I'm 65 and entered the workforce when wages and productivity went separate ways in the mid 70's. In 1976 homelessness was almost unheard of in America. High school graduates earned enough money to buy a car and rent an apartment on minimum wage from one person. Normal people took an annual vacation and expected to retire at my age. This is not My America, it is a hostile occupation.
The closing of mental health facilities across the country, spearheaded by Ronald Reagan. Trickle-down economics that was and is a failed policy by Reagan and Republicans continues today. High inflation in the late 70's and early 80's started us down a path we have today of low wages, that we have never recovered from and was paramount to the start of a growing homeless class Regulations by cities to build single-family housing - not everyone needs a 2500 sq foot home. Building freeways through low-income neighborhoods so higher-paid people can drive from the suburbs to their jobs. That eventually turned into a drive-till-you-afford-it mentality that put a strain on workers who drove hours and spent less time with their families and leisure time. There are so many variables for have worked against the regular everyday worker it is too much to cover in a small space of time
I've said that for years it's timing in life that can make or break you. I worked two jobs from the late 80s until being laid off in 2018 two days before Christmas after 31 years with the same company. Found a job making more money but health issues told me it was time to slow down so I retired. Being a heavy equipment operator is tough on a body lol no regrets there but it is time.
Totally agree with you until we take care of that citizens United The corporations will own us Same with our corporate media we need to do something about I think that's more important for the democrats or whoever gets in should be the first thing they do For voting rights or anything else We need demand this out of the democrats if they get in power
What I find even more frustrating is that when a CEO gives him/herself a raise, it"s seen as a "job well done", whereas workers wanting a raise are "ungrateful" and are apparently going to cause Weimar Republic levels of inflation.
American economy is consumption driven so people need money in their pockets to keep this going, simple as that. Inflation is a consequence of how money is being created anyways, NOT by how much people earn.
You cannot give a lot of money to unskilled low producing workers that creates a situation where you have a lot of consumption because of lots of money passed out but low production from low skilled workers meaning you run out of things to buy leaving you with nothing but paper money and empty shelves
1st. Citizens United was an attack on middle class and lower SEC Americans 2nd. Learning is always a must, continue to educate yourselves everyone. History is important!
As a huge Mark Twain fan, I recall coming across this term years ago and thinking, “this is no different from now.” People just need to recognize it. Thanks for this excellent video…it should go viral.
Alot goes into misinformation and social conditioning. Also the rat race is being used in tandem with high CoL to keep the majority distracted and easier to control/manipulate through information THEY approve. Social media plays a big part in creating trends and distracting the public and its all just forms of control. Its not just the government, its the rich. The rich just use the government like a puppet through lobbying bribes, which is a clever way they come up with to get away with bribery while using the first amendment as a trojan horse. I think it'll get much worse before it gets better. But if you look at how much has changed in our country since we made the dollar Fiat and since essentially The Vietnam War. Its not outlandish to me to think that within the next 40 years, at most, this country is either going to end up way more socialist. Or its going to eventually have a collapse. Or possibly, and really the best option, is degrowth. Either way I think some real real hard times are coming to this country as a whole. I think that should be very evident by how we lean so hardly on the credit system these days. Which the credit system is nothing but a band-aid fix for the simple truth that capitalism is NOT sustainable. Even WITH the new deal and all the shit we got out of the hardships of the American Gilded Age. Its so unsustainable they had to create a I-O-U system to insure consumption doesn't fail. Because without consumption, production fails. Money freezes. Banks shut down. Businesses die off. Homelessness and violence goes through the roof along with lay offs. Capitalism FAILS for EVERYONE if enough consumption is not happening. Really all we need to do for serious change in this country is mass strikes. Mass protests. We need to induce these problems because that's the only way the rich are going to let some leash out at this point. Its what we needed during the Gilded Age its what we need again now. Infact, better we do it now, than wait for people to be eating the family pets cause they cant afford anything to eat. This is ALL why they go after guns so much. Republicans do it too all the time. Trump is the one who banned bump stocks. Nobody talks about that like they did when Biden banned pistol braces. Or weaponized the ATF to do it through briberies. They both do it. Its a good cop/bad cop routine. That is the entire purpose of the two party system lol. To good cop bad cop the masses.
