Keep in mind that someone who makes 100K a year for decades can still go broke with just one medical injury. My former employer's daughter got hit by a distracted driver as a pedestrian at 40 miles an hour and suffered a catastrophic brain injury. Insurance does not cover much for TBI. It has drained their life savings, but they are still facing millions more in costs. They installed a hyperberic chamber in the house because it cost them less than 4 months of being treated with the one at the hospital. They were being charged about 35k per month and insurance does not cover anything. The medical profiteering is evil to the core.
Yep that's a horrible thing. The reason why it doesn't change is because people who vote, on average, think that they will never get into such a situation. And the people in power already have enough income and/or (usually "and") insurance to cover the cost of any medical injury imaginable. That sums up very well why capitalism is nothing to be proud of.
its not medical profiteering its medical regulation, you are not making money through ingenuity you are making it because the alternative is illegal so you become a state enforced monopoly, in this case moving to another country might have made sense cost wise.
let me shorten this for you. "rich people can go broke with one medical injury, for example someone's child getting a catastrophic brain injury can make a rich person broke, but the distinct difference for someone making 100k a year for decades vs someone making 50k a year for decades is a brain injury makes one broke and a bone fracture makes the other broke" see the difference? stupid ass comparison is what keeps us in this situation. a broken bone wont make someone making 100k a year go broke unless they're making severely bad decisions but a broken bone for someone who makes just enough to meet the minimum required to meet ends meet.
@@RandoomDude It took 3 years of legal battles just to get her out of the hospital's system money meat grinder. They were denying her access to a neurologist while trying to take guardianship from her parents. And very few states have a standard of care for TBI & those that do are woefully outdated. Big pharma can not profit if they recover.
i dont think most people would care about wealth inequality if forming families, buying a home, owning a car, and retiring was something they could theoretically do if they work hard and are honest actors. the problem is when you have people who "do everything right" and still end up working until theyre 80, lose their home due to foreclosure and get divorced because they cant pay for diapers. people that that happens to can get extremely bitter extremely quickly, and right or wrong, their anger will go somewhere. those who took your labor, paid you 10% of what you produced and used the other 90% to buy their 7th yacht are a pretty likely target. in fact for most of human history the elites of the society knew perfectly well not to flaunt their wealth too unabashedly, because they knew ho hopelessly outnumbered they were. if a ship is sinking and the elites toss their population overboard to save themselves, dont be mad when the ship finally sinks and the people in the water pull you down with them. always remember, the french elites were throwing dinner parties and gallant balls while the bastille was being stormed. when it becomes clear your leaders no longer can solve even the most basic of social problems, their right to rule starts coming into question.
Thats why their trying to divide everyone so much with things like racism, sexism, transgender and so many other things. They want us to weaken each other while they put things in to place to surpress and control the survivors. AI and robotics are just the newest weapons.
Yes this is the beginning of the fall of all empires. I hope the United States can make changes before there is no return. But people always fail to learn lessons from history, so I am very pessimistic
I do landscaping in a very affluent area. Multi million dollar vacation homes, empty 99.9% of the year, yet owned by millionaires. We charge 10k a summer for our service, and our clients pay it no problem. These people are paying 10,000 dollars a summer to have a perfectly cut lawn/hedges, that they never see, never visit, don't even care about. I have been in this area for 2 summers and I have only met 2 of our clients, because the rest of the time they are not in the state. Thesr homes would blow your mind btw, tennis courts, hot tubs, pools, firepits with cobble walkways, expensive security systems. Etc. I make 20 dollars an hour and I'm struggling. I'm always broke. I'm always tired. I feel guilty for not providing enough for my 2 little girls. The system is Broken. And I'm ready to Snap.
I live in a "resort" trailer park. I'm a full timer but the other 80% don't even visit except for 3 months a year, if they come at all. They pay $1200 a year to have the place, plus upkeep. Blows my mind that people do this. So poorer people have that same waste mindset as well.
Might not be my place, but dont feel guilty for not providing enough for your daughters. You work hard, and clearly love them. Youre good, you got this. I have two boys and feel exactly the same sometimes.
I don't how you feel about it, but that is why I hate that first video. It does nothing but point people to them without any of the context of what is making the situation. It felt intended only to drive more hate rather than get down to the problems. Edit: One other thing. Not to sound dismissive or to preach, but as that second video pointed out the greatest thing you will ever give them is being a great parent and being there for them.
I used to cut lawns professionally, I never felt envy over the super rich and they homes they had I set it as a personal goal to get there one day. And I did retired early at 42 the system is not broken you are just not playing it well work smart understand the idea of supply and demand develop the skills/services that have high demand/skill cap and you will do well. Lets be real anyone can cut lawns, you dont deserve a penny more neither did I when I cut lawns I understood this and adjusted you decide to cry about it.
Yeah, there’s a very good reason for this. Houses in modern day are viewed as an investment, so if you own a bunch of property, it goes up in value, and you get that money. These multi-millionaires are paying these large sums of money for houses they will never even see a single day in their lives because it quite literally makes them more money to do so. It’s a fucked system to be working like that, but that’s how it is
Yeah the problem is not there being people too rich, the problem is us being too poor, if we could live without struggle we wouldn't care if they needed to invent new numbers to classify the rich.
yes. I think what happens with people is they get to stressed covering basic needs-- which are greater than they were 100 years ago. after their needs there is not much to save or to explore life , have hobbies, travel, take care of their health, it turns into a feeling of being enslaved. You can't make enough progress fast enough for the effort you are putting in. it goes against the function of the brain its not a reward its a punishment just to stay afloat. This can't exist. If teenagers who live at home can work- then thats where the current pay system makes sense but to pay an adult minimum wage and not offer full time work or hell even to pay them anything less than $20 an hour is not going to cut it for people. there are to many taxes and taxes exist everywhere they just aren't labled as such. when you see corporations making record profits. when you see the system create these necessities for people just to fit in and get respected its a tax raised gas prices , raised food prices, hell even soap and deoderant went up- these are taxes.. dental not being covered is a damn tax. people dont get hired when they can't afford to take care of health issues.. to take care of your health everything effective in place comes at high cost. everything else is like a punishment. people need a living wage. Something that gets them a decent apartment that has adequate space privacy and safety. they need adequate health care. They need food. They need clothing. they need phones, transportation(public transport doesn't work in the current system, it works in major us cities like nyc it doesnt work in rural areas it is bad it is slow its a time tax on working people and those trying to get started. design small towns different or people need money for their own cars to get working ) and access to internet is important phone is important. this isnt even all the necessary things some people need to get working and start making progress in life but they are things when people struggle just to afford these something happens to their brain imo and its not good. giving people this won't make them lazy it will motivate most people. and for the few who decide the little they get to sustain is enough -LET THEM BE. people are not inherently lazy as many say. they need purpose they naturally will want more once they have the basics of what they need and don't have to struggle week after week just to maintain that basic shell of security. this level of struggle and stress is damaging to the brain and eliminating that from society will do nothing but help it i dont have an idea of a perfect system. even in what i mention you will still have wealth inequality. but the main difference is no one will struggle pay check to pay check for very basic needs. they can make better choices. it goes from surviving to living. let people live. the more people you meet and truely get to know their story. there are so many people making minimum wage , paying off school debts and they are super smart and hard working people. something is off. people are not valued they are treated like cannon fodder. People simply are not valued to exist. we are seen and treated like an expendable problem.
This isn't quite true there are always plenty of jealous people who are already mad at you if they have a house and you have a house and a dog house for your pet in your garden because that slightly more is enough for them to be jealous of.
The only way elites can feel like gods, is if they are absurdly more rich and powerful than the common folk. This is their dream, to feel superior than others. Equality destroys their dream, thats why the world is made unfair.
Literally, the health care thing hit me hard. I purposely only go to the doctor when I feel like I’m dying. It’s just too expensive. $300 to get my blood drawn is ridiculous. $128 for a checkup, just for the doctor to tell me something I already know. Healthcare in this country sucks. I’m not even poor, I’m middle class. I feel like I’m stuck, no matter how much I work or learn. I can’t climb any more.
A lot of it is no central body or open billing systems. When you get a bill for $300 to draw blood, you're paying the phlebotomist, the lab tech, for media replacement, the cost of the machines that analyze your blood, the janitor that cleans the place, the rent for the building, the secretary's pay, property taxes, etc... It may look simple, but there are a ton of costs involved. The way they do it in many EU countries is to charge +60% in taxes with no deductions. And they STILL are having issues. Look at France, Canada, Finland, and UK. Most people are not willing to lose most of their salaries for things they may not need.
My mother had eye surgery in both eyes, it would cost 10k+ in USA, 5k and something for each eye. Did it for free here in Brazil. (As it was not a medical emergency she had to wait a little but hey, nothing is perfect)
Idc how rich people get, i dont feel envy like that, but when the average person literally has to work most of their life just to pay for rent and food and a basic lifestyle and then have nothing left to save for anything, something is wildly wrong. I aint talking about homeless, drug addicts, or disabled people, im talking NORMAL working people with a normal job, you cant build a life with a job anymore
If you calculate the salary back then in relativity to rent, taxes, food, etc. to today's money, it'd be an average income of 171k, we currently have an average income of 77k, that is NOT EVEN HALF, for at least the same amount of work, and more psychological pressure on most people.
I'm ready to Snap idgaf anymore. I've been working hard my entire life and I have Nothing to show for it. Nothing. Bad choices, sure, but a solid work ethic and a reliable attitude should count for SOMETHING and it simply doesn't anymore. I'm tired of getting jobs that just work me into the ground until I quit or get canned. Hard work is no longer being rewarded it is being blatantly taken advantage of. I'm exhausted, I'm stressed out, and I feel as though I have been personally betrayed by my own country. I am sick of having nothing. No amount of work seems to change it. And I am ready to fucking snap.
Try working 60 hour weeks and still only being able to afford rent, bus, bills, and groceries. I'm so sick of it, 60 hours a week and can't save anything. Rent is insanely high, every year costs go up but I don't get raises. Everything is a lie and I'm done. Life is miserable. People tell me I just need to get a third job, I'm just too tired.
I've been rich and I've been poor ... I don't think rich people can comprehend how difficult the struggle is. It's not about having to work, it's about having to work and knowing you'll still be broke no matter what you do. Not having any money for retirement, a car repair, sending your kids to school or paying rent. It's an endless hole that feels impossible to dig yourself out of. My recommendation for kids nowadays is skip college unless you know exactly what you want to do and you need a degree. And I'm not talking about being a social worker or some low paying job. Take courses at a community college while working part time, then transfer to a state school where tuition is less expensive, and live at home or get multiple roommates. Start investing when you're 18, even if it's only $10 a week. Before you pay rent, food, car, etc *PAY YOURSELF FIRST* (from Rich Dad Poor Dad).
I agree with everything you said...but that rich dad poor dad book is borderline scam. All that preachy financial philosophy crap to end up with "so....I got into real estate" Hardly different from "I worked so hard...... To network upper management connections into my ez do nothing bs 6 figure salary job...AND SO CAN YOU!"
Exactly. I don’t understand the 4 year university that charges a crap ton for tuition. When community colleges are just as good if not better than universities.
The legend himself! Thanks for this eye opening video and thanks for reminding me that i should study my ass off to make it as high as possible while i'm young. otherwise i might get stuck in a low income bracket and politicians will make it even worse in the future in fear of lobbyists and companies.
What is even funnier is how wealthy people talk about how AI will make it so no one has to work any more in the near future. Yet not a single one is coming up with a plan to get life's necessities to the non wealthy average person.
My conspiracy is that AI will be more of a harming force than good, replacing people and increasing the amount of people without jobs to the point society either snaps into chaos or we get a system of universal basic income but how fast this goes I cant say and again this is literally based on my feelings I cant back it up
Why would the wealth care about the poor? You're basicly asking for a kind dictator. If you want to solve any of you have to give power to the people The scary scary socialism
I disagree with the sentiment that “rich” people shouldn’t be obliged to help poor people, especially when large enterprises or very wealthy individuals deliberately take advantage of lower social classes or design their products to be addictive (gambling, social media, high sugar foods etc to name some) That’s the whole point of how the tax system works, the more you earn the more you should have to contribute to society. The problem is how disproportionate the contribution is from each social class. People have obscene amounts of wealth while others are homeless, eating out of garbage bins. It’s not an easy system to fix but it should be fixed as it benefits us all as a species and it would contribute massively to our success as a whole.
Yep, most people can live fine with a few million….theres no reason they can hoard 500+ million and pay the same taxes we all do. However if they do something useful like start a company or produce jobs that’s what tax deductions are for. Theres just too many loopholes and many are greedy using that money to buy mansions and super yachts etc
1) Your initial "point" is nothing but a false premise that rich people are evil. Elon Musk, e.g., richest man in the world, has a multitude of companies that have nothing to do with exploiting people (excepting, arguably, Twitter; but he bought that one out of concern for the damage he perceived it to be doing). In fact, they are generally aimed at solving humanity's biggest problems and the dude spends almost nothing on himself, just reinvests into his projects. I'm not saying exploitation isn't a theme among the rich, as that is the easiest mechanism for amassing wealth, but let's not paint with too broad a brush. 2) Higher income brackets do have higher tax rates. The problem is there are also a lot of ways to avoid paying it. Granted, I absolutely trust Elon to do more good with money than the government, even though I do believe in government and I know Elon is an outlier. Still, successful entrepreneurs do tend to be much more efficient capital allocators, it's just questionable whether their goals are aligned with improving quality of life for most people. 3) Yes, as Asmon, Yang, and many others have pointed out, it's really poverty that is the main concern. This is why Asmon, Yang, and Elon all support UBI, as it is one simple way to eliminate poverty and ensure everyone has a guaranteed income that can cover a good quality of life. It would also make capitalism work a lot more like it is intended, as poverty distorts the free market, eroding the individual freedom of choice that competition, innovation, etc. relies on. Once that is dealt with.
the only emergency that could possibly happen in germany, where you actually need a lot of money quickly and cannot do without is a funeral if somebody of your family suddenly dies - thats around 8k for a proper funeral - if you get em cremated and go on the low side its still 3k, but most people want a proper burial - so 8k my dudez - thats a lot and you need to have that money around 2-3 days after your loved one died - max 1 week, but thats already stretching it
@@banhammer3904 thats actually one of the problems here in germany my dude!! there are so many people that just go out and spend hundreds in a fkin bar and get blacked out drunk, thats stupid you cant save money if the money ur supposed to save is being spend towards a pub
"The money is theoretical" I hear this a lot when people are downplaying how wealthy a billionaire is to me. Funny thing is, that theoretical money seems to spend ok. One of the reasons they want to keep it as theoretical as possible is the concept of "realized gains"
The thing I don't think you understand in that is that if the stock market crashes most that 'money' stops existing. It's not cash, land, gold, or anything physical. It only has value because someone in the world wants it, and if that stopped most rich wouldn't be rich. They would even have problems selling that valuable property because who could buy it at it's actual value? It's a house of cards.
