthcare (that had been provided) and freeze wage increases so we all had basically -$5000 raise a few months after the growth announcement. Meanwhile it was said that all of management got secret bonuses. In the parking lot literally every one of them stopped coming to work in a $35000 car and started showing up in a $75K plus car the next month. For context this was 15 years ago.
Secret bonus for executives in a corperation is illegal do your homework before believeing democrat lies who will make up any story tell any lie to steal someone's else money corperations have to disclose top executive pay
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 It's not a lie Fritz. I do question your motives however because I've seen you spam pro corporate rhetoric in other threads and can't decide if you are a troll, bot or just incapable of being a decent human being.
"They won't be able to create jobs if you tax their money away!" Pretty much every dime spent creating a job is tax deductible. They only get taxed on money that they don't spend creating jobs.
Mostly true. Money spent on any consumer goods is taxed. Money circulated creates employment. If I'm stinking rich & pay $1000 for a meal, chefs, dishwashers, farmers, & truck drivers all get a slice. But the working class still creates the wealth, even though they don't control it. And creating wealth (working) out of necessity while the wealthy control inequitable division of said wealth, is exploitation. Society restraining exploitation through government is just. More equitable distribution of wealth to creators of wealth (workers) through the tax system empowers the creators of wealth, not punishes the controllers of wealth.
Really odd how Americas boon from 1951 to 1964 the top 1% were being taxed a whopping 91% top rate. From 1932 to 1986 the taxes of the 1% were at least over 50%. Since 2012 it's been at 43ish% top rate and 23% after taking advantage of the many loopholes in the tax code, leaving the rest of us pick up the tab. look for yourself its publick infromation. www.ctj.org/pdf/regcg.pdf
@@AllyMonsters The rich would rather be rich in a poor country than be rich in a rich country. One day the people will have enough and roll out the guillotines and then what will the greedy have to say about tax rates etc.
@@jujuria13 Maybe, but I think it's more critical for us all to suss out who's gonna be propagandizing, and why. Even "rich people" are doing "everything their supposed to" and can't figure out why "poor people" aren't happy.
artie lusk When you lower taxes on the rich, Dubai loves it. You are misinformed and have bought into the baloney. It was not that long ago that incomes that exceeded $1 million were taxed at 90%. There was little debt. Like I’ve stated, you drank the kook aid.
When Bernie first said “ billionaires shouldn’t exist” I thought that was a bit extreme. Some people do come up with great inventions or start businesses that benefit us and they should be rewarded. However, it’s hard to comprehend what a billion actually is, so I did a little calculation to put it in context. If a person made $25,000 per day, every day, starting on the day they were born how long would it take them to have $1 billion? Answer: 109 years and 188 days! Suddenly, I agreed with Bernie. No one “earns” that kind of money. Averaging out Jeff Bezos’ wealth this way, considering his age and $116.4b net worth (according to google), he had made over $5.67 million every day of his life. How can anyone defend that?
You forgot one thing - It is NOT BEZOS filling all the orders, but thousands of workers. HE COULDN'T DO IT BY HIMSELF. The only fair thing is either high taxation or PROFIT SHARING WITH EMPLOYEES WHO DO THE WORK, and WITHOUT WHOM he could not get rich. Any "entrepreneur" who needs a workforce NEEDS to SHARE HIS PROFITS wit those WHO DO THE WORK.
@@lydiabell6218 Jeff Bezos is sitting on his ranch in west Texas, while his workers are taking a risk to go to work, and are being fired for speaking out about unsafe workplace practices during the pandemic. Jeff Bezos has made approx 23 billion during the pandemic.
So, the invention of personal computers, and how it revolutionalized the world, isn't worth a billion dollars? How about the people who invented cars? So It'd be better if personal computers and cars didn't exist so that no one person can't have a billion dollars? It's like if you wrote a book for $1 and sold a million copies. You become a millionaire. Or 10mil people were willing to pay $100 for a computer (and we know many more ppl want computers and pay more than $100 for it) to become a billionaire. Are you evil or bad, or is Microsoft bad, bc a lot of ppl liked your product and were willing to pay money for it?
High taxes effect everyone. Taxing the rich who own the stores will increase prices on everything. Everything will cost more. Small businesses will close down. Lots of people will lose their job and lots of people will be begging to the government to give them something.
I worked for GE, the Healthcare branch, many years ago. When our department met its financial target (which makes stockholders happy) by small, periodic layoffs to avoid notice by the media, cutting benefits, cutting corners on worker safety - basically all the unethical yet legal options available - the VP got a porche as a bonus. Everyone else, I mean EVERYONE ELSE, got a cheap t-shirt. The VP even called it that when he gave his stupid speech. He thought it was funny. But trust me, nobody laughed when he drove away in his porche. I took a magic marker and wrote "MY VP GOT A PORCHE AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT." Everyone wanted me to make them one. Even the VP's assistant. She put one on his chair so he would see it when he came to work. He thought it was hilarious. He wasn't even pretending to care about the unfairness of it. All those people who worked their asses off to get HIM a frickin porche. No shame. Not even the pretense of humility or appreciation. Where is the humanity?
Time for worker owned companies. All we have today is a more sophisticated form of economic feudalism, or plantation capitalism, where shares of plantations are traded amongst the owners with the Porsches that just laugh at us.
Was that new front porche or back porche? Oh! You meant Porsche? LoL Here's an idea. Why don't YOU go back to school, get a business degree so you can work your way up the corporate ladder and get a Porsche, too, instead of letting your envy of others make you miserable?
There is no humanity, it’s my belief that the Capitalist and Federal systems have failed America, rich corporations get richer and destroy not only peoples lives but the environment too, all the while the corrupt weak federal government which is mostly made up of ex business men with ties to big corporations let them run rampant while delivering a skewed stream of propaganda to the public and sweeping all the facts under the rug, for democracy to continue to exist, hell for the planet to continue to be habitable capitalism must be done away with or at least severely regulated and hampered
Sadly, nothing has changed. In fact, most of the politicians who passed the laws. Allowing this to happen, are still in office! These dinosaurs (career politicians) are no longer benefiting the people. They are there for themselves and the financial gains. We need to have term limits for those political positions!
Pay me a million a year, and I would be happy to pay 70% in taxes. That still leaves me $300k a year. And after living off of less than $40k a year, living off of $300K a year would be a breeze!
Yeah because you’re really stupid. At the rate of inflation because of money manipulation a million a year is not enough. Especially because you think you can still live the lifestyle you live now but you won’t. You will move up in the social hierarchy of life and require a better lifestyle. You’ll buy a nicer house, a Porsche, etc. You will consistently take on liabilities.
@@channtastic - Not necessarily. I would invest in a business or invest in experiences. The happiest people live in the income range of $75K to $90K. Anything below that typically acquires debt and/or relies on financing, anything above that forces you to move into more competitive social circles that force you to keep up with the Joneses. Both lifestyle aspects lead to misery. Knowing this, I'd live off of $90K and with the rest, invest it into ethical businesses & startups, donate to charity, donate to well meaning politicians, take up pet projects & activist programs, pay for kids colleges, travel, etc. And if I still have money left, I'd sponsor a child's education, an ex-convict's rehabilitation, or an inner city community, or just further invest extra dollars into activist programs.
YourMajesty143 you need at least $200k a year to live comfortably in places like Los Angeles and even more in San Francisco. Cost of living is astronomical!
We've seen a lot of these arguments in Australia over the past 10 or so years as well. Not a surprise that it's always off the back of Murdoch's media corporations
Rupert has seen himself as ('kingmaker in chief since 1966),i am happy the UK took him , he took them to Wapping , now he has done the same in USA , Donny better do as his influenced , or he will be turned against ,by the very ,media that put him there , Watch , Rupert Has Form , in 3+ Continents ,
Sith Lord makes him sound too cool. Murdoch is nothing more then an entitled Machiavellian Lordling that was able to weaponize the western world's innate bigotry against commons sense pro working and middle-class policies.
@@matthewbrown5228 -- Sebastian's point is that no one looks at their 6-room bungalow and calls it "an estate." Even if that's the legalese in wills and buying and selling.
An estate also concerns retirement accounts, life insurance, etc. I made $30k /yr working for the municipal animal shelter. I have a public employees retirement fund (piddling though it is) and I still had to name a beneficiary, and upon my death they would inherit that estate.
I worked for a company where the greedy owner hatched this plan: He reluctantly agreed to allow the employees off on holidays with pay, but in return they now "owed back" those hours without pay, at the time of his choosing, which was always overtime hours where they should have gotten time and a half anyway. After learning of this in my new management position I hatched my own plan. Without telling the owner I scheduled for the workers to come in on several Saturdays to pay back those hours. However, I let them bring their kids and all they had to do after clocking in, was just watch TV and enjoy all the pizza and ice cream I provided. No work. After a couple of those "special work days", no one owed back to the owner their swapped time.
@@JustJoe-i9n Goodness no. It was 1989 and I'd reluctantly taken the position for $16.00/hr. with the agreement that if I could actually do everything on my resume, he pay $18.00 hr. after 90 days. No surprise, he broke his word. (This was excellent pay back then.) I stayed for 2 more months while making transition plans then moved out of Atlanta.
Also in Myth 12; the rich would be nowhere without their workers. At most a very successful mom and pop operation that pays the bills. To be wealthier requires the cooperation of others.
@@RicardoLuna That it would be easy to topple the rich who treat their meal tickets (employees) like serfs by simply embargoing any labor on their behalf. You know this as a labor union strike. And they were key to ending the grip of Robber Barons owning this country, as well as being the catalyst for the mid 20th century golden era of the middle class, and the most powerful economy the world had ever known at the time. Decades of successful propaganda demonizing unions by _one specific party_ have left a lingering, and false, sense that Unions are somehow the bad guy and you should trust your boss and his shareholders
Yup. And workers have to be educated, have access to a health plan of sorts and so forth. Also - infrastructure to create your product is needed. Roads, water, electricity... It is much harder to create wealth in a vacuum. If no regulation was so good for business, why not move to some failed states around the world with little or no gov't? They do exist.
Thomas Remme "...why not moved to some failed state...?". I constantly encourage taxes-are-theft people to move to Somalia. No taxes or gov't. Also no infrastructure, hospitals, or order. I'd strongly encourage anarchists to shut their own power and water off. They'd last 5 minutes before they become acutely aware of how nice it is to have electricity and running water that comes from a well-run society.
Right on! The workers should be rewarded for their work, and founders *should* be rewarded for their work _and _ their idea. But the idea is not worth THAT much more because where would it be without the work of others?
@@theminuteman6211 I could give you a couple reasons but this guy has actually spent the time doing the research m.ruclips.net/video/EM7BgrddY18/видео.html
@@metalDCM8 What research? 12 minutes in and it seems reliant on guilt by association and equivocation. Regardless, no source of information or opinion should be regarded as "scary" or "cancerous".
Marco: You really think the rich don't get "more" when they earn more? Of course they do. And if they don't, they have lawyers and tax accountants and people who will help make damn sure they keep more of their own money. Average and poor people have to rely on Turbo Tax and their more disproportionately heavy burdens to wonder why getting ahead is o incredibly hard.
The right despises big government, and the left despises big business. Can we just agree that big is bad? Power corrupts. Also, the biggest issue I see is that big business has the money to find the loopholes. Several of the newer Republicans have been pushing to simplify regulations so that there are less loopholes and simpler forms. Finally, if you have read this far into my comment, I ask that you take the same step that I took to check out the opposition. There is a good video that is pretty short by PragerU called the Tale of the Three Brothers. There are definitely points to be made on either side, but this video addresses some of the biggest reasons why tax brackets are thought to be unfair.
Thank you Robert! I often wonder what shape this country would be in if we had just left the tax rates as they were before the 1980s!!! What a crime!!! Literally!!!!!