If you prefer, think of these times as Man's Pre Star Trek moment -- complete with our own Q. Mankind either ends war now, thus paving the way for a marvelous, worldwide civilization OR men and women are forever forbidden from the stars -- perhaps even our souls, bound to Earth, with the beasts. Q, just as Q-wizical as ever, says, "I don't believe men have souls. If they do, it's barely discernible. This time, Jean-Luc, it's not up to you and your crew to save the day. It's up to them -- souls or not!"
I'm 41, my dad is 67, when he started working he was miking $2/hr. but his first car was $2,000, 20 years later when I started working my first job paid $7.00/hr. but my first car was $20,000. wages went up 3.5x, but prices went up 10x, in effect my wages were worth half as much as his. This has been true my entire working life, wages go up, but prices go up MUCH faster. We make more money, but our money buys less, and who pockets the difference, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, they aren't the saviors of our society dudes, they are the cause of its problems....
Elon musk works seven days a week employees thousands of people averaging over a hundred thousand dollars a year makeing products that help curb global warming and paid 12 billion dollars in taxes last year and what did the government do with his money paid Harvard university seven hundred thousand dollars to blow lizards off trees with leaf blowers mabey musk should get a tax cut so he can create more environmentally friendly products and employee more people or should lizard blowing government get more of his money
@Don-tjpb, I agree, especially in America, America doesn't seem to ever learn from its previous mistakes, so yes! It's history repeating itself over and over again. It's so saddening to witness it as well.
@@gbaker9295 😂 loser. Does it sound like a threat? Slow down keyboard warrior. These are stupid comments. If you want to protect somebody then do something instead of type, protect this man.... If somebody wanted to search the best people to get rid of all they would have to do is search the TH-cam comments for these dumb phrases. If you want to protect the people pulling the curtain back, go stand up for your rights. He is one man sticking his neck out on the line, the only thing that can protect him is if he creates 10 more people willing to do the same thing and actually live it.
I'm a critical care nurse in Florida, previously a combat military medic veteran, that has been completely burned out for the increasingly unsafe expectations of hospital administrations. I have tried 3 hospitals here in FL and they are the same. Instead of hiring an appropriate number of RNs and paying them fairly, it's always the same. During Covid I worked over 48 hours a day and went home falling asleep on the wheel. Understaffed, and laughable pay compared to the stress, and nature of the assigments. I would not want a family member to come here and need treatment. Patients are rushed out of critical care, stepdown units, and from surgical med surg areas to home when they are not ready just to make room for more. We have available extra rooms in many cases, but no staff to properly care for the extra patients.
There is a national shortage of skilled labor such as nurses democrats make it worse by paying high wages to low skilled workers no one will put in the time and effort of getting a skilled job
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 No that's not the problem. Doesn't make sense. Healthcare here is under a capitalist system, no matter if the hospital self labels as non profit. If there is a high demand for a job, it should pay a high wage. Hospitals don't pay fast food worker wages. What we have is capitalism for the working people and socialism for the hospitals and corporations which get subsidies and bail outs.
The VA is non profit government run infamous for poor care at a high cost when democrats succeed in everyone getting universal government run healthcare like Sanders wants everyone can have poor healthcare
I think the greatest tragedy is that so many of us DO see it but are powerless to stop it. You can't reason with the very people who could join with us to put an end to it. They have been homeschooled and indoctrinated through their churches since leaving the womb to believe without question in free market capitalism. I don't see how we could break through that kind of brainwashing.
Europe progressed past feudalism because they were forced to compete for peasantry. Nowadays? Wev reverted back to feudalism. Why? Every job that couldv been automated, has been outsourced. China and India have billions of people, and billions of equally competent workers. If Microsoft cant hire for cheap, then they can hire from india. If Microsoft is sanctioned, then Alibaba just takes over and outproduces them. If China and India had the same population density as Canada, then we would still be experiencing 1950's wages. Theres a reason why socialist utopias such as Sweden reject migration from Turkey, and why Norway isnt even in the EU. Their smart, and they protect their jobs. Apple is able to pay their workers slave wages, because they can lobby democrats into importing MILLIONS of illegals for cheap labour. It used to be blue collar labour that was anhilated by globalism, and now its white collar labours. Jobs such as software development, engineering, business, and the rest, have been utterly anhilated by countries like China and India. If Democrats continue to virtue signal and delude themselves from the overpopulation issue, then its only gonna get worse.