The vast majority of the wealth isn’t “spent”, it is invested into producing goods and services everyone else consumes. Invested wealth isn’t hoarded consumption. Taxing and redistributing invested welath doesn’t increase everyone else’s consumption, it destroys it.
People always conflate "Household Income" with "Individual Income". Over 70% of households have more than 1 income. So the stats for how much money individuals in the lower and middle classes make is actually much lower (i.e. husband and wife combined make $120k but individually the husband makes $70k and the wife $50k, etc.)
Its literally RENT!. All these apartments stacked around here going for $1800 1BR but jobs are only paying $16/hr. Do the math. Light bill, water bill, car payments, food, smartphone, wifi, home supplies. Its a huge finesse. And if you're a gamer with all that baggage, goodluck trying to save up for a gaming pc.😢
So some fun facts, in 1950 the top tax bracket was 91%, today it’s 37… The average income was 3,300 a year and the average home costs 7,400, so just over twice your income. Today the average income is between 60-75,000 a year depending in where you look, and the average home is 350,000-490,000 depending in the source so 6-8x’s your income. The CEO pay rate was roughly 20x’s average in the 50’s, 40x’s average in the 80’s, 120x’s average in 2000, and 250x’s average today. When people say back in my day we used to xyz, well F them, because you could work at a Kroger and feed a family of 3 and pay for college.
Well to be fair I bought my home under trump only for 150k. Very nice decent space. now under Biden my home would cost 400k Maybe we need to think about who we are putting in charge of the economy for this next election....
yeah the average income back then, in today's money would be 171k whilst we are currently making 77k on average, so not even half the money they made, this is calculated with taxes, rent prices, food prices, etc. included, so we work the same, for less than half of what they used to pay, it just sounds bigger, but isn't.
@@vKross this has been shown over and over again, the same people who deny it will keep ignoring it, the people who see it are not capable or willing of changing a damn thing about it. The appeal to authority in many is simply too high.
@@JonLaRue Correlation may not exactly be causation but you are talking about political actors setting policies that affect every aspect of your life. If you don't think everything has gotten more expensive in the last 4 years, brother your eyes aren't open.
Wealth inequality isn't necessarily the problem, it's the erosion of the middle class. Wealth doesn't need to be evenly distributed as long as people on the bottom 99% are able to at least live comfortably and afford basic necessities.
Wealth inequality is the problem, because when a few people own most things then you don't own anything, we live in a finante world. You don't have to equaly distribue everything but the reality is most people advocate against such concepts
@@TheMrJeffYT Some people can own most things as long as most people can live comfortable lives. If wealth inequality gets to the point where too many people are unable to live comfortably then it becomes a problem and we might be heading in that direction if we aren't careful.
@@jhhwild It's already there you and I don't experince it as much, but there are milions of other people who do. The problem is people don't advocate for change ahead of time and by the time reality catched up to them they have no say on the matter. The idea that some peopel can own most things is "kind dictator" mentality. That just simply doesn't exists
@@TheMrJeffYT But people who are already happy and living comfortable lives don't feel the need to advocate for change because it's not a problem for them. In order for it not to be a problem they need to be kept happy and comfortable. If the middle class erodes and nobody is able to afford anything except the super wealthy then there might be a revolution. People are fine with other people being rich as long as they're happy with where they are at. I expect inequality in a free society where people can make their own choices. It's when too many people are unhappy when it becomes a problem, that's why I said the erosion of the middle class is the problem. Also it depends on who owns what, just because someone has a lot of money and owns a lot doesn't mean they are inevitably going to be a dictator. And I'm not advocating for extremes, I'm just saying a majority of people need to be kept happy and comfortable.
@@jhhwild What are you saying is not releftive in reality, you can't give most of the power at the hands of very few and think there won't be a problem. You wish for a reality that simply doesn't exist and will not exist.
@@finallychangedit4926 There needs to be an incentive for smart and ambitious people to become government officials, otherwise they would just do something else, but I agree with the point, that it should be a moderately high paying job, but nothing more. That's the reasoning why "real" communism could never work, because you can't incentivise people to, for example, struggle through a medical school etc. to become a doctor, if they are going to be "equal" in pay/lifestyle to the guy cleaning the streets. In a wealthy country, the guy cleaning the streets should be able to afford his own place, big enough for a family and to live comfortably, including 1 vacation a year, to the place of his choosing (maybe not in a 5 star hotel), and be able to support his whole family. Edit: The truth is, that politicians usually come from wealth, because you need connection and then money to run your campaings. There are good people, who would want to change things for the better, but we never hear about them, because they can't afford to plaster their face in your face.
I think the biggest problem with wealth inequality isn't who has the money, it's who can make new businesses, and who has the will to do so. Because the really rich people don't have that money in a bank somewhere, they have businesses, stocks, and investments that make them more money. The internet has helped as more people find new ways to make businesses, but there is still a LOT of red tape keeping people from being independent from the major corporations. If there were more small businesses the wealth would shift away from the large corpos and there would be a better chance for the lower class to move up.
@@DrawinskyMoon The problem is people talk about regulations being the problem, but the easiest solution to the problem of small business being crushed by these elites is to HAVE regulations to protect small business. It's just that those elites are the ones making the regulations designed to crush those small businesses. People like to see regulations as a universal bad, but the reality is regulations can be a good thing too, it's the specifics of the regulations that are important.
"Pulling yourself up by the bootstraps" is a far more enticing prospect when you can provide for a small family and purchase a decent home. When you and your partner have decent jobs and still spent half your paychecks on rentz groceries and gas, the enthausiasm for work deminishes quite rapidly. People who say these things expect the same principles to work in an economy that is vastly different from their time. Its utterly detached from reality.
In France in 1789, the top 10% of society controlled 90% of the wealth, and paid 10% of the taxes taxes, while the other 90% controlled 10% of the wealth, and paid 90% of the taxes.
@@kukuki5000 No, you forget the fact that the 90% only owned 10% of the wealth, so ofcourse its not fair if they pay 90% of taxes, luckely the revolution also didnt agree, they cut the kings head off.
The sad part is if you took ALL of Elon's net worth (~185b), liquidated it, and dispersed it evenly to everyone in the US (~350m?), we would only get ~$528.57 and then everyone employed by him would become unemployed.... doesn't stretch out very far
@@TheMrFellaTVthen explain to me in detail why the Soviet Union fell, China is still lagging very far behind any country that has allowed private ownership of 'the means of production' and only started to dig it's way out when it reversed course on that, and why Venezuela and Cuba are stuck in the 1990s and 1940s respectively if private ownership is so terrible. I will wait.
If I have less than $1500 in the bank, my bank charges me monthly fees. If I have more than $1500, no monthly fees. Its literally a charge for being poor. Plus, paying rent for a studio apartment in my area is about $1700/month. My parents monthly mortage payment and bills on a 4 bedroom house is $700. And its not like its paid off, they still owe quite a bit on it cause they refinanced during an emergency a few years ago. Make it make sense.
@@milhouse8166 Was always told that with work equipment, and it's true for most things, you just gotta do a little research and evaluate how much you use something, and if that amount justifies a expensive option, or if you are better of with a cheap option, as cheap options CAN be good enough.
The issue is that some people's 'wants' override the 'needs' of others. The price of houses sky rocket when an individual can buy up hundreds of houses and sit on them. Rental and Buying home prices are outrageous.
I can't be the only one who see's the irony in watching a multimillionaire earn probably around at least $15,000 USD, by watching a 6 minute video that a random kid put together about wealth inequality.
You're all poor just like him. Hes comfortably poor and you are uncomfortably poor. That's the point. Theres no difference between him and you on that chart.
@@Lloocii Not even remotely the same. The difference between living poor and being poor are opportunities. Asmongold doesen't have to worry when a sudden expense comes up. Asmon doesen't have to worry about how he is going to retire, or that a medical bill with bankrupt him. Asmon can grab a ticket and go anywhere in the world whenever he needs to. Even if he doesen't use most of his money, and he does use some, making/investing in companies like Starforge and OTK, he still has a financial safety net. The majority of worries in those people's lives are just abscent from his, as such he has more time, more energy, less stress. Even living as Asmon does, just by the virtue of having money to spare, he lives a completely different life. That's the point.
I’m a disabled USAF vet on pension, I get about $1100 a month for breaking my back falling with a box of potatoes. Yeah I was a cook, nothing special. The VA won’t cover shit for medical, told me a torn rotator cuff from SIRVA wasn’t service connected so no coverage. I wouldn’t treat my worst enemy as badly as my government has treated me.
Your injuries are NEVER service related 🙄 ffs I was blown up in a IED attack and have been told my bad back and shrapnel in my hip are not covered because I'm actively working (my own company lmao). Whatever..
When American politicians use my country Denmark to say we are socialist and have high taxes. Always remember that 90% % of taxes goes directly back to the citizens through social security education and free healthcare. (The correct term is actually capitalist socialist country) Makes me so mad hearing about your situation. Also mind-blowing that Israel have free healthcare and education paid for with American tax dollars.
@@ShiftyRightNow that’s criminal that they didn’t retire you man, I’m so sorry. Should have gotten tax exemption and everything in my opinion at 100%. Thank you for your sacrifices, brother.
Chuck Schumer himself talked about literally forwarding citizenship towards illegal immigrants as to boost American prospects as we are in decline with families, so instead of tackling issues with no one being able to afford homes, vehicles, children and more. We’ll just mass import, that seems to be the solution. I have no care for income inequality IF I could afford those things, I don’t need to be rich. I don’t need to have luxuries, but those aren’t supposed to be luxuries. The “American dream” is dead and we’re just constantly decaying away
Gotta wonder how all this ends. Especially with the drastic increase in illegal immigration of people who don’t care about our culture, customs and laws.
I'd say it is less not tackling it and more causing the issues and then replacing the populace when enough try to push back on that narrative. Many of them purposely killed the American dream and don't like to be opposed on that.
The main reason why those protests are more common in the West is individualism. If you almost everone don't want you to disrupt society, you are less likely to protest. And i don't think those protests are because of Christianity when most of those protesting hate Christianity.
I really disagree with the decriminalizing drug take. The way it was implemented does not accurately represent the core beliefs of the idea. The core idea of decriminalizing drugs was to give people help through court ordered and government funded rehab facilities rather then sending people to jail over drug related charges. The idea is that if we help people rather then force them into the criminal process then we would have far less repeat offenders. The way it has been implemented by taking away the police’s ability to arrest or detain someone who is suspected of being under the influence only furthers the issue of addiction. We were supposed to help people not turn a blind eye to them. The way it was implemented seems to only serve as a means of delegitimizing the actual argument that might save lives and solve problems.
You know the old saying of the horse and the lake... Some people just don't want the help either way. They see the current implementation as a free pass
What you wrote describes what happened in Vancouver. Drug use was decriminalized in January 2023, but WITHOUT the accompanied forced rehab. As you can guess, open drug use, crime, and deaths increased. The government had to re-criminalize drug use in April 2024 as all decriminalization did was exacerbate the issue.
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
people are always willing to get a job and work hard, but it's more about how there aren't enough opportunities and how the upper 0.1% is gatekeeping a lot of those opportunities. The stock market is growing but the job market is not great... government really need to regulate these mega companies from gatekeeping resources and stealing away opportunities.
I liked this, but the discussion about luxury beliefs is more nuanced than presented, which is ironic considering how the opposing side is presented. The big problem there is legitimate issues being co-opted by the privileged ruining the original message by taking the issue to the worst possible extreme. Defund the police wasn't originally about having fewer police officers, but redirecting funds to social service programs so police wouldn't be the only option for dealing with mental health issues, but the message got co-opted by idiots and here we are. Same with the Palestinian rights protestors. There's a lot of complexity to this issue, but people like to be presented with simple answers for complicated problems.
That's why these conversations frustrate me when it's someone who has a leaning. There's practically no nuance as long as their core beliefs are highlighted. The best convos are with someone who is actively trying to get to the bottom of it rather then saying, "I'm going to agree with this"
I am from Washington state. Defunding the police to fund social services is a BAD IDEA. We tried it. Don’t do it. Crime has gone up more than 25% statewide. Where I live specifically… 89% of the county is safer than where I live. We are #8 out of all states for crime. If I call the police, no one comes unless someone is SHOT. If you want more social workers, fund that, but don’t DEFUND THE POLICE! Give them more money!
You are wrong on that, it wasn't co-opted. Some later wanted to change a unpopular narrative and said that wasn't what was meant while other that were the first to push for it didn't care. Many specifically said they wanted fewer police officers when other started saying that isn't what was meant. They were saying that all the police did was oppress minorities. You might mean/want something different, but don't expect others are saying the same thing. Especially when they go as far as to say that is what they meant.
@@rachelnoll6656 Umm we can pretend we tried it (also from Washington), but we have far far far far far too many homeless to even think we gave an honest effort. It was partially sandbagged by the corrupt Seattle Police Union, and we got 0 meaningful social aid for homeless shelters or other forms of housing. It's like an alcoholic going into a bar saying: "if I drink enough to puke, them I'm staying sober", it is a false effort being put forth, then throwing our hands and saying "well I guess we tried".
If the police department has 90 officers all being paid 100k a year and a equipment cost of 1 million thats 10 million a year If we are to remove some funding by 10% and transfer it to another group . we are now 1 million short on the year and the only way to make that up would be to remove 10 officers . You now have 80 officers . How could defunding mean anything else ? You can't pay them less not when you expect them to risk life on every domestic call or traffic stop . sure you might be able to get rid of some gear but not enough you would still need to get rid of a min of 8 officers and then really penny pinch on gas and parts for the patrol cars , and all the other little things used on a daily shift . I just can't see how anyone with a working mind can't see that defunding would mean less . I live in a high crime area i can't think of a single thing a social worker would be able to do without also having police there to protect them so then instead of 2-6 officer on a call you have 2-6 officers and 1-2 social workers ? nothing about that says less funding in fact it says more funding .