The top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return
Константин Георгиев well one difference is that these countries don’t have state taxes, whereas in the US they do... so... that might be important at the margin...
@@brucemckay6615 Whatever the states do in the US is done by the government in other countries. The taxes are basically the same, the receiver is different
Константин Георгиев - It’s Official, the Republican Socialism, aka Capitalism IS DEAD IN AMERICA. Capitalism was great in the 1900 when you could hire 10 children to work for you, when there were no Social Programs like Social Security, Vets, Public Schools, Child Care, Women Voters, Housing, EPA, etc. Not even Canada wants it. Without Canadian Style Socialism, there would have been thousands of people freezing to death every winter. It’s a country of 30 million people and 36 billionaires. Our U.S. Style Socialism needs to be fixed (Social Security, Public Schools, Vets, Defence, Billionaires, Housing, etc). Don’t confuse it with Communism or North Korea, Cuban and Chinese Socialism, I love my freedom, we love our freedom.
@@brucemckay6615 "s that these countries don’t have state taxes, whereas in the US they do.." Wrong, in Canada at least. We pay federal and provincial taxes. I suspect that is the same in the other countries, but ultimately the names make no difference. Better to look at total % and amounts that people pay.
When you live in a society where you have two or three jobs and still struggle to pay for basics, the society is not a meritocracy. The economy is doing great, but for whom? Call your local hedge fund manager and ask how many blue collar workers own shares in the stock market?
this is so true. especially in today's economy. back in 1970s my father had worked as a dairy route driver and owned stocks in Cablevision and was supporting a family of 5 children. in today's economy most FAMILY'S Are small with 2 children and can't afford to buy stocks .let alone paying for there children's health care. buy the wealthy pushing everything onto the working FAMILY'S. less FAMILY'S have any wealth. but the wealthy experts everyone else to go off and fight for a country that doesn't care for them or there FAMILY'S. Bernie Sanders for president .its the choice of majority of the votes. making America great again and less GREEDY. to all those Republicans you caused this to happen. our country has always been great .
if you are struggling to get by with 2 or 3 jobs then you probably have 2 or 3 kids and no actual skills. Maybe you should have produced some profitable skills before producing unprofitable children. As for the stock market, there are plenty of BC workers who have their own accounts set up with money managers for retirement and no one is stopping anyone from entering the market in one way or another.
@@spencerjames9417 I can't imagine missing the point of a simple response as bad as you did. Then again you made the comment so I shouldn't expect much of you.
So good to see this sane exposure. Over 20 years I've been shouting this and it's so sad to see that so many of my peers still think the system works because they are OK with their situation. Lately many of them have been shown their value to the rich and are starting to come around. The poor are dried up so they will extract the middle money. Just hoping they start pushing back and don't bend over like we've always been expected to do and complied.
Well if the rich should get to keep their $ because they earned it...why do I as someone who is not well off & has to actually work for a living have to give up any of my $ to taxes?! Using their logic-- since I earned it, I should get to keep it all. I shouldn't have any taxes taken out of my paychecks etc. What the rich need to realize is if it weren't for us lowly middle/poor classes holding them up they wouldn't have any $ to be worried about in the first place. This was a very informative video!
@@UserName-us1nm lol, because you say so? OK bud. Taxation is Theft. The U.S. Constitution states what may be taxed/tariffed and for what reason. The above comment claims "but ya don't get all your taxes back" only if you live in a State that applies State Income Taxes. You're free to move to another State, there's 50 of them, and quite a few with 0% State income tax. The "Rich" pay over 70% of the taxes taken in as revenue by the Fed Gov. There is no such thing as "limited supply of wealth" in the U.S. economy. That "Supply" is limited by personal ambition.
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 "skilled workers are paid good [sic] in private business" If that were the case the middle class would not be evaporating. I'm guessing here but I assume "unskilled" workers get what they deserve because, I don't know, they are 16 or lazy?
If you look at the debt clock you will see that skilled labor is a minority of workers mabey that explains out declining liveing standards takes two instead of one to feed a family of four before big government it took one now two struggle to do it
The middle class draw more ss and medicare than they pay in taxes the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return
This was quite informative. You didn’t mention all the loopholes which the very rich have created for themselves in our government structure. No mention of large corporations which manage to avoid paying taxes at all. They utilize our roads, internet, airports and every form of popular communication to advertise, process orders and ship them.
I call that watering down the antitrust laws . They were put in place for that very reason, to stop the monopoly from getting bigger, you get To much of the economy monopolized, you don't have a capitalist system any more . The knowledge given by God, in automation and technology, if held in grander, to create monopoly and chain instead liberty , the knowledge is like a double edge sword, for all the good you get just as much bad
good point - the rich use roads and infrastructure twice (once personally and once for their business) while workers only use it once , going to work or to beach
Thank you. Good to hear the truth. A dollar given to the rich is unnoticed but a dollar given to a poor person is spent at a local store and boosts the economy.
Yes we are with no benefit to society. I highly believe in “we the people” which our government should be all inclusive. I might , and often am opposed to some policies that are first stated but always come around if it’s for everyone. As far as the rich getting richer there is historically bad things that happen when the devision of wealth becomes to great. It does not benefit anyone. Look at Italy in 60s and 70s rich we’re getting kidnaped and we’re prisoners in their own homes. Hitler came to power as a people’s person to take back wealth that he thought was stolen from the common man. Russian rebellion where a false communism was put in place. All bad things with one thing in common , wealth growing disproportionate to the society at whole.
Italy had a crime problem in general. Hitler came to power by manipulating the common German who’s economy was ranked by an unfair treaty by the allies, the rich was uninvolved. Russia’s rebellion was anarchists versus monarchy, we don’t have a monarchy. None of those examples had to do with a class divide. You gave zero evidence to support us giving money to the rich. There is very little evidence to support that tax money would go to the impoverished anyway.
Not my idea to debate you here , some of your comments are partially true (as well as mine) . Think I’m understanding why you name is super monkey though. Lol.
Re: #12 there was something I heard once, but I can't remember exactly how it goes. But it was something along the lines of "Everything you are, you owe to Athens." It was basically an argument for the existence of taxation in the first place and the responsibility of those who had made their fortunes in a cultural environment to give back to the system that allowed them to succeed. Couldn't agree more.
I remember when I was a young adult, me and my gf both thought if you were in a higher tax bracket, that it affected all your income. This myth is way too common; school didnt help me here, but the internet eventually did. Although the internet is a complicated tool too; went down all kinds of rabbit holes for a while.
rich actually use their money productively, obviously you tax investment gains less than income or consumption... because it's beneficial to the country and the economy (everybody). how else are you gonna motivate people to invest their money or starting businesses?? if you only work 9 - 5 you are useless, you deserve to pay most taxes
@@sten260 “useless” 🤣🤣🤣 bruh you not realize that over 60% of wealth is fucking inherited? most of us don’t come from privileged ass backgrounds where we can free-ride on mommy and daddy’s $$$. the 9-5 workers are the ones putting in the labor and time necessary to make the corporations functioning. Meanwhile, the ultra rich have all sorts of resources they can utilize to evade/avoid paying taxes (starting bullshit foundations/nonprofits, corporate tax havens in random ass islands w/that money never being used to actually invest in the economy, lobbying for subsidies and other regulatory concessions from the gvt, etc). This is exactly what unfettered laissez-faire capitalism, neoliberalism, and other similar capitalistic policies result in. you also do understand that the small businesses/other entities are provided grants and other sources of funding from the gvt right? we’re targeting the bullshit behavior that multinational corporations have engaged in and trying to hold them accountable for the numerous costs they’ve chosen to simply externalize. and as for your notion that the rich “earned” their money, that’s absolute horseshit. if you paid attention to the video, you’d realize that the ceos and major shareholders simply inflated the stock market prices, as this is an extremely easy way to make more $$ quickly without doing anything productive to actually help bolster the economy. continue enjoying the indoctrination from the corporate rich, whether it’s the dems or the Republicans screwing you over 👊👊👊
@@ashs4080 dude the guy who owns most shares of Coca Cola or Mcdonalds are wayyy more important than any worker there, it doesn't matter at all if they got it inherited or not. The point is that they have the money so that money is more useful than your life, so shut the fuck up
1/6 of my pay is taken every paycheck, I only made 7,000 last year, the logistics problem of working and eating was harder to solve than any job trump has ever had
American tax rates of the Mid-20th Century. teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24489 _"In 1944-45, 'the most progressive tax years in U.S. history,' the _*_94%rate_*_ applied to any income above $200,000 ($2.4 million in 2009 dollars, given inflation)."_ Those federal income tax’s top rates coming out of World War II, which Eisenhower left in place into the 1960s resulted in, arguably, the most prosperous time in U.S. history. Often referred to as, "The Greatest Generation."
@gayboyzig The standard deduction for a single person under age 65 was $13600 for 2018. No federal income tax owed. FICA and Medicare withholding would be approximately 7%, not 17%(1/6). At $7000 in income the taxpayer might be eligible for the Earned Income Credit. The EIC is a refundable credit, meaning you could get money back even if you didn't put any in. In conclusion, I wouldn't call bullshit, but I would say ignorance. Not Trump's fault. Advise taxpayer to adjust withholding with employer and spend less time trolling the internet to complain and more time using it to learn. Contact IRS and inquire about VITA for free assistance preparing your federal income tax return.
@@sapphireriddles6692 I don't believe I was ever able to convince anyone to take the advanced EIC. People tend to like big refunds. There probably should be some kind of education provided as part of the high school curriculum. Just some basic guidance on employment and taxation.
For the last myth, "they earned their wealth," it's also worth noting the rich never would have gotten rich in the first place if it wasn't for their employees and their customers.
Not true. Look at any professional athlete, like Mike or James. Look to those visionaries who brought forth who news dimensions to media, entertainment, communication. They came up with the ideas and shouldered the risks to getting them out. Yes, employees are important, but not all people are created equally, though all should be treated equally under law. Some are simply smarter, more valuable than others. A doctor is worth more than a janitor in the absolute value sense. Hurts some to realize that and nearly any functioning adult is worth heaps more than an addict. The never ending envy of the masses is why few succeed and most fail, cause most of you dont worry about running your own lives, and merely wish to dream about the lives of others.
Wrong. They would have never gotten rich if the government couldn't take money from the middle class to pay enforcers to protect their monopolies and to create legislation that fortifies their positions. This dude is a government shill, you're being conned.
He lies by withholding information he never tells you that the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and he never tells you that the the middle class draw more ss and medicare than they pay in taxes the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return
@@markfoster1520 It's not that hard to remedy ones ignorance, but nearly impossible to remedy ones image of being ignorant. www.history.com/topics/great-depression/great-depression-history#section_1
No, that's completely wrong. The actual wage level is irrelevant. What matters is what it can buy. The notion of just having more zeroes on your paycheck can be found in Zimbabwe. Do you think it was great for them just spending more on goods and services?
I found this “Myth Busters” episode both informative and very entertaining. You and your channel should be nominated for a Streamy award. Keep up the great work. I just wish more people knew the facts as well as you do.
The only problem is that a lot of the 'facts' don't have sources. Sure he cited the graphs, the data, but not how well established the conclusions are. I found the video informative but he presented info almost the same way as the news anchor, in the end only leaving me with ideas and not facts that dispel the myths.
Like your videos Robert, and you have some strong points. As a Northern European it can be a little strange to see Americans beeing very patriotic and quoting "Ask not what your country can do for you..." and on the other hand act very "Every man for them self". But, I am also a citizen of the highest taxed country in the world Denmark, and see the other side of the coin. Public administration of money is usually very inefficient. An example is that public building projects NEVER EVER meets budgets or deadlines (at least in DK). The attitude seems to be: "Doesn't really matter, it is not MY money and we'll just get more funds". I think the core of it is a more caring for your fellow man, and a sense of understanding that when you protect the tribe, the tribe protects you. Was probably easiere to see in the stoneage :) Keep up the good videos. Don't always agree, but you don't get smarter only listening to people saying what you want to hear.
