lol remember last year when the Los Angeles Lakers applied for a 5 million dollar "small business" loan and got approved 🤣 while actual small business got denied and went bankrupt.

@Scott-by9ks

2 жыл бұрын

How many people work for the LA Lakers?

@CRAZYBUBBA

2 жыл бұрын

@@Scott-by9ks how many subsidies do the for-profit Lakers gets from taxpayers?

@Scott-by9ks

2 жыл бұрын

@@CRAZYBUBBA great question. But when I owned my business I got none. I'm not a proponent of incentives. I think businesses should be competing on a level playing field and that's just not possible if government is picking winners and losers. I don't think it's fair that my taxes go to help competing businesses.

@javar1987

2 жыл бұрын

They moved to texas

One thing about money hoarding, a lot of them want to keep their stock because it is how they can manage to keep power over their companies.

@michaelsaenz380

Жыл бұрын

This is an amazing point I have never thought of before

Being wealthy is not inherently evil in itself. What it is evil is the practices some wealthy people engage in, like tax evasion, exploitation of the working class, and, in the US specific case, legal bribing of politicians.

@samanthaaaz22

2 жыл бұрын

exactly

@penultimateh766

2 жыл бұрын

"exploitation of the working class" Whaddaya mean, Marx? Paying more than your competitors, thus losing all your market share to those competitors who pay less and thus offer consumers a lower price? Sounds like you think price controls are a good thing,. How has that worked when tried? Or do you mean that we, the CONSUMERS are exploiting workers by always choosing the lower price product? If so, how is that the fault of the rich?

@Kushagra.j

2 жыл бұрын

@@Camila-mx7rh yes

@penultimateh766

2 жыл бұрын

@@Camila-mx7rh They don't force them to use a bottle, but they do give them very short breaks. The way to stop that is to work somewhere else, or to form a union to get longer breaks, or for YOU to stop buying from Amazon. Not introduce some 90% income tax.

@Amir-jn5mo

2 жыл бұрын

finally a comment that isnt boot licking billionaires and giving a good argument. Its not evil if you made a good business, pay your workers well and pay your fair share of taxes on the finite resources that is for the whole nation. It is however evil if your paying your workers shitty wages, aggressively combating unions, mistreating them and forcing them to work without proper safety at peak covid etc etc.

The intro 😂 I love it!

@chelseashurmantine8153

2 жыл бұрын

I laughed so hard!!!!

@lukerinderknecht2982

2 жыл бұрын

Except the rocket wasn't phallic-shaped enough 🤣

One thing about the ultra-rich taking out loans against their assets: besides dodging taxes, it also makes financial sense. Yes, you pay interest, but that interest is more than made up for by the appreciation of the asset, so the interest rate is net-negative.

@lauromartinez8948

2 жыл бұрын

But that is a huge risk. If their company fails and their stock goes down, they would go from billionaire to drowning in debt really quickly right ?

@Tj-kl5vh

2 жыл бұрын

@@lauromartinez8948 Huge risk? in the era of "too big to fail", I would invite you to find ANY billionaire that has become "not billionaire" as a result of their company faiing in the last 20 years. When you become a multi billionaire, the governments of the world are probably reliant on you. Your financial security is ensured. Do some research and you can find cases of the U.S. military deploying to protect CEO's assets.

@lauromartinez8948

2 жыл бұрын

@@Tj-kl5vh I agree with you that the “too big to fail” concept exists and I think is a form of government corruption. And that’s why governments shouldn’t be as big as they are now. Nonetheless, a simple google search would give you many billionaires that lost their fortune due to their company failing. Holmes, Madoff and Allen Stanford to mention a few.

@Tj-kl5vh

2 жыл бұрын

@@lauromartinez8948 Madoff and Stanford are disingenuous examples. These people didn't fail because their company failed to predict market directions, or launched a bad product. They committed multiple felonies over a long period of time defrauding OTHER very wealthy people of large amounts of money, and ended up in prison. I'll give you 1/2 credit for Holmes? She was a paper billionaire that lost pretty much all of it. She is also currently being tried and has a good chance of spending a few decades in jail for...well gee, look at that, defrauding a bunch of rich people. Weird how all 3 people you listed are no longer billionaires because they faced/are facing prison time for stealing from other wealthy people, and none because they actually made plain bad business decisions. I'll give you a like for a good point though. A little looking and it seems like 1-2 billionaires have lost it all in the last few decades, only committing minor crimes along the way.

@lauromartinez8948

2 жыл бұрын

@@Tj-kl5vh you are contradicting yourself dude. Stealing or scamming other people IS a bad business decision.

Regarding the charitable billionaires. The problem remains that a small group of people is deciding where the money is going. Even if they are well-intentioned, it's entirely possible that they are using it inefficiently, not choosing goals that offer most benefit to humanity as a whole, or are even causing unintended (negative) consequences. They're not accountable, and that's a problem. If they have hidden motives... Well, they might even be using the charities as a cover for illicit or amoral activity.

