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Excellent video as always. Could you do an analysis on automation as it's been wielded by corporations thus far, and how we might mitigate its worst effects on society?
Love your videos. Can you do a video explaining about developing stage..? It seem at developing stage, country able to do a lot of infrastructure projects & labor works beacuse of cheaper and younger workforce, then their offsprings are able to go to college etc.. but the US passed that stage.. and stuck at “developed” stage.. I was hoping we have some break though that we can afford big impressive infrastructure projects and have good income for labors. I can’t see how to balance that. ( how to compete with China? FYI they ban labor unions there and running a totalitarian regime..)
I love all your videos...can you PLEASE interview Andrew Yang...i would be very interested in that interview. 2 people that understand the economics and I really would be interested in your opinion on his policies
@@glaekent3845 The Democrats today are quite different from the Democrats in the 1960s and I think you know that. In the 1960s the longest-serving popularly elected Senator in North Carolina's history, a Republican, Jessie Helms, one of the leaders of the conservative movement in America, was a Democrat. The Democratic Party of the 1960s -- Malcolm X was killed in 1965 -- would not have put into office America's first Black president. I think you also know there are no Gulags in Norway or Sweden or Denmark or Canada etc. That was primarily Russian, which was a dictatorship and not really socialist, in spite of their name, and it became a Communist country through violent revolution, not through the ballot box. Finally, I think you also know that the "Socialism" of progressive Democrats and Dr. Reich is more akin to the Democratic Socialism of our northern neighbor and Scandinavia and other parts of Europe than the "Socialism" of Soviet Russia or Venezuela or China. American 21st century Socialism truly is just an extension of FDR's New Deal, that brought us things like Social Security and Medicare.
One of the reasons that the US is deteriorating if because of the idea of "American exceptionalism". The belief that America is the "greatest" country (yes, many others think theirs is the greatest) tends to allow people to think "no matter how bad it gets, we are still better than all the rest". In quality of life studies, the US does not get very high marks, maybe, somewhat, because of these beliefs.
I quite agree, and have been saying that's been a problem for many Americans for a long time, especially in relation to all the "this is not us" type comments people have been making about racism in America since Trump. Then right here in these comments, for this video, someone still was trying to call the US the "greatest country," while at the same time apparently agreeing with what was said in the video, which makes zero sense.
@@Someone--Else I believe that America has the greatest potential of any nation but that potential is being hopelessly squandered in a way that just makes me sad.
Why can't we address the real elephant in the room? With all of our intelligence, no one seems to understand that every system has limits and yet we still seem to think that unlimited wealth accumulation is just fine! All you need is basic math skills to understand how dangerous the notion of unlimited wealth is . . . and the source of the danger is compounded interest. Take the nice round number of $30 trillion currently owned by the 1% now and apply a conservative interest rate of 5%, that $30 trillion doubles to $60 trillion in 14.4 years. In 30 years it will be $120 trillion and in 45 years the total will be $240 trillion. At 45 years out, where exactly is that $210 trillion in earned interest supposed to come from? Add to this situation that the wealthy are not investing in the real economy, they are getting their interest payments out of the financialized economy . . . which means they are taking it from us and looting the U.S. Treasury to achieve their rate of returns. The wealthy have been and continue to loot the wealth of all nations. Right now 17 international wealth funds are holding $50 trillion in "investment" capital, in 45 years that sum will be $400 trillion dollars. Where is all that money in interest payments going to come from? Look, it is simple common sense to place limits on systems. Do you have a pressure pot without a steam release valve? No, that would be stupid. Can your car engine achieve unlimited power? No, that would lead to catastrophic engine failure. There is example after example in the natural world and with virtually every human construction that there are limits beyond which disaster is the imminent result. The same is true with wealth accumulation. I don't know how people can reckon that unlimited wealth accumulation is a natural outgrowth of capitalism . . . yeah, it is if you want economic collapse as the intended outcome. Get real folks, we can never achieve even modest political goals or societal stabilization if we are unwilling to place limits on wealth accumulation. Besides, after a certain point . . . it is pointless to keep accumulating more than a person or their family could spend in 1000 lifetimes.
@@GoldStorm07 Potential is infinite, and exists in anything, so saying something is good, because it has potential, isn't a functional argument, especially when it consistently fails to live up to it's potential, and even seems to actively take a piss on it, as America has been doing for at least decades what with its steady embracing of greed above all else.
Becoming? From where I sit in Norway I've seen the US become that for a decade, maybe as far back as the election that Gore won, but lost to a third world country system.
@Sean Baca You've been owned for 3 weeks straight, it's getting quite painful to watch you squirm, or maybe it's just the acid and sleep deprivation that's making me soft. But seriously, you're obviously going to keep getting owned, just move on for your own sake.
@Sean Baca That doesn't mean anything, you're still a loser in life. You're one of those that think you know how the universe works because you have money I assume? I'm one of those that have learned the greatest currency is knowledge, and I can't seem to detect much in you. I'm content living in the forest, no indoor water, no money, no worries, but I have a nice car though, can't live up here without Quattro. Hard work, wild animals all around, fresh air, complete freedom in the land of Vikings. I've won in life, in a game you never knew you were playing in. Now go play with your worthless money, and I'll go play with my intellect.
Singapore and a lot of other Asian cities are opulent, new buildings, new infrastructure, intelligent people they are a 1st world power, we have denigrated ourselves and become a third world country. Those at the top got us here so they could become more rich and yet they don't pay their fair share of taxes and the middle class keeps on getting beat down until the middle class is no more and it's just the rich and the poor and we would have become a feudal society.
@J Donovan Try and be polite please. @wilmar han is right, I am Dutch and am in frequent contact with medical professionals. They wouldn't go and work in the US if you paid them double, for various obvious reasons.
it is a 3rd world country, let's not even try to deny it anymore. With poverty reaching over 50% of the American population, we're masquerading around pretending we're the top shit, but in truth, many other countries have long since surpassed us in terms of social programs, healthcare, infrastructure, science, education, etc. Go to China, Singapore, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and many others, and it's such a stark contrast, seeing how much more grand and advanced these countries are to the US.
@@CocoAngelGT you are WRONG my friend. currency is not used..quality of life calculated by purchasing power.Read some economy.and poor in usa? they live in streets.but to be honest i dont know nothing about uganda mid class.
lmao are you serous ? i had nothing a few short years ago because i wanted to act like a kid and party now im banking and i didnt even try... if you dont thrive in america your a fool ... is uganda creating endless companies ?? utube , FB, apple, google all american.. ughanda steals our technology... we have the number 1 military... the american dollar has value in ughanda your money is as useless as toilet paper.. i can keep going
that's cause the top 1% skew the average... it's awful.. deaths of despair are rising.. middle and lower class committing suicide or dying from opioids people falling into despair
@@erikeggenbakstad there's a documentary called "Deaths of Despair" if youre interested... Talls about explosion of opioid overdose deaths and rise of suicides among middle and lower class Americans. my area got hit pretty hard by opioids..
They were taxed at 90% of their adjusted income. In practice, that meant much lower than a 'true' 90%. There were countless loopholes that the truly rich could use to evade taxes (such as exploration credits... hey, everybody in hollywood owned an oil well in those days). I'm not arguing that the rich shouldn't be taxed more... I'm just saying that most use that money to find ways (legal or not) to avoid paying their due taxes. Step one should be finding a way to make everyone pay the actual tax they owe... then we can adjust rates as needed to ensure that everyone pays their fair share. Raising the top rate to 90% will do no good when no-one making over $150k a year pays what they owe anyway.
ShmuelWeintraub Yeah I should know, my dad was a CPA. I remember one time he got a client out of 600K+. I mean I can understand weaseling out of it when it’s wasted on wars & admin or other forms of bloat. So we need to get straight with that & the corruption. Demand transparency & rebrand taxation as a nice alternative to social anarchy. The thing about rich people, as Mark Cuban pointed out, they will probably move if they don’t agree with the tax rate.
@@originallimu : Sadly, Cuban is right. Though there are ways to amend the tax code such that non residents who earn income from business or other activities within the US still have to pay US tax. So long as tax havens who's economies exist solely to cater to the millionaire (and above) class, it will take some courageous - and unpopular in some quarters - actions to bring this problem under control.
Bush tax cuts were never guaranteed to be permanent....Yet people cry "socialism" and "treason" whenever Obama or anyone else proposed to roll them back. Such fucking entitlement, I swear.
Just about every major achievement starts with a dream. Once upon a time, American independence from Britain and freeing the slaves of America's South also seemed like impossible dreams--but they came true.
The American Dream is exactly what is happening. Everyone was told as long as you work hard enough, are shrewd enough, and do whatever it takes you will get rich and powerful, you can achieve your dreams. Which is extremely intoxicating to the poor and exploited. But that's the rub: They already are exploited by a system that does so to empower itself. So immigrants are welcomed in and told the lie, only to be exploited. The poor and middle class are told the lie, only to be exploited. Yet they all turn a blind eye and are divided because its a self perpetuating lie, because they can point at each other and say your only exploited because your lazy, stupid, and are not willing to take advantage of others. The only thing that can change this cycle is to shatter the lie of the "American Dream". The exploited must come together as a whole, and recognize that only by working together and bringing everyone up, improving the life of everyone (specially the lowest and poorest) is what will break the cycle. And if those in power fight it, the banded together masses will have the strength of unity to force a change. Violently if needed. As is happening in other countries. The biggest difference in the US is that it does not have hundreds, if not thousands of years of social bedrock and culture to unify its populace.
Parts of America already are like a 3rd world country. From the skid rows of LA, to the neighborhoods of Detroit, to medical camps in the south. Crumbling infrastructure, no education, no healthcare, no drinking water, extreme inequality, homelessness, large prison population and violent crime. From small towns to inner-city slums America is full of places and situations that would be a rarity in other 1st world countries, if they existed at all.