@@starspaceschool587 Just because that's what's currently happening does not mean that's how it SHOULD be. That which does not circulate is only making the rich richer and doing nothing for the economy. Money has to be spent to create gdp.
@@fionaanderson5796 Ok lets do it at a local scale. How would you like to pay 5% of your house's worth to the government every year? Why should I work and accumulate wealth to leave to my children if the government takes all of it before I can?
@@fionaanderson5796 and how is that any of your business? Why penalize ambition? Why punish someone because they figured how to work to get their money as opposed to settling in mediocrity? You people are disgusting... It's a pity all the rich folk just won't stop working all together shut down all their businesses amd see how well your government will provide when they have gone. Smh
@@starspaceschool587 i have a small vacant block of land out of town. The plan was to build a house and stop paying rent on someone else's mortgage, which i can't now afford to do. The rates (local government taxes) on that ARE over 2% every year.
Except they won't, even with ludicrously high tax rates. Know how hard it hits Jeff Bezos's standard of living if you take away 99.9% of all his assets? Not one bit because he'd sell be left with over a hundred million dollars. Enough money to paper over the planet and it's still not enough.
Keep making these! These videos need to be shared broadly. Good job keeping to the facts and explaining observation. Citations of source data help quash naysayers.
My wife got a bonus of $500, but received only $205 after taxes. I got a $3k raise last year that was a net of $143/mo. In middle America, it’s tough to get ahead when the government confiscates your efforts. Super wealthy have ways to shield their income from taxes. The middle class and lower income spend all their money just to get by.
Correct. Profits trickle up. And you and I paid for it. Those who have the money can afford to pay taxes. The rest of us can only pay out our salaries so that it can trickle up as profits to those who then find ways to avoid taxation.
@@karlabritfeld7104 We must spread the word that the wealth of the rich trickled up to them from everyone else. THAT is the true source of tax revenue, and that is why the wealthy own the Republican Party: to make sure that they pay the lowest possible tax. Social Security taxation should also be progressive just like other payroll taxes, with low wage earners paying a lower percentage and high wage earners paying a higher percentage; and it should be levied against ALL income. Minimum benefits should be set at a living income level. High incomes consisting of dividends, interest, and capital gains should be taxed as ordinary income. The threshold for inheritance taxation must be drastically lowered. And so on.
There is a scene is a TV series called Leverage. The guy is saying 60-100k well spent will get somebody into congress and because the incumbency rate is so high you can get years of use out of them. ruclips.net/video/CbE3q4oO2JQ/видео.html
Rich people mainly gain wealth through inheritance, the value produced by other people's labor, and returns from having invested the large amounts of money gained from those sources. I don't understand why we are so overly sentimental about this topic. People talk about the allegedly sacred relationship between a billionaire and his money the same way they would talk about the relationship between a little girl and her dog.
I like what Warren Buffett said once about taxes on corporations. he said "when I go into a meeting about the costs of a new business, taxes never even enter into the conversation."
I just recently found your videos, they are so informative & truthful! I love that you call a spade a spade & speak the truth that many misled conservatives refuse to acknowledge
watch out for rich people. If everyone knew this... wait, almost everyone I know does and still nothing is being done about it. I am thankful that you made this video. Maybe someday... Vote people, vote.
I have always had the greatest respect for you, Robert, and I am glad that I have found your RUclips channel. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, See you next video!
I don't even think you would have to necessarily raise taxes on the rich. Just cut out all of the loopholes. If I have a regular old income tax and we add in social security, medicare and state. I'm taxed around 28% of my income. Period. Point blank. Across the board. Year after year after year. Even after paying in and claiming 0, most times I still owe at filing. While if Amazon had to play by the same set of rules they'd be looking at about a $650 million dollar tax bill year after year after year. And that's just one giant. Just imagine how wealthy the whole country would be. There would be no deficit. There would be surpluses every year. But, as long as the rich remain drunk on greed and power, and we continue to let them remain in power, then things will never change.
Activision Blizzard got a tax refund of 4.3 billion dollars, a supposed negative 51% tax rate imposed, giving them money. Yeah, closing loopholes should happen, cause right now a homeless person is paying not only a higher percentage of their income, but a larger number of dollar bills as these mega million dollar corporations.
Problem is, especially with corporations, much of the shenanigans happen *before* the final profit-loss statement. And some of those are actually legit, or at least can be. Expenses for materials used in production, for wages, licensing fees, etc. all result in a lower profit margin. Of course, large, and especially multinational corporations can play games with that, e. g., a very high licensing fee for the right of US company to use a certain corporate logo, owned by a Company located in some tax haven. Like certain Channel Islands, Ireland, or some US states. And flat tax rates are regressive, anyway. By the by, that's the beauty of Warren's proposal: it keys off the profit reported to *shareholders*. Which would leave companies having to choose between reporting high profits, and paying taxes, or avoiding high profits using shenanigans, not paying taxes, and losing shareholder confidence. Elegant. I love it.
Re DIY'ing the repairs and upgrades, check your local laws. In my state, if you are going to sell the home within a year, you must use licensed contractors. This was due to the high number of problems in flip homes. I myself bought one that had no subfloor under the new travertine tile, no shower pan under the upstairs shower (causing flooding downstairs), and more.
@@ronald1111 the problem is economics is not really math. Economics is sociology and policy and fear and hope and masses of people moving as one based on emotion as much as anything tangible. Only in college does anyone think economics is cold and predictable calculations.
@@ronald1111 (🍔 I'll take a Big Mac, large fries.... 😁 just kidding) Correction: *Correctly done* Mathematics is always CORRECT. Verily, Math careth naught for what is right and wrong, but doth only for the technical specialty, speciality, and proficiency of the logical functioning of the numeric acrobat. ....i think, i ain't gonna know a damn thing 'bout that stuff, I suck at math. 😆 kidding again 😉 --J
@@LordPadriac (Well, "Padriaise" the lord! 😆) You may be more correct than you know! Although, math certainly CAN track what's already _happened,_ and that can actually make pretty accurate predictions based on logic, reason, and most of all, WISDOM; but that isn't really a problem. Like you said: it's sociology, and a big part of that is people AGREEING and getting along with each other. So, a bigger problem is the actions of people in power don't always agree with what has _been agreed_ to be best for most people *by* most of those people..... Agreed? 🙂 --J
Yep but none yet succeded to thaught us to to effeciently fight this...how we as the poor& middle class can fight back ...what would be the best plan? A revised french revolution? A reboot? What can we do to tell both the 1% & the politicians enough is enough
This is such a hotly debated topic and everyone has their own OPINIONS of what is right and wrong. While I hate to see the bite that Uncle Sam takes out of my paycheck it is still my privilege to pay taxes and enjoy all of the freedoms that I have. Avoiding this responsibility just makes you selfish, you want to get all of the benefits of our modern society while not contributing to it. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to give away any more money than I have to, but I sure am happy to see a firefighter, police officer, a standing bridge, or even a school where kids can learn to read. A 100% pure capitalist economy would have zero public programs, and zero anti-trust laws, and zero regulations on labor. That results in 70hr work weeks, no over-time, and no paid time-off, predatory lending, and monopolies this list goes on. All of the rules we complain about today are a counter to a long forgotten real life situation where the government said a business had gone too far against the public. No do some of these rules need to be updated to make them relevant to today's modern society, yeah. Should we toss out the baby with the bath water, no. The government's job is to establish the rules of the game, to be a referee, and if called for, punish the ones who violate the rules. The government also has the responsibility to nudge industries toward the future. Without emissions and fuel economy standards cars would not have evolved much from the gas guzzlers of the 1970s. All that being said a global/national economy is a very complicated thing to manage, there is no simple solution, like 35% tax across the board. I hope people will understand that most of the people you see on cable news are trying to sell you an agenda.
I believe the the argument is the rules seem different, between rich and poor (er) in society. It appears the rich gain preferential treatment - namely loopholes. Which poor (er) in society are not able to access. If the rules were the same , I guess, most wouldn't care if certain people earnt $millons - if they were taxed the same.
Thank you. I'm angry again. I genuinely mean that thank you too. Being angry wakes me up and that gives me the energy to get out in the street and protest.
@@PROPAROXITONO although reagan cut tax rates, tax revenue increased every year while he was president. Total tax revenue income is more important than tax rates.
@@Brickwinds well, that didnt change the fact that the reagan didn't "choose" pay 90% income tax, or if he choose, the rest of the rich in the country had a big tax cuts. BUT the increase revenue occour becouse of the tax increase of 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986 and 1987. the cuts decrease the revenue, so they increase other taxes to increase again. you can read here: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2017-12-15/the-mostly-forgotten-tax-increases-of-1982-1993
The myth that got missed is the one that says that lowering taxes on the rich will reduce the deficit. We've had several decades of this, yet the myth persists.
Taxation is the means to limit access to excessive and dangerous wealth. Corruption thrives from wealth seeking and wealth attainment as ambition and not aspiration.
Lucas Randel Well, it's not unheard of for people with an agenda to do research and find that the science contradicts their beliefs. Just look at the Templeton Foundation's study on intercessory prayer for an example.
@@marilynmonheaux And that is why the oligarchs want to keep the dissention about race and not class. Divide the poor people to fight amongst themselves, the rich are safe.
The top 10% actually pay 71% of all tax’s Not to mention the poor doesn’t actually pay taxs When you calculate the amount of money that you actually get back from the government Only the top two tax brackets actually pay anything
@@stayswervin554 Do you benefit from tax loopholes? Do you have an enormous amount of money that isnt being put back into the economy but instead being hoarded in stocks and bonds? Stocks and bonds are a major loophole for the ultra rich to hide their money from taxes. It's pretty simple really, you just buy your own company's stock, inflate the value by doing so, and voila now you have even more money than before and now it cant be taxed because its not liquid in that state. Want to make a big purchase? just sell some of your stock to get liquid capital to purchase what you want. Now just buy back your own stocks with the money thats left over and now that money is safe from being taxed again. Peasants like you or I cannot do something like this because firstly we are nowhere near the amount of wealth to be realistically negatively affected and secondly, if something like this would work for middle to lower class americans, we would not be able to sustain it because we have to spend our money to survive. So why in the hell would you defend the ultra rich when they are profiting off of your own suffering and aim to make it worse? You make them billions of dollars and what do you get in return? We cant even ask for a wage to live a halfway comfortable life in this country without being met with disdain. We cant have paid family vacation or decent workers' rights because why? because that doesnt benefit the ultra rich and when something doesnt benefit them they make it a point to tell the american people to be angry about the ultra rich not being able to benefit from our suffering.
Amazing how many people study economics for years and years and years and NEVER get to the conclusion that capitalism is at the very least a bit exploitative.
@@malcolm-danielfreeman5940 No... I mean the 75% that don't pay "their share".... They only pay ten percent of the total yet complain that that the top 25% don't pay enough....
Thanks for this. It's about time. I looked up those old 90% tax rates, and then I tried figuring out what were the overall tax rates by income level (averaging them out). Incredibly complex problem mostly because I had insufficient information. I'm really sick of hearing people mutter some pat statement as their brains turn off. (I can't tell you the number of middle aged and older women who still say, "I just don't like Hillary." Liberal college professors! ) I was telling my son that I supported Sanders and Warren, even though I might have to pay 2% of my retirement investment as a wealth tax. (I'm feeling very flush with my Apple stock; considering splurging on a ten year old 4Runner so I can go camping more-- you know 'lifestyles of the super rich'.) My son laughed, "Dad it starts at $5 million dollars." And that will pay for Medicare for all? Yep. Gee, I was willing to pay a chunk for it, what are all those millionaires whining about? What if we set up a few Guillotines --you know, give them something to think about.