@jarodnewman5535

7 ай бұрын

The fact is any "charitable billionaire" would not remain a billionaire for very long. If the USA capped personal wealth at $1B and redistributed all of that money to the lowest wealth individuals, the bottom third of USA wealth would be totally rid of poverty, and the least wealthy households (including debt) would receive about $50,000. $50,000 to someone like Musk or Bezos is literally not even worth blinking an eye at, they probably have windows worth that much in their houses. But $50,000 to a poor or even average family could be life-changing forever. There's a great humanitarian argument to actually doing this.

@nemo-studios

7 ай бұрын

@EnterJustice That is not inherently a problem. You assume having more people voicing their opinions is more valuable and leads to better results. The real world begs to differ on that opinion. Take a look at the House of Representatives in Congress. More isn't always better. In fact given the average intellectual capacity of someone in the world, more is normally going to lead to worse decisions that will end up hurting everyone. Not intentionally, but out of ignorance. Billionaires become billionaires by taking the right risks, sacrificing their lives towards building value within society and the world at large. I'm not going to entertain the edge case trust fund babies. I'm focusing on the reality of what it takes for most to reach this level of wealth. They have every right to spend their wealth as they see fit just as you and I are allowed to. Even if our decisions are not at the same scale, they can be equally misguided and misappropriated. Remember people like us made billionaires, billionaires by spending our money on their company's goods and services.

@iantaggart3064

7 ай бұрын

And that's the fault of the people contributing life-changing amounts of money?

@scottsinger7110

4 ай бұрын

​@nemo-studios they got lucky building their wealth. Everyone takes risk. Right time and place. Not one billionaire started at the bottom and worked their way up. There is no such thing as a self made billionaire. They are evil because they create a financial deficit in the working class. Billionaires killed the middle class.

@ryanjenkins6899

3 ай бұрын

“Entire possible that they are using it inefficiently” and it is undeniable that the government uses tax revenue far more inefficiently.

Breaking the "wealth defense industry" feels like a moral imperative not just to generate more tax revenue, but to establish equality before the law. In the end it's not about who's evil or not, but about a concentration of power that has the capacity to negate democracy and the rule of law if left unchecked

@ster2600

2 жыл бұрын

I don't see this ever changing. It's not unique to wealth defense, or even law. Money is power, that means lobbying governments, getting the best lawyers, paying the press to hide/promote things, etc

@Scott-by9ks

2 жыл бұрын

You are equally allowed to start a company that is worth billions. Opportunity is equal, outcomes will vary.

@haydenbrophy9460

2 жыл бұрын

Shut up, "wealth defense industry" it's called accounting, the supreme court has upheld the American's ability to reduce their tax as much as possible within the law, it's not our responsibility to pay the most tax. If you care so much about not evading taxes why don't you write a check to the IRS they won't complain.

@haydenbrophy9460

2 жыл бұрын

Everybody tries to reduce their own tax burden, why is that billionares are supposed to pay more when they already pay the most $ value wise. the 1% pay 40% of all IRS revenue.

@AMontL

2 жыл бұрын

I don't know why you would want to take from the wealthy to give to the government. Best things we have today are from the people you would want to take from. When has the government ever made good money making decisions? At least the wealthy are going to make my life easier and more luxurious at a price that I can afford or afford someday.

The way that billionaires look as many ways as possible to avoid taxes and the government let them get away with it while the working class can't get a few pennies without getting their pay checks raped by taxes. This is sick

@cccspwn

2 жыл бұрын

And inflation, that’s the real kicker

@klachingmacgaming8400

2 жыл бұрын

amazon cant afford to pay the workerss enough bro if you read finnecil books you would know what i am talking about

@Nupetiet

2 жыл бұрын

shareholders cut more out of the workers' paychecks than the tax man does

@HTV-2_Hypersonic_Glide_Vehicle

5 ай бұрын

@@klachingmacgaming8400 then they should change if they cannot afford with all the money it is worth.

@scottsinger7110

4 ай бұрын

​@@klachingmacgaming8400do you buy all your financial books from Amazon? Lol

This is such an interesting topic. Always learning something new with you guys. Thank you!

I don’t think the issue is the amount of money people have or give away but rather the the lack of access so many people have to make anywhere near that amount of money. Let alone a livable wage. Great video, thank you!

Donating to charity is just another way to dodge taxes.

@khaledalromih

2 жыл бұрын

Then why did only 10% of billionaires sign the giving pledge instead of 100%?

@JamieRossUK

2 жыл бұрын

@@khaledalromih because there are better ways of dodging tax if you don’t care about looking charitable?

@tylerpeterson4726

2 жыл бұрын

And the government did that on purpose. If you don't like the government promoting giving to charity, then call your legislators, but the billionaires giving to charity are doing exactly what our lawmakers want them to do.

@cs0345

2 жыл бұрын

Well if you're donating to charity, you still lose money, but you look better doing it than if you were just giving that money to the government

This is why I just want to be a trillionaire, instead of a billionaire.

Even among billionaire there is a disparity. There is someone who eeks out with a total net value of 1B then there is elon musk who has 10B just in liquid cash.