I just don't see how Asmond could watch these two videos back to back and come off the second video saying 'Things are pretty good now' Feels almost like willful ignorance.
It's the same attitude most working US adults have. Doesn't matter political party, location or type of job, as long as the false narrative that "the US is the best" and the individual is "free" to succeed or fail, hardly anyone does anything
Theres no way you think todays times are bad compared to WW1 and WW2 buddy. Black people were walking on a leash, poor people were walking on a leash, women were literally objects, police was fake. You could get drafted and die in some random war at any time. Its not comparable
If you and your spouse aren't making $150,000-$200,000 a year collectively, you probably aren't getting any sleep at night. It's messed up, any 40 hour work week should give you the opportunity to live comfortably.
Dude... I live in San Diego... I make 180k and my wife makes 100k. After taxes it's nothing. A single family home priced at around 800k is roughly 7k a month including property taxes, etc. My wife and I don't make enough to afford it... If one of us lost our job we'd be fucked. You need to make imo 500k+ in San Diego to be truly financially stable.
@@GabrielBaconif you look at corporate America you will see that the huge middle management group is generating negative value to the company compared to their income… workers are the income generators not management, most companies in my country try to keep their management layer small to keep costs down.
@@Devoted96 born and raised in CA, as soon as i get the money for the condo my exwife and i bought im leaving. shes stuck here because she works for the state and its too good to give up. if you were making even half of that before 2020 you messed up, we bought our condo in 2020 for 265000. its worth 430000 now and every single day in 2020 i was looking at condos and bidding.
What we don't want is actual equality of wealth, we WANT people to create market value. Taxes are also not the answer, the government has more taxes than ever and is nearly $70 Trillion in debt (it was around $4ish Trillion in debt around 2004). What we need is: -More support for unions and proper enforcement of union busting. This will put rights and proper wages back in the hands of the working citizen and support ACTUAL working citizens. Inflation is not a big problem as long as wages increase the same amount. -More regulation to prevent predatory practices in companies. -Auditing the U.S. govt. No more spending $90,000 on $100 worth of aircraft bolts. So the money they're already collecting in taxes actually gets distributed where it NEEDS to go. -More enforcement AGAINST lobbying -Rules against adding two or more separate issues to a single vote.
People have no clue about how insidious lobbying is. 80% of the problems you mentioned (and many more you didn't) would be solved overnight if lobbying was made completely illegal.
Asmon has gotten famous partly due to his down to earth and reasonable views. How far we've fallen. Spend more time learning about these topics, the data/facts, and listening to competing informed views before going straight to "I think [insert parroted overgeneralized talking point]." Clearly he has spent no energy (at least as of this video) thinking about wealth inequality and its causes and effects, and yet comes right out with steaming garbage takes on it. The second half of the video was potentially even worse - he did the same exact thing that the video was criticizing luxury elites for doing: performatively virtue signaling and speaking definitively on topics that he's not directly involved with, hasn't had to face any hardship related to, and doesn't really know the details of what he's talking about.
i live below poverty level. i have a lot of chronic illness that doest get covered by insurance for treatments, so i basically am doomed to waste away since i am too ill to hold a job. it sucks going from top 3% of most intelligent grads in hs and college, getting ill at 20, then getting NO HELP. disability only pay us like 950$/month, have to live in rundown apartments "for disabled people" (no they do NOT keep them to code). i get under 100$ in foodstamps. it's horrific that the usa doesn't at least attempt to take care of its people and help them get a foot up out of poverty.
but i'd say my ncs/POTS is the worst which makes me forever dizzy and faint. like actual fainting spells and lots of stuff that triggers that. it's also hard to know how i'll feel from minute to minute. sometimes i can seem "more fine" and then have a bad faint which makes me ill rest of the day. some days i am bedbound. hope that answers your question a bit for a couple my illnesses. (oops i just accidentally deleted most the text, oh well. just touching on one illness lmao)
The scale is consistent. The problem is that the private corporations have direct access to our gov't through finance and the stock market/international finance makes no sense.
So let's push for a solution? In which we collevitly own the means of production that way more people have a say on the matter a democrasy in the work place
@@TheMrJeffYT yes. I'm saying private corporations should have zero access to the govt through any means, monetary or otherwise. Of course that's one part of the massive problem. The entire fed shouldn't even exist lol
@@KoenigJaeger I understand that, but I bet right now you support the system that's enabling such outcomes simplty put you might not want corpos in the gov, but you'll still support capitalism that is the root of the isshue. I could be wrong and you don't belive that, but that's a genereal trent people with this oppinion hold.
@@TheMrJeffYT Capitalism and the US Democratic Republics includes no such condition. It is an adulteration of the two at the same time. The mixing of private and govt is more of a fascist situation. The main problem with all of this is that humans have great capacity to be evil. That is why personal responsibility and private ownership is the best solution we have. But all systems eventually fail due to the human condition. The US has existed for almost 250 years which is a pretty good run. Also even though there are those who are super wealthy, the poor are significantly wealthier than they have ever been in history. Some of the problem we have today are the poor crying that the rich are so rich when the poor throughout the rest of history were much worse off than they are now. This is not as simple as "capitalism bad." But also what other system are we suggesting is better? I do support capitalism. I do not support the mixing or private and govt. Govt partially owns the auto industry the airline industry; it regulates prices of food; etc. Those are all bad things. In capitalism industries are allowed to fail. If the govt didn't own industries and tamper with pricing (which is not free market) we would be much better off.
24:32 That is beyond the pale of ignorance. There are hardworking Christians and Christians who are slackers. There are hardworking non-believers and non-believers who are slackers. I was with you up until you began to make generalized statements.
This happen in the 1340's with the Black Death. So many people died there was a shortage of peasant labour so they could demand higher wages and life got much better for the average person. In 1349 they actually passed a maximum wage in England to stop it lol This directly led to the peasant revolt of 1381. This is why mass immigration is a terrible thing from an economic perspective for the average person as it drives down wages, makes the rich, richer and creates more demand for a finite supply of natural resources.
@@kronos6460 Or the more recent example of women going to work which doubled the labor pool rapidly and then people wonder why wages plummeted as a result. Basic economics of supply and demand.
@@SirRivelion I don't believe that's entirely true, that's just clout chasing women on the internet. There's probably some truth to it but I think the internet exaggerates it.
To be fair, I live outside of Philadelphia and pretty much everyone I know makes over $100,000 a year. In my area that is sort of lower middle class. 95% of people if they just worked a lot would be doing just fine financially. The only factor that I think could change this is a medical emergency, that can definitely bankrupt a family. I just paid the hospital $49,000 to have my daughter's appendix removed, it was a 15-minute surgery and we were only in the hospital for a day and a half. That is criminal.
It’s true most of the ultra rich hold their wealth in stock, but it’s also true they underpay employees. Just look at the increase in cost of living vs. increase in wages over the past 70 years. You can literally see the gap form with Reagan when he legalized stock buybacks, which is when a company uses their profits to reduce the number of shares and artificially increase the stock price. They used to have to use those profits to either: reinvest in the company, pay employees more, or distribute as dividends. Now CEOs use that money to make themselves more rich.
Imagine if the concept of 'old money' could be solved. It's almost as if the entire economy system would suddenly return to trickle down economics. Oh wait, everyone who can solve it is on the right payroll.
Old money itself isn't necessary a problem either. Funnily enough, in Europe where income inequality is among the lowest in the world, old money makes up a much larger portion of the wealthy than in the US. The problem is giving old money more political power than average citizens. In the US, the ability for the wealthy to influence politicians is much higher than in Europe.
most generational wealth families lose it within 3 generations. Also what is wrong with 'old money' why can't family lines attempt to secure a better future for themselves?
As a data scientist, only thing I can say is: while this problem is definitely true and real, the graph he conjured up is hilariously scaled to make the problem look a hundred orders of magnitude worse than it actually is. Irregular step sizes for medians as well as using medians of miniscule sample sizes (especially those of plucked out of a set of existing outliers) is nothing but a trick designed to make a whacky stretch of the graph's y-scale. In fact, would argue that any wealth graph with a step size anywhere near that small should be a cumulative distribution graph. I don't see a world where this could be seen as anything but deceptive.
Not to mention liquifying assets is stupid as a metric. Who's going to buy their panting's and exotic cars if all the rich are losing their money? Elon cashed in some of his stocks and Tesla prices dipped hard. If he tried to sell out it would collapse the company and millions of investors would sue him for losses.
As a Chinese national who graduated from Cornell University and hails from a family whose wealth surpasses the top 1% of US standards, I swiftly returned to China upon graduation, alarmed by the rapid deterioration of safety in America. I've often pondered why affluent individuals in China don't adopt the facade of left-wing liberalism. Perhaps it's because the Chinese people have firsthand experience with genuine communist movements, comprehending that true leftist ideologies entail the confiscation and elimination of wealth, rather than merely serving as self-congratulatory slogans for the affluent.
In a country if you make the wrong move, you can go from level 5000 out the gate of the womb to -5000, there's a lot of stakes in the game and everybody knows it. If the game's setup is somewhat believable that anyone can make it from -5000 to 5000 if they just work hard enough within multiple generations, there's at least some room for hope that if you die trying your family line might make it.
I remember when I was younger 70K meant you're doing well, and that was in the northwest where things are fairly expensive. Today you can make over 100K there, can't afford a house, and normal life expenses are outrunning your salary increases in cost. As some other commenter said, a single medical issue, a bad car problem, or other unforeseen expense can literally set you right back to zero. There's tons of information out there on how prices for anything are outrunning salary increases. Major corporations buying up all the real estate, and real estate is the number one way of accruing wealth for younger generations, taking that away where do they turn for the American dream? How in the world can the normal person make 250k a year to qualify for a house, raise a family, etc? I'm a millennial and it's already hard, I can't imagine being even younger. We're going to go right back to families just living in one house forever, kids being 50 and still with their parents, and it's not going to be looked at as bad, it will be normal.
About the marrige thing...i somewhat disagree, I think marriage is an awesome thing, but I don't think it should be so damn expensive, it's clear exploitation, same with how a small pair of scissors that cost $2.50 magically cost $8 when the word "medical" or "hospital grade" is slapped on them
Not the best analogy. Surgical-grade steel is fairly rare, because after we launched nuclear weapons, all the steel produced after the nuclear age is of a much lower quality.
Marriages don't have to be expensive though. Go to a courthouse, get a marriage license. It's the giant ceremony, fancy clothes, flowers, food, DJ, drinks, location, and honeymoon that are expensive.
It doesn't have to be expensive. Husband and I got married at the courthouse in regular clothes on our lunch break. We paid $10 for the witness lol. Our friends and family made us have a party. Cost of the party was $8k (back in mid 2000s) and we only paid $2k while our parents paid for the rest. We weren't even going to have a party until we were told we needed to have one lol. Our rings cost a total of $150 which was a lot to us back then because we were so young. We still haven't upgraded them lol. Too sentimental. It doesn't have to be expensive at all. I think it's sort of crazy that people make it expensive. I'd rather use the money to buy a house. Still married 18 years later.
Yes asmongols it does matter where the money is distributed. Its the main reason wages aren’t matching inflation if it did those ppl would have less money
You said that the billionaire's money is theoretical. Bro, all money is theoretical. It only has value because you believe it has value. There is no intrinsic value to money in a fiat system
@@a.nonimus6705 Value is a quantity, not a physical property. It is not tangible by definition. Gold has utility just like a lot of other things, including paper money. Oxygen is good for me because it is needed for me to breathe. It is absolutely useful, but it has no economic value whatsoever.
@@cosmodradek The term value, in economics, is a measure of benefit provided by particular goods and services. Is there a benefit in gold? Yes, there is a tangible benefit, it is used to make electronics. Therefore, by virtue of it providing benefit, it has value. I think you should go study economics before talking about economics.
I felt so happy for you. Now you know you’re adored! When fans started getting tattoos on their bodies featuring me, it was a surreal feeling and happy one too. I love your videos! 🎉
I think much of this issue would resolve itself if Congress passed a law fixing the minimum wage to a level where the median monthly mortgage payment is 35% of the monthly income of a job at minimum wage and wrote the law such that it updates itself automatically on a 6 month to yearly basis.
In reasing the minimum wage will WORSEN the situation. This eliminates entry-level jobs for youths. Also, everything is dependent on minimum wage, if the wage goes up, the corporations/companies simply pass the cost to consumers. The problem is REAL ESTATE CARTELS who deliberately reduced the supply of affordable homes to maintain high property value for EQUITY INVESTMENTS. The government (specially leftist controlled large cities) is pretty much complicit for this because high property value means more property tax revenue.
That wouldn't work. Historically such measures just cause inflation and increase unemployment. I think the solution is MUCH stronger anti-monopoly and consumer protection laws. Along with a cultural shift away from normalized dual income households and the pursuit of infinite profit growth. The problems were facing arise from corporations being forced to squeeze every last dime out of employees and consumers in order to meet the expectation of ever increasing profits even within fully saturated markets. Coupled with the labor market being devalued by too many people being willing to sacrifice their ability to parent in order to earn more money. In the 1970s when dual income started to become the norm, and the 1980s/90s, when the government laxed regulation of large corporations, thats when we see a significant corelation with weakening purchasing power per person and worsening of job security/conditions.
US printing on average $ 7 650 000 000 per DAY (!!!!!) for the last 4 years. This affect in a really bad way not only americans (inflation and other shet) but people all over the world. You need to stop guys.
@@tesladrew2608 the increase in the national debt over the past 4 years, divided by 1460 days. this is not 100% accurate, but it shows the general situation well.
I lost my job last year. I’m near retirement age so I’m struggling to get a decent job. I had no choice but to go through my 401-k and ROTH. My savings is completely gone now. I’ve considered selling my home that I just bought in 2020 but rent is more than my mortgage. I’ve put my bills, food, gasoline, car expenses, home expenses on my credit cards; I’ve maxed out my credit cards last month. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do now. So yeah things are bleak. I have never been in this situation so the shock and sadness is overwhelming.
24:35, Christians aren't the ones protesting and acting like idiots. I would argue that this is an atheist mindset. With the lack of humility inherent within a godless ideology, you get people thinking they can change the world quickly and simply. While actually doing so would require a subtle and nuanced approach.
@tesladrew2608 I've seen that as well, lots of Christians don't cultivate a spirit of humility. I know atheists that are complete egotists though. It all depends on the person.
For the Christianity segment, what has happened is a lot of “prosperity preaching” where the biggest “victim” gets the most reward. The Bible has taught me that a lot of things are out of my hands. Yet, I still have autonomy of my life and need to own it.