Add in a few pitchforks they can be a great motivator. I have heard a billionaire talk candidly about being worried about the common man coming after the rich with said items.
Nobody gets rich on their own alone. They do so at someone else’s expense. The lion’s share of the work is done by followers, not leaders. Wealthy individuals do not operate on a vacuum.
@@lydiabell6218 You don't propose.... You suggest. You are not at the senate floor or speaking at the chamber of commerce meeting. A number of companies have a contingency for Profit Sharing as a form of compensation, certainly not the Revolving Door Sweatshop @ Amazon. Trust me, the day that Profit Sharing goes into the books as a Mandatory Compensation, is the day Public Companies start fudging at the accounting books. Your best choice is to avoid at the Ship's Galley that Amazon is with their psychological flogging. And avoid ordering items through Amazon.
I love the way you spell things out with simple facts. Thank you for the work you do! I will watch this again and again so when in discussion with my family and friends, who have been deceived by the right, I have the ability to give them the truth.
This might be because I know how I feels being at the bottom of the economy, but if I made millions coming in, I would gladly pay half my income in taxes if it meant I could invest in my country.
Wow. These videos are great and very well done. I'm surprised you do not have a lot more subscribers. Thank you for the time and effort you put into these videos.
Thank you for making these videos Robert(and co.). We need more informative, factual media that reaches people where they actually get their news. It's the only way to fight the ruling class' propaganda.
The other and most basic myth about “earning” wealth through interest is it is accrued with no direct effort of the investor or lender. It also scales “infinitely” with the size of principal; the amount ‘earned’ here is vastly different from $1000 invested and $1000000 invested.
I love Dr. Reich's content and it's pro -progressive, anti-corporate, anti-conservative talking points. I have been subscribed for a while now and I encourage others to do the same.
Thank you Robert Reich for making this point clear. And I understand everything you're saying because it's the same thing I've been saying for about 17 years now. I'm just glad someone who has the exposure is finally speaking up and pointing out all the corruption that exists in our society.
@M Detlef the playing field is not level. The poor do not have the same education, health care, leisure time or wealthy golf club/country club cronies to do deals with. Poor people who are working two jobs and still don't have enough money to even fix their teeth, may do desperate things. It's not a formula for success.
If you found this video informative, be sure to also watch our video on the failure of trickle-down economics. ruclips.net/video/cABuFmA3nhY/видео.html
Please sir, join with Birnie
Thank you, Mr. Reich. My boss (with whom I thankfully have a great relationship despite being opposites in nearly every way) is an intelligent, kind man, but is totally misguided about the myth of "trickle-down economics." I go crazy every time I hear about the "job creators." I'll definitely be trying to work some of this information into our periodic political discussions/arguments.
Of course, I've tripped him up several times by rephrasing some points so it applies directly to him, but to no avail. Can't win them all, I guess.
@@sluttymctits4496 burst his bubble this way; all him how long his business and the jobs 'he' created would last without customers. After all, customers are the REAL job creators and always have been.
@@tylerdavidson9700 I've used that exact argument with him. He had a few moments of silence, clearly in deep thought, but then returned to "I don't care, I've got to get to work."
Edit: I work in a higher-end dental office, my boss is the doctor, himself. What if he got $5 million tax kickback? Great! Would he reinvest in the business? Yes, if there was an increase in patients. What constitutes an appropriate increase -- three wealthy people who want a couple of crowns/implants/superficial veneers, or hundreds of middle-income families who want comprehensive care? That's what stumped him.
@@sluttymctits4496 that's because he knew you were right but couldn't admit it. Assume the sale and move on.
I've lived in America and Canada. Paid about the same in taxes but get way more for my taxes in Canada. Most Americans hate the government (hate giving them their money even more) because they've never experienced good governance.
I honestly think America needs a completely restructure of their political system. It is just not working. Trump and Biden being elected out of 300 million people to run the country is evidence for that too.
The stock market is unstable at the moment, but if you do the right math, you should be just fine. Strategists have been aiding folks in recording gains over 250k just in a matter of months, so I think there are alot of wealth transfer in this downtime if you have someone who knows where to look like i do.
Her name is “REBECCA NOBLETT ROBERTS”. I can't divulge much. Most likely, the internet should have her basic info, you can research if you like
I just googled her and I'm really impressed with her credentials; I reached out to her since I need all the assistance I can get. I just scheduled a caII.
The thing you said about American hating government because they have never lived under a good one speaks volumes
Whenever I bring up investing in public transit people start cringing because many of them have not experienced got public transportation that many other countries have
An economics professor once explained it like this: Suppose you give an extra $1 million per year to someone who already has $200 million. Will they increase spending? They probably already own all the cars, houses, and Lego sets they want. But, if you take that $1million and give 100 regular people each $10,000, they will likely buy cars, furniture, pay off debt, go on vacation, or find some other way to spend that money, that spending fuels the economy like rocket fuel.
Elon musk lives frugally and reinvests most of his money into the corperations he runs and paid 12 billion dollars in taxes what did the government do with Elon musk's money paid 750000 to Harvard to blow lizards off trees with leaf blowers mabey musk should get a tax cut so he can create more environmentally friendly products and employee more people he employees nearly 100000 jobs so who helps the economy more musk or lizard blowing government
Then he or she should not be a economics professor.. If you get 1 mill and have everyting you need, then what do you do with the money?? You invest them. Thats what you do
@@matslunde6238 Right, you buy stocks or you put it in a tax shelter. You don’t go to Walmart and spend that money. You are doing nothing for the economy. If you give a poor person more money, they will spend it. That is money directly into the economy.
@@matslunde6238Exactly. You invest them, the money grows even more and there is even less money in the economy. Rich people don't return as much money into the economy like the ordinary.
They literally take and never give back. Thanks for proving the point.
So you think we should steal someone's money if they don't spend like you think they should
Perfect example of this video in real life: my employer (a mid-sized company of 5,000 employees) boasted last year of crossing the 1 billion mark in revenue. They celebrated this milestone by issuing silver-embossed coffee mugs with the company logo to every employee, and for managerial staff, this was accompanied by a mini crystal trophy with 1 billion engraved on it. There was also a party with a ballroom, catering, lots of fanfare, and where execs lined up at the podium to give congratulatory speeches. Less than a month later, they issued a wage-freeze, cancelled bonuses, and did away with sick-leave. Three months after that, they fired 800 employees, and announced a slew of early retirements. The explanation: we're "restructuring" to position us for an even brighter future. Company stock went through the roof. Moral of the story: all the hard work, dedication, and success of our employees in earning record profits resulted in cuts, not rewards. The rewards go to the top, there's nothing but sacrifice for everybody else. And they think we don't see this!
Sebastien Sade that‘s it: they even insult us additionally by thinking we don’t see it 🤮
What a shit company. It’s sad but there are other companies like that. It seems to be the rule not the exception. Companies will do whatever for their bottom line.
It’s sad but things like that is happening all over the country
Corporate structure and GOP economics favor the wealthy. I started with a small company which became a huge company after several mergers and acquisitions. My experience is the same. The bigger we became the more wealth was centralized at the top. The company did everything it could to reduce labor cost such as out sourcing and frequent layoffs. In many years, there would be layoffs while the CEO and senior management got record bonuses and stock options. I shouldn't complain too much because I did reasonably well but it certainly could have been better.
@@CJZM7777 And this is not lost on the "essential workers," who have less and less incentive to perform for somebody else's benefit.
I worked as an engineer for a small company supplying equipment to Samsung. Year on Year growth was up 60% yet the employer decided to make employees pay for healthcare (that had been provided) and freeze wage increases so we all had basically -$5000 raise a few months after the growth announcement. Meanwhile it was said that all of management got secret bonuses. In the parking lot literally every one of them stopped coming to work in a $35000 car and started showing up in a $75K plus car the next month. For context this was 15 years ago.
Not surprising. This is depressing.
And a lie won't say what corperation doing this
Secret bonus for executives in a corperation is illegal do your homework before believeing democrat lies who will make up any story tell any lie to steal someone's else money corperations have to disclose top executive pay
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 It's not a lie Fritz. I do question your motives however because I've seen you spam pro corporate rhetoric in other threads and can't decide if you are a troll, bot or just incapable of being a decent human being.
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 Really? Publicly held corporations with shareholders probably must but this was a privately held LLC.
"They won't be able to create jobs if you tax their money away!"
Pretty much every dime spent creating a job is tax deductible. They only get taxed on money that they don't spend creating jobs.
"But I don't want to be more richer!"....not said very often.
Mostly true. Money spent on any consumer goods is taxed. Money circulated creates employment. If I'm stinking rich & pay $1000 for a meal, chefs, dishwashers, farmers, & truck drivers all get a slice. But the working class still creates the wealth, even though they don't control it. And creating wealth (working) out of necessity while the wealthy control inequitable division of said wealth, is exploitation. Society restraining exploitation through government is just. More equitable distribution of wealth to creators of wealth (workers) through the tax system empowers the creators of wealth, not punishes the controllers of wealth.
Those business tax deductions are paid by everyone. Sounds like socialism for businesses.
Really odd how Americas boon from 1951 to 1964 the top 1% were being taxed a whopping 91% top rate. From 1932 to 1986 the taxes of the 1% were at least over 50%. Since 2012 it's been at 43ish% top rate and 23% after taking advantage of the many loopholes in the tax code, leaving the rest of us pick up the tab.
look for yourself its publick infromation.
www.ctj.org/pdf/regcg.pdf
@@AllyMonsters The rich would rather be rich in a poor country than be rich in a rich country. One day the people will have enough and roll out the guillotines and then what will the greedy have to say about tax rates etc.
It's amazing how people making $25,000 a year, buy the argument that rich people need tax relief.
propaganda?
it made Germans think jews are vermins.
@@jujuria13 Maybe, but I think it's more critical for us all to suss out who's gonna be propagandizing, and why. Even "rich people" are doing "everything their supposed to" and can't figure out why "poor people" aren't happy.
@artie lusk is a dumb piece of shit.
@artie lusk Dammmmmnnnnnn Artie is mad mad😂😂😂😂
artie lusk When you lower taxes on the rich, Dubai loves it. You are misinformed and have bought into the baloney. It was not that long ago that incomes that exceeded $1 million were taxed at 90%. There was little debt. Like I’ve stated, you drank the kook aid.
Man, the biggest threat to our country is ignorance. So thankful for this channel.
Yes, they don't want Americans to be educated. Educated people have the ability to think.
The wealthy don't have any legal right being tax exempt
The wealthy don't have the right to be tax exempt and that's a fact
Yes
You are aware that the top five percent of the taxpayers paid over half the federal taxes
I helped someone who worked in a collection agency and what I learned was that the rich are some of the worst at paying their debts.
Trump is a prime example.
Absolutely true.
@fritzforsthoefel8031 Elon musk not paying his rent on Twitter offices
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 stop licking the rich peoples boots
And trump not paying his attorney fees still don't change the fact that the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes
When Bernie first said “ billionaires shouldn’t exist” I thought that was a bit extreme. Some people do come up with great inventions or start businesses that benefit us and they should be rewarded. However, it’s hard to comprehend what a billion actually is, so I did a little calculation to put it in context. If a person made $25,000 per day, every day, starting on the day they were born how long would it take them to have $1 billion? Answer: 109 years and 188 days! Suddenly, I agreed with Bernie. No one “earns” that kind of money. Averaging out Jeff Bezos’ wealth this way, considering his age and $116.4b net worth (according to google), he had made over $5.67 million every day of his life. How can anyone defend that?