Thank you so much for that easy to digest breakdown. I kept hearing about the ultra wealthy borrowing money instead of selling their assets but didn’t quite know how it worked. Now I have a better understanding.

@Beekeeper8011

2 жыл бұрын

Jake broe has a great video on this topic

That opening was a little TOO real. 😂

it hurt to see them walk away from a 1000 dollars

@thedopplereffect00

2 жыл бұрын

You have to make over $35/hour for it to be a waste of time to pick up a penny. $1000 is pretty impressive.

@KayKayBayForever

2 жыл бұрын

I knowwwww. It hurts. 😩

0:22 I saw it coming light-years away but that was so hilarious. 100% like I'd pictured it.

The problem is not the the quantity of one’s wealth, but quality of one’s character.

@pluspiping

2 жыл бұрын

Aaand being rich and hiring people from the "wealth defense industry" to avoid paying taxes seems like a pretty clear indication that the quality of your character is garbage.

@zindhuzanjo8813

2 жыл бұрын

@@pluspiping doesn't hiring people from wealth defense industry also creates jobs?

@rainbowunicode8352

2 жыл бұрын

@@zindhuzanjo8813 it's why you can't measure someone's character simply by how many jobs they "create"

It is if you aren't the billionaire. If I'm the billionaire, its not evil at all

Success depends on the actions or steps you take to achieve it. Show me a man without investment and I'l tell you how long it takes to go bankrupt. Investing creates a safe haven for the future. With the right investment choice that has at least a 2% minimum risk and with the advice of an expert, profits and interest are 100% guaranteed

@andersonjacob4372

2 жыл бұрын

Expert Mrs Liam has aided so many newbies including me. I have 12wins from forex trade with her help. Thanks to her strategies, she's really the best. I've made 16,400$ in 18days working with her

@andersonjacob4372

2 жыл бұрын

I thought l'm the only one she has helped walk through the fears and falls of Bitcoin trading.

@09redflowerz85

2 жыл бұрын

l'm surprised that this name is being mentioned here, I stumbled upon one of her clients testimonies on CNBC news last week...

@09redflowerz85

2 жыл бұрын

Extraordinary is the right word for expert Mrs Liam, she's experience as a trader and so unique.

@marcoantonioperalta7571

2 жыл бұрын

@@09redflowerz85 You don't need to be surprised because I'm also a huge beneficiary of expert Mrs Liam trading service, I'm winning consistently trading with with her

I really appreciate how tactfully this topic was covered and explained without bashing anyone. Well done Two Cents! 😊

@sprinkle61

2 жыл бұрын

Did you even watch the video ? She literally said that rich people that didn't give away more than half of their money to charities were unjust hoarders (she used the term hoarder multiple times, even !!), and even those who did give away their money had unjust influence on where THEIR OWN MONEY was spent (!!-!!!!!) Would you actually let someone get away with saying either of those things about you and your money ? Of course you wouldn't, you would immediately realize that its not these people's business how you spend your own money, and that their treatment of this topic is hopelessly biased against rich people. Yes, they then walked that back a little bit by saying there is nuance, but their basic position is we need more taxes, so our government can decide where the vast majority of the wealth of the UNITED STATES is spent. I had to check if I had somehow ended up in the alternate timeline where the Soviet Union won the cold war, and we had to implement a 94 % tax on anyone the Militsiya deemed 'too rich', and this was their propaganda video explaining why no Americans could be rich anymore. Now you may agree with the bias of the video, but you can't in good conscience say that no one was bashed in this video, because most of the video was bashing on wealth. I'm surprised that a wealth building youtube channel would take such a hard line anti-wealth position. Its kind of disappointing, as this channel came with some pretty high recommendations from other channels I trust.

@user-kh3nx3mg2f

2 жыл бұрын

They are definitely bashing capitalist s and now I love two cents even more! 😝

@gettingthatlove419

Жыл бұрын

@@sprinkle61 you’ve completely missed the point. And I think you aren’t truly grasping what a billionaire is and much money a billion dollars is.😊

@sprinkle61

Жыл бұрын

@@gettingthatlove419 How much money a billion dollars is has NOTHING to do with being evil or good (the title of the video), THAT is the issue I have with the video. If your conception of good and evil is determined by how many zeroes a bank account has, then morality itself has no meaning, because its just an arbitrary amount, like flipping an odometer, and cannot be either good or bad, because at its base, its just an amount of a thing.

@slammermchammer

7 ай бұрын

​@@sprinkle61mad because billionaires are the most evil history alive lol

It wouldn't be evil for me to be one. Just for everyone else.

@hopelesslydull7588

2 жыл бұрын

A large majority of people think they're a better than the average driver.

The “this is a representative democracy” argument is a bad one. Capitalism itself is a democracy, the majority of people voted with their money and essentially gave these billionaires the wealth they have. They can do with it what they like. You also can’t force these billionaires to sell their stock because that would be a huge infringement on financial rights. That being said, the best system to get these billionaires to pay their fair share is to implement a value added tax or a luxury tax. Tax where they spend, not simply because they hold a lot of stock in their own company.