@jonny s Detroit was not always like this, student debt was not always like this, healthcare was not always like this, the prison population was not always like this, the amount of homeless vets was not always like this, the gun violence was not always like this. And the things that were always like this aren't like this anymore in much of the 1st world, where they have parental leave, practically no one goes bankrupt because of medical expenses, teen pregnancy is not a common issue, and teachers don't rely on donations for basic supplies.
@jonny s I don't know what to tell you except there's plenty of stats that prove you wrong and as someone who grew up in an actual first world country (Slovenia) we don't have those issues here and neither does most of Europe, certainly not to this degree.
@jonny s It's a developed western democracy that's #8 on the global peace index, #25 on the human development index, #13 on the education index and has one of the lowest poverty rates on the planet. Additionally we're part of the EU and NATO. Our train infrastructure could use some work, but other than that we're textbook first world. Now either your knowledge of geography sucks and you're too lazy too spend five minutes Googling or you're trolling, in which case it's a really weak boring attempt - I r8 2/8.
@jonny s The fact that some Slovenians work and live abroad firstly has nothing to do with the actual topic of socio-economic issues in the US, secondly I could just as easily point out how many Americans come to study and live here because higher education is basically free, nobody's going bankrupt from medical bills, and violent crime is some of the lowest on the planet. Let me know when you have an actual argument and preferably some stats, because just disagreeing won't cut it, guy 🙄
Why would you sign anything on human rights from an organization that has granted "consultancy status" to a group pushing for legalized pedophilia ? The group is I.G.L.A. in case you think I made this up.
Hey I live in a 3rd world country Thailand . I have seen maybe 3 homeless in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. I am Hawaii and we have tent cities of homeless. Really paradise.
You can add to those six areas several indicators of quality of life, for which the USA also resembles a developing nation, such as high infant and maternal mortality, declining life expectancy, likelihood of dying in a violent manner, etc.
Why didn’t Obama appoint him to a cabinet position? No one is more qualified than Professor Reich. The changes needed if we are to improve our country are voting in people who adhere to those policies. Please vote for all Democrats in 2020. Our democracy depends on it. We must vote in huge numbers to outpace voter suppression, gerrymandering, and Russian interference. These are dire times!
Robert Reich was Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton and was on Obama's transition team. He has had quite the career already, but could still do more. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Reich
Tony Lohi I’m so sorry to hear your home town isn’t as nice as it used to be. Also, as a fan of infrastructure, what you just described sounds amazing.
I dream that one day in my lifetime The US Congress will have term limits. Washington is self-service currently. Also, how does one keep dark money out of politics?
Publicly funded elections. Every person voting has a certain amount they can spend and it is from public coffers. That amount is the maximum eg. $250/person every election cycle. It may be split how the voter sees fit.
@Frederic Bastiat Don't stoop to ad hominems right out the gate, you appear angry and dimwitted. I was talking about individual contributions, not political advertisements. Read my reply again after you've regained your composure and you'll see your reply makes no sense. Have a good one
@Frederic Bastiat I know you'd like to think they're very limited but there are any number of loopholes. Citizens United was a bullshit ruling that was in favor of corporate contributions, not individuals. I don't know why you seem to favor big money involved in politics but unless you're a Walton or a Koch or Adelson it doesn't benefit you. So go ahead and keep calling me stupid, your argument is weak and so are you. Citizens United was to benefit the wealthy, not you. Go the fuck away now
Publicly financed elections, NO private contributions over 100 dollars per citizen. 1 month election cycle, no campaigning except for 1 month before the election. Election day is a paid holiday, but you have to pay a fine if you don't vote. Democracy is NOT a spectator sport, sorry to preach, but people not paying attention, and taking all the benefits for granted is what's landed us here. Inform yourselves, it doesn't take much to read up on your local and national issues. Less Sports, more Civics!!!
@Frederic Bastiat I'm so damn tired of this conversation. Why aren't you harassing any of these other people who agree with me? You realize that the news outlets you keep mentioning get their marching orders directly from the government, right? Since the Smith-Mundt Act was repealed in 2012 the major media conglomerates either have their pieces written for them by the government or have the government proofread them to pass muster, so to speak. And no, I do not think I should be able to use my clout as a business owner or hedge fund manager or media mogul to sway elections. What is the point in holding elections and trying to tell everyone to vote when everyone knows the wealthy own the system? Seems rather unconstitutional if you ask me. But, let me guess, you think that if someone is wealthy they are more capable of running the show. That's why the US is constantly in debt and at war, because the wealthy make such terrific choices. Now kindly move along if all you have are hypotheticals.
I think I've lost faith. We have attained 3rd world banana republic status and have no hope of change. We need a massive revolution with a take down of the oligarchy to survive.
We need a massive labor movement worldwide. We should start it in the US and the EU, and spread it from there. Unless we in the 99% stand up soon, we'll be unable to do so.
rvtrcr Yes, because anytime the 99% get anything, it is terrible. Also, Stalin was a totalitarian dictator who had no intention of improving the lives of the majority of people in Russia. You're either a liar, or have fallen prey to American propaganda which conflates Stalinism with Democratic Socialism.
@Stewie Griffen Not yet. Unfettered capitalism has been working intensely for forty years to turn the US into a third world country (cheap labor and no environmental or labor regulations), and it is succeeding. Unfortunately, GOP supporters and American libertarians love capitalism more than they love America, so they will continue to vote for politicians who are undoing our country. Democrats who espouse neoliberalism aren't much better than GOP and American libertarian politicians, but there are a few exceptions in the Democratic party.
We already have Bernie Sanders running as the uncorrupted, fearless candidate that is NOT AFRAID TO TAKE ON OUR CORPORATE OVERLORDS (along with Elizabeth Warren-although she's weak on standing up against the military-industrial complex)!
I wrote a research paper on this very thing 25 years ago; got an A but my fellow students didn't believe my research and disbelieved my findings that this is where America was heading.
thats funny your on Utube an american created company.. sure wasnt created in your country... why do you use all our technology and social media like FB ?? we have number 1 military and stock market everyone invests in... lol NOT YOURS.. i can keeo going your just a hater
Ever since living in South America years ago during the Great Recession I was telling people that the U.S. was only a stone's throw from reverting to a developing nation. It seems more inevitable than ever with our current political state of affairs. Corporate fascists are running the show and marginalizing the great majority in the process. We are a failing state.
The world outside Indonesia is scary place to be. So no more going abroad. Not even going out our family private lands the past years since 2019. USA was never been world's richest country but always been the real third world just as the rest of western world. World map is inaccurate since Mercator projection 1569. Real Indonesia is Huge as Russia But Much Richer. Indonesia is world's Richest country ;) Even USA has been messing up with our Gold, Uranium, etc. And we can't stay silent about it. Even our gas and oil only are much more than whole middle east! KARMA NEVER SLEEP USD has lost its power since World War 1. Western world was, is and will always be very poor. Real Rich will never colonize others the way they've been doing till now. Western world, middle east are very dumb they're very poor just as stupid Abrahamic, judaism/christianity/islam not native to Indonesia. Even cryptocurrency is really stupid. Fiat currency is fake money made of thin air and will always loose its power. Real Gold is Always Be The Real Money. Yet, it's really stupid to say Egypt is the oldest ancient civilization. After all in reality USA and whole western world are very poor. Thus not a complete multiracial not multilingual never been living around the world all alone since childhood are just the same never evolved dumb apes stuck inside your tiny boxes your entire life and not learning from the past to evolve better.
Thank you Robert again 😊❤️.. Yes we have been a 3rd world country for the last 50+ years. We need to form a Voters Union party that will sort this out. I'm a dreamer I know
A smart president would hire Robert Reich to be his economic adviser. But, I think Robert worked in Obama's administration. Obama was a smart president.
The first step has GOT to be caps on campaign donations. In order to run for office, almost every politician has to get in bed with big business. It's the only way to compete. Other countries have caps to reduce the required amount of money, so that politicians aren't required to, well... Big campaign donations end up functioning in the exact same ways as bribes. Legal bribes. That come with obligations.
Most other countries limit campaigning to 6-8 weeks prior to an election. Currently campaigning, at least on the republican side, is from the end of one election to the end of the next! They're counting on people getting so sick of politics that they don't votr.
@@timmarshall7292 False in every way. :Last Tax cuts put more wealth into the hands of the rich. And you just have to look at corporations like Amazon who paid NO Taxes last year. Please do some research because you comment is blatantly false.
@@BatMan-oe2gh MAY 3, 2018 12:21PM Average Tax Rates by Income Group By CHRIS EDWARDS SHARE For months, news articles and commentaries have decried the supposedly huge tax cuts for the rich passed by Republicans in December. In a classic rhetorical formulation, a New York Times editorial in February said, “Republicans designed the law to principally benefit wealthy families while offering crumbs to low-income and middle class families.” Actually, the largest relative tax cuts went to the middle class, as I discuss here. But perhaps some people have fixed views on the tax cut, and can’t imagine the Republicans doing anything other than favors for plutocrats. So let’s try a different angle and look at overall burdens under the GOP tax law, which went into effect January 1. The official tax scorekeeper, the Joint Committee on Taxation, recently publishedestimates of average income tax rates by income group for 2018, which are presented in the table below. The tax rates are income taxes paid divided by total income within each group. Tax rates rise rapidly as income rises above $50,000 a year. The $1 million and over group pays a 10 times higher share (26.3 percent) of their income to taxes than does the middle $50,000 to $75,000 group (2.4 percent). In aggregate, households with incomes of less than $50,000 do not pay any federal income taxes. Instead, they receive large subsidies from the U.S. Treasury in the form of refundable tax credits. Those subsidies to low earners are expected to jump from $83 billion a year before the tax law to $99 billion after the tax law (page 48).
The main problem here is that these corrupt practices is becoming a norm in American society. Instead of people doing something about it they rather think how can they climb up the ladder & do the exact corrupt things for personal benefits.
One of the reasons we are heading down this hole is because we have an unhealthy attitude about wealth. We seem to feel that the wealthy are wealthy because they are better people and the poor are poor because they are somehow flawed. We need to reverse that trend and see that people that have less are not LESSER people. We need to level the field!