But they should pay their fare share
You forgot one thing - It is NOT BEZOS filling all the orders, but thousands of workers. HE COULDN'T DO IT BY HIMSELF. The only fair thing is either high taxation or PROFIT SHARING WITH EMPLOYEES WHO DO THE WORK, and WITHOUT WHOM he could not get rich. Any "entrepreneur" who needs a workforce NEEDS to SHARE HIS PROFITS wit those WHO DO THE WORK.
BERNIE IS RIGHT!!!! Unfortunately, the American public loves guys like Bezos, who grow rich on other people's LABOR.
@@lydiabell6218 Jeff Bezos is sitting on his ranch in west Texas, while his workers are taking a risk to go to work, and are being fired for speaking out about unsafe workplace practices during the pandemic.
Jeff Bezos has made approx 23 billion during the pandemic.
So, the invention of personal computers, and how it revolutionalized the world, isn't worth a billion dollars? How about the people who invented cars?
So It'd be better if personal computers and cars didn't exist so that no one person can't have a billion dollars?
It's like if you wrote a book for $1 and sold a million copies. You become a millionaire. Or 10mil people were willing to pay $100 for a computer (and we know many more ppl want computers and pay more than $100 for it) to become a billionaire. Are you evil or bad, or is Microsoft bad, bc a lot of ppl liked your product and were willing to pay money for it?
I love how so many pundits say, "That tax is unconstitutional, probably" or "I'm pretty sure it's unconstitutional."
Me: high taxes are good, here are scientific evidences that support that claim
my boomer uncle: lets imagine a strawman reality...
I don’t care about the constitution taxation is extortion.
Living in a country without paying taxes is much like renting a house and not paying the rent.
It's pretty Damn simple.
jeff James Not really. If the government would give up its monopoly on the market we wouldn’t have to pay taxes.
High taxes effect everyone. Taxing the rich who own the stores will increase prices on everything. Everything will cost more. Small businesses will close down. Lots of people will lose their job and lots of people will be begging to the government to give them something.
I worked for GE, the Healthcare branch, many years ago. When our department met its financial target (which makes stockholders happy) by small, periodic layoffs to avoid notice by the media, cutting benefits, cutting corners on worker safety - basically all the unethical yet legal options available - the VP got a porche as a bonus. Everyone else, I mean EVERYONE ELSE, got a cheap t-shirt. The VP even called it that when he gave his stupid speech. He thought it was funny. But trust me, nobody laughed when he drove away in his porche. I took a magic marker and wrote "MY VP GOT A PORCHE AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT." Everyone wanted me to make them one. Even the VP's assistant. She put one on his chair so he would see it when he came to work. He thought it was hilarious. He wasn't even pretending to care about the unfairness of it. All those people who worked their asses off to get HIM a frickin porche. No shame. Not even the pretense of humility or appreciation. Where is the humanity?
Time for worker owned companies. All we have today is a more sophisticated form of economic feudalism, or plantation capitalism, where shares of plantations are traded amongst the owners with the Porsches that just laugh at us.
Was that new front porche or back porche?
Oh! You meant Porsche? LoL
Here's an idea. Why don't YOU go back to school, get a business degree so you can work your way up the corporate ladder and get a Porsche, too, instead of letting your envy of others make you miserable?
Elsewhere. The humanity is Elsewhere. America is driven by Darwin-inspired capitalism and puritanism. Expect no less.
Executives reward other executives, for ideas which increase profits. They don't give a crap about the rank and file workers.
There is no humanity, it’s my belief that the Capitalist and Federal systems have failed America, rich corporations get richer and destroy not only peoples lives but the environment too, all the while the corrupt weak federal government which is mostly made up of ex business men with ties to big corporations let them run rampant while delivering a skewed stream of propaganda to the public and sweeping all the facts under the rug, for democracy to continue to exist, hell for the planet to continue to be habitable capitalism must be done away with or at least severely regulated and hampered
Anyone watching in 2024? I was shocked to see this was made 5 years ago. We need men like Robert. Thank you sir.
I am.
In 2024, the Democrats are the party of the rich. Not the Republicans.
Sadly, nothing has changed. In fact, most of the politicians who passed the laws. Allowing this to happen, are still in office! These dinosaurs (career politicians) are no longer benefiting the people. They are there for themselves and the financial gains. We need to have term limits for those political positions!
Pay me a million a year, and I would be happy to pay 70% in taxes. That still leaves me $300k a year. And after living off of less than $40k a year, living off of $300K a year would be a breeze!
I wouldn't even know how to burn through so much money a year.
I for one agree with this.
Yeah because you’re really stupid. At the rate of inflation because of money manipulation a million a year is not enough. Especially because you think you can still live the lifestyle you live now but you won’t. You will move up in the social hierarchy of life and require a better lifestyle. You’ll buy a nicer house, a Porsche, etc. You will consistently take on liabilities.
@@channtastic - Not necessarily. I would invest in a business or invest in experiences. The happiest people live in the income range of $75K to $90K. Anything below that typically acquires debt and/or relies on financing, anything above that forces you to move into more competitive social circles that force you to keep up with the Joneses. Both lifestyle aspects lead to misery. Knowing this, I'd live off of $90K and with the rest, invest it into ethical businesses & startups, donate to charity, donate to well meaning politicians, take up pet projects & activist programs, pay for kids colleges, travel, etc. And if I still have money left, I'd sponsor a child's education, an ex-convict's rehabilitation, or an inner city community, or just further invest extra dollars into activist programs.
YourMajesty143 you need at least $200k a year to live comfortably in places like Los Angeles and even more in San Francisco. Cost of living is astronomical!
We've seen a lot of these arguments in Australia over the past 10 or so years as well. Not a surprise that it's always off the back of Murdoch's media corporations
I just wrote the same thing!
When will we wake up?
We're a nation of trusting idiots.
Rupert has seen himself as ('kingmaker in chief since 1966),i am happy the UK took him , he took them to Wapping , now he has done the same in USA , Donny better do as his influenced , or he will be turned against ,by the very ,media that put him there , Watch , Rupert Has Form , in 3+ Continents ,
What is Murdich's Media in Australia? Is it a local access channel that plays the Lawrence Welke of Australia? idk...
I've never despised a man more in my life than that Sith Lord.
Sith Lord makes him sound too cool. Murdoch is nothing more then an entitled Machiavellian
Lordling that was able to weaponize the western world's innate bigotry against commons sense pro working and middle-class policies.
How to know if you will be affected by the estate tax:
If you can unironically call the piece of crap that you live in an “Estate.”
An estate is money or property owned by one person...
That's why when you want to buy a piece of property, you call a real "estate" agent...
@@matthewbrown5228 -- Sebastian's point is that no one looks at their 6-room bungalow and calls it "an estate." Even if that's the legalese in wills and buying and selling.
Im England an estate is where the poorest people live
@@wimbledoncheese7467 the poorest people don’t own those places tho, the landlord and/or council own the land, and the poorest people rent
An estate also concerns retirement accounts, life insurance, etc. I made $30k /yr working for the municipal animal shelter. I have a public employees retirement fund (piddling though it is) and I still had to name a beneficiary, and upon my death they would inherit that estate.
I worked for a company where the greedy owner hatched this plan: He reluctantly agreed to allow the employees off on holidays with pay, but in return they now "owed back" those hours without pay, at the time of his choosing, which was always overtime hours where they should have gotten time and a half anyway. After learning of this in my new management position I hatched my own plan. Without telling the owner I scheduled for the workers to come in on several Saturdays to pay back those hours. However, I let them bring their kids and all they had to do after clocking in, was just watch TV and enjoy all the pizza and ice cream I provided. No work. After a couple of those "special work days", no one owed back to the owner their swapped time.
Are you still working for this company?
@@JustJoe-i9n Goodness no. It was 1989 and I'd reluctantly taken the position for $16.00/hr. with the agreement that if I could actually do everything on my resume, he pay $18.00 hr. after 90 days. No surprise, he broke his word. (This was excellent pay back then.) I stayed for 2 more months while making transition plans then moved out of Atlanta.
The no pay to work and earn the hours back doesn’t sound legal.
Clever way of highlighting why this crazy idea of buying other people's time makes zero economic sense.
Man, I hope you weren't caught.
Also in Myth 12; the rich would be nowhere without their workers. At most a very successful mom and pop operation that pays the bills. To be wealthier requires the cooperation of others.
I think I don't get your point.
@@RicardoLuna That it would be easy to topple the rich who treat their meal tickets (employees) like serfs by simply embargoing any labor on their behalf.
You know this as a labor union strike. And they were key to ending the grip of Robber Barons owning this country, as well as being the catalyst for the mid 20th century golden era of the middle class, and the most powerful economy the world had ever known at the time.
Decades of successful propaganda demonizing unions by _one specific party_ have left a lingering, and false, sense that Unions are somehow the bad guy and you should trust your boss and his shareholders
Yup. And workers have to be educated, have access to a health plan of sorts and so forth.
Also - infrastructure to create your product is needed. Roads, water, electricity...
It is much harder to create wealth in a vacuum. If no regulation was so good for business, why not move to some failed states around the world with little or no gov't? They do exist.
Thomas Remme "...why not moved to some failed state...?". I constantly encourage taxes-are-theft people to move to Somalia. No taxes or gov't. Also no infrastructure, hospitals, or order. I'd strongly encourage anarchists to shut their own power and water off. They'd last 5 minutes before they become acutely aware of how nice it is to have electricity and running water that comes from a well-run society.
Right on! The workers should be rewarded for their work, and founders *should* be rewarded for their work _and _ their idea. But the idea is not worth THAT much more because where would it be without the work of others?
Your channel is a perfect medicine to cure PragerU's diesease.
Thank you for your work.
PragerU is so scary.
@@carlmannhard8051 How so?
@@theminuteman6211 I could give you a couple reasons but this guy has actually spent the time doing the research
m.ruclips.net/video/EM7BgrddY18/видео.html
@@metalDCM8 What research? 12 minutes in and it seems reliant on guilt by association and equivocation. Regardless, no source of information or opinion should be regarded as "scary" or "cancerous".
@@theminuteman6211 actually you’re right, it isn’t research, it’s personal opinion, I should’ve said he put the effort in.
Myth 12 - "It's their money, they earned it!" And we didn't?! 😂
Marco Are you trolling?
Earned it by exploiting the workers, giving low pay, low raises or no raises, no benefits like decent health insurance, etc
Marco: You really think the rich don't get "more" when they earn more? Of course they do. And if they don't, they have lawyers and tax accountants and people who will help make damn sure they keep more of their own money. Average and poor people have to rely on Turbo Tax and their more disproportionately heavy burdens to wonder why getting ahead is o incredibly hard.
No you didn't earn it.
The right despises big government, and the left despises big business. Can we just agree that big is bad? Power corrupts.
Also, the biggest issue I see is that big business has the money to find the loopholes. Several of the newer Republicans have been pushing to simplify regulations so that there are less loopholes and simpler forms.
Finally, if you have read this far into my comment, I ask that you take the same step that I took to check out the opposition. There is a good video that is pretty short by PragerU called the Tale of the Three Brothers. There are definitely points to be made on either side, but this video addresses some of the biggest reasons why tax brackets are thought to be unfair.
Thank you Robert! I often wonder what shape this country would be in if we had just left the tax rates as they were before the 1980s!!! What a crime!!! Literally!!!!!
The top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return
ruclips.net/video/3WfgGDkWzYU/видео.html
America : higher taxes on the rich will kill the economy
Northern and Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada : You sure 'bout that?
Константин Георгиев well one difference is that these countries don’t have state taxes, whereas in the US they do... so... that might be important at the margin...
@@brucemckay6615 Whatever the states do in the US is done by the government in other countries. The taxes are basically the same, the receiver is different
Константин Георгиев - It’s Official, the Republican Socialism, aka Capitalism IS DEAD IN AMERICA.