@Naveen-tq7cg

2 жыл бұрын

@JC P yup, and both are the best at what they do. Democracy is the most libertarian you can get without anarchy, and capitalism is objectively the best for the economy.

It doesn't hurt to be rich, but remember, you will not bring it with you when you are no longer here. Enjoy life with the ones you love.

There should be no homeless.

@user-ti6ix5tn2o

2 жыл бұрын

Then there should be overpopulation destroying this planet and reducing biodiversity

@user-ti6ix5tn2o

2 жыл бұрын

Which one you want? A world where people destroy the planet or a world with less people through population control for the benefit of this planet

@LG123ABC

2 жыл бұрын

Are you suggesting that we hunt them down?

@riod7559

2 жыл бұрын

@@LG123ABC Are u crazy??? But in answer to your question - as many wealthy people there are there should be no homeless people as places to live and programs could be provided to get people into better circumstances and off the streets. I do what I can through volunteering and giving but those that really have the money should step up and help instead of being focused on status.

Simplifying the tax code would help.

@theimpulsivevulcan5346

2 жыл бұрын

Hell yeah, we needed to do that 30 years ago too. Next time they try to pass a "Tax Reform Act", let's really pay attention to who is being helped: the poorest people or the richest people in America? Andrew Mellon started all this in 100 years ago in the Robber Baron era with his endless desire to cut the top tax bracket and opposed tax cuts for the poor as being used for the purposes of "socialistic experiments. These arguments are literally a hundred years old. Only after WWII did the middle class meaningfully expand, and then Reagan (an actor in the 1950s) became president and cut the top tax bracket from 78% to 28%.

@joeyoest1105

2 жыл бұрын

Yep - as many have pointed out, a flat sales tax + UBI would force billionaires to ‘pay their fair share’ (others’ words, not mine). The more loopholes we add, the better situated the folks with armies of accountants and lawyers become. The current tax structure is necessary, though - if everyone knew that they’re paying over half their income in taxes, there’d be a revolt.

@orangutan1700

2 жыл бұрын

@@theimpulsivevulcan5346 Yes, every time you advocate for simplifying code some people from both sides of the political spectrum will devise an argument why that is poo poo logic and why you should feel bad for not leaving practicing politics to accredited mister expert PhD financial asshole. Their views will be supported by many citizen around them because "you're not an expert, why do you think you have right to comment". Your neighbours and acquaintances are partly to blame for keeping the current system the way it is.

@orangutan1700

2 жыл бұрын

Also, the government printed 20000 billion USD between jan 2020 and oct 2021. Obviously, it has far more cash than any billionare could ever contribute in tax. So why are our problems not gone? How about focusing on corrupt government for once, so we might learn that our greatest enemy since forever has been the government itself?

I think the issue is not always giving taxes, but how the tax money is being handled and managed. The government is terrible with managing money and nothing frustrates me further than seeing taxpayers money go towards the military and not towards a basic universal health care and infrastructure maintenance.

The first time I heard about it being immoral to be a billionaire was on a post about someone buying a house as a gift for an employee.

It's evil if "some other person" has it, not you!😂

2:38 this is a misleading stat. Many of those people have negative wealth. That means while they might be wealthier than the group, they are not wealthier than a subset of the group. My son who have a nickel to his name is wealthier than millions of people in the world.

@tylerpeterson4726

2 жыл бұрын

And I'm betting that these statistics don't consider an education to be an asset that offsets the negative value of a student loan. So a recently graduated medical student with millions of dollars in lifetime earning ahead of them is considered to be worse off than your son. Education is usually a medical student's greatest asset and greatest liability, but only one gets measured.

@lavellelee5734

Жыл бұрын

Good point

Here is my thought: Being a billionaire alone doesn't make one evil. On the other hand, billionaires who don't care about their societal impact from their decisions and only care about their wealth gains are probably not so ethical. However, the blame also falls on the goverment and society for enabling these unethical billionaries to exist. The goverment does little to control or sometimes even help out these billionaires. The society at large continue to patronize the businesses owned by the billionaries which are detrimental to society.

@minhng575

2 жыл бұрын

I dont quite agree with the society part since it's a broad term. Society is made up by many elements including individuals, corporations, non-profit, etc. "Little men" like you and I or a factory worker in India were (probably) borned into this well established system so called capitalism and we all somehow feed into the system. point is, I think corporate giants, capitalism at large, is a more specific term for what's helping the billies to be ultra greedy hence ultra rich.