That thinking comes from John Calvin, and the evangelicals are Calvinists, who said that the rich are blessed of God and the only ones qualified to run the country. That is a long way from its harder for a rich man to get into heaven than for a rope (not a camel) to get through the eye of a needle. He also gave us the poor are bums who need to work, and extreme individualism which destroyed any sense of the common welfare of all. Jesus and Paul were all about community. Jesus would not be able to wrap his head around our American idea of individualism and selfishness before community. Actually, he would not understand how American Christianity has perverted his teachings for power when he was totally against the idea.
@@AZOffRoadster I've done the research! Do you claim she hasn't been apologetic about Assad, and even supportive of the Modi regime? Assad need to go, (preferably to stand trial at the ICC). There can be no support of the proto-fascistic Modi in India! And Russia is NOT our friends!
We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of our great democracy and our country's ideals, it was a good concept but it may end in 2020, if Trump gets reelected. R.I.P. America ☮💟🇺🇸
Gregory Holmes. USA democracy died in November 1963 when rough parts of the government assassinated JFK. Americans have lived 50 years without raise in pay while the 1% got filthy rich. Almost half of the voters wanted yet an other representative of the 1% running the country. We know how that turned out and still they are happy and sure will vote for the same lieing wannabe dictator.
@@rocky5152 'Blue no matter who' is what gave us Trump. Just having a D by their name does not mean they'll be better than Trump's policies. I do agree about getting registered, and checking occasionally that you're still registered and in the correct party. Our election system is definitely 3rd world.
For your information, third world countries mean the countries who were neither on the sides of allies or axis powers during WW2 , not the poor , underdeveloped countries.
@God Bless America it doesnt matter what party wins this year or what Party runs each state i only see a decline in the standard of living of evryday people
Reich worked in the Carter and Clinton Administrations. He also served in some capacity in the Obama administration (as did Joseph Stiglitz). The problem is not that people with good ideas can't get into positions of power... it's that they don't seem to be able to effect real change when they are there. America is not short of ideas on how to fix itself. What it lacks is the ability to get those ideas into law thanks to the moneyed interests who keep trying to make America as great as it was in the robber baron era (which, arguably, we are close to being back to). If we can't break the hold moneyed interests (of all origins foreign and domestic) have over our political system, no amount of wonderful ideas will help. It is not an accident that this country is as broken as it is. It is the result of 4-5 decades of deliberate strategy on the part of those who are now greatly benefitting from that breakage.
@PrivatePropertyIsTheft I do not know enough about Tulsi Gabbard to know if that is a good idea or not. The few things I have heard about her have all been great things, so in my opinion, she would be a good second or third option to Bernie Sanders. Why do I still believe Bernie Sanders is the way to go? Because he has been arguing for equality amongst all people since he was first elected. And that was so long ago I have no idea how long ago that was. My point is, Bernie Sanders has been a consistent advocate for the bottom 90% his entire career and therefore can be trusted to fight for exactly what he is promising to fight for when elected.
I think wages will stay low since there is always a person willing to work for it. Why would it change? If a owner found a person willing to work hard everyday and the owner made $25 for every hour billed vs $10 why would it get better for the employee. It starts at the low skilled jobs. Every job can be hard and difficult. Always want more. These companies will adapt. If they can't screw them. If they automate they'll need technicians.
The USA is so Twentieth Century. It's been a vortex of idiocy and complacency for decades. It starts at the top. How can the US expect to compete with the big international players with a truly broken and nonfunctional political system?
"Third-world country" just refers to any nation unaffiliated with either the Soviet Union or the United States. While these are interesting and significant topics to discuss. The terminology is incorrect and misleading.
A few points that I think are required to rebalance the US economy and political system: 1 - A 95% inheritance tax on property, cash assets, and stock options after an individual inherits 50 million. This means that a large estate can theoretically be divided out quite a bit, but no individual person needs more than 50 million to be set for life and the lives of their children. All taxed assets are put back into government spending. 2 - A marginal tax rate of 90% after 3 million in a fiscal year, a tax on capital gains, and a tax of 40% of stock holdings totaling more than 4 million. 3 - The reintroduction of the civilian conservation corps. Infrastructure needs to be radically updated in order to transition to a green economy and shore up digital security. This means power grids, bridges, phone systems, roads, etc. National parks and wildlife require more attention as well. Young people can learn trades by enlisting for a term of service and be paid a very good wage in exchange. 4 - Finally, the elimination of PACS and a limit of no more than a $500 donation by individuals or public, private, non profit, or religious groups per candidate per election. Elections use so much money per cycle that it could fund universal health care or college for a large section of a decade.
If you guys are asking the question, the actuality has already begun. Bringing the discussion answers the question because this country has never been known for it's proactivity. We are always a day late and a dollar short. This has always been America!!!🔮👳🔮
In Brazil, medicine is distributed by the government for free or heavy subsidized. Insulin is free and if you want to buy those with easy needles, it cost $15,00 the cheapest to $30,00 for the entire month dosage. And Brazil has a terrible public healthcare system, but it is able to deliver better conditions than USA.
Part of your nation's problem is related to exactly the kind of thing you just said. It was effectively just flat out explained to you that the US is not the "greatest country," you seemingly are agreeing with the video, yet there you are calling the US the "greatest country," which makes no sense at all. Blind patriotism, and wilful ignorance will not improve your country one little bit, it will instead ensure nothing is done to improve your situation.
@@Someone--Else Maybe Joe read history books from Texas. Our CIA/government has been evil for a very long time. In fact we just stole a shipment of food destined for starving people in Venezuela. You know, because we're just that nice. (damn Abrams and Bolton)
It's the greatest-country mindset that has helped facilitate the corporate takeover of our government. It's made people complacent. How can we be the greatest if we're moving backwards?
The world outside Indonesia is scary place to be. So no more going abroad. Not even going out our family private lands the past years since 2019. USA was never been world's richest country but always been the real third world just as the rest of western world. World map is inaccurate since Mercator projection 1569. Real Indonesia is Huge as Russia But Much Richer. Indonesia is world's Richest country ;) Even USA has been messing up with our Gold, Uranium, etc. And we can't stay silent about it. Even our gas and oil only are much more than whole middle east! KARMA NEVER SLEEP USD has lost its power since World War 1. Western world was, is and will always be very poor. Real Rich will never colonize others the way they've been doing till now. Western world, middle east are very dumb they're very poor just as stupid Abrahamic, judaism/christianity/islam not native to Indonesia. Even cryptocurrency is really stupid. Fiat currency is fake money made of thin air and will always loose its power. Real Gold is Always Be The Real Money. Yet, it's really stupid to say Egypt is the oldest ancient civilization. After all in reality USA and whole western world are very poor. Thus not a complete multiracial not multilingual never been living around the world all alone since childhood are just the same never evolved dumb apes stuck inside your tiny boxes your entire life and not learning from the past to evolve better.
Yes, there are indicators.... 1) Massive disproportionate sharing of wealth among the poor, middle class and the 1% wealthy; 2) low percentage of people over 25yrs old with a college degree and even lower percentage of people with a masters or doctorate degree; 3) high percentage of Americans have massive debt (credit card, mortgage, student loan); 4) people living paycheck to paycheck with bank savings less than $1000; 5) in 2015, the US has the 5th lowest percentage of homeownership at 63.7% (in 2014 it was at 64.5%), below the average of 69.6% worldwide.
Since a democracy requires an informed and at least somewhat intelligent demos to actually work. The answer to the question how can you save your democracy is such:- You can't.
It is so sad to see that whatever I was afraid of when I was thinking about what will happen to America, when I was in my teens, now actually has happened. It truly has become a banana republic. :(
I think you hit the nail on the head. Our wealthy avoid taxes like it’s the plague, and our poor couldn’t avoid taxes even if they try. Let’s make America fair again because it’s always been great.
It never been great but scammers country. The world outside Indonesia is scary place to be. So no more going abroad. Not even going out our family private lands the past years since 2019. USA was never been world's richest country but always been the real third world just as the rest of western world. World map is inaccurate since Mercator projection 1569. Real Indonesia is Huge as Russia But Much Richer. Indonesia is world's Richest country ;) Even USA has been messing up with our Gold, Uranium, etc. And we can't stay silent about it. Even our gas and oil only are much more than whole middle east! KARMA NEVER SLEEP USD has lost its power since World War 1. Western world was, is and will always be very poor. Real Rich will never colonize others the way they've been doing till now. Western world, middle east are very dumb they're very poor just as stupid Abrahamic, judaism/christianity/islam not native to Indonesia. Even cryptocurrency is really stupid. Fiat currency is fake money made of thin air and will always loose its power. Real Gold is Always Be The Real Money. Yet, it's really stupid to say Egypt is the oldest ancient civilization. After all in reality USA and whole western world are very poor. Thus not a complete multiracial not multilingual never been living around the world all alone since childhood are just the same never evolved dumb apes stuck inside your tiny boxes your entire life and not learning from the past to evolve better.
@@AZOffRoadster I like her as well. Sanders and Warren has more experience and has been in the system long enough to see what's ahead and are still principled, and hopefully uncorrupted.
I have felt for 20 years now we have been moving towards a high percentage of our lower and working class already in the status of third world survivlal. In our hierarchal world we have a larger than normal amount living at the lowest level of the pyrimid of shelter, food and safety. None will be able to find self actualization, or the ability to thrive, even at a decent level of life. Self sacrifice will not soon even be enough. Most of the middle class born children of our modern society have no chance at home ownership, secure jobs with health and retirement benefits. Even the hardest working citizens without a college education or ability to handle a 60 hour work week will never see true retirement or even a savings account. ( America's perpensity to save money beyond a single week is practically gone.) One health emergency is banckrupting many Americans. Having seen third world Mexico, China, India and America, up close and personal, I close my eyes and open them... in any of these countries, and see no difference in the starving, mentally ill or disabled people with no future. From it rises despair, anger, hopelessness and crime. I also see their government and top class citizens with more money than they can spend in 1000 lifetimes. I also read of their crimes; their embezzling, bribing, cheating, laundering, tax fraud and governments being paid/lobbied to pass legislation to continue these ways of stealing from the people. What I see is the tip of an ominous iceberg floating unseen and exponetially faster then predicted. The leader of all these countries and governments continue to crush the foundations of the working classes. We should take lessons from recent uniting of Puerto Rico and Hong Kong's population. Only the starving and oppressed have the guts to put so much pressure on their leaders until changes are made not promised. Americans are not hungry or poor enough yet to really get up and demand their rights for change.