Capitalism was great in the 1900 when you could hire 10 children to work for you, when there were no Social Programs like Social Security, Vets, Public Schools, Child Care, Women Voters, Housing, EPA, etc.
Not even Canada wants it. Without Canadian Style Socialism, there would have been thousands of people freezing to death every winter. It’s a country of 30 million people and 36 billionaires.
Our U.S. Style Socialism needs to be fixed (Social Security, Public Schools, Vets, Defence, Billionaires, Housing, etc).
Don’t confuse it with Communism or North Korea, Cuban and Chinese Socialism, I love my freedom, we love our freedom.
As an Australian, yes, the Americans are right.
@@brucemckay6615 "s that these countries don’t have state taxes, whereas in the US they do.." Wrong, in Canada at least. We pay federal and provincial taxes. I suspect that is the same in the other countries, but ultimately the names make no difference. Better to look at total % and amounts that people pay.
When you live in a society where you have two or three jobs and still struggle to pay for basics, the society is not a meritocracy. The economy is doing great, but for whom? Call your local hedge fund manager and ask how many blue collar workers own shares in the stock market?
80% of stock owned by 1%.
97% all new wealth generated goes to the top 0.01%
this is so true. especially in today's economy. back in 1970s my father had worked as a dairy route driver
and owned stocks in Cablevision
and was supporting a family of 5 children. in today's economy most FAMILY'S Are small with 2 children
and can't afford to buy stocks .let alone paying for there children's health care. buy the wealthy pushing everything onto the working FAMILY'S. less FAMILY'S have any wealth. but the wealthy experts everyone else to go off and fight for a country that doesn't care for them or there FAMILY'S.
Bernie Sanders for president .its
the choice of majority of the votes.
making America great again and less GREEDY. to all those Republicans you caused this to happen. our country has always been great .
This might be so but taxing the rich isn't going to solve that issue. Lowering costs for normal people and helping to increase their incomes is.
@Scooters Videos what's a fair share and how do you determine it?
if you are struggling to get by with 2 or 3 jobs then you probably have 2 or 3 kids and no actual skills. Maybe you should have produced some profitable skills before producing unprofitable children. As for the stock market, there are plenty of BC workers who have their own accounts set up with money managers for retirement and no one is stopping anyone from entering the market in one way or another.
Too bad that the people who need to hear this the most have decided to shut out all dissenting voices
And the side listening to this are hiding in safe spaces and trying to have dissenting voices sent to jail.
@@starspaceschool587 i can't imagine missing the point of a simple comment as bad as you just did. Fucking idiot
Kody Wilson Thank you for proving Jack James' point 😜
@@spencerjames9417 I can't imagine missing the point of a simple response as bad as you did. Then again you made the comment so I shouldn't expect much of you.
@@starspaceschool587 we've listened to the prevailing narrative constantly for decades-that the rich are untouchable
So good to see this sane exposure. Over 20 years I've been shouting this and it's so sad to see that so many of my peers still think the system works because they are OK with their situation. Lately many of them have been shown their value to the rich and are starting to come around. The poor are dried up so they will extract the middle money. Just hoping they start pushing back and don't bend over like we've always been expected to do and complied.
Well if the rich should get to keep their $ because they earned it...why do I as someone who is not well off & has to actually work for a living have to give up any of my $ to taxes?! Using their logic-- since I earned it, I should get to keep it all. I shouldn't have any taxes taken out of my paychecks etc. What the rich need to realize is if it weren't for us lowly middle/poor classes holding them up they wouldn't have any $ to be worried about in the first place. This was a very informative video!
Do you receive a "tax refund"? If Yes, stfu.
You didn't pay any taxes. Pay your fair share.
@@Ceyx000 it's not like you get all your taxes back tho...
@@Ceyx000 Spoken like somebody who doesn't understand taxes and how they work.
@@UserName-us1nm lol, because you say so? OK bud.
Taxation is Theft. The U.S. Constitution states what may be taxed/tariffed and for what reason.
The above comment claims "but ya don't get all your taxes back" only if you live in a State that applies State Income Taxes. You're free to move to another State, there's 50 of them, and quite a few with 0% State income tax.
The "Rich" pay over 70% of the taxes taken in as revenue by the Fed Gov.
There is no such thing as "limited supply of wealth" in the U.S. economy. That "Supply" is limited by personal ambition.
@Adam George What's your view on a 1.5 percent transaction tax?
What I love is how people that are nowhere NEAR rich parrot off these scary-sounding proposals for making this government work for all of us.
A lot were Fox News Anchors! 😏
...they may have been trying to keep their job and/or get promoted.
Skilled workers are paid good in private business what workers do you refer to
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 "skilled workers are paid good [sic] in private business"
If that were the case the middle class would not be evaporating.
I'm guessing here but I assume "unskilled" workers get what they deserve because, I don't know, they are 16 or lazy?
Do you think a fast food worker should make what a nurse or teacher or engineer does should there not be a wage gap
If you look at the debt clock you will see that skilled labor is a minority of workers mabey that explains out declining liveing standards takes two instead of one to feed a family of four before big government it took one now two struggle to do it
We should hear this side of the story more often. It was very informative.
Thank you Robert Reich
Thank you for providing the additional context around each of the myths instead of harping on bullet points that can scare people.
The top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the top ten pay over seventy percent forty four percent pay no federal income tax
The middle class draw more ss and medicare than they pay in taxes the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return
This was quite informative. You didn’t mention all the loopholes which the very rich have created for themselves in our government structure. No mention of large corporations which manage to avoid paying taxes at all.
They utilize our roads, internet, airports and every form of popular communication to advertise, process orders and ship them.
I call that watering down the antitrust laws . They were put in place for that very reason, to stop the monopoly from getting bigger, you get To much of the economy monopolized, you don't have a capitalist system any more . The knowledge given by God, in automation and technology, if held in grander, to create monopoly and chain instead liberty , the knowledge is like a double edge sword, for all the good you get just as much bad
good point - the rich use roads and infrastructure twice (once personally and once for their business) while workers only use it once , going to work or to beach
You do realize that your company must pay an equal of SS that you pay! Also - for every $1 pay raise you get - it costs your company about $1.30!
Thank you. Good to hear the truth. A dollar given to the rich is unnoticed but a dollar given to a poor person is spent at a local store and boosts the economy.
Richard McCombs We aren’t giving money to the rich... what
Yes we are with no benefit to society. I highly believe in “we the people” which our government should be all inclusive. I might , and often am opposed to some policies that are first stated but always come around if it’s for everyone. As far as the rich getting richer there is historically bad things that happen when the devision of wealth becomes to great. It does not benefit anyone. Look at Italy in 60s and 70s rich we’re getting kidnaped and we’re prisoners in their own homes. Hitler came to power as a people’s person to take back wealth that he thought was stolen from the common man. Russian rebellion where a false communism was put in place. All bad things with one thing in common , wealth growing disproportionate to the society at whole.
Italy had a crime problem in general. Hitler came to power by manipulating the common German who’s economy was ranked by an unfair treaty by the allies, the rich was uninvolved. Russia’s rebellion was anarchists versus monarchy, we don’t have a monarchy. None of those examples had to do with a class divide.
You gave zero evidence to support us giving money to the rich.
There is very little evidence to support that tax money would go to the impoverished anyway.
Not my idea to debate you here , some of your comments are partially true (as well as mine) . Think I’m understanding why you name is super monkey though. Lol.
was that a race joke?
Re: #12 there was something I heard once, but I can't remember exactly how it goes. But it was something along the lines of "Everything you are, you owe to Athens." It was basically an argument for the existence of taxation in the first place and the responsibility of those who had made their fortunes in a cultural environment to give back to the system that allowed them to succeed. Couldn't agree more.
I'm rooting for Republicans to actually succeed in removing all taxes and government regulations. If they want to destroy America, then so be it.
At very different times Athens had a communist government.
You’re a treasure. Please continue to keep us informed. Love your clarity.
He lies by withholding information
I remember when I was a young adult, me and my gf both thought if you were in a higher tax bracket, that it affected all your income. This myth is way too common; school didnt help me here, but the internet eventually did. Although the internet is a complicated tool too; went down all kinds of rabbit holes for a while.
rich actually use their money productively, obviously you tax investment gains less than income or consumption... because it's beneficial to the country and the economy (everybody). how else are you gonna motivate people to invest their money or starting businesses?? if you only work 9 - 5 you are useless, you deserve to pay most taxes
@@sten260 “useless” 🤣🤣🤣 bruh you not realize that over 60% of wealth is fucking inherited? most of us don’t come from privileged ass backgrounds where we can free-ride on mommy and daddy’s $$$. the 9-5 workers are the ones putting in the labor and time necessary to make the corporations functioning. Meanwhile, the ultra rich have all sorts of resources they can utilize to evade/avoid paying taxes (starting bullshit foundations/nonprofits, corporate tax havens in random ass islands w/that money never being used to actually invest in the economy, lobbying for subsidies and other regulatory concessions from the gvt, etc). This is exactly what unfettered laissez-faire capitalism, neoliberalism, and other similar capitalistic policies result in.
you also do understand that the small businesses/other entities are provided grants and other sources of funding from the gvt right? we’re targeting the bullshit behavior that multinational corporations have engaged in and trying to hold them accountable for the numerous costs they’ve chosen to simply externalize. and as for your notion that the rich “earned” their money, that’s absolute horseshit. if you paid attention to the video, you’d realize that the ceos and major shareholders simply inflated the stock market prices, as this is an extremely easy way to make more $$ quickly without doing anything productive to actually help bolster the economy. continue enjoying the indoctrination from the corporate rich, whether it’s the dems or the Republicans screwing you over 👊👊👊
@@ashs4080 dude the guy who owns most shares of Coca Cola or Mcdonalds are wayyy more important than any worker there, it doesn't matter at all if they got it inherited or not. The point is that they have the money so that money is more useful than your life, so shut the fuck up
@@sten260 How tf is money more important than a human life?
@@anthonytom-duyquang3558 how the fuck it isn't? with money u can build cities, 1 useless person doesn't do shit for anybody
Boss, "I worked hard for my money!"
Employee, "B*llsh*t! I worked hard for your money!"
This is excellent. Wonder if it is YOUR creation or a quote from someone else. I gotta remember that one.
@@lydiabell6218 I heard it or something like it before, but I liked it, too! :-)
well thats what you get for being a bitch and not being a boss
welcome to marxism
According to research,favorite saying of the jealous
1/6 of my pay is taken every paycheck, I only made 7,000 last year, the logistics problem of working and eating was harder to solve than any job trump has ever had
Bullshit.
American tax rates of the Mid-20th Century.
teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24489
_"In 1944-45, 'the most progressive tax years in U.S. history,' the _*_94%rate_*_ applied to any income above $200,000 ($2.4 million in 2009 dollars, given inflation)."_
Those federal income tax’s top rates coming out of World War II, which Eisenhower left in place into the 1960s resulted in, arguably, the most prosperous time in U.S. history. Often referred to as, "The Greatest Generation."
@gayboyzig The standard deduction for a single person under age 65 was $13600 for 2018. No federal income tax owed. FICA and Medicare withholding would be approximately 7%, not 17%(1/6). At $7000 in income the taxpayer might be eligible for the Earned Income Credit. The EIC is a refundable credit, meaning you could get money back even if you didn't put any in.
In conclusion, I wouldn't call bullshit, but I would say ignorance. Not Trump's fault.
Advise taxpayer to adjust withholding with employer and spend less time trolling the internet to complain and more time using it to learn.
Contact IRS and inquire about VITA for free assistance preparing your federal income tax return.
@@jveebklyn1644 damn dude. Well spoken
@@sapphireriddles6692 I don't believe I was ever able to convince anyone to take the advanced EIC. People tend to like big refunds.