@edthelazyboy

2 жыл бұрын

@@minhng575 Yes, I agree that society is made up of elements like individuals, corporations, non-profits, etc. The thing is that societal entities' actions can also enable the existence of greedy wealthy individuals. Individuals such as consumers often patronize businesses with amoral practices. We often don't think much about the impact of our consumption habits. For instance, when most people buy something from Amazon, do they think about the warehouse workers working in substandard conditions for low wages? Do they think about the delivery drivers that are not paid much yet have to delivery packages quickly even on busy holidays? Do they care about the local businesses that would lose the business to Amazon? Most Amazon customers only see that the thing they think they want is a good deal, they want it right away, and don't want to go out of their way to get it. To be non-profit is just a legal entity to be tax-exempt since said organization claims to benefit society. For instance, PBS is nonprofit and tax payer funded. However, they still became greedy when stations sold off TV spectrum in the FCC spectrum auction to wireless phone carrier businesses. PBS TV viewers ultimately had to tune to repacked channels or try to get signal with low VHF antennas that are often big and have to be mounted outside. Low income families often do not have good internet access especially in rural areas so they can't really just go online. PBS stations on the other hand got billions of dollars from the FCC spectrum auction deal. Not all wealthy individuals are greedy. Some do deserve their wealth. The question is whether is it really justified and I don't mean from legal standpoint. The legal system is not a good justice system. Corporations often influence the legal system for their own benefit. Jeff Bezos supposedly earns many times more than the workers because he created the business and the jobs. Did he pack all those billions of packages in all his warehouses over the years? Did he personally delivery all the billions packages to his customers around the world? Of course not, his workers did. So why is Jeff Bezos able to justify his enormous compensation while the frontline workers don't get much even collectively?

@orangutan1700

2 жыл бұрын

Also, the government printed 20000 billion USD between jan 2020 and oct 2021. Obviously, it has far more cash than any billionare could ever contribute in tax. So why are our problems not gone? How about focusing on corrupt government for once, so we might learn that our greatest enemy since forever has been the government itself?

@JamesRelok

11 ай бұрын

Billionaires do not have to give ANY money to poor people.

You guys forgot to mention that Amazon contributes to productivity and GDP indirectly by making shopping convenient and quick. That frees up people's time to do other stuff. It's the same thing investments in infrastructure seek to accomplish.

is borrowing money against the law? are they responsible for war disease or poverty ? i challenge You to give half your money away , To imply or suggest that money makes a person "EVIL" is Evil. almost slander with Tricky words . The innovations of wealthy active people move other people up from poverty , Carnegie Libraries is one example . look into how wealthy support charity and education

@Naveen-tq7cg

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly. By their argument, no one should buy nice things while poverty exists, and give any money they don't need away.

this was a really great episode, thank you!

Imo, its not that having a billion dollars or more makes u evil, its the fact that you cannot make that much money without exploiting a workforce or a system.

Hearing about the "Giving Pledge" by Billionaires remind me of this quote: "NO AMOUNT OF CHARITIES IN SPENDING SUCH FORTUNES CAN COMPENSATE IN ANY WAY FOR THE MISCONDUCT IN ACQUIRING THEM."

Last I checked, no one is required buy from Amazon. No one is required to buy a Tesla either, etc.

@austinhernandez2716

2 жыл бұрын

Your point? That's like saying if you don't like slavery then don't buy from a white man owning slaves. Just buy from farmers in the north instead. 🙄

@huskiefan06

2 жыл бұрын

@@austinhernandez2716 My point is why people care millionaires and billionaires exist. How does them being a millionaire or billionaire negatively affect you personally?

@PvblivsAelivs

2 жыл бұрын

@@huskiefan06 I think it's the way a lot of people would vote to send "sub-humans" to death camps.

The infrastructure for their business is not the only thing these billionaires benefit from tax payers. Their businesses also benefit from government subsidies and tax exemptions ( such as the SBIR). Paying their fair share of taxes would be the bare minimum.

@grey5626

2 жыл бұрын

Amazon's AWS is built atop of Linux and KVM (previously they used Xen) and is libre/free open source software which I am pretty sure, wasn't intended to turn Jeff Bezos into a billionaire. Linus Torvalds, is not a billionaire, why should his users be richer than he is? Similar logic could apply to Google and Facebook's CEOs, which also depend upon Linux, heavily.

@kueapel911

2 жыл бұрын

the top 1% already fund 40% of IRS though... do you want them to fund 95% of IRS? IDK who's the evil one here if you do.

@boyar1978

2 жыл бұрын

how much do you pay in taxes?

Yes. It is. Period. No discussion. It's unacceptable having a few people own more than half of the money in the world just because they were majorly born into wealthiness. Moreover, as you perfectly said in the video, at the end of the day, they are the ones who decide what happens to the world, not our politicians.

OK. Best intro for any episode on your channel yet. :)

A billion to one, don’t the odds make you sick? To be one in a billion’s a terrible trick-you’re the wretched one.

Honestly, a good start to fix the wealth gap would be to force billionaires to actually pay people fairly for their work

@uromvictor

2 жыл бұрын

You can force people to pay you fairly. If dont want to work leave. You are paid what you negotiate.

@uromvictor

2 жыл бұрын

If they didn't create the jobs you wont have one.

@ElectricSwordfish

6 ай бұрын

​​@@uromvictoryou mean there's jobs that pay very decent wages if you're worth enough to earn them? Makes too much sense, not possible.

If they added so much to society there would be no more poverty.

You can tax 99% all the billionaires and that money would end up on the government hands..and wouldn't make any difference to poor people.

From the title I thought you would have a different approach, but I liked the video

If I won 2 BILLION DOLLAR jack pot I would get a stone cabin log cabin and a stone cabin with playsation 5 in it having a pizza party every weekend

With inflation we all can be billionaires in coming decades.