Asmon - your take on "Christian's being in a victim mindset" - is completely wrong. In fact - it completely dismantles the victim mindset, because we believe in the sovereignty of God. Which means, there are not victims, in the same way you described your understanding.
Missing the point. The reason those people in the 1% are extremely rich is because the rest of us aren't. In order to raise the lower percentile, the .0001% would have to relinquish some of theirs and they don't want to.
If you took all the money in the United States held by US citizens (137 trllion $) and distributed it equally to every man woman and child in the country (330000) every person would have 41 million dollars in their bank account. EVERY SINGLE PERSON!
I’m at the bottom of this chart thanks to student loans. I shouldn’t have ever gone to college. Not that I’d be wealthy but I’d probably have $500 in savings and I’d have probably been in a doctor’s office in the last 15 years.
No one would care about the wealth distribution being so fucky IF people at the low end could support a family, pay their bills on top and not be one 500$ car repair away from being homeless.
Jesus effing Christ... It's maddening how close but so far Asmon is from connecting the dots. I dont think he's stupid, in fact I know he's very intelligent. Best case scenario and most charitable read: strong, strong cognitive dissonans. It's sad
Well, he is rich and makes money off of literally just hanging out and watching videos or playing games so it’s easy to see why that may skew your feelings on wealth inequality a little bit
@@PARAN0IDxGERBIL No, no, I agree; I understand his reference points. I just wish he would resist the class consciousness more than he does :p So I know he's not by far the worst or anything; he's a hoot, I still love Asmongold. That's why I care to comment haha
No we don't we all live under capitalism We just have more social politics in place that are slowly being removed Give it 10-15 years will end up in the same boat if we don't learn from them
Someone else said this however I deeply agree with it, "when you have all the money in the world you have time to ponder existential problems, your life no longer revolves around how you are going to pay for your food instead your life begins to revolve around "who am I?". " Most people, myself included, have no idea what gives them fulfillment or joy because we are stuck focusing too much on survival and just making it to the next week.
Finally someone points out the real inequalities in society. It's not the gender inequality that hurts our society the most. It's the poor distribution of goods that leaves a lot of people behind.
A large problem is people are economically illiterate and don't even understand fundemental principles so vote for idiotic things that make them poorer. A prime example is all the comments suggesting that they wouldn't care about wealth inequality if they could afford food/house/bills etc while a sizeable cause of them not affording these things is wealth inequality. You see money is like any other commodity and it's value is largely based on supply/demand. The more money in an economy i.e. lots of billionaire's, the less that money is worth. So when the 2017 tax cuts were passed most Americans were happy about their $200-$1000 tax cut, not realizing that the $100k+ tax cuts to the rich would devalue the currency and they'd actually be poorer in real terms despite technically having higher numbers. Same with all the covid money printing that was bipartisan.
A Christian culture is not one steeped in victim hood what supports that? It also doesn’t promote virtue signaling, it’s literally the opposite. We are taught that if you want social gain for good deeds you are not rewarded by God as you have already received your reward.
"They don't care about injustice. They care about conspicuously displaying that they care about injustice" That so perfectly explains most modern 'activism' and cultural issues, well said.
He's missing a lot of the hedge fund managers like Larry Fink, who only have "a few million" on paper, but are actually managing wealth funds worth TRILLIONS. If you used the same wealth calculation on Larry Fink's holdings that you do with Elon Musk, he'd dwarf all the other known billionaires combined.
The kind of "activist" behavior that's popped up has come alongside an increasing number of people labeling themselves as agnostic or atheist, so I doubt the victim mentality has anything to do with Christianity.
@@scubarubanzaiiyou were also grammatically incorrect i think the person is reffering to asmon being a millionaire himself, pot calling the kettle black moment.
I think he's a fine person to give insight. I like hearing Zach's opinion, because I find it entertaining. He's not 'right' in a lot of things he says, but I get a kick out of it and that's his job as an entertainer.
Ah so... I hear this all the time. About the 1% And Im looking at it and thinking surely not. It cant be true that 1 out of every 100 Americans are stonking rich. But the upper 1% are on around 120 000 dollars. That makes more sense. And there are no real statistics dealing with whatever is above that.
18:34 That is unless you have social and legal policies that specifically target you as a member of the dominant group for discrimination against you in favor of a member of a non-dominant group. Like what we have in America. Then being part of the dominant group is a net negative, because you have injustices leveraged against you while also being claimed to be "privileged" by a bunch of people who don't know any better.
Asmongold sitting on a pile of money: "Things are pretty fair nowadays" As he said himself "people's ideologies align pretty accurately with their coping mechanisms"
Asmon projecting his own biases onto the world in order to justify his own behavior? Never. To be fair, he’s more adjusted than a lot of millionaires. That’s not saying much though.
@@MercurialStatic True. Asmongold is that uncle/grandad that dies and everyone actually gets an inheritance. Doesn't care about materialism enough to spend it and isn't greedy enough to risk it and lose it. He is ultimately a lottery winner though.
There isn't a problem with wealth inequality. The main issue is the government actively taking a dump on the lower and middle class. The current US government has made it even more expensive to live. The US has been in a state of stagflation since 2020. The CPI is up at least 5% for every item with a few exceptions. Illegal immigrantion is at an all-time high, and those millions of immigrants need food, water, housing, immenties, insurance, etc. There are more people, and the amount of supply has not increased alongisde the population. Are there specific lifestyle choices that negatively effect their monetary wealth, yes but is it as bad as the government incentivesing crime, no.
Weath inequality is the problem. As you don't have much wealth you have no power and there by no saying Who will deside the law? Those who are in power so goverment makes bad politics that benefit the rich? Well yea because the rich who hold the power are running it. You want a solution advocate for a system where you hold the power or the power doesn't lie with select few
@TheMrJeffYT you are equating money with political power. State and local governments don't require as much money as a presidential race to get into office. Look at the junior congressmen of the current congress. They don't have a lot of money but are making governmental decisions. State representatives of state legislatures aren't as wealthy either, but they do make decisions regarding entire states. Are there any representatives more wealthy than others, yes, but they doesn't mean they have more say over any other representative.
@@markhohenbrink5230 Money is political power, there is a reason why most people in the goverment comes from very forunate backgrounds and why most poor people don't make it in Because they don't hold power, you're just saying Rich person A has the same power as Rich person B, but failed to account why they are there to begin with and how easily can be bought out. A problem with represntative democrasy
@TheMrJeffYT that's exactly why the US isn't a representative democracy. The US is a constitutional republic. Most state representatives in the state legislatures do not come from affluent wealthy backgrounds. If you are saying that all congressmen in the national assembly come from wealthy backgrounds, look at pretty much all junior congressmen; AOC, Rashida Tlaib, Ihlan Omar, Jake Laturner, Ritchie Torres, Marie Glusenkamp Perez, etc. None of these people were particularly wealthy before going into Congress, let alone politics. The main argument here is that politics makes you wealthy and that being part of generations of politicians makes it easier for you to become one because your family has connections and accumulated wealth from generations of politics.
I can answer the S.Korea part. S.Korea is very hemogenous. People have a strong sense of social conformity. So protesting happens publically but its very organized and a very public social event, like a concert would be, and not destructive or intrusive to others not involved. The focus is the message while respecting other citizens not involved. Compared to the West were everyone protesting has a personal individualistic mindset to why they are protestest and often its for someone who they don't identify with and tainted by people wanting to "Virtue signal". Blocking traffic, throwing stuff screaming at everyone. And People wonder why their movement gets little sympathy. The best example of mass protest in S.Korea is the one when we ousted President Park Guen Hae. Literally we removed a president just by protesting. Although millions of angry people in every city all over Korea were protesting, no one got hurt including the police. People actually brought food for the police and respected they are just doing a job. In the end, the police left people alone and people kept angry aggressive protesters from taking over and keeping them in check. It was sucessful and our president got removed. Just watch the videos on youtube and the scale will amaze folks how big it was.
It is the solution and you have no experince. You either go with the solution or you do what you do side with the system that's runing you're life and then pretent that ur correct
@@TheMrJeffYT Why do you talk like you know me? I come from a socialist country and I know from experience that it doesn't work. Socialism simply leads to misery with slogans like: "Eat the Rich." The only thing it causes is that the rich people leave the country with their companies, then The state controls most or all means of production, individuals often have fewer choices regarding employment. This can lead to inefficiencies and a lack of innovation, as there are fewer market-driven incentives to improve productivity and efficiency. Your ideology wherever it has been applied has failed without exception and caused millions of deaths in the process. For one reason, people from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, China (socialist/communist countries) plan to live in the United States like me.
Keep in mind that someone who makes 100K a year for decades can still go broke with just one medical injury. My former employer's daughter got hit by a distracted driver as a pedestrian at 40 miles an hour and suffered a catastrophic brain injury. Insurance does not cover much for TBI. It has drained their life savings, but they are still facing millions more in costs. They installed a hyperberic chamber in the house because it cost them less than 4 months of being treated with the one at the hospital. They were being charged about 35k per month and insurance does not cover anything. The medical profiteering is evil to the core.
Yep that's a horrible thing. The reason why it doesn't change is because people who vote, on average, think that they will never get into such a situation. And the people in power already have enough income and/or (usually "and") insurance to cover the cost of any medical injury imaginable. That sums up very well why capitalism is nothing to be proud of.
What the hell man, that sucks, I feel so sorry for people like these
its not medical profiteering its medical regulation, you are not making money through ingenuity you are making it because the alternative is illegal so you become a state enforced monopoly, in this case moving to another country might have made sense cost wise.
let me shorten this for you. "rich people can go broke with one medical injury, for example someone's child getting a catastrophic brain injury can make a rich person broke, but the distinct difference for someone making 100k a year for decades vs someone making 50k a year for decades is a brain injury makes one broke and a bone fracture makes the other broke"
see the difference? stupid ass comparison is what keeps us in this situation. a broken bone wont make someone making 100k a year go broke unless they're making severely bad decisions but a broken bone for someone who makes just enough to meet the minimum required to meet ends meet.
@@RandoomDude It took 3 years of legal battles just to get her out of the hospital's system money meat grinder. They were denying her access to a neurologist while trying to take guardianship from her parents. And very few states have a standard of care for TBI & those that do are woefully outdated. Big pharma can not profit if they recover.
i dont think most people would care about wealth inequality if forming families, buying a home, owning a car, and retiring was something they could theoretically do if they work hard and are honest actors. the problem is when you have people who "do everything right" and still end up working until theyre 80, lose their home due to foreclosure and get divorced because they cant pay for diapers. people that that happens to can get extremely bitter extremely quickly, and right or wrong, their anger will go somewhere. those who took your labor, paid you 10% of what you produced and used the other 90% to buy their 7th yacht are a pretty likely target. in fact for most of human history the elites of the society knew perfectly well not to flaunt their wealth too unabashedly, because they knew ho hopelessly outnumbered they were. if a ship is sinking and the elites toss their population overboard to save themselves, dont be mad when the ship finally sinks and the people in the water pull you down with them. always remember, the french elites were throwing dinner parties and gallant balls while the bastille was being stormed. when it becomes clear your leaders no longer can solve even the most basic of social problems, their right to rule starts coming into question.
this is true.
Thats why their trying to divide everyone so much with things like racism, sexism, transgender and so many other things. They want us to weaken each other while they put things in to place to surpress and control the survivors. AI and robotics are just the newest weapons.
Love this
If they could do those things, then there probably isn't massive inequality.
Yes this is the beginning of the fall of all empires. I hope the United States can make changes before there is no return. But people always fail to learn lessons from history, so I am very pessimistic
I do landscaping in a very affluent area. Multi million dollar vacation homes, empty 99.9% of the year, yet owned by millionaires. We charge 10k a summer for our service, and our clients pay it no problem. These people are paying 10,000 dollars a summer to have a perfectly cut lawn/hedges, that they never see, never visit, don't even care about. I have been in this area for 2 summers and I have only met 2 of our clients, because the rest of the time they are not in the state. Thesr homes would blow your mind btw, tennis courts, hot tubs, pools, firepits with cobble walkways, expensive security systems. Etc.
I make 20 dollars an hour and I'm struggling. I'm always broke. I'm always tired. I feel guilty for not providing enough for my 2 little girls.
The system is Broken. And I'm ready to Snap.
I live in a "resort" trailer park. I'm a full timer but the other 80% don't even visit except for 3 months a year, if they come at all. They pay $1200 a year to have the place, plus upkeep. Blows my mind that people do this. So poorer people have that same waste mindset as well.
Might not be my place, but dont feel guilty for not providing enough for your daughters. You work hard, and clearly love them. Youre good, you got this.
I have two boys and feel exactly the same sometimes.
I don't how you feel about it, but that is why I hate that first video. It does nothing but point people to them without any of the context of what is making the situation. It felt intended only to drive more hate rather than get down to the problems.
Edit: One other thing. Not to sound dismissive or to preach, but as that second video pointed out the greatest thing you will ever give them is being a great parent and being there for them.
I used to cut lawns professionally, I never felt envy over the super rich and they homes they had I set it as a personal goal to get there one day. And I did retired early at 42 the system is not broken you are just not playing it well work smart understand the idea of supply and demand develop the skills/services that have high demand/skill cap and you will do well. Lets be real anyone can cut lawns, you dont deserve a penny more neither did I when I cut lawns I understood this and adjusted you decide to cry about it.
Yeah, there’s a very good reason for this. Houses in modern day are viewed as an investment, so if you own a bunch of property, it goes up in value, and you get that money. These multi-millionaires are paying these large sums of money for houses they will never even see a single day in their lives because it quite literally makes them more money to do so. It’s a fucked system to be working like that, but that’s how it is
Asmongold: $2,000,000
Amouranth: $15,000,000
Me: -$6,000
Me - $72
you forgot about 25 mil of asmon ;)
Need to add at least one zero there for Asmongold.
How old are you
Me 0.68 cents
100% no one would care how rich someone was long as their needs are met with out to much struggle. You can own 50 houses long as I have one.