I have been waiting for 35 years for some money to trickle down. Laffer curve was written on toilet paper. Should have been used for what it was designed for.
We are definitely declining! Our food supply is taking a hit along with so many other areas of our country. The politicians are literally licking their fingers off with our tax dollars, sugared and delicious, finally asking, "do you want a bite?" You say, "yes." They say, "sorry we at it all!!" Where is OUR MONEY going? Why are our people gaining in poverty rather than prosperity?
evolutionx777 Well, America always had issues with social and economic reforms. You know... the Red Menace and Civil Rights? Nonetheless, if we look past all this, then yes, ideologically speaking improving US as described in the video would be the most American thing to do.
as a mexican, yup, honestly back in the 2000's I had a different view about the US, now, yeah still the most powerful but the US does resemble a third world country in many ways, welcome to the club
In Australia over the last two years there have been numerous references in media to the United States of America as being a 'failing state' and 'crumbling society'. At times these comments have been made in a semi-humourous manner, though more recently the comments have been made with deadly seriousness. A lot of us shiver when thinking about how 'challenging' it must be for the average person born in America, to survive in such an unfair and uncaring system such as the one described by Robert.
@@truthaboveall7988 sadly we walk in mindless lock step with the US in regard to foreign policy. Socially, we remain separate and completely different societies.
Yep, the US has been a third world country since about 2000. I'm a small businessperson. I pay over 50 percent of what I take in in taxes and fees. Yet, big companies play states against each other to get tax breaks, and most, like Amazon, don't pay any taxes at all. Corporations get economies of scale breaks for health care costs that I don't get. And, for most people, the American healthcare system is on par with the spithole countries Fuhrer Trump had talked about. Our Congress is currently fighting over a fifteen dollar minimum. Just try to get by on three times that in any American city, you can't. Yet, the federal minimum wage is seven dollars and change. That means, you can work full time, not afford to see the doctor, and barely afford to pay for the gas for the used Yugo that you are living in.
@@Pomiferous A good education should always begin at home. Every parent should take an active role in their child's education, reinforcing that taught at school, while also educating through practical applications of that knowledge in everyday real world experience . Of course generations of ill informed and previously poorly educated forefathers tends toward a Catch 22 situation.
Of course your gonna have racial tensions with so many different races trying to live together. Politicians aren't creating the racial tension they're reacting to it which of course makes it worse but it's always gonna happen. And as far as inequality that's what's gonna happen when you import millions of workers every year to drive working class wages down.
Another excellent video. We need to outlaw the use of repatriated corporate profits to fund stock buybacks. We need to outlaw short-selling, hedging and shady derivatives trading. The tax system needs to be overhauled to eliminate corporate loopholes that benefit the rich. For starters. And we need to elect you, Robert Reich, president!
The problem is that people who make sense, people who have a plan, people who know what they're talking about won't get elected. In the USA even a TV comedian has a better chance. Oprah would have a better chance than Bernie. And Dr Phil would be the Minister for Health over anybody with a clue.
All these churches need to start paying taxes, especially the mega churches. And the preachers need to be taxed on their own incomes like any working person.
I'd like to add a few points. First anyone who has any doubts concerning the statement that the rich have near total say as to what goes on in the USA might want to consider that while more than 90% of Americans favor national health care, stricter firearms regulations, and...drum roll please...lower prescription drug prices nothing has happened despite years of attempts! Second while the fact that America has more prisoners in prisons than China is more than cause for concern given China's reputation it is simply mind boggling when one considers that China's population is 1.386 billion people while the US is only 327.2 million. Do the math in terms of percentage comparison... The question is not whether we are becoming a third world nation, the question is how long do we have before third world nations start feeling sorry for us?
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Excellent video as always. Could you do an analysis on automation as it's been wielded by corporations thus far, and how we might mitigate its worst effects on society?
Love your videos. Can you do a video explaining about developing stage..? It seem at developing stage, country able to do a lot of infrastructure projects & labor works beacuse of cheaper and younger workforce, then their offsprings are able to go to college etc.. but the US passed that stage.. and stuck at “developed” stage.. I was hoping we have some break though that we can afford big impressive infrastructure projects and have good income for labors. I can’t see how to balance that. ( how to compete with China? FYI they ban labor unions there and running a totalitarian regime..)
I love all your videos...can you PLEASE interview Andrew Yang...i would be very interested in that interview. 2 people that understand the economics and I really would be interested in your opinion on his policies
@@glaekent3845 The Democrats today are quite different from the Democrats in the 1960s and I think you know that. In the 1960s the longest-serving popularly elected Senator in North Carolina's history, a Republican, Jessie Helms, one of the leaders of the conservative movement in America, was a Democrat. The Democratic Party of the 1960s -- Malcolm X was killed in 1965 -- would not have put into office America's first Black president.
I think you also know there are no Gulags in Norway or Sweden or Denmark or Canada etc. That was primarily Russian, which was a dictatorship and not really socialist, in spite of their name, and it became a Communist country through violent revolution, not through the ballot box.
Finally, I think you also know that the "Socialism" of progressive Democrats and Dr. Reich is more akin to the Democratic Socialism of our northern neighbor and Scandinavia and other parts of Europe than the "Socialism" of Soviet Russia or Venezuela or China. American 21st century Socialism truly is just an extension of FDR's New Deal, that brought us things like Social Security and Medicare.
Robert, I think people need to be reminded of the history of the Statue of liberty since this recently made the news.
Yes it is, and the overall refusal of this country to be introspective about its flaws is what is doing America in.
One of the reasons that the US is deteriorating if because of the idea of "American exceptionalism". The belief that America is the "greatest" country (yes, many others think theirs is the greatest) tends to allow people to think "no matter how bad it gets, we are still better than all the rest". In quality of life studies, the US does not get very high marks, maybe, somewhat, because of these beliefs.
I quite agree, and have been saying that's been a problem for many Americans for a long time, especially in relation to all the "this is not us" type comments people have been making about racism in America since Trump. Then right here in these comments, for this video, someone still was trying to call the US the "greatest country," while at the same time apparently agreeing with what was said in the video, which makes zero sense.
@@Someone--Else I believe that America has the greatest potential of any nation but that potential is being hopelessly squandered in a way that just makes me sad.
Why can't we address the real elephant in the room? With all of our intelligence, no one seems to understand that every system has limits and yet we still seem to think that unlimited wealth accumulation is just fine! All you need is basic math skills to understand how dangerous the notion of unlimited wealth is . . . and the source of the danger is compounded interest. Take the nice round number of $30 trillion currently owned by the 1% now and apply a conservative interest rate of 5%, that $30 trillion doubles to $60 trillion in 14.4 years. In 30 years it will be $120 trillion and in 45 years the total will be $240 trillion. At 45 years out, where exactly is that $210 trillion in earned interest supposed to come from?
Add to this situation that the wealthy are not investing in the real economy, they are getting their interest payments out of the financialized economy . . . which means they are taking it from us and looting the U.S. Treasury to achieve their rate of returns.
The wealthy have been and continue to loot the wealth of all nations. Right now 17 international wealth funds are holding $50 trillion in "investment" capital, in 45 years that sum will be $400 trillion dollars. Where is all that money in interest payments going to come from?
Look, it is simple common sense to place limits on systems. Do you have a pressure pot without a steam release valve? No, that would be stupid. Can your car engine achieve unlimited power? No, that would lead to catastrophic engine failure. There is example after example in the natural world and with virtually every human construction that there are limits beyond which disaster is the imminent result. The same is true with wealth accumulation. I don't know how people can reckon that unlimited wealth accumulation is a natural outgrowth of capitalism . . . yeah, it is if you want economic collapse as the intended outcome. Get real folks, we can never achieve even modest political goals or societal stabilization if we are unwilling to place limits on wealth accumulation. Besides, after a certain point . . . it is pointless to keep accumulating more than a person or their family could spend in 1000 lifetimes.
@@GoldStorm07 Potential is infinite, and exists in anything, so saying something is good, because it has potential, isn't a functional argument, especially when it consistently fails to live up to it's potential, and even seems to actively take a piss on it, as America has been doing for at least decades what with its steady embracing of greed above all else.
Those who make peaceful reform impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.
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Frederic Bastiat People who make unrelated comments that don’t even make sense are also retarded.
See how fun it is when we just say random shit?
@Dominique Roydor The Civil War.
I hope it does not get there look at HK!?
Check out Beau of the Fifth Column.
Homelessness, drug addiction, and an overabundance of guns sounds 3rd worldish too
I'd wager drug addiction is more of a cause than a symptom.
Actually in third world countries there is no much guns, they are expensive and illegal.
@@filipelimartins you clearly haven't been to a third world country
@@marshalljulie3676 I'm from a third world country lol
@A G Brazil
When about half of the annual budget goes to the military, yep, you might be a third world country.
James Quimby So 600 billion is half of 27 trillion? Yeah makes sense.
eduardo cespedes If you think our ANNUAL budget is 27 trillion dollars you must be on meth.
It's actually over half
Look at the US national debt interest obligations they are pretty expensive.
In 2016 military spending was about 16% of the budget.
Becoming? From where I sit in Norway I've seen the US become that for a decade, maybe as far back as the election that Gore won, but lost to a third world country system.
God Bless America • True.
Sherlock Holmes, you're strengthening the ''I'm a liberal I am smarter than everybody else'' stereotype.