Change the title of the video to "It is evil to be a billionaire". You haven't given opposing arguments as mentioned initially in the video.

I don't see how most billionaires got to that point without it being off the backs of many others, many of which weren't paid enough for the work they did or other ways of screwing them over, or pushing the cost onto the planet and polluting.

@starcherry6814

2 жыл бұрын

This is where I stand too

@Nick-zw7gg

2 жыл бұрын

Companies should offer partial ownership through stock options. That way, when the company does well, the employees do well.

I just would like to say you guys are my favorite Chanel by far

Pretty horrifying that our state-owned media produces videos like this.

I think most billionaires are evil and one day we will look back on them in a very negative way.

So I gotta hire the wealth defense industry to do my taxes until I'm rich too! I'll take out loans to pay for the wealth defense industry! To GAIN even more! Thanks two cents! 👏 👏 👏 👏

@lauromartinez8948

2 жыл бұрын

Hiring the wealth defense industry makes sense only if you are already rich. So work, save, invest, and when you have built some wealth, then hire the defenders.

LAND VALUE TAX. Please talk about Henry George. I'll just keep throwing these comments into the void until someone brings it up

@diogonunes1608

2 жыл бұрын

What's that?

@abarbar06

2 жыл бұрын

@@diogonunes1608 Henry George proposed a solution to wealth inequality way back in 1880. He realized that as wealth increases in society, it tends to wind up in the hand of landlords and land speculators. The solution is to shift all taxes to land value taxes. Look up Georgism for more, I can't give the idea justice in a youtube comment.

@cadekachelmeier7251

2 жыл бұрын

@@abarbar06 But that's not at all where the wealth is concentrated now, which is stocks and investments. That's just a specific wealth tax with a loophole the size of every other type of asset.

@abarbar06

2 жыл бұрын

@@cadekachelmeier7251 People holding stocks isn't a poverty-producing problem though. On the other hand, people have to pay rent regardless of how much Elon Musk pays in taxes. By the way, the total land wealth in the US is estimated around $20 trillion, and the total US wealth is on the order of $100 trillion.

@cadekachelmeier7251

2 жыл бұрын

@@abarbar06 The source I saw put the other 80% of the wealth in things like stocks and bonds, so focusing on the 20% of the wealth seems like an ineffective way to address inequality. It seems like your real argument is that it would help lower housing prices in some way. I just fundamentally disagree that additional land taxes are a good tool for the job. Zoning and city planning are much better ways to lower housing prices in my opinion. Lots of cities have giant swaths of land zoned for single family housing, the most expensive and least land efficient housing option. There are lots of expensive areas where you could replace a few expensive homes with medium density housing (or mixed use developments) and get way more value out of the land, but it's just illegal. Fewer homes mean higher prices, ultimately. I'm sure there are some local landlord monopolies gouging out high rents from captive residents, but that seems more like it needs an anti trust solution rather than a tax solutions.

If people dislike billionaires more taxes is the worst solution. The evidence is already clear. They pay very little taxes now. Increasing the tax rate won't fix that. Want to fix income disparity? Possible solutions: - simplify tax code. Everyone would benefit. Except tax companies. - make competition easier. There are more hurdles now to create a 1B company than when most Billionaires started. This makes it more likely they will stay rich and you won't be. - create incentives for behaviors we want rather than punishing people at the top. - shrink government. They spend what they don't have and drive up inflation. The use what they do have inefficiently for corrupt purposes.

8:07 You don't have to be a billionaire to hoard money. I'm nowhere near billionaire status but I hoard money like crazy.

The intro is amazing.. I think that’s why they divorce their wives..

To summarize, being a billionaire is not evil in itself. But what you do with those billions and how you get them determines whether you're evil or not.

being rich or poor isn't about deserve or not deserve. just what it. wealth is always a combination of things including hard work, risk taking, luck, etc.

yea..the US Federal Govt has a great track record of taking money from people and distributing it correctly

Another thing is if you tax them to much they'll just pack up their business and themselves and move the headquarters elsewhere

@At0micMeltd0wn

2 жыл бұрын

Why would I want to do anything if I lose 94% of what I earn?

@grey5626

2 жыл бұрын

@@At0micMeltd0wn That is a specious argument at best, there is no proposal for a 94% flat tax regardless of income. Subsequently, there is no valid answer to such a question, rhetorical or otherwise.

@At0micMeltd0wn

2 жыл бұрын

@@grey5626 Was referring to somewhere in the middle of the video when they were referencing tax throughout US history, didn't claim there was a proposal for it.

@LakevusParadice

2 жыл бұрын

Good! And they have every right to do! Why should they continue to operate in a business hostile environment that is stealing their property?

@LakevusParadice

2 жыл бұрын

@@grey5626 haaa! Wait until all our unfunded liabilities start coming in and see whether we a start paying 94%

please do make this series. I am so tired of hearing how [relatively new company] is now suddenly evil because they just crossed the big 1B threshold

Loved the intro! I love your videos.