Yeah the problem is not there being people too rich, the problem is us being too poor, if we could live without struggle we wouldn't care if they needed to invent new numbers to classify the rich.
yes. I think what happens with people is they get to stressed covering basic needs-- which are greater than they were 100 years ago. after their needs there is not much to save or to explore life , have hobbies, travel, take care of their health, it turns into a feeling of being enslaved. You can't make enough progress fast enough for the effort you are putting in. it goes against the function of the brain its not a reward its a punishment just to stay afloat. This can't exist. If teenagers who live at home can work- then thats where the current pay system makes sense but to pay an adult minimum wage and not offer full time work or hell even to pay them anything less than $20 an hour is not going to cut it for people. there are to many taxes and taxes exist everywhere they just aren't labled as such. when you see corporations making record profits. when you see the system create these necessities for people just to fit in and get respected its a tax raised gas prices , raised food prices, hell even soap and deoderant went up- these are taxes.. dental not being covered is a damn tax. people dont get hired when they can't afford to take care of health issues.. to take care of your health everything effective in place comes at high cost. everything else is like a punishment.
people need a living wage. Something that gets them a decent apartment that has adequate space privacy and safety. they need adequate health care. They need food. They need clothing. they need phones, transportation(public transport doesn't work in the current system, it works in major us cities like nyc it doesnt work in rural areas it is bad it is slow its a time tax on working people and those trying to get started. design small towns different or people need money for their own cars to get working ) and access to internet is important phone is important. this isnt even all the necessary things some people need to get working and start making progress in life but they are things when people struggle just to afford these something happens to their brain imo and its not good.
giving people this won't make them lazy it will motivate most people. and for the few who decide the little they get to sustain is enough -LET THEM BE. people are not inherently lazy as many say. they need purpose they naturally will want more once they have the basics of what they need and don't have to struggle week after week just to maintain that basic shell of security. this level of struggle and stress is damaging to the brain and eliminating that from society will do nothing but help it
i dont have an idea of a perfect system. even in what i mention you will still have wealth inequality. but the main difference is no one will struggle pay check to pay check for very basic needs. they can make better choices. it goes from surviving to living. let people live.
the more people you meet and truely get to know their story. there are so many people making minimum wage , paying off school debts and they are super smart and hard working people. something is off. people are not valued they are treated like cannon fodder. People simply are not valued to exist. we are seen and treated like an expendable problem.
This isn't quite true there are always plenty of jealous people who are already mad at you if they have a house and you have a house and a dog house for your pet in your garden because that slightly more is enough for them to be jealous of.
The only way elites can feel like gods, is if they are absurdly more rich and powerful than the common folk. This is their dream, to feel superior than others. Equality destroys their dream, thats why the world is made unfair.
America's poor are the richest poor people the world has ever seen.
Literally, the health care thing hit me hard. I purposely only go to the doctor when I feel like I’m dying. It’s just too expensive. $300 to get my blood drawn is ridiculous. $128 for a checkup, just for the doctor to tell me something I already know. Healthcare in this country sucks. I’m not even poor, I’m middle class. I feel like I’m stuck, no matter how much I work or learn. I can’t climb any more.
A lot of it is no central body or open billing systems. When you get a bill for $300 to draw blood, you're paying the phlebotomist, the lab tech, for media replacement, the cost of the machines that analyze your blood, the janitor that cleans the place, the rent for the building, the secretary's pay, property taxes, etc... It may look simple, but there are a ton of costs involved. The way they do it in many EU countries is to charge +60% in taxes with no deductions. And they STILL are having issues. Look at France, Canada, Finland, and UK. Most people are not willing to lose most of their salaries for things they may not need.
My mother had eye surgery in both eyes, it would cost 10k+ in USA, 5k and something for each eye. Did it for free here in Brazil. (As it was not a medical emergency she had to wait a little but hey, nothing is perfect)
this why im moving to europe bruh
Healthcare sucks in every country.
@@hata6290 Europe sucks.
Idc how rich people get, i dont feel envy like that, but when the average person literally has to work most of their life just to pay for rent and food and a basic lifestyle and then have nothing left to save for anything, something is wildly wrong.
I aint talking about homeless, drug addicts, or disabled people, im talking NORMAL working people with a normal job, you cant build a life with a job anymore
If you calculate the salary back then in relativity to rent, taxes, food, etc. to today's money, it'd be an average income of 171k, we currently have an average income of 77k, that is NOT EVEN HALF, for at least the same amount of work, and more psychological pressure on most people.
I'm ready to Snap idgaf anymore. I've been working hard my entire life and I have Nothing to show for it. Nothing. Bad choices, sure, but a solid work ethic and a reliable attitude should count for SOMETHING and it simply doesn't anymore. I'm tired of getting jobs that just work me into the ground until I quit or get canned. Hard work is no longer being rewarded it is being blatantly taken advantage of. I'm exhausted, I'm stressed out, and I feel as though I have been personally betrayed by my own country. I am sick of having nothing. No amount of work seems to change it. And I am ready to fucking snap.
Finite world it's crazy that people actualy belived that ownership and how it's used wouldn't effect them
Short term thinking has finaly caught up
Try working 60 hour weeks and still only being able to afford rent, bus, bills, and groceries. I'm so sick of it, 60 hours a week and can't save anything. Rent is insanely high, every year costs go up but I don't get raises. Everything is a lie and I'm done. Life is miserable. People tell me I just need to get a third job, I'm just too tired.
This is why leaving the US is the answer
heck yeah, american dream right?!
Like george carlin said. You need to be asleep to believe in it
@SPONGUTTP2024_6 Is this true? I'm a little scared
@@carlizancho2 its not
vygo
@@carlizancho2It's a bot dude you ain't gonn die don't listen to em
I've been rich and I've been poor ... I don't think rich people can comprehend how difficult the struggle is. It's not about having to work, it's about having to work and knowing you'll still be broke no matter what you do. Not having any money for retirement, a car repair, sending your kids to school or paying rent. It's an endless hole that feels impossible to dig yourself out of.
My recommendation for kids nowadays is skip college unless you know exactly what you want to do and you need a degree. And I'm not talking about being a social worker or some low paying job. Take courses at a community college while working part time, then transfer to a state school where tuition is less expensive, and live at home or get multiple roommates. Start investing when you're 18, even if it's only $10 a week. Before you pay rent, food, car, etc *PAY YOURSELF FIRST* (from Rich Dad Poor Dad).
I agree with everything you said...but that rich dad poor dad book is borderline scam.
All that preachy financial philosophy crap to end up with "so....I got into real estate"
Hardly different from "I worked so hard......
To network upper management connections into my ez do nothing bs 6 figure salary job...AND SO CAN YOU!"
Great advice
Exactly. I don’t understand the 4 year university that charges a crap ton for tuition. When community colleges are just as good if not better than universities.
Thats where I would move the f out, no joke that sounds so poor in comparison to living in the EU/other western countrys
Thanks for the shout-out and the thoughtful viewing. You got a smart crowd
The legend himself! Thanks for this eye opening video and thanks for reminding me that i should study my ass off to make it as high as possible while i'm young. otherwise i might get stuck in a low income bracket and politicians will make it even worse in the future in fear of lobbyists and companies.
You know what the elites say “you’ll own nothing and be happy.”
Smart crowd is overstating it
Woah, Woah... Calm down now, let's just calm down.
"Smart" is a strong word.
No need to lie. No smart crowd here.
What is even funnier is how wealthy people talk about how AI will make it so no one has to work any more in the near future. Yet not a single one is coming up with a plan to get life's necessities to the non wealthy average person.
Yes and AI is going to be even more of a problem because its going to replace more and more jobs over time.
My conspiracy is that AI will be more of a harming force than good, replacing people and increasing the amount of people without jobs to the point society either snaps into chaos or we get a system of universal basic income but how fast this goes I cant say and again this is literally based on my feelings I cant back it up
Its actually already a harmful force, like a bramble choking the life out of the internet and poisoning people who touch it
Its already become a harming force, like a bramble choking the life out of the internet and poisoning the people who touch it
Why would the wealth care about the poor?
You're basicly asking for a kind dictator.
If you want to solve any of you have to give power to the people
The scary scary socialism
I disagree with the sentiment that “rich” people shouldn’t be obliged to help poor people, especially when large enterprises or very wealthy individuals deliberately take advantage of lower social classes or design their products to be addictive (gambling, social media, high sugar foods etc to name some)
That’s the whole point of how the tax system works, the more you earn the more you should have to contribute to society.
The problem is how disproportionate the contribution is from each social class.
People have obscene amounts of wealth while others are homeless, eating out of garbage bins.
It’s not an easy system to fix but it should be fixed as it benefits us all as a species and it would contribute massively to our success as a whole.
The taxes are spent horribly
Yep, most people can live fine with a few million….theres no reason they can hoard 500+ million and pay the same taxes we all do. However if they do something useful like start a company or produce jobs that’s what tax deductions are for. Theres just too many loopholes and many are greedy using that money to buy mansions and super yachts etc
1) Your initial "point" is nothing but a false premise that rich people are evil. Elon Musk, e.g., richest man in the world, has a multitude of companies that have nothing to do with exploiting people (excepting, arguably, Twitter; but he bought that one out of concern for the damage he perceived it to be doing). In fact, they are generally aimed at solving humanity's biggest problems and the dude spends almost nothing on himself, just reinvests into his projects. I'm not saying exploitation isn't a theme among the rich, as that is the easiest mechanism for amassing wealth, but let's not paint with too broad a brush.
2) Higher income brackets do have higher tax rates. The problem is there are also a lot of ways to avoid paying it. Granted, I absolutely trust Elon to do more good with money than the government, even though I do believe in government and I know Elon is an outlier. Still, successful entrepreneurs do tend to be much more efficient capital allocators, it's just questionable whether their goals are aligned with improving quality of life for most people.
3) Yes, as Asmon, Yang, and many others have pointed out, it's really poverty that is the main concern. This is why Asmon, Yang, and Elon all support UBI, as it is one simple way to eliminate poverty and ensure everyone has a guaranteed income that can cover a good quality of life. It would also make capitalism work a lot more like it is intended, as poverty distorts the free market, eroding the individual freedom of choice that competition, innovation, etc. relies on. Once that is dealt with.
100% I DO NOT, and NEVER will understand why the filthy rich think they need to be richer.
The first part is funny because any emergency is gonna be a lot more than $500
Facts I have 2k saved It’s not a lot but is crazy people don’t even have 500. Tbf I don’t buy anything except rent Wi-Fi food and ffxiv sub
the only emergency that could possibly happen in germany, where you actually need a lot of money quickly and cannot do without is a funeral
if somebody of your family suddenly dies - thats around 8k for a proper funeral - if you get em cremated and go on the low side its still 3k, but most people want a proper burial - so 8k my dudez - thats a lot and you need to have that money around 2-3 days after your loved one died - max 1 week, but thats already stretching it
It does show how severe the problem is. Only $500 and most people already dont have it
Well, if you had the $500, you could go on a mean bender instead of having an emergency.
@@banhammer3904 thats actually one of the problems here in germany my dude!! there are so many people that just go out and spend hundreds in a fkin bar and get blacked out drunk, thats stupid
you cant save money if the money ur supposed to save is being spend towards a pub
"The money is theoretical" I hear this a lot when people are downplaying how wealthy a billionaire is to me. Funny thing is, that theoretical money seems to spend ok. One of the reasons they want to keep it as theoretical as possible is the concept of "realized gains"
It’s so frustrating man
The thing I don't think you understand in that is that if the stock market crashes most that 'money' stops existing. It's not cash, land, gold, or anything physical. It only has value because someone in the world wants it, and if that stopped most rich wouldn't be rich. They would even have problems selling that valuable property because who could buy it at it's actual value? It's a house of cards.
Ah, autocorrect.
@@onba7726 yep, there's ~$2 trillion USD in cash but the US GDP is ~$25 trillion
The vast majority of the wealth isn’t “spent”, it is invested into producing goods and services everyone else consumes. Invested wealth isn’t hoarded consumption. Taxing and redistributing invested welath doesn’t increase everyone else’s consumption, it destroys it.
People always conflate "Household Income" with "Individual Income". Over 70% of households have more than 1 income. So the stats for how much money individuals in the lower and middle classes make is actually much lower (i.e. husband and wife combined make $120k but individually the husband makes $70k and the wife $50k, etc.)
Its literally RENT!. All these apartments stacked around here going for $1800 1BR but jobs are only paying $16/hr. Do the math. Light bill, water bill, car payments, food, smartphone, wifi, home supplies. Its a huge finesse. And if you're a gamer with all that baggage, goodluck trying to save up for a gaming pc.😢
Pay 2600 for a 3br and get 2 roommates. Boom, you just reduced your rent by $1,000
@@GabrielBacon You are a GENIUS. Like seriously how did you get so smart??? 😮
@@GabrielBaconwhat if your roommates are a 6 and a 7 year old? What then?
Or just another upgrade for that pc.
My 1BR is 2700
So some fun facts, in 1950 the top tax bracket was 91%, today it’s 37…
The average income was 3,300 a year and the average home costs 7,400, so just over twice your income.
Today the average income is between 60-75,000 a year depending in where you look, and the average home is 350,000-490,000 depending in the source so 6-8x’s your income.
The CEO pay rate was roughly 20x’s average in the 50’s, 40x’s average in the 80’s, 120x’s average in 2000, and 250x’s average today.
When people say back in my day we used to xyz, well F them, because you could work at a Kroger and feed a family of 3 and pay for college.
Well to be fair I bought my home under trump only for 150k. Very nice decent space. now under Biden my home would cost 400k
Maybe we need to think about who we are putting in charge of the economy for this next election....
yeah the average income back then, in today's money would be 171k whilst we are currently making 77k on average, so not even half the money they made, this is calculated with taxes, rent prices, food prices, etc. included, so we work the same, for less than half of what they used to pay, it just sounds bigger, but isn't.
@@gildias2556 you got some false associations tied to the person in office and the price of real estate.
@@vKross this has been shown over and over again, the same people who deny it will keep ignoring it, the people who see it are not capable or willing of changing a damn thing about it. The appeal to authority in many is simply too high.
@@JonLaRue Correlation may not exactly be causation but you are talking about political actors setting policies that affect every aspect of your life. If you don't think everything has gotten more expensive in the last 4 years, brother your eyes aren't open.
Wealth inequality isn't necessarily the problem, it's the erosion of the middle class. Wealth doesn't need to be evenly distributed as long as people on the bottom 99% are able to at least live comfortably and afford basic necessities.
Wealth inequality is the problem, because when a few people own most things then you don't own anything, we live in a finante world.
You don't have to equaly distribue everything but the reality is most people advocate against such concepts
@@TheMrJeffYT Some people can own most things as long as most people can live comfortable lives. If wealth inequality gets to the point where too many people are unable to live comfortably then it becomes a problem and we might be heading in that direction if we aren't careful.