@Sean Baca You've been owned for 3 weeks straight, it's getting quite painful to watch you squirm, or maybe it's just the acid and sleep deprivation that's making me soft. But seriously, you're obviously going to keep getting owned, just move on for your own sake.
@Sean Baca You don't even know yourself, how could you possibly understand how badly you've lost?
@Sean Baca That doesn't mean anything, you're still a loser in life. You're one of those that think you know how the universe works because you have money I assume? I'm one of those that have learned the greatest currency is knowledge, and I can't seem to detect much in you. I'm content living in the forest, no indoor water, no money, no worries, but I have a nice car though, can't live up here without Quattro. Hard work, wild animals all around, fresh air, complete freedom in the land of Vikings. I've won in life, in a game you never knew you were playing in. Now go play with your worthless money, and I'll go play with my intellect.
I lived in Europe for decades. Most European professionals, doctors, teachers, and etc consider the USA a third world country.
Singapore and a lot of other Asian cities are opulent, new buildings, new infrastructure, intelligent people they are a 1st world power, we have denigrated ourselves and become a third world country. Those at the top got us here so they could become more rich and yet they don't pay their fair share of taxes and the middle class keeps on getting beat down until the middle class is no more and it's just the rich and the poor and we would have become a feudal society.
Teacher is a profesional job!?
@@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770 Sorry, I thought it was?
@@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770 Teaching is indeed a professional job.
@J Donovan Try and be polite please. @wilmar han is right, I am Dutch and am in frequent contact with medical professionals. They wouldn't go and work in the US if you paid them double, for various obvious reasons.
The Roman empire fell, and they were huge! I guess no one learned from them!
Yeah but Rome was a city, isn't America a country?
@@PimpolloSogal 👏👏👏 Yes Rome is a city, you are correct. But the Roman empire territory was bigger than the united states 🤔
@@larryvanbarriger6670 That's an interesting take you made. Yeah... But still... Spain was part of the Roman Empire, then?
Decadence is the final phase, this is the final phase.
it is a 3rd world country, let's not even try to deny it anymore. With poverty reaching over 50% of the American population, we're masquerading around pretending we're the top shit, but in truth, many other countries have long since surpassed us in terms of social programs, healthcare, infrastructure, science, education, etc. Go to China, Singapore, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and many others, and it's such a stark contrast, seeing how much more grand and advanced these countries are to the US.
And European countries
Right! Look at all the homeless!!!
A person in Uganda stands a better chance of entering the middle class than the USA.
tonerduckpin ye but middle class in uganda is poor in america.
@@CocoAngelGT you are WRONG my friend. currency is not used..quality of life calculated by purchasing power.Read some economy.and poor in usa? they live in streets.but to be honest i dont know nothing about uganda mid class.
lmao are you serous ? i had nothing a few short years ago because i wanted to act like a kid and party now im banking and i didnt even try... if you dont thrive in america your a fool ... is uganda creating endless companies ?? utube , FB, apple, google all american.. ughanda steals our technology... we have the number 1 military... the american dollar has value in ughanda your money is as useless as toilet paper.. i can keep going
22 dollars!! I wish! Most of the people around me get from 9- 15 average
that's cause the top 1% skew the average... it's awful.. deaths of despair are rising.. middle and lower class committing suicide or dying from opioids people falling into despair
I earn more in an hour. .. Not to brag, not to boast. But you need to revolt citizens of America!
@@erikeggenbakstad there's a documentary called "Deaths of Despair" if youre interested... Talls about explosion of opioid overdose deaths and rise of suicides among middle and lower class Americans. my area got hit pretty hard by opioids..
I live in Illinois where our minimum wage is $10 an hour definitely not a living wage to live alone
"average" is a very bad statistical value for that. Me and Jeff Bezos have an average wealth of about 95 billion dollars. "median" would be better.
FYI under Eisenhower the top earners were taxed at 90%. And that period was considered the “Golden Age of capitalism”.
They were taxed at 90% of their adjusted income. In practice, that meant much lower than a 'true' 90%. There were countless loopholes that the truly rich could use to evade taxes (such as exploration credits... hey, everybody in hollywood owned an oil well in those days). I'm not arguing that the rich shouldn't be taxed more... I'm just saying that most use that money to find ways (legal or not) to avoid paying their due taxes.
Step one should be finding a way to make everyone pay the actual tax they owe... then we can adjust rates as needed to ensure that everyone pays their fair share. Raising the top rate to 90% will do no good when no-one making over $150k a year pays what they owe anyway.
ShmuelWeintraub Yeah I should know, my dad was a CPA. I remember one time he got a client out of 600K+. I mean I can understand weaseling out of it when it’s wasted on wars & admin or other forms of bloat. So we need to get straight with that & the corruption. Demand transparency & rebrand taxation as a nice alternative to social anarchy. The thing about rich people, as Mark Cuban pointed out, they will probably move if they don’t agree with the tax rate.
@@originallimu : Sadly, Cuban is right. Though there are ways to amend the tax code such that non residents who earn income from business or other activities within the US still have to pay US tax. So long as tax havens who's economies exist solely to cater to the millionaire (and above) class, it will take some courageous - and unpopular in some quarters - actions to bring this problem under control.
Bush tax cuts were never guaranteed to be permanent....Yet people cry "socialism" and "treason" whenever Obama or anyone else proposed to roll them back. Such fucking entitlement, I swear.
Who would give up 90% of his income? You are very naive if you think the richest people are so dumb.
Robert got to it. People need to realize, low wages aren't about pay. They're about control
The Great American Dream is just that...a dream. (George Carlin)
Just about every major achievement starts with a dream. Once upon a time, American independence from Britain and freeing the slaves of America's South also seemed like impossible dreams--but they came true.
"The American Dream............ because you have to be asleep to believe it."
The American Dream is exactly what is happening. Everyone was told as long as you work hard enough, are shrewd enough, and do whatever it takes you will get rich and powerful, you can achieve your dreams. Which is extremely intoxicating to the poor and exploited. But that's the rub: They already are exploited by a system that does so to empower itself. So immigrants are welcomed in and told the lie, only to be exploited. The poor and middle class are told the lie, only to be exploited. Yet they all turn a blind eye and are divided because its a self perpetuating lie, because they can point at each other and say your only exploited because your lazy, stupid, and are not willing to take advantage of others. The only thing that can change this cycle is to shatter the lie of the "American Dream". The exploited must come together as a whole, and recognize that only by working together and bringing everyone up, improving the life of everyone (specially the lowest and poorest) is what will break the cycle. And if those in power fight it, the banded together masses will have the strength of unity to force a change. Violently if needed. As is happening in other countries. The biggest difference in the US is that it does not have hundreds, if not thousands of years of social bedrock and culture to unify its populace.
@@robinlillian9471 no they didn't
The postmodernists have an entirely different set of dreams.America is from the forefront in them.
Becoming? No. Has much of America been a Third World nation for a long time? Yes.
@Stewie Griffen You don't get out much.
@Stewie Griffen Run along, troll. You bore me.
That sounds like Argentina to me
ah yes ore people believing the greatest country to ever exist is third world
@@holyboi2601 which country?
Parts of America already are like a 3rd world country. From the skid rows of LA, to the neighborhoods of Detroit, to medical camps in the south.
Crumbling infrastructure, no education, no healthcare, no drinking water, extreme inequality, homelessness, large prison population and violent crime.
From small towns to inner-city slums America is full of places and situations that would be a rarity in other 1st world countries, if they existed at all.
@jonny s Detroit was not always like this, student debt was not always like this, healthcare was not always like this, the prison population was not always like this, the amount of homeless vets was not always like this, the gun violence was not always like this. And the things that were always like this aren't like this anymore in much of the 1st world, where they have parental leave, practically no one goes bankrupt because of medical expenses, teen pregnancy is not a common issue, and teachers don't rely on donations for basic supplies.
@jonny s I don't know what to tell you except there's plenty of stats that prove you wrong and as someone who grew up in an actual first world country (Slovenia) we don't have those issues here and neither does most of Europe, certainly not to this degree.
@jonny s It's a developed western democracy that's #8 on the global peace index, #25 on the human development index, #13 on the education index and has one of the lowest poverty rates on the planet. Additionally we're part of the EU and NATO. Our train infrastructure could use some work, but other than that we're textbook first world. Now either your knowledge of geography sucks and you're too lazy too spend five minutes Googling or you're trolling, in which case it's a really weak boring attempt - I r8 2/8.
@jonny s The fact that some Slovenians work and live abroad firstly has nothing to do with the actual topic of socio-economic issues in the US, secondly I could just as easily point out how many Americans come to study and live here because higher education is basically free, nobody's going bankrupt from medical bills, and violent crime is some of the lowest on the planet. Let me know when you have an actual argument and preferably some stats, because just disagreeing won't cut it, guy 🙄
If I remember the US hasn’t signed or ratified the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights... so yeah
They have. They haven't ratified the Rights of the Child tho
Why would you sign anything on human rights from an organization that has granted "consultancy status" to a group pushing for legalized pedophilia ? The group is I.G.L.A. in case you think I made this up.
@Daphne Van Zant I mean it's not, you just don't realize all the work it does in the background. Which is how all governments should run tbh.
Hey I live in a 3rd world country Thailand . I have seen maybe 3 homeless in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. I am Hawaii and we have tent cities of homeless. Really paradise.
🇺🇸 is the 4th world
dont lie i see hundreds of homless people every day in 3rd world countries
You can add to those six areas several indicators of quality of life, for which the USA also resembles a developing nation, such as high infant and maternal mortality, declining life expectancy, likelihood of dying in a violent manner, etc.
Kathy B wow your right we have all these
As a canadain looking in. Yaaaaaa it's kinda is. I'm sorry to say it tho. You're still our best trading partner eh
Vote Bernie in the primary and general!
I hope he then appoints Reich to a cabinet position!
yarnpower so do I!