There probably should be some kind of education provided as part of the high school curriculum. Just some basic guidance on employment and taxation.
For the last myth, "they earned their wealth," it's also worth noting the rich never would have gotten rich in the first place if it wasn't for their employees and their customers.
Not true. Look at any professional athlete, like Mike or James. Look to those visionaries who brought forth who news dimensions to media, entertainment, communication. They came up with the ideas and shouldered the risks to getting them out. Yes, employees are important, but not all people are created equally, though all should be treated equally under law. Some are simply smarter, more valuable than others. A doctor is worth more than a janitor in the absolute value sense. Hurts some to realize that and nearly any functioning adult is worth heaps more than an addict. The never ending envy of the masses is why few succeed and most fail, cause most of you dont worry about running your own lives, and merely wish to dream about the lives of others.
Earned every dime of my wealth…
Wrong. They would have never gotten rich if the government couldn't take money from the middle class to pay enforcers to protect their monopolies and to create legislation that fortifies their positions. This dude is a government shill, you're being conned.
Thank you Robert, thank you for educating the world without teachers we would all be doomed!
He lies by withholding information he never tells you that the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and he never tells you that the the middle class draw more ss and medicare than they pay in taxes the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return
It's pretty simple. When you pay the people more they have more money to spend on goods and services. Keep wages low and the economy stagnates.
Isn't that what caused the Great Depression? People bringing in the wealth...had no money for the wealth! Just saying.....
@@markfoster1520 It's not that hard to remedy ones ignorance, but nearly impossible to remedy ones image of being ignorant.
www.history.com/topics/great-depression/great-depression-history#section_1
@@bkolumban The Great Depression was initiated and then prolonged for more than a decade by FDR's and the Federal Reserve's ignorant policies.
No, that's completely wrong. The actual wage level is irrelevant. What matters is what it can buy. The notion of just having more zeroes on your paycheck can be found in Zimbabwe. Do you think it was great for them just spending more on goods and services?
Congratulations, you just posted the definition for inflation.
I found this “Myth Busters” episode both informative and very entertaining. You and your channel should be nominated for a Streamy award. Keep up the great work. I just wish more people knew the facts as well as you do.
i posted it on facebook
The only problem is that a lot of the 'facts' don't have sources. Sure he cited the graphs, the data, but not how well established the conclusions are. I found the video informative but he presented info almost the same way as the news anchor, in the end only leaving me with ideas and not facts that dispel the myths.
He should. He was Secretary of Labor.
@@spencer3 you could look into it, but his facts are accurate
Here in the rich part of the south, if I posted the truth as you did. It would ruin my social life. My job growth in my company
Like your videos Robert, and you have some strong points. As a Northern European it can be a little strange to see Americans beeing very patriotic and quoting "Ask not what your country can do for you..." and on the other hand act very "Every man for them self". But, I am also a citizen of the highest taxed country in the world Denmark, and see the other side of the coin. Public administration of money is usually very inefficient. An example is that public building projects NEVER EVER meets budgets or deadlines (at least in DK). The attitude seems to be: "Doesn't really matter, it is not MY money and we'll just get more funds". I think the core of it is a more caring for your fellow man, and a sense of understanding that when you protect the tribe, the tribe protects you. Was probably easiere to see in the stoneage :) Keep up the good videos. Don't always agree, but you don't get smarter only listening to people saying what you want to hear.
Anyone else notice the Ouija board spelling out “B E R N” at the end?
Yep, glad to see I'm not the only one
I went back but yes ur right! CoMpletely! BERNIE FOREVER
Yes!!!!!!! Bernie!!!!!!
4:00 I'd reframe this differently. If the top 1% holds 90% of the wealth, then tax revenue should be NO LESS than 90% from these individuals.
Majority of tax comes from income, not wealth.
@@starspaceschool587 Just because that's what's currently happening does not mean that's how it SHOULD be.
That which does not circulate is only making the rich richer and doing nothing for the economy. Money has to be spent to create gdp.
@@fionaanderson5796 Ok lets do it at a local scale. How would you like to pay 5% of your house's worth to the government every year?
Why should I work and accumulate wealth to leave to my children if the government takes all of it before I can?
@@fionaanderson5796 and how is that any of your business? Why penalize ambition? Why punish someone because they figured how to work to get their money as opposed to settling in mediocrity? You people are disgusting... It's a pity all the rich folk just won't stop working all together shut down all their businesses amd see how well your government will provide when they have gone. Smh
@@starspaceschool587 i have a small vacant block of land out of town. The plan was to build a house and stop paying rent on someone else's mortgage, which i can't now afford to do. The rates (local government taxes) on that ARE over 2% every year.
I like how only the rich are torn up about this. Time to feel what us middle class folk feel everyday.
Except they won't, even with ludicrously high tax rates. Know how hard it hits Jeff Bezos's standard of living if you take away 99.9% of all his assets? Not one bit because he'd sell be left with over a hundred million dollars. Enough money to paper over the planet and it's still not enough.
Yes, they are torn up, please don't throw them in the briar patch!
Keep making these! These videos need to be shared broadly. Good job keeping to the facts and explaining observation. Citations of source data help quash naysayers.
My wife got a bonus of $500, but received only $205 after taxes. I got a $3k raise last year that was a net of $143/mo. In middle America, it’s tough to get ahead when the government confiscates your efforts. Super wealthy have ways to shield their income from taxes. The middle class and lower income spend all their money just to get by.
Correct. Profits trickle up. And you and I paid for it. Those who have the money can afford to pay taxes. The rest of us can only pay out our salaries so that it can trickle up as profits to those who then find ways to avoid taxation.
Be interesting to see the math on the $500 bonus with net of $205. Exactly what were those deductions?
@@palladin331 we can thank Ole Reagan for that
And we are good citizens doing our part. The rich don't do their part.
@@karlabritfeld7104 We must spread the word that the wealth of the rich trickled up to them from everyone else. THAT is the true source of tax revenue, and that is why the wealthy own the Republican Party: to make sure that they pay the lowest possible tax. Social Security taxation should also be progressive just like other payroll taxes, with low wage earners paying a lower percentage and high wage earners paying a higher percentage; and it should be levied against ALL income. Minimum benefits should be set at a living income level. High incomes consisting of dividends, interest, and capital gains should be taxed as ordinary income. The threshold for inheritance taxation must be drastically lowered. And so on.
Keep on telling it, Robert. You are a breath of much needed fresh air! Thank you.
Buy American-purchase a congressmember today!
ooooh!...so good!
Nah congrasmembers cost too much and there isn't a generic branded option to get.
@w b but most of them are owned by one of two companies totally monopolized
Too late ... for the most part all are currently bought and paid for.
There is a scene is a TV series called Leverage. The guy is saying 60-100k well spent will get somebody into congress and because the incumbency rate is so high you can get years of use out of them. ruclips.net/video/CbE3q4oO2JQ/видео.html
Rich people mainly gain wealth through inheritance, the value produced by other people's labor, and returns from having invested the large amounts of money gained from those sources. I don't understand why we are so overly sentimental about this topic. People talk about the allegedly sacred relationship between a billionaire and his money the same way they would talk about the relationship between a little girl and her dog.
I like what Warren Buffett said once about taxes on corporations. he said "when I go into a meeting about the costs of a new business, taxes never even enter into the conversation."
Maybe becouse he can afford them? Or afford army of accountants to mitigate their burden? Usual person or small enterpreneur cant.
Excellent. Love Robert Reich’s clear & concise explanation of Economic issues. Debunks the Right’s lies!
I just recently found your videos, they are so informative & truthful! I love that you call a spade a spade & speak the truth that many misled conservatives refuse to acknowledge
What i dont understand is why a person who only make 35 to 40 grand a year vote for republicans
watch out for rich people. If everyone knew this... wait, almost everyone I know does and still nothing is being done about it. I am thankful that you made this video. Maybe someday... Vote people, vote.
I wish all the sources were in the description.
They are in the top left corner of the video, though putting them in the description would be nice
I need a glowing eyes edit of Reich saying “R U B B I S H”
Baloney.
@Solstice of Snow for example?
An eye opening information,keep up good work
I have always had the greatest respect for you, Robert, and I am glad that I have found your RUclips channel. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, See you next video!
I don't even think you would have to necessarily raise taxes on the rich. Just cut out all of the loopholes. If I have a regular old income tax and we add in social security, medicare and state. I'm taxed around 28% of my income. Period. Point blank. Across the board. Year after year after year. Even after paying in and claiming 0, most times I still owe at filing. While if Amazon had to play by the same set of rules they'd be looking at about a $650 million dollar tax bill year after year after year. And that's just one giant. Just imagine how wealthy the whole country would be. There would be no deficit. There would be surpluses every year. But, as long as the rich remain drunk on greed and power, and we continue to let them remain in power, then things will never change.
Activision Blizzard got a tax refund of 4.3 billion dollars, a supposed negative 51% tax rate imposed, giving them money.
Yeah, closing loopholes should happen, cause right now a homeless person is paying not only a higher percentage of their income, but a larger number of dollar bills as these mega million dollar corporations.
Problem is, especially with corporations, much of the shenanigans happen *before* the final profit-loss statement. And some of those are actually legit, or at least can be. Expenses for materials used in production, for wages, licensing fees, etc. all result in a lower profit margin. Of course, large, and especially multinational corporations can play games with that, e. g., a very high licensing fee for the right of US company to use a certain corporate logo, owned by a Company located in some tax haven. Like certain Channel Islands, Ireland, or some US states.
And flat tax rates are regressive, anyway.
By the by, that's the beauty of Warren's proposal: it keys off the profit reported to *shareholders*. Which would leave companies having to choose between reporting high profits, and paying taxes, or avoiding high profits using shenanigans, not paying taxes, and losing shareholder confidence. Elegant. I love it.
It was politicians who created this situation but Robert Reich thinks it would make things better if they had even more money.
7:07
Ok. I am in love with this channel now.
Right? Joffrey was my favorite character too!
We should donate to Mr Reich and ask him to use ads to boost his channel, more conservatives should see this, I hope they can change their mind.
You can lead a conservative to knowledge, but you can't make him think
We should work together better and stop shitting each other.
@@akbarallardfreichmann2938 And we also need to stop swearing too. Captain America and other Christian Minecraft admins don't like it.
Conservatives know economics better than this, and that's saying something. Reich is a political hack and not an economics expert to be trusted.
James Adams I don't think I could have said it better myself.
Re DIY'ing the repairs and upgrades, check your local laws. In my state, if you are going to sell the home within a year, you must use licensed contractors. This was due to the high number of problems in flip homes. I myself bought one that had no subfloor under the new travertine tile, no shower pan under the upstairs shower (causing flooding downstairs), and more.
This guy did something in 8 minutes what our crappy education system couldn't do in 15 years
Math is always right always
@@ronald1111 the problem is economics is not really math. Economics is sociology and policy and fear and hope and masses of people moving as one based on emotion as much as anything tangible. Only in college does anyone think economics is cold and predictable calculations.
@@ronald1111 (🍔 I'll take a Big Mac, large fries.... 😁 just kidding)
Correction: *Correctly done* Mathematics is always CORRECT. Verily, Math careth naught for what is right and wrong, but doth only for the technical specialty, speciality, and proficiency of the logical functioning of the numeric acrobat.
....i think, i ain't gonna know a damn thing 'bout that stuff, I suck at math. 😆 kidding again 😉 --J
@@LordPadriac (Well, "Padriaise" the lord! 😆)
You may be more correct than you know! Although, math certainly CAN track what's already _happened,_ and that can actually make pretty accurate predictions based on logic, reason, and most of all, WISDOM; but that isn't really a problem. Like you said: it's sociology, and a big part of that is people AGREEING and getting along with each other. So, a bigger problem is the actions of people in power don't always agree with what has _been agreed_ to be best for most people *by* most of those people..... Agreed? 🙂 --J
@@jeyruff429 indeed. >;]
Chomsky taught us this a long time ago.