@@jhhwild It's already there you and I don't experince it as much, but there are milions of other people who do.
The problem is people don't advocate for change ahead of time and by the time reality catched up to them they have no say on the matter.
The idea that some peopel can own most things is "kind dictator" mentality. That just simply doesn't exists
@@TheMrJeffYT But people who are already happy and living comfortable lives don't feel the need to advocate for change because it's not a problem for them. In order for it not to be a problem they need to be kept happy and comfortable. If the middle class erodes and nobody is able to afford anything except the super wealthy then there might be a revolution. People are fine with other people being rich as long as they're happy with where they are at. I expect inequality in a free society where people can make their own choices. It's when too many people are unhappy when it becomes a problem, that's why I said the erosion of the middle class is the problem.
Also it depends on who owns what, just because someone has a lot of money and owns a lot doesn't mean they are inevitably going to be a dictator. And I'm not advocating for extremes, I'm just saying a majority of people need to be kept happy and comfortable.
@@jhhwild What are you saying is not releftive in reality, you can't give most of the power at the hands of very few and think there won't be a problem.
You wish for a reality that simply doesn't exist and will not exist.
No government official should make more than the average income of the state they represent
ive said literally this for 30 yrs XD. i think any politician should make the minimum wage of the state they represent.
@@wesleywalker4162 whats wrong with minimum wage...everything is comped for them, security, housing, food, school....wtf do they need 6 figures for?
That and they should also receive the average level of healthcare insurance from the state they represent
What a way to represent
@@finallychangedit4926 There needs to be an incentive for smart and ambitious people to become government officials, otherwise they would just do something else, but I agree with the point, that it should be a moderately high paying job, but nothing more.
That's the reasoning why "real" communism could never work, because you can't incentivise people to, for example, struggle through a medical school etc. to become a doctor, if they are going to be "equal" in pay/lifestyle to the guy cleaning the streets.
In a wealthy country, the guy cleaning the streets should be able to afford his own place, big enough for a family and to live comfortably, including 1 vacation a year, to the place of his choosing (maybe not in a 5 star hotel), and be able to support his whole family.
Edit: The truth is, that politicians usually come from wealth, because you need connection and then money to run your campaings. There are good people, who would want to change things for the better, but we never hear about them, because they can't afford to plaster their face in your face.
Most people don’t care about money so long as they have enough of it to live a happy and fulfilling life
i think I'm disagreeing with that.
@@chrismartino3519some people are content with having food, water, and a place to sleep.
@@chrismartino3519 I doubt the Amish are too concerned with money.
@@googleisevil8958 you'd be wrong
@@Keklmaololhehe content is not the right word.
I think the biggest problem with wealth inequality isn't who has the money, it's who can make new businesses, and who has the will to do so. Because the really rich people don't have that money in a bank somewhere, they have businesses, stocks, and investments that make them more money. The internet has helped as more people find new ways to make businesses, but there is still a LOT of red tape keeping people from being independent from the major corporations. If there were more small businesses the wealth would shift away from the large corpos and there would be a better chance for the lower class to move up.
If it wasn’t so hard to get a business going without so many regulations
@@DrawinskyMoon The problem is people talk about regulations being the problem, but the easiest solution to the problem of small business being crushed by these elites is to HAVE regulations to protect small business.
It's just that those elites are the ones making the regulations designed to crush those small businesses.
People like to see regulations as a universal bad, but the reality is regulations can be a good thing too, it's the specifics of the regulations that are important.
"just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and work two jobs" mfs be real quiet right now
remind everyone that France always kills its leadership when this stuff happens.
In 10 years when the last of The old people die off we won't have to hear that phrase no more
The creature from jeckel island
@@ovxk1014 Yeah we'll just hear whining and entitlement slogans then
"Pulling yourself up by the bootstraps" is a far more enticing prospect when you can provide for a small family and purchase a decent home. When you and your partner have decent jobs and still spent half your paychecks on rentz groceries and gas, the enthausiasm for work deminishes quite rapidly. People who say these things expect the same principles to work in an economy that is vastly different from their time. Its utterly detached from reality.
In France in 1789, the top 10% of society controlled 90% of the wealth, and paid 10% of the taxes taxes, while the other 90% controlled 10% of the wealth, and paid 90% of the taxes.
let them eat cake
It's either reform or revolution, baby
So it is fair? Who uses tax money - everyone, roads, schools, police, etc. So if 10% pays 10% taxes and 90% pays 90% that looks fair.
Wealth isn't fixed
@@kukuki5000 No, you forget the fact that the 90% only owned 10% of the wealth, so ofcourse its not fair if they pay 90% of taxes, luckely the revolution also didnt agree, they cut the kings head off.
The sad part is if you took ALL of Elon's net worth (~185b), liquidated it, and dispersed it evenly to everyone in the US (~350m?), we would only get ~$528.57 and then everyone employed by him would become unemployed.... doesn't stretch out very far
That's almost 2 weeks pay for me ill take it
@@FantomMisfit you make 260 a week? Minimum wage less than 20 hours?
@beloved-child 300 a week 1200 a month. Pay is very low in my state Edit: I did say almost
The money concentrated are what make things happen
the problem is modern monetary policy, a fiat currency backed by debt and the federal reserve which is neither federal nor a reserve
The problem at it's fundimental stage is private ownership over the means of production
@@TheMrFellaTV Everyone being enslaved by the government is a worse problem than wealth inequality
Best Comment.
@@TheMrFellaTVthen explain to me in detail why the Soviet Union fell, China is still lagging very far behind any country that has allowed private ownership of 'the means of production' and only started to dig it's way out when it reversed course on that, and why Venezuela and Cuba are stuck in the 1990s and 1940s respectively if private ownership is so terrible. I will wait.
@@cavalieroutdoors6036 Dis*co*rd?
another thing is it's fucking expensive being poor.
not being able to buy in bulk, always have to loan for bigger expenses.
you think rich people buy things in bulk? XD
Take a credit score for example. You have higher interest rates the poorer you are.
@@Tesprithat's just one example, but usually when you can afford the better "thing" it actually saves you money in the long run.
If I have less than $1500 in the bank, my bank charges me monthly fees. If I have more than $1500, no monthly fees. Its literally a charge for being poor. Plus, paying rent for a studio apartment in my area is about $1700/month. My parents monthly mortage payment and bills on a 4 bedroom house is $700. And its not like its paid off, they still owe quite a bit on it cause they refinanced during an emergency a few years ago. Make it make sense.
@@milhouse8166 Was always told that with work equipment, and it's true for most things, you just gotta do a little research and evaluate how much you use something, and if that amount justifies a expensive option, or if you are better of with a cheap option, as cheap options CAN be good enough.
The issue is that some people's 'wants' override the 'needs' of others.
The price of houses sky rocket when an individual can buy up hundreds of houses and sit on them. Rental and Buying home prices are outrageous.
I can't be the only one who see's the irony in watching a multimillionaire earn probably around at least $15,000 USD, by watching a 6 minute video that a random kid put together about wealth inequality.
f
You're all poor just like him. Hes comfortably poor and you are uncomfortably poor. That's the point. Theres no difference between him and you on that chart.
@@Lloocii there is 0 logic behind your statement besides being pretentious just for the sake of it
No you're just missing the trees for the forest
@@Lloocii Not even remotely the same.
The difference between living poor and being poor are opportunities. Asmongold doesen't have to worry when a sudden expense comes up. Asmon doesen't have to worry about how he is going to retire, or that a medical bill with bankrupt him. Asmon can grab a ticket and go anywhere in the world whenever he needs to.
Even if he doesen't use most of his money, and he does use some, making/investing in companies like Starforge and OTK, he still has a financial safety net. The majority of worries in those people's lives are just abscent from his, as such he has more time, more energy, less stress. Even living as Asmon does, just by the virtue of having money to spare, he lives a completely different life. That's the point.
I’m a disabled USAF vet on pension, I get about $1100 a month for breaking my back falling with a box of potatoes. Yeah I was a cook, nothing special. The VA won’t cover shit for medical, told me a torn rotator cuff from SIRVA wasn’t service connected so no coverage. I wouldn’t treat my worst enemy as badly as my government has treated me.
People got to eat man, appreciate your service 🫡
Exactly why it's a terrible idea to ask the government to redistribute wealth in a "fair" manner.
Your injuries are NEVER service related 🙄 ffs I was blown up in a IED attack and have been told my bad back and shrapnel in my hip are not covered because I'm actively working (my own company lmao). Whatever..
When American politicians use my country Denmark to say we are socialist and have high taxes. Always remember that 90% % of taxes goes directly back to the citizens through social security education and free healthcare.
(The correct term is actually capitalist socialist country)
Makes me so mad hearing about your situation. Also mind-blowing that Israel have free healthcare and education paid for with American tax dollars.
@@ShiftyRightNow that’s criminal that they didn’t retire you man, I’m so sorry. Should have gotten tax exemption and everything in my opinion at 100%. Thank you for your sacrifices, brother.
I already believed this to be the case for a long time but didn't have a way to express it, and "Luxury Beliefs" encapsulates it perfectly
Chuck Schumer himself talked about literally forwarding citizenship towards illegal immigrants as to boost American prospects as we are in decline with families, so instead of tackling issues with no one being able to afford homes, vehicles, children and more. We’ll just mass import, that seems to be the solution. I have no care for income inequality IF I could afford those things, I don’t need to be rich. I don’t need to have luxuries, but those aren’t supposed to be luxuries. The “American dream” is dead and we’re just constantly decaying away
Gotta wonder how all this ends. Especially with the drastic increase in illegal immigration of people who don’t care about our culture, customs and laws.
I'd say it is less not tackling it and more causing the issues and then replacing the populace when enough try to push back on that narrative. Many of them purposely killed the American dream and don't like to be opposed on that.
South Koreans protest like crazy. There’s a place in Seoul that’s kinda like Times Square where different groups protest several times a week
Ya like non stop. Seems uselsss
that sounds so sad and so funny at the same time
France has regular car burnings but the latest one was flat out ignored
Sounds super fun.
They have been having protests for decades. Nothing new in South Korea.
The main reason why those protests are more common in the West is individualism.
If you almost everone don't want you to disrupt society, you are less likely to protest.
And i don't think those protests are because of Christianity when most of those protesting hate Christianity.
I really disagree with the decriminalizing drug take. The way it was implemented does not accurately represent the core beliefs of the idea.
The core idea of decriminalizing drugs was to give people help through court ordered and government funded rehab facilities rather then sending people to jail over drug related charges. The idea is that if we help people rather then force them into the criminal process then we would have far less repeat offenders.
The way it has been implemented by taking away the police’s ability to arrest or detain someone who is suspected of being under the influence only furthers the issue of addiction.
We were supposed to help people not turn a blind eye to them. The way it was implemented seems to only serve as a means of delegitimizing the actual argument that might save lives and solve problems.
You know the old saying of the horse and the lake... Some people just don't want the help either way. They see the current implementation as a free pass
To be fair, a lot of the opposing views were misrepresented so they could be easily knocked down to make their point seem stronger.
@@VanLee-nf6tk yes but there is a difference between leading a horse to water vs a drug addict to needles.
@@SarcasticData Most of that video was anecdotal
What you wrote describes what happened in Vancouver. Drug use was decriminalized in January 2023, but WITHOUT the accompanied forced rehab. As you can guess, open drug use, crime, and deaths increased. The government had to re-criminalize drug use in April 2024 as all decriminalization did was exacerbate the issue.
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Easy for a bunch of rebels to justify
Always will be
people are always willing to get a job and work hard, but it's more about how there aren't enough opportunities and how the upper 0.1% is gatekeeping a lot of those opportunities. The stock market is growing but the job market is not great... government really need to regulate these mega companies from gatekeeping resources and stealing away opportunities.
well buffet and some places do have billions in cash but they keep it in high yeild accounts till they find something to buy
I liked this, but the discussion about luxury beliefs is more nuanced than presented, which is ironic considering how the opposing side is presented. The big problem there is legitimate issues being co-opted by the privileged ruining the original message by taking the issue to the worst possible extreme. Defund the police wasn't originally about having fewer police officers, but redirecting funds to social service programs so police wouldn't be the only option for dealing with mental health issues, but the message got co-opted by idiots and here we are. Same with the Palestinian rights protestors. There's a lot of complexity to this issue, but people like to be presented with simple answers for complicated problems.
That's why these conversations frustrate me when it's someone who has a leaning. There's practically no nuance as long as their core beliefs are highlighted.
The best convos are with someone who is actively trying to get to the bottom of it rather then saying, "I'm going to agree with this"
I am from Washington state. Defunding the police to fund social services is a BAD IDEA. We tried it. Don’t do it. Crime has gone up more than 25% statewide. Where I live specifically… 89% of the county is safer than where I live. We are #8 out of all states for crime. If I call the police, no one comes unless someone is SHOT. If you want more social workers, fund that, but don’t DEFUND THE POLICE! Give them more money!
You are wrong on that, it wasn't co-opted. Some later wanted to change a unpopular narrative and said that wasn't what was meant while other that were the first to push for it didn't care. Many specifically said they wanted fewer police officers when other started saying that isn't what was meant. They were saying that all the police did was oppress minorities. You might mean/want something different, but don't expect others are saying the same thing. Especially when they go as far as to say that is what they meant.
@@rachelnoll6656 Umm we can pretend we tried it (also from Washington), but we have far far far far far too many homeless to even think we gave an honest effort. It was partially sandbagged by the corrupt Seattle Police Union, and we got 0 meaningful social aid for homeless shelters or other forms of housing. It's like an alcoholic going into a bar saying: "if I drink enough to puke, them I'm staying sober", it is a false effort being put forth, then throwing our hands and saying "well I guess we tried".
If the police department has 90 officers all being paid 100k a year and a equipment cost of 1 million thats 10 million a year If we are to remove some funding by 10% and transfer it to another group . we are now 1 million short on the year and the only way to make that up would be to remove 10 officers . You now have 80 officers . How could defunding mean anything else ? You can't pay them less not when you expect them to risk life on every domestic call or traffic stop . sure you might be able to get rid of some gear but not enough you would still need to get rid of a min of 8 officers and then really penny pinch on gas and parts for the patrol cars , and all the other little things used on a daily shift .
I just can't see how anyone with a working mind can't see that defunding would mean less . I live in a high crime area i can't think of a single thing a social worker would be able to do without also having police there to protect them so then instead of 2-6 officer on a call you have 2-6 officers and 1-2 social workers ? nothing about that says less funding in fact it says more funding .