Why didn’t Obama appoint him to a cabinet position? No one is more qualified than Professor Reich. The changes needed if we are to improve our country are voting in people who adhere to those policies. Please vote for all Democrats in 2020. Our democracy depends on it. We must vote in huge numbers to outpace voter suppression, gerrymandering, and Russian interference. These are dire times!
Robert Reich was Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton and was on Obama's transition team. He has had quite the career already, but could still do more.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Reich
@@dellerwin1 Because the bankers who selected Obama's cabinet didn't want him.
My son always reminds me what I said some years ago when landing at SFO returning from Norway: "I feel like I am returning to a third world country."
I don’t even mind if we have a moderate conservative as long as they play by the rules and know a shred of economics
Dear Bob: That ship has already sailed. We ARE a third-world country. And on our way to banana republic.
Bingo
Don’t forget poor infrastructure!
Tony Lohi Oh, that’s because having some bureaucracy and organization is apparently socialist. The only thing organized are city blocks.
Tony Lohi I don’t thinks it’s socialist, I was being sarcastic.
Tony Lohi I’m so sorry to hear your home town isn’t as nice as it used to be.
Also, as a fan of infrastructure, what you just described sounds amazing.
I dream that one day in my lifetime The US Congress will have term limits. Washington is self-service currently. Also, how does one keep dark money out of politics?
Publicly funded elections. Every person voting has a certain amount they can spend and it is from public coffers. That amount is the maximum eg. $250/person every election cycle. It may be split how the voter sees fit.
@Frederic Bastiat Don't stoop to ad hominems right out the gate, you appear angry and dimwitted. I was talking about individual contributions, not political advertisements. Read my reply again after you've regained your composure and you'll see your reply makes no sense. Have a good one
@Frederic Bastiat I know you'd like to think they're very limited but there are any number of loopholes. Citizens United was a bullshit ruling that was in favor of corporate contributions, not individuals. I don't know why you seem to favor big money involved in politics but unless you're a Walton or a Koch or Adelson it doesn't benefit you. So go ahead and keep calling me stupid, your argument is weak and so are you. Citizens United was to benefit the wealthy, not you. Go the fuck away now
Publicly financed elections, NO private contributions over 100 dollars per citizen. 1 month election cycle, no campaigning except for 1 month before the election. Election day is a paid holiday, but you have to pay a fine if you don't vote. Democracy is NOT a spectator sport, sorry to preach, but people not paying attention, and taking all the benefits for granted is what's landed us here. Inform yourselves, it doesn't take much to read up on your local and national issues. Less Sports, more Civics!!!
@Frederic Bastiat I'm so damn tired of this conversation. Why aren't you harassing any of these other people who agree with me? You realize that the news outlets you keep mentioning get their marching orders directly from the government, right? Since the Smith-Mundt Act was repealed in 2012 the major media conglomerates either have their pieces written for them by the government or have the government proofread them to pass muster, so to speak. And no, I do not think I should be able to use my clout as a business owner or hedge fund manager or media mogul to sway elections. What is the point in holding elections and trying to tell everyone to vote when everyone knows the wealthy own the system? Seems rather unconstitutional if you ask me. But, let me guess, you think that if someone is wealthy they are more capable of running the show. That's why the US is constantly in debt and at war, because the wealthy make such terrific choices. Now kindly move along if all you have are hypotheticals.
2020 Democratic Slogan: Make America American Again
It already is
Becoming? You could remove that word from the question, and the answer would still be "yes."
Put that in your pipe and smoke it Fox News !!!
America is far from becoming a third world country. America simply needs to have a more fair and balanced marketplace.
"becoming" ?
I think I've lost faith. We have attained 3rd world banana republic status and have no hope of change. We need a massive revolution with a take down of the oligarchy to survive.
We need a massive labor movement worldwide. We should start it in the US and the EU, and spread it from there. Unless we in the 99% stand up soon, we'll be unable to do so.
rvtrcr Yes, because anytime the 99% get anything, it is terrible. Also, Stalin was a totalitarian dictator who had no intention of improving the lives of the majority of people in Russia. You're either a liar, or have fallen prey to American propaganda which conflates Stalinism with Democratic Socialism.
@Stewie Griffen Not yet. Unfettered capitalism has been working intensely for forty years to turn the US into a third world country (cheap labor and no environmental or labor regulations), and it is succeeding. Unfortunately, GOP supporters and American libertarians love capitalism more than they love America, so they will continue to vote for politicians who are undoing our country. Democrats who espouse neoliberalism aren't much better than GOP and American libertarian politicians, but there are a few exceptions in the Democratic party.
Why cant you run for President? We would stand a better chance of winningbin 2020!
We already have Bernie Sanders running as the uncorrupted, fearless candidate that is NOT AFRAID TO TAKE ON OUR CORPORATE OVERLORDS (along with Elizabeth Warren-although she's weak on standing up against the military-industrial complex)!
I know he sounds like on campaign anyhow !
Besides President there are numerous other positions in desperate need of much more competent persons than are holding them today.
No Bernie wins then puts Reich in charge of the money.
@@Ultimime That's what I meant
I wrote a research paper on this very thing 25 years ago; got an A but my fellow students didn't believe my research and disbelieved my findings that this is where America was heading.
I've been saying this for years. It's not exactly news.
America has been a 3rd world country since the 1980’s
I would say more like just the last decade when our economy crashed and nobody did anything about it.
帥哥 Nah it’s a 1st world
thats funny your on Utube an american created company.. sure wasnt created in your country... why do you use all our technology and social media like FB ?? we have number 1 military and stock market everyone invests in... lol NOT YOURS.. i can keeo going your just a hater
Since the 1950 s to be fair since they turned all the schools into shitholes by forced bussing I could go on America lost its way a long time ago
Sure has.
The color of true power and privilege is GREEN.
Ever since living in South America years ago during the Great Recession I was telling people that the U.S. was only a stone's throw from reverting to a developing nation. It seems more inevitable than ever with our current political state of affairs. Corporate fascists are running the show and marginalizing the great majority in the process. We are a failing state.
The world outside Indonesia is scary place to be.
So no more going abroad. Not even going out our family private lands the past years since 2019.
USA was never been world's richest country but always been the real third world just as the rest of western world.
World map is inaccurate since Mercator projection 1569.
Real Indonesia is Huge as Russia But Much Richer.
Indonesia is world's Richest country ;)
Even USA has been messing up with our Gold, Uranium, etc. And we can't stay silent about it.
Even our gas and oil only are much more than whole middle east!
KARMA NEVER SLEEP
USD has lost its power since World War 1.
Western world was, is and will always be very poor.
Real Rich will never colonize others the way they've been doing till now.
Western world, middle east are very dumb they're very poor just as stupid Abrahamic, judaism/christianity/islam not native to Indonesia.
Even cryptocurrency is really stupid.
Fiat currency is fake money made of thin air and will always loose its power.
Real Gold is Always Be The Real Money.
Yet, it's really stupid to say Egypt is the oldest ancient civilization.
After all in reality USA and whole western world are very poor.
Thus not a complete multiracial not multilingual never been living around the world all alone since childhood are just the same never evolved dumb apes stuck inside your tiny boxes your entire life and not learning from the past to evolve better.
Thank you Robert again 😊❤️.. Yes we have been a 3rd world country for the last 50+ years. We need to form a Voters Union party that will sort this out. I'm a dreamer I know
If they make me President I'm hiring you. Thanks Robert.
Robert Reich, I love your videos and I think you would make a great president. You have so much common sense.
Clearly having common sense isn't a qualification for holding a government office.
A smart president would hire Robert Reich to be his economic adviser. But, I think Robert worked in Obama's administration. Obama was a smart president.
Jacob Kornbluth Press Secretary!
Yes Robert would be a fantastic president!!! Got my vote!
PS - We’ve been living in the Corporate Fourth Reich since 11/8/2016.
Soon we will have Vladestein as Russia and China achieves total control of the world as the US dies...
:/
2:45 Do not be a pessimist, yes you can, yes you can : YOU CAN LOSE FAITH.
ive been saying so since don the con got into power, but in reality, the US was heading there anyway.
all you have to do is look at the infrastructure: poor roads, unsafe bridges, lead in city water, electrical grid failing, city blight.
Corrupt government. Useless law enforcement etc.
The first step has GOT to be caps on campaign donations. In order to run for office, almost every politician has to get in bed with big business. It's the only way to compete. Other countries have caps to reduce the required amount of money, so that politicians aren't required to, well... Big campaign donations end up functioning in the exact same ways as bribes. Legal bribes. That come with obligations.
Most other countries limit campaigning to 6-8 weeks prior to an election. Currently campaigning, at least on the republican side, is from the end of one election to the end of the next! They're counting on people getting so sick of politics that they don't votr.
Yes, many places in the US are becoming more and more like the third world. Added to inflation and inequality
Taxation without representation, sound familiar, last time this happened a revolutionary war started.
The top 20% pay 87% of the Federal Taxes.
Tim Marshall Tim you are a very misinformed idiot, please stay that way, we need idiots in all society, so thank you.
@@jesuschristpose896 seems like an adolescent response; not sure that is a good way to make converts.
@@timmarshall7292 False in every way. :Last Tax cuts put more wealth into the hands of the rich. And you just have to look at corporations like Amazon who paid NO Taxes last year. Please do some research because you comment is blatantly false.
@@BatMan-oe2gh MAY 3, 2018 12:21PM
Average Tax Rates by Income Group
By CHRIS EDWARDS
SHARE
For months, news articles and commentaries have decried the supposedly huge tax cuts for the rich passed by Republicans in December. In a classic rhetorical formulation, a New York Times editorial in February said, “Republicans designed the law to principally benefit wealthy families while offering crumbs to low-income and middle class families.”
Actually, the largest relative tax cuts went to the middle class, as I discuss here. But perhaps some people have fixed views on the tax cut, and can’t imagine the Republicans doing anything other than favors for plutocrats.