@honkhonk8009 overpopulation issue. Millennial can't afford to have children. We are on the verge of population collapse in the Midwest. My wife and I know very few people who have children, and that is not unusual.
@@honkhonk8009 If you think it was democrats who have created a second gilded age, you need to look closer at policy. I don't know why you would say anyone is "importing" people, as if they are goods. How can this be about "importing" people, when you also say jobs have been outsourced. You are contradicting yourself. All I hear is someone who is very worked up, doesn't really have the facts straight and who has decided without evidence that democrats are to blame. I think you need to work on critical thinking skills.
@@gracieb.3054 I say importing people because thats litterally what capitalism treats labour as. Thats what corporations treat illegals as. They are cheap labour. They are cheap services. They are cheap GOODS. I dont have to spell this shit out bruh, your argument is purely a moral one. Please, explain to me how "importing people" and "outsourcing jobs" are contradictions. You realize its possible to be doing both? Im not sure what your tryna get at, because Im pretty sure America at the municipal, state, and federal level, support certain corporations having business at their respective areas. For example, Seattle giving massive tax writeoffs for Amazon tech work, or NY doing the same for Amazon warehouses, or the feds doing the same with TSMC fabs. Its much easier to run a factory in America since you dont have to deal with infrastructure issues, or chinese laws. But the people are expensive, and the PPP is high. Thats why corporations like Apple, hire illegals to the grunt labour. Unless your somehow in denial over this fact. In conclusion, stay delusional. Mf put up some emotional argument.
Political corruption, fiscal accretion and increasing social injustice are, regrettably, not monopolies. It’s not just in the US. Similar trends are apparent in UK and elsewhere. Your summary, as always, deserves the widest possible audience.
Thanks for bringing out what is really happening in America and what to do about it. It's about time for people to wake up and put a stop to greed in America. We need to tax the mega rich.
The top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and it's you who don't pay enough taxes here is the proof if you draw 1500 a month in ss till your eighty that's over two hundred thousand dollars and you did not pay that much in ss taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return we have a debt so big it defies imagination because of democrat handouts vote out handout democrats before it's to late our childrens future depend on it
Robert, I am a converted Republican who formerly thought the support of business by the government created jobs and prosperity; make the pie bigger over cutting it up. I learned over last few years that this does not happen, and I saw it in my career. When tax cuts hit my company, it was not even discussed to increase wages. That only happened a bit during supply chain when we could not hire anyone. You do an amazing job showing the growing inequality of wealth. I think if underpaid people that are supporting Republicans understood this enough would switch to change the balance. In other countries and throughout history people were stuck with this inequality but we actually have a democratic society so the masses should vote out a party trying to support and exacerbate. I think the Republicans are MUCH better at marketing than the Democrats (with you as an exception). I think they know better that many weak minded people can be led astray with simple slogans and ideas even if wrong and immoral. Woke is an example. I was thinking about this and came up with the term "asleep sheep". It is the opposite of woke (awake) which somehow is bad!. It also hits on Orwell's class system. Maybe using Pink Floyd's Animals album would be more effective. I don't know if that's original, but if it is feel free to use it. Keep up the fight and spread you gift for marketing to fellow Democrats. They need help.
You are aware that the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return
Do you remember the terrible economy his predecessor Jimmy Carter had created? Definite parallels to what we’re seeing today. Gilded age 2.0 might be true but it is too complicated to lay at the feet of one president. Unfortunately it always comes back to one root cause - the evil that resides in each person expressed as greed. Spiritual problems are hard to fix with taxation or regulation imo
@@philiplaundy5651 Sorry but Carter was a one term president, who had to deal with OPEC oil embargo--for US support of Israel. He's the one who created the Department of Energy. The economy took a hit over things out of his control, and he did the best he could. Reagan did a LOT of damage. Deregulating the banks was a mistake. It lead to the S&L crisis, recession then, and the housing bubble burst under Bush. It is STILL causing trouble. Banks are federally insured, and they need to be regulated. Deregulating, and allowing monopolies, is why we now have corporations that are "too big to fail," and we end up bailing out these behemoths when the economy turns. It's not just Reagan; congress is complicit, as are many state governments.