The average annual income in the US is like $78k, but when you ignore the top 1000 people, that number becomes like $36k
People could deal with inflating prices on consumer goods, or with higher prices of housing (Rent/Property Values), but we cant deal with both.
I just don't see how Asmond could watch these two videos back to back and come off the second video saying 'Things are pretty good now'
Feels almost like willful ignorance.
It's the same attitude most working US adults have. Doesn't matter political party, location or type of job, as long as the false narrative that "the US is the best" and the individual is "free" to succeed or fail, hardly anyone does anything
He has money of course everything is great right now for him. It's been a long time since he had to experience being broke.
Theres no way you think todays times are bad compared to WW1 and WW2 buddy. Black people were walking on a leash, poor people were walking on a leash, women were literally objects, police was fake. You could get drafted and die in some random war at any time. Its not comparable
He has the luxury of being too rich to care. He's immune to the struggles 98% of people have and that forms a bias that distorts common sense.
what he meant is that its wayyy beter than it was before, but still not perfect, a lot of room to improve, but overall its not bad
Wait so 720 people have more wealth than 170 million? Wow
If you and your spouse aren't making $150,000-$200,000 a year collectively, you probably aren't getting any sleep at night. It's messed up, any 40 hour work week should give you the opportunity to live comfortably.
If you spend 40 hours working and generate $1,600 for the company, how can they possibly pay you $150,000?
Dude... I live in San Diego... I make 180k and my wife makes 100k. After taxes it's nothing. A single family home priced at around 800k is roughly 7k a month including property taxes, etc. My wife and I don't make enough to afford it... If one of us lost our job we'd be fucked. You need to make imo 500k+ in San Diego to be truly financially stable.
@@GabrielBaconif you look at corporate America you will see that the huge middle management group is generating negative value to the company compared to their income… workers are the income generators not management, most companies in my country try to keep their management layer small to keep costs down.
@@Devoted96 born and raised in CA, as soon as i get the money for the condo my exwife and i bought im leaving. shes stuck here because she works for the state and its too good to give up. if you were making even half of that before 2020 you messed up, we bought our condo in 2020 for 265000. its worth 430000 now and every single day in 2020 i was looking at condos and bidding.
@@FirewynnTVwhy is your tax return so high though? Thats money that you cant use for investments, or make interest on it
What we don't want is actual equality of wealth, we WANT people to create market value. Taxes are also not the answer, the government has more taxes than ever and is nearly $70 Trillion in debt (it was around $4ish Trillion in debt around 2004).
What we need is:
-More support for unions and proper enforcement of union busting. This will put rights and proper wages back in the hands of the working citizen and support ACTUAL working citizens. Inflation is not a big problem as long as wages increase the same amount.
-More regulation to prevent predatory practices in companies.
-Auditing the U.S. govt. No more spending $90,000 on $100 worth of aircraft bolts. So the money they're already collecting in taxes actually gets distributed where it NEEDS to go.
-More enforcement AGAINST lobbying
-Rules against adding two or more separate issues to a single vote.
People have no clue about how insidious lobbying is. 80% of the problems you mentioned (and many more you didn't) would be solved overnight if lobbying was made completely illegal.
@@GengoSenmon absolutely
Bushes 10 trillion tax cut and 10 trillion dollar war didn't help
Asmon has gotten famous partly due to his down to earth and reasonable views. How far we've fallen. Spend more time learning about these topics, the data/facts, and listening to competing informed views before going straight to "I think [insert parroted overgeneralized talking point]." Clearly he has spent no energy (at least as of this video) thinking about wealth inequality and its causes and effects, and yet comes right out with steaming garbage takes on it.
The second half of the video was potentially even worse - he did the same exact thing that the video was criticizing luxury elites for doing: performatively virtue signaling and speaking definitively on topics that he's not directly involved with, hasn't had to face any hardship related to, and doesn't really know the details of what he's talking about.
i live below poverty level. i have a lot of chronic illness that doest get covered by insurance for treatments, so i basically am doomed to waste away since i am too ill to hold a job. it sucks going from top 3% of most intelligent grads in hs and college, getting ill at 20, then getting NO HELP. disability only pay us like 950$/month, have to live in rundown apartments "for disabled people" (no they do NOT keep them to code). i get under 100$ in foodstamps. it's horrific that the usa doesn't at least attempt to take care of its people and help them get a foot up out of poverty.
mexico doesnt give any gov assistance at all. if you dont work, you dont eat.
Can you elaborate as to what your illness is?
@@NicholasAdamDemonte an iq higher than my bodyweight?
but i'd say my ncs/POTS is the worst which makes me forever dizzy and faint. like actual fainting spells and lots of stuff that triggers that. it's also hard to know how i'll feel from minute to minute. sometimes i can seem "more fine" and then have a bad faint which makes me ill rest of the day. some days i am bedbound.
hope that answers your question a bit for a couple my illnesses. (oops i just accidentally deleted most the text, oh well. just touching on one illness lmao)
I wander if you vote rep then
The scale is consistent.
The problem is that the private corporations have direct access to our gov't through finance and the stock market/international finance makes no sense.
well said.
So let's push for a solution?
In which we collevitly own the means of production that way more people have a say on the matter a democrasy in the work place
@@TheMrJeffYT yes. I'm saying private corporations should have zero access to the govt through any means, monetary or otherwise.
Of course that's one part of the massive problem. The entire fed shouldn't even exist lol
@@KoenigJaeger I understand that, but I bet right now you support the system that's enabling such outcomes simplty put you might not want corpos in the gov, but you'll still support capitalism that is the root of the isshue.
I could be wrong and you don't belive that, but that's a genereal trent people with this oppinion hold.
@@TheMrJeffYT Capitalism and the US Democratic Republics includes no such condition. It is an adulteration of the two at the same time. The mixing of private and govt is more of a fascist situation.
The main problem with all of this is that humans have great capacity to be evil. That is why personal responsibility and private ownership is the best solution we have. But all systems eventually fail due to the human condition.
The US has existed for almost 250 years which is a pretty good run. Also even though there are those who are super wealthy, the poor are significantly wealthier than they have ever been in history. Some of the problem we have today are the poor crying that the rich are so rich when the poor throughout the rest of history were much worse off than they are now.
This is not as simple as "capitalism bad." But also what other system are we suggesting is better?
I do support capitalism. I do not support the mixing or private and govt. Govt partially owns the auto industry the airline industry; it regulates prices of food; etc. Those are all bad things. In capitalism industries are allowed to fail. If the govt didn't own industries and tamper with pricing (which is not free market) we would be much better off.
6:57 wrong we don't pay health care in Canada and still dont have our need met
People who dont have problems tend to make their own.
24:32 That is beyond the pale of ignorance.
There are hardworking Christians and Christians who are slackers.
There are hardworking non-believers and non-believers who are slackers.
I was with you up until you began to make generalized statements.
I like how 25 seconds into the video and Asmond already became Thanos.
0:30 Your asking for a Purge, that's a rich persons gain.
I'm pretty sure he was joking
This happen in the 1340's with the Black Death. So many people died there was a shortage of peasant labour so they could demand higher wages and life got much better for the average person. In 1349 they actually passed a maximum wage in England to stop it lol
This directly led to the peasant revolt of 1381. This is why mass immigration is a terrible thing from an economic perspective for the average person as it drives down wages, makes the rich, richer and creates more demand for a finite supply of natural resources.
@@kronos6460 Or the more recent example of women going to work which doubled the labor pool rapidly and then people wonder why wages plummeted as a result. Basic economics of supply and demand.
@@StealthXD1 And they still want a "provider husband", while earning the same or more.
@@SirRivelion I don't believe that's entirely true, that's just clout chasing women on the internet. There's probably some truth to it but I think the internet exaggerates it.
Working, worked all my life. 50 years. Very little saved in those years. I tried
You had a chance in your younger years. The economy was pretty decent in the 80's and 90's. Even the early 2000's up to 2008.
What will you do now?
Good thing things are so fair now though. Lol.
@rockbandandghmaster what kind of response is this dude? Shameless.
The economy will always be agnostic to a persons situation
To be fair, I live outside of Philadelphia and pretty much everyone I know makes over $100,000 a year. In my area that is sort of lower middle class. 95% of people if they just worked a lot would be doing just fine financially. The only factor that I think could change this is a medical emergency, that can definitely bankrupt a family. I just paid the hospital $49,000 to have my daughter's appendix removed, it was a 15-minute surgery and we were only in the hospital for a day and a half. That is criminal.
No insurance ?
It’s true most of the ultra rich hold their wealth in stock, but it’s also true they underpay employees. Just look at the increase in cost of living vs. increase in wages over the past 70 years. You can literally see the gap form with Reagan when he legalized stock buybacks, which is when a company uses their profits to reduce the number of shares and artificially increase the stock price. They used to have to use those profits to either: reinvest in the company, pay employees more, or distribute as dividends. Now CEOs use that money to make themselves more rich.
Imagine if the concept of 'old money' could be solved. It's almost as if the entire economy system would suddenly return to trickle down economics.
Oh wait, everyone who can solve it is on the right payroll.
Old money itself isn't necessary a problem either. Funnily enough, in Europe where income inequality is among the lowest in the world, old money makes up a much larger portion of the wealthy than in the US.
The problem is giving old money more political power than average citizens. In the US, the ability for the wealthy to influence politicians is much higher than in Europe.
it was solved till the 60s... and you would kow but your capitalism drestroyed all your schools :D
@@fdosufsachsen1727 What do you mean defunding schools and privating everything would end up badly for us the people
most generational wealth families lose it within 3 generations.
Also what is wrong with 'old money' why can't family lines attempt to secure a better future for themselves?
@@nilloc93 Because "envy" that's why.
I agree with everything but decriminalization of drugs work. They tried it in Europe, and drug use went down
"ppl wil just come and take your shit" lmfao
As a data scientist, only thing I can say is: while this problem is definitely true and real, the graph he conjured up is hilariously scaled to make the problem look a hundred orders of magnitude worse than it actually is. Irregular step sizes for medians as well as using medians of miniscule sample sizes (especially those of plucked out of a set of existing outliers) is nothing but a trick designed to make a whacky stretch of the graph's y-scale. In fact, would argue that any wealth graph with a step size anywhere near that small should be a cumulative distribution graph. I don't see a world where this could be seen as anything but deceptive.
Interesting if u could create your own version of the graphs that would be amazing.
Not to mention liquifying assets is stupid as a metric. Who's going to buy their panting's and exotic cars if all the rich are losing their money? Elon cashed in some of his stocks and Tesla prices dipped hard. If he tried to sell out it would collapse the company and millions of investors would sue him for losses.
As a Chinese national who graduated from Cornell University and hails from a family whose wealth surpasses the top 1% of US standards, I swiftly returned to China upon graduation, alarmed by the rapid deterioration of safety in America.
I've often pondered why affluent individuals in China don't adopt the facade of left-wing liberalism. Perhaps it's because the Chinese people have firsthand experience with genuine communist movements, comprehending that true leftist ideologies entail the confiscation and elimination of wealth, rather than merely serving as self-congratulatory slogans for the affluent.
In a country if you make the wrong move, you can go from level 5000 out the gate of the womb to -5000, there's a lot of stakes in the game and everybody knows it. If the game's setup is somewhat believable that anyone can make it from -5000 to 5000 if they just work hard enough within multiple generations, there's at least some room for hope that if you die trying your family line might make it.
This guy has the same idea as me, he calls them luxury beliefs, I call them the results of extreme privilege.
I, honestly, just dont wanna be one car breakdown away from financial ruin.
I remember when I was younger 70K meant you're doing well, and that was in the northwest where things are fairly expensive. Today you can make over 100K there, can't afford a house, and normal life expenses are outrunning your salary increases in cost. As some other commenter said, a single medical issue, a bad car problem, or other unforeseen expense can literally set you right back to zero. There's tons of information out there on how prices for anything are outrunning salary increases. Major corporations buying up all the real estate, and real estate is the number one way of accruing wealth for younger generations, taking that away where do they turn for the American dream? How in the world can the normal person make 250k a year to qualify for a house, raise a family, etc? I'm a millennial and it's already hard, I can't imagine being even younger. We're going to go right back to families just living in one house forever, kids being 50 and still with their parents, and it's not going to be looked at as bad, it will be normal.
About the marrige thing...i somewhat disagree, I think marriage is an awesome thing, but I don't think it should be so damn expensive, it's clear exploitation, same with how a small pair of scissors that cost $2.50 magically cost $8 when the word "medical" or "hospital grade" is slapped on them
Not the best analogy. Surgical-grade steel is fairly rare, because after we launched nuclear weapons, all the steel produced after the nuclear age is of a much lower quality.
Just don't have a formal wedding if you can't afford it? Conventional weddings are literally expensive parties designed to scam people, lol.
Marriages don't have to be expensive though. Go to a courthouse, get a marriage license. It's the giant ceremony, fancy clothes, flowers, food, DJ, drinks, location, and honeymoon that are expensive.
It doesn't have to be expensive. Husband and I got married at the courthouse in regular clothes on our lunch break. We paid $10 for the witness lol. Our friends and family made us have a party. Cost of the party was $8k (back in mid 2000s) and we only paid $2k while our parents paid for the rest. We weren't even going to have a party until we were told we needed to have one lol. Our rings cost a total of $150 which was a lot to us back then because we were so young. We still haven't upgraded them lol. Too sentimental. It doesn't have to be expensive at all. I think it's sort of crazy that people make it expensive. I'd rather use the money to buy a house. Still married 18 years later.
How is marriage expensive?
Yes asmongols it does matter where the money is distributed. Its the main reason wages aren’t matching inflation if it did those ppl would have less money
Thank you for highlighting the Comingle video! They're doing great work!
You said that the billionaire's money is theoretical. Bro, all money is theoretical. It only has value because you believe it has value. There is no intrinsic value to money in a fiat system
In any system whatsoever. Gold has just so much intrinsic value as a piece of paper does. Which is zero.
@@cosmodradek Gold has value. It's used as a conductor in electronics. It has literal tangible value. What are you talking about?
@@a.nonimus6705 Value is a quantity, not a physical property. It is not tangible by definition. Gold has utility just like a lot of other things, including paper money. Oxygen is good for me because it is needed for me to breathe. It is absolutely useful, but it has no economic value whatsoever.