So let’s try a different angle and look at overall burdens under the GOP tax law, which went into effect January 1. The official tax scorekeeper, the Joint Committee on Taxation, recently publishedestimates of average income tax rates by income group for 2018, which are presented in the table below. The tax rates are income taxes paid divided by total income within each group.
Tax rates rise rapidly as income rises above $50,000 a year. The $1 million and over group pays a 10 times higher share (26.3 percent) of their income to taxes than does the middle $50,000 to $75,000 group (2.4 percent).
In aggregate, households with incomes of less than $50,000 do not pay any federal income taxes. Instead, they receive large subsidies from the U.S. Treasury in the form of refundable tax credits. Those subsidies to low earners are expected to jump from $83 billion a year before the tax law to $99 billion after the tax law (page 48).
how can you have "fath" in your country, when its has Always caused so much blood?
@Dominique Roydor most people never use the i when they say faith so why type the i.
@Steadfast Survivor you are the kind of person who have to put people down to feel better about yourself.
The main problem here is that these corrupt practices is becoming a norm in American society. Instead of people doing something about it they rather think how can they climb up the ladder & do the exact corrupt things for personal benefits.
One of the reasons we are heading down this hole is because we have an unhealthy attitude about wealth. We seem to feel that the wealthy are wealthy because they are better people and the poor are poor because they are somehow flawed. We need to reverse that trend and see that people that have less are not LESSER people. We need to level the field!
That thinking comes from John Calvin, and the evangelicals are Calvinists, who said that the rich are blessed of God and the only ones qualified to run the country. That is a long way from its harder for a rich man to get into heaven than for a rope (not a camel) to get through the eye of a needle. He also gave us the poor are bums who need to work, and extreme individualism which destroyed any sense of the common welfare of all. Jesus and Paul were all about community. Jesus would not be able to wrap his head around our American idea of individualism and selfishness before community. Actually, he would not understand how American Christianity has perverted his teachings for power when he was totally against the idea.
@@garytorresani8846 Amen!
Warren/Sanders 2020
Only if you mean Earl Warren and Col Sanders. Oh wait, they're both dead. Not that it ever stopped Democrats from voting for dead people
Sanders 2.0 GRANNY WARREN is annoying as hell !
@earth ocean
Gabbard*is garbage, she's an apologist for fascist scumbags like Assad and Modi...
Warren/Sanders 2020
@@gorillaguerillaDK Just lame Republican and corporate media talking points. Do some research.
@@AZOffRoadster
I've done the research!
Do you claim she hasn't been apologetic about Assad, and even supportive of the Modi regime?
Assad need to go, (preferably to stand trial at the ICC).
There can be no support of the proto-fascistic Modi in India!
And Russia is NOT our friends!
We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of our great democracy and our country's ideals, it was a good concept but it may end in 2020, if Trump gets reelected. R.I.P. America ☮💟🇺🇸
🎯💯💯💯
Get registered and vote blue no matter who! This IS OUR LAST HOPE FOR DEMOCRACY. If the asswipe gets reelected we will no longer be.
Gregory Holmes. USA democracy died in November 1963 when rough parts of the government assassinated JFK. Americans have lived 50 years without raise in pay while the 1% got filthy rich.
Almost half of the voters wanted yet an other representative of the 1% running the country. We know how that turned out and still they are happy and sure will vote for the same lieing wannabe dictator.
I would say that things really started to go downhill when Reagan was elected. Things have been getting progressively worse since.
@@rocky5152 'Blue no matter who' is what gave us Trump. Just having a D by their name does not mean they'll be better than Trump's policies. I do agree about getting registered, and checking occasionally that you're still registered and in the correct party. Our election system is definitely 3rd world.
This confirmed my thoughts.
For your information, third world countries mean the countries who were neither on the sides of allies or axis powers during WW2 , not the poor , underdeveloped countries.
What do you mean becoming? It already is.
@God Bless America it really is even my dad notices it
@God Bless America i been to 🇲🇽 belive me we are already in that status here in california theres homeless people live paycheck to paycheck
@God Bless America i belive republicans can
But im gona be honest with you
The money is loosing purchasing power
@God Bless America it doesnt matter what party wins this year or what
Party runs each state i only see a decline in the standard of living of evryday people
America is not third world
California is the exact definition of third world
FFS, why is Robert Reich not working together with Bernie Sanders yet? These 2 have basically the exact same goals and ambitions for the US.
Robert Reich doesn't have to be directly working for Bernie to be effective. There is all sorts of work to do.
Reich worked in the Carter and Clinton Administrations. He also served in some capacity in the Obama administration (as did Joseph Stiglitz). The problem is not that people with good ideas can't get into positions of power... it's that they don't seem to be able to effect real change when they are there.
America is not short of ideas on how to fix itself. What it lacks is the ability to get those ideas into law thanks to the moneyed interests who keep trying to make America as great as it was in the robber baron era (which, arguably, we are close to being back to).
If we can't break the hold moneyed interests (of all origins foreign and domestic) have over our political system, no amount of wonderful ideas will help. It is not an accident that this country is as broken as it is. It is the result of 4-5 decades of deliberate strategy on the part of those who are now greatly benefitting from that breakage.
@PrivatePropertyIsTheft I do not know enough about Tulsi Gabbard to know if that is a good idea or not. The few things I have heard about her have all been great things, so in my opinion, she would be a good second or third option to Bernie Sanders. Why do I still believe Bernie Sanders is the way to go? Because he has been arguing for equality amongst all people since he was first elected. And that was so long ago I have no idea how long ago that was. My point is, Bernie Sanders has been a consistent advocate for the bottom 90% his entire career and therefore can be trusted to fight for exactly what he is promising to fight for when elected.
I'm shocked purchasing power has stayed the same since 1964
@Darlene Sjostromaverage wages indexed for inflation is about same as 1964
I think wages will stay low since there is always a person willing to work for it. Why would it change? If a owner found a person willing to work hard everyday and the owner made $25 for every hour billed vs $10 why would it get better for the employee. It starts at the low skilled jobs. Every job can be hard and difficult. Always want more. These companies will adapt. If they can't screw them. If they automate they'll need technicians.
I've been saying this for years now. It's great to finally hear this from someone else. I just hope it's not too late to change.
It's tooooo late ! !
California is third world
The rest of the US is not
The USA is so Twentieth Century. It's been a vortex of idiocy and complacency for decades. It starts at the top. How can the US expect to compete with the big international players with a truly broken and nonfunctional political system?
And people still say that the us is the best country lol
"Third-world country" just refers to any nation unaffiliated with either the Soviet Union or the United States. While these are interesting and significant topics to discuss. The terminology is incorrect and misleading.
A few points that I think are required to rebalance the US economy and political system:
1 - A 95% inheritance tax on property, cash assets, and stock options after an individual inherits 50 million. This means that a large estate can theoretically be divided out quite a bit, but no individual person needs more than 50 million to be set for life and the lives of their children. All taxed assets are put back into government spending.
2 - A marginal tax rate of 90% after 3 million in a fiscal year, a tax on capital gains, and a tax of 40% of stock holdings totaling more than 4 million.
3 - The reintroduction of the civilian conservation corps. Infrastructure needs to be radically updated in order to transition to a green economy and shore up digital security. This means power grids, bridges, phone systems, roads, etc. National parks and wildlife require more attention as well. Young people can learn trades by enlisting for a term of service and be paid a very good wage in exchange.
4 - Finally, the elimination of PACS and a limit of no more than a $500 donation by individuals or public, private, non profit, or religious groups per candidate per election. Elections use so much money per cycle that it could fund universal health care or college for a large section of a decade.
YES. America's inequality is exactly like that of a banana republic. Funny how Bob said that just as I was writing this comment!
If you guys are asking the question, the actuality has already begun. Bringing the discussion answers the question because this country has never been known for it's proactivity. We are always a day late and a dollar short. This has always been America!!!🔮👳🔮
Yes! And it's by choice. That's how stupid we are.
In Brazil, medicine is distributed by the government for free or heavy subsidized. Insulin is free and if you want to buy those with easy needles, it cost $15,00 the cheapest to $30,00 for the entire month dosage. And Brazil has a terrible public healthcare system, but it is able to deliver better conditions than USA.
It’s sad that this seems to be happening in our Greatest Country!
Well put and explained Mr Robert Reich 👍
Part of your nation's problem is related to exactly the kind of thing you just said. It was effectively just flat out explained to you that the US is not the "greatest country," you seemingly are agreeing with the video, yet there you are calling the US the "greatest country," which makes no sense at all. Blind patriotism, and wilful ignorance will not improve your country one little bit, it will instead ensure nothing is done to improve your situation.
@@Someone--Else Maybe Joe read history books from Texas. Our CIA/government has been evil for a very long time. In fact we just stole a shipment of food destined for starving people in Venezuela. You know, because we're just that nice. (damn Abrams and Bolton)
It's the greatest-country mindset that has helped facilitate the corporate takeover of our government. It's made people complacent. How can we be the greatest if we're moving backwards?
This was NEVER GREAT nor EQUAL nor FREE for: Most FEMALES, INDIGENOUS, BROWN SKIN , Homeless and POOR people
The world outside Indonesia is scary place to be.
So no more going abroad. Not even going out our family private lands the past years since 2019.
USA was never been world's richest country but always been the real third world just as the rest of western world.
World map is inaccurate since Mercator projection 1569.
Real Indonesia is Huge as Russia But Much Richer.
Indonesia is world's Richest country ;)
Even USA has been messing up with our Gold, Uranium, etc. And we can't stay silent about it.
Even our gas and oil only are much more than whole middle east!
KARMA NEVER SLEEP
USD has lost its power since World War 1.
Western world was, is and will always be very poor.
Real Rich will never colonize others the way they've been doing till now.
Western world, middle east are very dumb they're very poor just as stupid Abrahamic, judaism/christianity/islam not native to Indonesia.
Even cryptocurrency is really stupid.
Fiat currency is fake money made of thin air and will always loose its power.
Real Gold is Always Be The Real Money.