Reagan was definitely at the forefront of it. Trickle down economics was debunked before Reagan even started touting it. I can’t believe their still trying to peddle that tripe!
We really could use a modern-day Teddy Rosevelt right now. I think that person will be Katie Porter, I believe that she lead the change that we so desperately need.
I think President Biden is doing as much as he can....remember, he stood with UAWorkers...something no other president has ever done! As I'm sure many will agree here on this platform, President Biden wasn't our first choice. Nevertheless, he is a very very pleasant surprise!
@louisa6948 right now he's just trying to keep the Nepo-nazis from taking over. Thankfully, people are realizing the danger and getting out and voting, striking, and being all around active.
I adore her, but she (unfortunately) is starting to come across as too smug, with her whiteboard. It is effective but starting to turn off even her fans. I hope her PR people are on that and figuring a way to keep her communication style effective, without letting it appear so condescending. She has the makings of a great leader. But great leaders have to appeal to all parts of the human psyche.....really, the way Buttigieg does. All of this said, I would vote for her in a heartbeat.
It's an empty threat anyway. They're not paying for the privelege they enjoy anyway, and so we wouldn't even notice if they left. Then we could sieze all their local assets and turn them to good for the public at large.
That's exactly what communist leader mao in china did took rich people's money and gave it to the masses and raised low skilled workers wages dramatically result millions starved now in china under capitalism low skilled workers make low wages and there is billionaires result china has one of the fastest growing economies in the world explain that
@@fritzforsthoefel8031There is a huge difference between Amazon, Tesla, Meta, Microsoft and apple. and any successful business 99.99% of us will ever found. dont speak such drivel
This might just be your best piece yet. How succinct! History doesn’t just rhyme, it echoes. It echoes with the cries of the many for economic justice. So many people believe they are not good enough, or not trying hard enough. I say, you are manipulated to be exploited workers and overactive consumers. What if you want to do something else, be something else? We can, we All Can. Support each other, instead of struggling in isolated shame. Thank you, Robert and team, for making sense of all the ‘What’s Wrong With This Picture?’ inanities and insanities that dominate our culture and society today (but Not Forever). Monopolies are Wealth Unions of the rich. Let’s replace their Collective Domination with our Collective Bargaining.
@@fritzforsthoefel8031Oh I Know!!! Someone Who Practices,(A Thing I Can't Comprehend) "Retail Therapy". It's Pernicious... And Practised, Recklessly, Frequently And Seemingly, Unconsciously. The Human Brain Will Try Any And All Things, To Attempt To Alleviate, Emotional And Mental Suffering. Seems, Counter Intuitive. As Does Any ,Potentially, Self- Harming, Behavior. Pain And Trauma, Cause Psychopathy,That Demands Intense, Persistent Psychological Address. Just Saying. Blessings And Truth For All.
So telsa and Amazon should shut down so musk and Jeff bezo can't make any more money you are aware that the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return
When people say "Hard work won't kill you" they are wrong. People actually died of exhaustion and dehydration on Ford Motor Companies Assembly line, until the 40 hour work week and Overtime were made into law. 16 hour days x 7 day work week= injuries and death at an alarming rate. I forget the horrible numbers of one years workers who lost a limb and Companies said tough luck...
No one says it better than the great Robert Reich. Every American’s future, and every future generation, is dependent on heeding his vast knowledge and wise advice.
Actually, he’s America’s biggest economic truth-teller. And, before stating any false examples you claim to have, you may want to learn how to spell “many” first.