@@cosmodradek The term value, in economics, is a measure of benefit provided by particular goods and services. Is there a benefit in gold? Yes, there is a tangible benefit, it is used to make electronics. Therefore, by virtue of it providing benefit, it has value. I think you should go study economics before talking about economics.
I dont know anyone who actually has a legitimate retirement plan, just work till they can't
Nah , most PPL ik retire by 55-60 , if you choose the right career path , ur bound to be a multi millionaire before 60
@@DGen7the average age of retirement is 64
@@smoothduck7151 That age will continue to rise until a breaking point or the abolishment of retirement as a concept in general.
I felt so happy for you. Now you know you’re adored! When fans started getting tattoos on their bodies featuring me, it was a surreal feeling and happy one too. I love your videos! 🎉
I think much of this issue would resolve itself if Congress passed a law fixing the minimum wage to a level where the median monthly mortgage payment is 35% of the monthly income of a job at minimum wage and wrote the law such that it updates itself automatically on a 6 month to yearly basis.
@@joshnabours9102 they will never do that because they want people living in tiny little cages, not houses.
I think the issue is less the wages, and more the prices of essentials like housing. Too dang high
In reasing the minimum wage will WORSEN the situation. This eliminates entry-level jobs for youths. Also, everything is dependent on minimum wage, if the wage goes up, the corporations/companies simply pass the cost to consumers. The problem is REAL ESTATE CARTELS who deliberately reduced the supply of affordable homes to maintain high property value for EQUITY INVESTMENTS. The government (specially leftist controlled large cities) is pretty much complicit for this because high property value means more property tax revenue.
That wouldn't work. Historically such measures just cause inflation and increase unemployment.
I think the solution is MUCH stronger anti-monopoly and consumer protection laws. Along with a cultural shift away from normalized dual income households and the pursuit of infinite profit growth.
The problems were facing arise from corporations being forced to squeeze every last dime out of employees and consumers in order to meet the expectation of ever increasing profits even within fully saturated markets. Coupled with the labor market being devalued by too many people being willing to sacrifice their ability to parent in order to earn more money.
In the 1970s when dual income started to become the norm, and the 1980s/90s, when the government laxed regulation of large corporations, thats when we see a significant corelation with weakening purchasing power per person and worsening of job security/conditions.
@@kimilsungthefirst6840 I've got some bad news for you, the government only wants to take our money as well.
US printing on average $ 7 650 000 000 per DAY (!!!!!) for the last 4 years.
This affect in a really bad way not only americans (inflation and other shet) but people all over the world. You need to stop guys.
How do you even track that lol
@@tesladrew2608 the increase in the national debt over the past 4 years, divided by 1460 days. this is not 100% accurate, but it shows the general situation well.
@@yalmeme how much did it print during Trump's admin
35 trillion in debt which is 267k per tax payer and politicians still running on social justice issues.
I lost my job last year. I’m near retirement age so I’m struggling to get a decent job. I had no choice but to go through my 401-k and ROTH. My savings is completely gone now. I’ve considered selling my home that I just bought in 2020 but rent is more than my mortgage. I’ve put my bills, food, gasoline, car expenses, home expenses on my credit cards; I’ve maxed out my credit cards last month. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do now. So yeah things are bleak. I have never been in this situation so the shock and sadness is overwhelming.
24:35, Christians aren't the ones protesting and acting like idiots. I would argue that this is an atheist mindset. With the lack of humility inherent within a godless ideology, you get people thinking they can change the world quickly and simply. While actually doing so would require a subtle and nuanced approach.
The atheists I know are generally more humble than the Christians I know
@tesladrew2608 I've seen that as well, lots of Christians don't cultivate a spirit of humility. I know atheists that are complete egotists though. It all depends on the person.
For the Christianity segment, what has happened is a lot of “prosperity preaching” where the biggest “victim” gets the most reward. The Bible has taught me that a lot of things are out of my hands. Yet, I still have autonomy of my life and need to own it.
You don't need religion to understand that some things are out of your control. It's not a hard concept to grasp.
@@SarcasticDatalol this
Asmon - your take on "Christian's being in a victim mindset" - is completely wrong.
In fact - it completely dismantles the victim mindset, because we believe in the sovereignty of God. Which means, there are not victims, in the same way you described your understanding.
Missing the point. The reason those people in the 1% are extremely rich is because the rest of us aren't. In order to raise the lower percentile, the .0001% would have to relinquish some of theirs and they don't want to.
That's why we need 4 more years of Joe! He's gonna fix everything the second time around
If you took all the money in the United States held by US citizens (137 trllion $) and distributed it equally to every man woman and child in the country (330000) every person would have 41 million dollars in their bank account. EVERY SINGLE PERSON!
@@chrismartino3519 I think the number is 410k but your point still stands.
@@outsomnia i know sorry about that
Distribution of welth simply put yep
I’m at the bottom of this chart thanks to student loans. I shouldn’t have ever gone to college. Not that I’d be wealthy but I’d probably have $500 in savings and I’d have probably been in a doctor’s office in the last 15 years.
No one would care about the wealth distribution being so fucky IF people at the low end could support a family, pay their bills on top and not be one 500$ car repair away from being homeless.
Jesus effing Christ... It's maddening how close but so far Asmon is from connecting the dots. I dont think he's stupid, in fact I know he's very intelligent. Best case scenario and most charitable read: strong, strong cognitive dissonans. It's sad
What the...? Are you okay?
Well, he is rich and makes money off of literally just hanging out and watching videos or playing games so it’s easy to see why that may skew your feelings on wealth inequality a little bit
@@PARAN0IDxGERBIL No, no, I agree; I understand his reference points. I just wish he would resist the class consciousness more than he does :p
So I know he's not by far the worst or anything; he's a hoot, I still love Asmongold. That's why I care to comment haha
Wouw amercians really don't love one another. We have different values in Europe.
No we don't we all live under capitalism
We just have more social politics in place that are slowly being removed
Give it 10-15 years will end up in the same boat if we don't learn from them
Someone else said this however I deeply agree with it, "when you have all the money in the world you have time to ponder existential problems, your life no longer revolves around how you are going to pay for your food instead your life begins to revolve around "who am I?". " Most people, myself included, have no idea what gives them fulfillment or joy because we are stuck focusing too much on survival and just making it to the next week.
I dont want wealth.
I just want the wealthy people to leave me alone.
Same thing 😂
Well you live on their land. So you can't quite leave
Finally someone points out the real inequalities in society. It's not the gender inequality that hurts our society the most. It's the poor distribution of goods that leaves a lot of people behind.
don't agree, I think goods are distributed correctly based on how much money you make. How else do you distribute things? that's the fairest way
@@sten260 Agree. Don't need the government to distribute anything.
A large problem is people are economically illiterate and don't even understand fundemental principles so vote for idiotic things that make them poorer. A prime example is all the comments suggesting that they wouldn't care about wealth inequality if they could afford food/house/bills etc while a sizeable cause of them not affording these things is wealth inequality.
You see money is like any other commodity and it's value is largely based on supply/demand. The more money in an economy i.e. lots of billionaire's, the less that money is worth. So when the 2017 tax cuts were passed most Americans were happy about their $200-$1000 tax cut, not realizing that the $100k+ tax cuts to the rich would devalue the currency and they'd actually be poorer in real terms despite technically having higher numbers. Same with all the covid money printing that was bipartisan.
A Christian culture is not one steeped in victim hood what supports that?
It also doesn’t promote virtue signaling, it’s literally the opposite. We are taught that if you want social gain for good deeds you are not rewarded by God as you have already received your reward.
I think he meant that view that people are naturally evil or something, I don't remember where he said that
Also the church I went to absolutely had a victim complex, acting like christians are being persecuted here lol
"They don't care about injustice. They care about conspicuously displaying that they care about injustice"
That so perfectly explains most modern 'activism' and cultural issues, well said.
I'd say they care about some injustices but not others
He's missing a lot of the hedge fund managers like Larry Fink, who only have "a few million" on paper, but are actually managing wealth funds worth TRILLIONS. If you used the same wealth calculation on Larry Fink's holdings that you do with Elon Musk, he'd dwarf all the other known billionaires combined.
The kind of "activist" behavior that's popped up has come alongside an increasing number of people labeling themselves as agnostic or atheist, so I doubt the victim mentality has anything to do with Christianity.
Asmon just like dumping on religion and he's too cowardly to pick a different one. Of course it has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity.
Your probably not the best person to give insight on this subject
I question the judgement of someone who isn’t able to use the right form of *you’re
@@scubarubanzaiiyou were also grammatically incorrect
i think the person is reffering to asmon being a millionaire himself, pot calling the kettle black moment.
I think he's a fine person to give insight. I like hearing Zach's opinion, because I find it entertaining.
He's not 'right' in a lot of things he says, but I get a kick out of it and that's his job as an entertainer.
Lmao bro lives like he's poorer than you what you talking about
True.
hearing a streamer say “not to rely on people’s individual charity” when they started w/ donations
Ah so... I hear this all the time. About the 1% And Im looking at it and thinking surely not. It cant be true that 1 out of every 100 Americans are stonking rich. But the upper 1% are on around 120 000 dollars. That makes more sense. And there are no real statistics dealing with whatever is above that.
There's plenty of proof and data, roughly the top .1% owns as much as the bottom 99.9% combined for example
Think about how many parents are sooo pissed they spent 100,000 to go rot these kids brains
Those parents are most likely to blame for the current state
As the power does not stand with the new gens but is held by the old gens
@@TheMrJeffYT strong agree but think how many did their best and got a turd in return
@@Boodah6811some people shouldn't have kids
@@tesladrew2608 for sure
What's worse is a government trying to disperse the money evenly
18:34 That is unless you have social and legal policies that specifically target you as a member of the dominant group for discrimination against you in favor of a member of a non-dominant group. Like what we have in America. Then being part of the dominant group is a net negative, because you have injustices leveraged against you while also being claimed to be "privileged" by a bunch of people who don't know any better.
I've lived in neighbourhoods where the police don't turn up, it is not better I can promise you that.
Asmongold sitting on a pile of money: "Things are pretty fair nowadays" As he said himself "people's ideologies align pretty accurately with their coping mechanisms"
Asmon projecting his own biases onto the world in order to justify his own behavior? Never.
To be fair, he’s more adjusted than a lot of millionaires. That’s not saying much though.
@@MercurialStatic True. Asmongold is that uncle/grandad that dies and everyone actually gets an inheritance. Doesn't care about materialism enough to spend it and isn't greedy enough to risk it and lose it. He is ultimately a lottery winner though.
There isn't a problem with wealth inequality. The main issue is the government actively taking a dump on the lower and middle class. The current US government has made it even more expensive to live. The US has been in a state of stagflation since 2020. The CPI is up at least 5% for every item with a few exceptions. Illegal immigrantion is at an all-time high, and those millions of immigrants need food, water, housing, immenties, insurance, etc. There are more people, and the amount of supply has not increased alongisde the population. Are there specific lifestyle choices that negatively effect their monetary wealth, yes but is it as bad as the government incentivesing crime, no.
Weath inequality is the problem.
As you don't have much wealth you have no power and there by no saying
Who will deside the law?
Those who are in power so goverment makes bad politics that benefit the rich?
Well yea because the rich who hold the power are running it.
You want a solution advocate for a system where you hold the power or the power doesn't lie with select few
@TheMrJeffYT you are equating money with political power. State and local governments don't require as much money as a presidential race to get into office. Look at the junior congressmen of the current congress. They don't have a lot of money but are making governmental decisions. State representatives of state legislatures aren't as wealthy either, but they do make decisions regarding entire states. Are there any representatives more wealthy than others, yes, but they doesn't mean they have more say over any other representative.
@@markhohenbrink5230 Money is political power, there is a reason why most people in the goverment comes from very forunate backgrounds and why most poor people don't make it in
Because they don't hold power, you're just saying Rich person A has the same power as Rich person B, but failed to account why they are there to begin with and how easily can be bought out.
A problem with represntative democrasy
@TheMrJeffYT that's exactly why the US isn't a representative democracy. The US is a constitutional republic. Most state representatives in the state legislatures do not come from affluent wealthy backgrounds. If you are saying that all congressmen in the national assembly come from wealthy backgrounds, look at pretty much all junior congressmen; AOC, Rashida Tlaib, Ihlan Omar, Jake Laturner, Ritchie Torres, Marie Glusenkamp Perez, etc. None of these people were particularly wealthy before going into Congress, let alone politics. The main argument here is that politics makes you wealthy and that being part of generations of politicians makes it easier for you to become one because your family has connections and accumulated wealth from generations of politics.
You say the government has made it more expensive, but you offer no mechanism for how. You are asserting something with no evidence.
I don’t support wealth inequality
I don't support slavery. Look how based our opinions are
@@sauce2514 Our opinions are based
@@sauce2514 modern day slavery is you going to work to make someone else rich.
Happy to be in the presence of these based opinion-holders
I can answer the S.Korea part. S.Korea is very hemogenous. People have a strong sense of social conformity. So protesting happens publically but its very organized and a very public social event, like a concert would be, and not destructive or intrusive to others not involved. The focus is the message while respecting other citizens not involved.
Compared to the West were everyone protesting has a personal individualistic mindset to why they are protestest and often its for someone who they don't identify with and tainted by people wanting to "Virtue signal". Blocking traffic, throwing stuff screaming at everyone. And People wonder why their movement gets little sympathy.
The best example of mass protest in S.Korea is the one when we ousted President Park Guen Hae. Literally we removed a president just by protesting. Although millions of angry people in every city all over Korea were protesting, no one got hurt including the police. People actually brought food for the police and respected they are just doing a job. In the end, the police left people alone and people kept angry aggressive protesters from taking over and keeping them in check. It was sucessful and our president got removed. Just watch the videos on youtube and the scale will amaze folks how big it was.
Socialism/communism is not the solution, I can tell from experience.
It is the solution and you have no experince.
You either go with the solution or you do what you do
side with the system that's runing you're life and then pretent that ur correct
@@TheMrJeffYT Why do you talk like you know me? I come from a socialist country and I know from experience that it doesn't work. Socialism simply leads to misery with slogans like: "Eat the Rich." The only thing it causes is that the rich people leave the country with their companies, then The state controls most or all means of production, individuals often have fewer choices regarding employment. This can lead to inefficiencies and a lack of innovation, as there are fewer market-driven incentives to improve productivity and efficiency. Your ideology wherever it has been applied has failed without exception and caused millions of deaths in the process. For one reason, people from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, China (socialist/communist countries) plan to live in the United States like me.
It depends on what you call socialism.