Yet, it's really stupid to say Egypt is the oldest ancient civilization.
After all in reality USA and whole western world are very poor.
Thus not a complete multiracial not multilingual never been living around the world all alone since childhood are just the same never evolved dumb apes stuck inside your tiny boxes your entire life and not learning from the past to evolve better.
Oops, too late to ask this question by several decades. It became one on May 4, 1970.
Kent State shooting? :'(
@@faheemmuhammad9959 Indeed.
Yes, there are indicators....
1) Massive disproportionate sharing of wealth among the poor, middle class and the 1% wealthy;
2) low percentage of people over 25yrs old with a college degree and even lower percentage of people with a masters or doctorate degree;
3) high percentage of Americans have massive debt (credit card, mortgage, student loan);
4) people living paycheck to paycheck with bank savings less than $1000;
5) in 2015, the US has the 5th lowest percentage of homeownership at 63.7% (in 2014 it was at 64.5%), below the average of 69.6% worldwide.
Since a democracy requires an informed and at least somewhat intelligent demos to actually work. The answer to the question how can you save your democracy is such:- You can't.
It is so sad to see that whatever I was afraid of when I was thinking about what will happen to America, when I was in my teens, now actually has happened. It truly has become a banana republic. :(
But i beat u cant say u still afford
@@tootone2357 I don't understand that...question (?)
I think you hit the nail on the head. Our wealthy avoid taxes like it’s the plague, and our poor couldn’t avoid taxes even if they try. Let’s make America fair again because it’s always been great.
It never been great but scammers country.
The world outside Indonesia is scary place to be.
So no more going abroad. Not even going out our family private lands the past years since 2019.
USA was never been world's richest country but always been the real third world just as the rest of western world.
World map is inaccurate since Mercator projection 1569.
Real Indonesia is Huge as Russia But Much Richer.
Indonesia is world's Richest country ;)
Even USA has been messing up with our Gold, Uranium, etc. And we can't stay silent about it.
Even our gas and oil only are much more than whole middle east!
KARMA NEVER SLEEP
USD has lost its power since World War 1.
Western world was, is and will always be very poor.
Real Rich will never colonize others the way they've been doing till now.
Western world, middle east are very dumb they're very poor just as stupid Abrahamic, judaism/christianity/islam not native to Indonesia.
Even cryptocurrency is really stupid.
Fiat currency is fake money made of thin air and will always loose its power.
Real Gold is Always Be The Real Money.
Yet, it's really stupid to say Egypt is the oldest ancient civilization.
After all in reality USA and whole western world are very poor.
Thus not a complete multiracial not multilingual never been living around the world all alone since childhood are just the same never evolved dumb apes stuck inside your tiny boxes your entire life and not learning from the past to evolve better.
I'm sitting here with my popcorn waiting for it to collapse. It's about time
A nihilistic fantasy acquired at university or more from self taught cynical approach.
Sanders and Warren for 2020. It's the clear solution.
Add Tulsi in there too.
Any Democratic ticket is clearer than Trumps will ever hope to be!!!!
@@markdemaegd4058 Well, that is true. Any of them will infinitely do better than Trump. We've got a crisis at the WH the moment he got elected.
@@AZOffRoadster I like her as well. Sanders and Warren has more experience and has been in the system long enough to see what's ahead and are still principled, and hopefully uncorrupted.
I have felt for 20 years now we have been moving towards a high percentage of our lower and working class already in the status of third world survivlal. In our hierarchal world we have a larger than normal amount living at the lowest level of the pyrimid of shelter, food and safety. None will be able to find self actualization, or the ability to thrive, even at a decent level of life. Self sacrifice will not soon even be enough.
Most of the middle class born children of our modern society have no chance at home ownership, secure jobs with health and retirement benefits. Even the hardest working citizens without a college education or ability to handle a 60 hour work week will never see true retirement or even a savings account. ( America's perpensity to save money beyond a single week is practically gone.) One health emergency is banckrupting many Americans.
Having seen third world Mexico, China, India and America, up close and personal, I close my eyes and open them... in any of these countries, and see no difference in the starving, mentally ill or disabled people with no future. From it rises despair, anger, hopelessness and crime. I also see their government and top class citizens with more money than they can spend in 1000 lifetimes. I also read of their crimes; their embezzling, bribing, cheating, laundering, tax fraud and governments being paid/lobbied to pass legislation to continue these ways of stealing from the people. What I see is the tip of an ominous iceberg floating unseen and exponetially faster then predicted. The leader of all these countries and governments continue to crush the foundations of the working classes.
We should take lessons from recent uniting of Puerto Rico and Hong Kong's population. Only the starving and oppressed have the guts to put so much pressure on their leaders until changes are made not promised. Americans are not hungry or poor enough yet to really get up and demand their rights for change.
I have been waiting for 35 years for some money to trickle down. Laffer curve was written on toilet paper. Should have been used for what it was designed for.
We are definitely declining! Our food supply is taking a hit along with so many other areas of our country. The politicians are literally licking their fingers off with our tax dollars, sugared and delicious, finally asking, "do you want a bite?" You say, "yes." They say, "sorry we at it all!!" Where is OUR MONEY going? Why are our people gaining in poverty rather than prosperity?
3:16 - Gee, it’s almost like we have to make America great again... the right way.
Or just make America America again.
evolutionx777 Well, America always had issues with social and economic reforms. You know... the Red Menace and Civil Rights?
Nonetheless, if we look past all this, then yes, ideologically speaking improving US as described in the video would be the most American thing to do.
Andrew Yang is the answer for 2020. That is all, thank you.
As Jordan Peterson is fond of saying."Good luck with that"
@@Pomiferous I stopped reading your comment after Jordan Peterson.
As you compare our government to a banana republic, I'm reminded of the popular department store in America called Banana Republic.
as a mexican, yup, honestly back in the 2000's I had a different view about the US, now, yeah still the most powerful but the US does resemble a third world country in many ways, welcome to the club
In Australia over the last two years there have been numerous references in media to the United States of America as being a 'failing state' and 'crumbling society'. At times these comments have been made in a semi-humourous manner, though more recently the comments have been made with deadly seriousness. A lot of us shiver when thinking about how 'challenging' it must be for the average person born in America, to survive in such an unfair and uncaring system such as the one described by Robert.
Don't belive the hype. It's mostly the neanderthal wanting free handouts from us humans, and we refuse to give our hard won resources over.
Except Australia is a client state of the US sadly for ur citizens
@@truthaboveall7988 sadly we walk in mindless lock step with the US in regard to foreign policy. Socially, we remain separate and completely different societies.
Getting real about climate change and the accompanying effects our children and grandchildren will have to deal with
Home of the brave, land of the free - indeed; don't make me laugh!
Land of the fee, and home of the depraved.
I just got through telling people in another video that the United States is slowly becoming a Third World Nation and then I saw your video...
Becoming?!?! I thought it already was.
Yep, the US has been a third world country since about 2000. I'm a small businessperson. I pay over 50 percent of what I take in in taxes and fees. Yet, big companies play states against each other to get tax breaks, and most, like Amazon, don't pay any taxes at all.
Corporations get economies of scale breaks for health care costs that I don't get. And, for most people, the American healthcare system is on par with the spithole countries Fuhrer Trump had talked about.
Our Congress is currently fighting over a fifteen dollar minimum. Just try to get by on three times that in any American city, you can't. Yet, the federal minimum wage is seven dollars and change. That means, you can work full time, not afford to see the doctor, and barely afford to pay for the gas for the used Yugo that you are living in.
Thank you for trying to enlighten the public.
God knows the public educators have failed the assignment.
@@Pomiferous
A good education should always begin at home. Every parent should take an active role in their child's education, reinforcing that taught at school, while also educating through practical applications of that knowledge in everyday real world experience . Of course generations of ill informed and previously poorly educated forefathers tends toward a Catch 22 situation.
@@Pomiferous The video has some good points. But it's clearly pushing for socialism/communism.
Correction: Is MORE of America becoming a Third World Country? Not to mention the southern border has an USSR style iron curtain.
But for the literaly oposite reason?
Iron curtain was the growing takeover of Europe
Of course your gonna have racial tensions with so many different races trying to live together. Politicians aren't creating the racial tension they're reacting to it which of course makes it worse but it's always gonna happen. And as far as inequality that's what's gonna happen when you import millions of workers every year to drive working class wages down.
Another excellent video. We need to outlaw the use of repatriated corporate profits to fund stock buybacks. We need to outlaw short-selling, hedging and shady derivatives trading. The tax system needs to be overhauled to eliminate corporate loopholes that benefit the rich. For starters. And we need to elect you, Robert Reich, president!
Robert Reich for president. He has a plan.
He probably would be labour secretary again if bernie is elected
The problem is that people who make sense, people who have a plan, people who know what they're talking about won't get elected.
In the USA even a TV comedian has a better chance. Oprah would have a better chance than Bernie. And Dr Phil would be the Minister for Health over anybody with a clue.
@@PrimoStracciatella Klaus, du must verstehen, dass Amerikaner nicht unbedingt so behindert sind
I have always liked this man. He is correct on many issues.
All these churches need to start paying taxes, especially the mega churches. And the preachers need to be taxed on their own incomes like any working person.
If not Bernie, I would gladly accept Robert as POTUS.
I love you Robert. I watch a lot of your videos and feel like I'm learning how to actually do something.
I'd like to add a few points. First anyone who has any doubts concerning the statement that the rich have near total say as to what goes on in the USA might want to consider that while more than 90% of Americans favor national health care, stricter firearms regulations, and...drum roll please...lower prescription drug prices nothing has happened despite years of attempts! Second while the fact that America has more prisoners in prisons than China is more than cause for concern given China's reputation it is simply mind boggling when one considers that China's population is 1.386 billion people while the US is only 327.2 million. Do the math in terms of percentage comparison... The question is not whether we are becoming a third world nation, the question is how long do we have before third world nations start feeling sorry for us?
Forgot to talk about excessive military spending is a drain on society too