Daddy Chomsky 🖤❤️
Yeah, and it seems we didn't learn anything from him. 😕
Oh wow, the guy who defended the Khmer Rouge said it so it must be right. Fuck Chomsky.
Isaak Mercado can you link to him saying or writing this please?
Yep but none yet succeded to thaught us to to effeciently fight this...how we as the poor& middle class can fight back ...what would be the best plan? A revised french revolution? A reboot? What can we do to tell both the 1% & the politicians enough is enough
We need to “ save democracy from oligarchy”
And from plutocracy.
is it too late?
"Is it too late?" People......?
We're a Republic dwarf.
@@555Trout we are a democratic republic if you want to get technical and btw insults dont shore up a weak opinion
Brilliant. You deserve many more views. A pity honesty is ignored and lies are praised.
He lies by withholding information you are aware that the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes
This is such a hotly debated topic and everyone has their own OPINIONS of what is right and wrong. While I hate to see the bite that Uncle Sam takes out of my paycheck it is still my privilege to pay taxes and enjoy all of the freedoms that I have. Avoiding this responsibility just makes you selfish, you want to get all of the benefits of our modern society while not contributing to it.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to give away any more money than I have to, but I sure am happy to see a firefighter, police officer, a standing bridge, or even a school where kids can learn to read.
A 100% pure capitalist economy would have zero public programs, and zero anti-trust laws, and zero regulations on labor.
That results in 70hr work weeks, no over-time, and no paid time-off, predatory lending, and monopolies this list goes on. All of the rules we complain about today are a counter to a long forgotten real life situation where the government said a business had gone too far against the public. No do some of these rules need to be updated to make them relevant to today's modern society, yeah. Should we toss out the baby with the bath water, no.
The government's job is to establish the rules of the game, to be a referee, and if called for, punish the ones who violate the rules. The government also has the responsibility to nudge industries toward the future. Without emissions and fuel economy standards cars would not have evolved much from the gas guzzlers of the 1970s. All that being said a global/national economy is a very complicated thing to manage, there is no simple solution, like 35% tax across the board. I hope people will understand that most of the people you see on cable news are trying to sell you an agenda.
Point of order: the video game industry already hits 100-hour workweeks sometimes.
Hotly debated. Anyone who is a shill for the rich doesn’t want it, anyone with a brain does.
I believe the the argument is the rules seem different, between rich and poor (er) in society.
It appears the rich gain preferential treatment - namely loopholes.
Which poor (er) in society are not able to access.
If the rules were the same , I guess, most wouldn't care if certain people earnt $millons - if they were taxed the same.
Thank you. I'm angry again. I genuinely mean that thank you too. Being angry wakes me up and that gives me the energy to get out in the street and protest.
Remember when Regan choose to pay 90% of his income? Instead of going through loopholes. Wow the republican party changed a lot.
was not Regan that cut the tax to the richs, that was 70% and he made 28%?
@@PROPAROXITONO although reagan cut tax rates, tax revenue increased every year while he was president. Total tax revenue income is more important than tax rates.
@@Brickwinds well, that didnt change the fact that the reagan didn't "choose" pay 90% income tax, or if he choose, the rest of the rich in the country had a big tax cuts.
BUT the increase revenue occour becouse of the tax increase of 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986 and 1987. the cuts decrease the revenue, so they increase other taxes to increase again.
you can read here: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2017-12-15/the-mostly-forgotten-tax-increases-of-1982-1993
@@PROPAROXITONO And then you saw the amount of money the government recived be almost the same
@@yoyu8641 yes, with rich people paying less and poor people paying more. didn't you see anything wrong with this?
The myth that got missed is the one that says that lowering taxes on the rich will reduce the deficit. We've had several decades of this, yet the myth persists.
"Trickle down mentalities" ? Urinate on people who pay income taxes.
As someone who doesn't really get economics, this is remarkably easy to understand. Thank you very much for your help.
One of your best videos Robert. Highly educational. Outstanding. This should be shown to all students in all schools.
... and looped on every Fox/Murdoch station at the top of every hour...
How about someone with a totally different opinion as well. Maybe Thomas Sewell ?
Taxation is the means to limit access to excessive and dangerous wealth. Corruption thrives from wealth seeking and wealth attainment as ambition and not aspiration.
dam he hammers Fox news to the bottom :))
very informative yet basic knowledge that everyone should know about
Yet he also uses Fox news' own poll
Lucas Randel Well, it's not unheard of for people with an agenda to do research and find that the science contradicts their beliefs. Just look at the Templeton Foundation's study on intercessory prayer for an example.
The way he says "baloney" is so powerful
We need a minimum of required education in this country. Thanx for all the effort / info Robert !
We already have that dummy. As you prove it's a failure.
This was the best 8+ minutes I spent this weekend. Thank you!
THIS is the sort of fact-based, unbiased informative news we need in major news media. Thanks for making this easy-to-understand video.
I'll give you fact-based but its clearly biased and misleading information. Proper news media would include a proponent and opponent for the position.
If 1% owns 70% of all wealth, then they should pay 70% of all tax.. seems simple isn't it? Then why is it not the case?
People don’t know how little of the pie they’re getting or they’d be ready to eat the rich
@@marilynmonheaux And that is why the oligarchs want to keep the dissention about race and not class. Divide the poor people to fight amongst themselves, the rich are safe.
The top 10% actually pay 71% of all tax’s
Not to mention the poor doesn’t actually pay taxs
When you calculate the amount of money that you actually get back from the government
Only the top two tax brackets actually pay anything
@@stayswervin554 Do you benefit from tax loopholes? Do you have an enormous amount of money that isnt being put back into the economy but instead being hoarded in stocks and bonds? Stocks and bonds are a major loophole for the ultra rich to hide their money from taxes. It's pretty simple really, you just buy your own company's stock, inflate the value by doing so, and voila now you have even more money than before and now it cant be taxed because its not liquid in that state. Want to make a big purchase? just sell some of your stock to get liquid capital to purchase what you want. Now just buy back your own stocks with the money thats left over and now that money is safe from being taxed again.
Peasants like you or I cannot do something like this because firstly we are nowhere near the amount of wealth to be realistically negatively affected and secondly, if something like this would work for middle to lower class americans, we would not be able to sustain it because we have to spend our money to survive.
So why in the hell would you defend the ultra rich when they are profiting off of your own suffering and aim to make it worse? You make them billions of dollars and what do you get in return? We cant even ask for a wage to live a halfway comfortable life in this country without being met with disdain. We cant have paid family vacation or decent workers' rights because why? because that doesnt benefit the ultra rich and when something doesnt benefit them they make it a point to tell the american people to be angry about the ultra rich not being able to benefit from our suffering.
@@marilynmonheaux Sadly, there are so few in the 1%, that the masses would quickly starve.
Amazing how many people study economics for years and years and years and NEVER get to the conclusion that capitalism is at the very least a bit exploitative.
Name one nation where communism worked
Almost like all the curriculum criticizing capitalism has been gutted by schools. How convenient
Did anyone notice that the people who are taxed the least, if anything, yet use the most of the total taxes also complain about it the most?
do you mean the poor who struggle to survive ?
@@malcolm-danielfreeman5940 No... I mean the 75% that don't pay "their share".... They only pay ten percent of the total yet complain that that the top 25% don't pay enough....
Thanks for this. It's about time. I looked up those old 90% tax rates, and then I tried figuring out what were the overall tax rates by income level (averaging them out). Incredibly complex problem mostly because I had insufficient information. I'm really sick of hearing people mutter some pat statement as their brains turn off. (I can't tell you the number of middle aged and older women who still say, "I just don't like Hillary." Liberal college professors! )
I was telling my son that I supported Sanders and Warren, even though I might have to pay 2% of my retirement investment as a wealth tax. (I'm feeling very flush with my Apple stock; considering splurging on a ten year old 4Runner so I can go camping more-- you know 'lifestyles of the super rich'.) My son laughed, "Dad it starts at $5 million dollars." And that will pay for Medicare for all? Yep. Gee, I was willing to pay a chunk for it, what are all those millionaires whining about? What if we set up a few Guillotines --you know, give them something to think about.
Add in a few pitchforks they can be a great motivator. I have heard a billionaire talk candidly about being worried about the common man coming after the rich with said items.
Nobody gets rich on their own alone. They do so at someone else’s expense. The lion’s share of the work is done by followers, not leaders. Wealthy individuals do not operate on a vacuum.
The rich gives you money to help them make something. Equal exchange. Your labor for their money.
Trump sure did his daddy owned a shit ton of realestate
That is WHY I PROPOSE PROFIT-SHARING with those who DO THE ACTUAL WORK which results in the billions Bezos is pocketing for himself
@@lydiabell6218 You don't propose.... You suggest. You are not at the senate floor or speaking at the chamber of commerce meeting.
A number of companies have a contingency for Profit Sharing as a form of compensation, certainly not the Revolving Door Sweatshop @ Amazon.
Trust me, the day that Profit Sharing goes into the books as a Mandatory Compensation, is the day Public Companies start fudging at the accounting books.
Your best choice is to avoid at the Ship's Galley that Amazon is with their psychological flogging. And avoid ordering items through Amazon.
@@kw5371 Is it really "equal" though?
Thank you, as a Gen-Xer, this bs about taxing the rich, was taught to us in school.
yep, growing up in the good ole Reaganomics era
I love the way you spell things out with simple facts. Thank you for the work you do! I will watch this again and again so when in discussion with my family and friends, who have been deceived by the right, I have the ability to give them the truth.
Excellent summary. Thanks for posting.
This might be because I know how I feels being at the bottom of the economy, but if I made millions coming in, I would gladly pay half my income in taxes if it meant I could invest in my country.
Anyone in the comments love guillotines? I *love* guillotines.
In a videogame obviously, because violence is bad
@@yeetboiboid751 false needless violence is useless
Great job. Love Robert Reich. Will always listen to any presentation he makes.
He said sixty percent of wealth is inherited misleading only nine percent of the rich inherited there wealth
Wow. These videos are great and very well done. I'm surprised you do not have a lot more subscribers. Thank you for the time and effort you put into these videos.
Thank you for making these videos Robert(and co.). We need more informative, factual media that reaches people where they actually get their news. It's the only way to fight the ruling class' propaganda.
The other and most basic myth about “earning” wealth through interest is it is accrued with no direct effort of the investor or lender. It also scales “infinitely” with the size of principal; the amount ‘earned’ here is vastly different from $1000 invested and $1000000 invested.
I love Dr. Reich's content and it's pro -progressive, anti-corporate, anti-conservative talking points. I have been subscribed for a while now and I encourage others to do the same.
Easter Egg, at the end of the video the planchette hovers over "B","ER",&"N"
If I could have a dinner party and invite 10 people I admire Robert Reich would definitely be one!
maybe those nine people..... show them the video.
I would love to invite Dan Pena. Matter of fact I would pay.
Thank you sir. We need people to wake up in America and see the truth!!!
Thank you Robert Reich for making this point clear. And I understand everything you're saying because it's the same thing I've been saying for about 17 years now. I'm just glad someone who has the exposure is finally speaking up and pointing out all the corruption that exists in our society.
You, my fellow short man, got yourself a suscriber.
"The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor" - Leonard Cohen
@M Detlef the playing field is not level. The poor do not have the same education, health care, leisure time or wealthy golf club/country club cronies to do deals with. Poor people who are working two jobs and still don't have enough money to even fix their teeth, may do desperate things. It's not a formula for success.
@M Detlef Absolutely right! They do do STUPID stuff, like voting republican. Voting against their own best interest.
Well said.
This is a fantastic video. I appreciate the knowledge on this issue all in one spot. Keep it up!