Idea doesn’t pay money.

Laughed SO hard at the intro

I certainly wouldn't share it with my bum friends and family, I would swim in it like Scrooge Mcduck

@BiggestDookie

2 жыл бұрын

Family can be bums too

@Sam-rp4hy

2 жыл бұрын

Way to go

Online shopping is not convenient. I like going out and shop in places full of people

@Scott-by9ks

2 жыл бұрын

The exact reason I don't like shopping in a store.

Wealth gap isn't actually a problem Cornell university breaks it down and finds out 12% of Americans reach the top 1% at some point of their lives. If anything it just means. The overall productivity/efficiency of the economy increased. Which is a great thing. To tax the 1% is like taxing steve jobs for being too good at inevmting new technologies And game theory says Steve Jobs will just leave to more business friendly areas

This is the most one-sided argument of any topic I have seen you do. Wealth is not a zero sum game. Wealth is created by innovative people who take risks. People do not become poor in order for others to become rich. If it was zero sum then total wealth would never go up. Trillions of dollars have been spent on the war on poverty yet it still exists. Why is that? Could it be that government is the least efficient means to distribute money? PBS is a perfect example. Taking money from taxes and producing a product that very few use. Without forced funding it would not exist.

@WookieSenshi

2 жыл бұрын

I'm glad I'm not the only one who isn't a blind sheep. lol

It's not.But using hundreds of thousands of employees and backing up politicians that in return have your back in front of the law, protect and strenghten your business is evil.You have to ask yourself-how did these people get there?Not by being nice or playing by the rules.All of them have a strong backing from their states and an army of yesmen or lunatics that think they are always right and that their ideas or actions should not even be questioned.

@DiamondFlame45

2 жыл бұрын

Bingo! America is essentially a plutocracy. Look at how Sinema raised money from Pharmaceutical lobbyists and dismantled lower prescription drug prices.

@calebr7199

2 жыл бұрын

I wish more people understood that this wealth and power means the wealthy really control society, indirectly like you said, but we really don't like in a democracy.

@RedLeader327

2 жыл бұрын

@Aaron Elisha Ong Always has been

I GASPED at the low-interest loan part!! I thought I knew a lot about this but hadn’t heard that!

When it comes to the whole poverty crisis, you can throw every bit of money in the world at it. You can just throw money until everybody’s net worth is zero. And it still will not be solved. So I don’t blame billionaires they did not steal money to get wealthy. Many of them had extraordinary ideas they worked 100 hours a week. Actually, we all should take notes and learn from billionaires. They have a lot to teach us. as far as poverty goes, there needs to be programs that impress people to work gives them jobs or job training things that they can use to enrich themselves

Looking forward to "Is It Evil To Tax?" and "Are Politicians Good At Spending Other People's Money?"

@ethanschaefer8327

2 жыл бұрын

They would definitely be better at it then the ultra rich that don't spend it at all.

@mizark2029

2 жыл бұрын

I wish they would tell both sides of the argument.

@Naveen-tq7cg

2 жыл бұрын

Unfortunately, this channel gets increasingly biased by the day. Wouldn't be surprised if their next video is just straight up political.

@ethanschaefer8327

2 жыл бұрын

Also you know they already made like 4 videos on taxes.

@mortenw.3575

2 жыл бұрын

@@ethanschaefer8327 Is that a "definite"? Think. Carefully. Ethan.

Informative as always and I’d actually love to see a few episodes dedicated to diving deeper into this topic. I felt like this has opened up a Pandora’s box and I’d love to know much more than this video scratches the surface. Great food for thought!

I love the Intro!

Thought she was legit talking to me in the intro lol greetings from Canada! 🤙

Thank you for this video!! You guys are so awesome. I love these easy to understand videos that are so so great. Thank youuuu!!!!!

Completed survey 👍. I just always think it's what you do with your money.

Merry Christmas 🎄 The videos are great

lol best intro ever

It's weird this is even a question. If the money was earned legitimately, and not mafia style grabbed, I don't see why people wanna eat the rich

@lucleadergaming3487

2 жыл бұрын

Because they’re jealous

@mactheo2574

2 жыл бұрын

@@lucleadergaming3487 The data clear shows that the majority of new wealth goes to the top, while the middle class is worse off. You can clearly see that chart at 2:24 in the video. I don't think there will be much "eat the rich" sentiment if that chart stayed the same overtime.

@TheThundercow

2 жыл бұрын

@@lucleadergaming3487 No, because hundreds of millions of people worldwide are starving, including Americans

@lucleadergaming3487

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheThundercow then they should actually learn how to do something that’s useful and needed so they get higher paying jobs. 🤷🏻‍♂️ It’s not that hard, people are lazy and don’t want to actually work.

@Nick-zw7gg

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheThundercow So how come the United States has the highest obesity rates in the world, but yet we are all starving? Try driving through Alabama lol. And also, why do so many Americans store sooo much food in their freezer? Some of it is years old.

Yall are the best. Always sharing the truth - never sensationalized or emotional, and never demonizing everyone. WHEN THE HECK IS KZread GOING TO REALIZE HOW GOOD THIS CHANNEL IS?

@samartinell840

10 ай бұрын

owner of youtube is a billionaire so never

The problem starts with the government. If the IRS and our elected officials weren't so corrupt, the billionaires wouldn't get to "hide" it. The whole tax system is way over complicated and should be simplified and fair.

Billionaires don't have this money sitting in a bank account somewhere its more often than not in company stock and shares which they cannot spend anyway unless they sell the first. Most Americans or anyone in a modern country is more wealthy than that over half the poorest population of the World, this does not make them evil.

I like this video, and it was all going well until you said Capitalism is good but needs some ‘defense’ or adjustment. Honestly, we need to go beyond capitalism and it’s basic assumptions of taking people out of poverty.

@rainbowunicode8352

2 жыл бұрын

I agree with you that we should set our sights higher than "fixing" capitalism, but this channel does a very good job presenting contentious content in a way where people can't dismiss the facts they present. Look around and you'll see there's way too many people who even in this comments section praise Lord Bezos for all he's supposedly done to improve our daily lives. 🤮

@alexcereuceta5907

2 жыл бұрын

I mean, though I completely agree with you, by the very end they manage to make a case for the rise in popularity of “alternative economic systems” and low key support for it. It is PBS after all, and it is educational and somewhat progressive but it is also establishment. PBS, NPR etc… so I’m fairly confident that their scripts are vetted and they are positively banned from openly supporting a socialist system, but they’ve been low key doing it.

Bezos didn’t come up with the idea of online shopping. But he came up with the best way to do it. He is so rich because we all benefit from the service he created.

I would have a few neighborhoods sponsored for the next 100 years.

Love you guys!

I LOVE IT! I can relate to the into definitely 😆 🤣

The problem is the us tax system and the loop holes there are.

wow billionares keep borrowing money seems like they should consider making a budget

If someone makes millions then all of their employees should make livable wages on reasonable hours

It's a complicated issue because of how much of Billionair fortune is tied to assets (mainly stock), rather than income. Incrwasing income tax therefor does very little to combat inequality. We need more mechanisms that, over time, redistribute the stocks held by founders/CEOs to other employees/the government.

@orangutan1700

2 жыл бұрын

I'm not sure how having some stocks creates inequality. Maybe the poorer guys should have some fun with stocks too, instead of spending it on whatever.

@orangutan1700

2 жыл бұрын

Also btw if by this time you haven't realized the government has NEVER ONCE upkept their charge of helping the poor, no matter how much taxes it collected, I don't know what reality you've been subscribing to.

@orangutan1700

2 жыл бұрын

Also, the government printed 20000 billion USD between jan 2020 and oct 2021. Obviously, it has far more cash than any billionare could ever contribute in tax. So why are our problems not gone? How about focusing on corrupt government for once, so we might learn that our greatest enemy since forever has been the government itself?

This is a great channel. You two have a lovely dynamic and bring a grounded sweetness to what would otherwise be a very austere and emotionally barren field of knowledge. Excellently researched, too! I’d love to see this channel make a video about Capitalism v Socialism and their pros and cons. There’s a lot of class consciousness among young people that hasn’t been seen as much in past generations, and I think you two would make a great, well researched video that could illuminate the tricky subject. Just my two cents :)

@Beekeeper8011

2 жыл бұрын

Because PBS bought and paid for them they wouldn't do it. If they did they would favor socialism.

@Beekeeper8011

2 жыл бұрын

@@Danny-jl2sd and all of those services are unsustainable and bankrupting us. Saying "we already have a little socialism" is no different from saying "I may have cancer in my lungs and some of my bones, but I'm not dead yet, so what's wrong with a little cancer? Live a little!"

@Beekeeper8011

2 жыл бұрын

@@Danny-jl2sd the courts, the police, and the military is not socialism. Those are the only things that government are *supposed* to do. Everything other than three are unsustainable welfare programs that eventually lead to a monetary crisis.

@bogdanbliznuk7355

2 жыл бұрын

​@@Beekeeper8011 as somebody coming from a post-soviet country - I agree with you totally. socialism is not just a cancer, it's a really big evil that made my country and nation a lot of pain. some guys in us don't know what real poverty & starving are. These kids don't know how big this socialistic evil is.

@Dudewithhair4500

2 жыл бұрын

@@bogdanbliznuk7355 lol ok bot

At first I was convinced the picture in the frame over Philip's shoulder in the intro was of Ryan Gosling and Laura San Giacomo

hi, What programs do you use to make your videos?

We cannot hold people accountable for their private money. Plain and simple. As long as they didn’t break the law in making it.

How is this video unbiased lol?

@grey5626

2 жыл бұрын

@ISB_BKCD: "evil" and "good" are ethical value judgements, there is no way for them to be entirely objective. Ethics, such as "thou shalt not murder" are codified into scripture and law, there is nothing which suggests that ethics do not play a real role in society and existence.

The only thing more evil than a billionaire is the IRS.

It has never bothered me that someone earns money or spends money. My only concern is how they earned it in the first place