Does he tell you that the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes does he tell you that the top ten percent pay over seventy percent of the federal taxes does he tell you that the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes or that if you draw 1500 hundred dollars a month in ss till your eighty that's over two hundred thousand dollars and you did not pay that much in ss taxes who makes up the difference does he tell you that the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare does he tell you that the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return he tells you none of these things does he
Will you pay half your income to the government to pay for the handouts democrats want if not we add it to the debt our children will have to pay for liveing off our children the democrat way
If you get all antsy about the rich leaving this country, just charge them an appropriate exit fee. That would be any riches acquired while enjoying the mechanism that enabled them!
If they want to leave, LET THEM! Seriously, look at the biggest corporations, and how they're crowding out competition. Walmart killed Mainstreet, and Amazon is killing everything else. Raise their taxes, and if they choose to leave, wave buh-bye. Once gone, treat them like an outside country when they want to sell their goods back to the biggest consumer market in the world. We do not NEED these monopolies!!
The media really needs to keep repeating it, ad nauseum, the way Fox repeats talking points a million times a week. The other phrase they need to repeat over and over is "Christian Taliban" with regards to women's reproductive rights and book banning. To get the concept through people's heads as it is SO apt.
A consumer driven economy, which many claim the US has, needs competition among sellers to function most effectively. The consolidation of monopolies and oligopolies in almost every market sector must be addressed by the public sector in order to restore health to our economy.
Who the hell is claiming the U.S. has a "consumer driven economy"!? The official name is "Supply-Side Economics," literally the opposite of consumer (demand side) driven! I mean, I'm not disagreeing on your points, but I'm just baffled that anyone could think that unless they aren't from or at least living in the U.S. when the name literally tells you the opposite.
Public schools have a near Monopoly and you are right about it leeding to poor outcomes would you support school choice and competition for schools or do you agree with democrat politicians that only want the rich to be able to afford to send there children to private schools
@@fritzforsthoefel8031Are you trolling or do you really think that’s a relevant point? Public schools fill a need for most people that aren’t filled by private markets. That circumstance is known in classical economics as market failure- private schools don’t provide the good or services in a efficient way to all the consumers. A market for education will fail to properly evaluate the commons (goods or services that benefit everyone regardless of whether they pay or not). Public schools transformed American education positively until private schools (where available) siphoned off the most affluent students- often by appealing to elitism. This was a libertarian or conservative driven movement as are almost all efforts to defund public education, which is clearly the reason for the decline. There’s also abundant evidence demonstrating that private school students score better not because they’re better educators but because private schools are able to cherry pick students, and they can get rid of problematic students with little due process. Where do all those students end up? In the public system. There’s zero evidence that private schools perform better than public ones. There are outstanding examples and terrible examples of both. There’s plenty of reliable information about what works and what doesn’t in education. If you genuinely care about this important issue, you can easily access it.
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 Typical anti public education, school choice propaganda, that is a republican scam to take money from public schools and give it to religious schools. Take a hike with that garbage.
I made similar comments during a discussion a few weeks ago, calling the current climate a second gilded age. The big difference between then and now is the current barons have learned from the mistakes of the past and have adjusted their influence to prevent another Teddy or similar from ever gaining power. As long as both sides blame each other for the problems of the country, there will be no possibility of change.
FDR was more of a centrist than people often think. He said, "I believe in a system of free enterprise where every man can go as far as his natural God given talents can take him, but not to the extent of making fodder out of large segments of the population." He also said, "The problem I have is that the socialists think I eat caviar for breakfast while the capitalists think I eat beans for breakfast. Actually, I eat steak and eggs for breakfast just like the majority of Americans do." All that sounds pretty centrist to me.
The second quote is mushy and reeks of being formulated for the optics, it isnt good evidence for or against any of his policies really, in my opinion.
Youre right, FDR nationalizing industries, forcing farmers to destroy "surplus" crops to prop up food prices, not allowing businesses to operate unless they agreed to his draconian rules, and him changing his heavy handed rules left and right, that all sounds super centrist
Then why do the rich allow themselves to be taxed so much the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the top ten pay over seventy percent
We have an Capitalist Economic system called supply side economics also called Reaganomics or Trickle down Theory they started planning this in the 1960's and 1970's and fully instituted it in the 1980's when Reagan was the President it is actually just a scheme to enrich the Wealthy Elite under the George W Presidential Regime they called it Bush Enomics and said it was Reaganomics on Steroids this is not just the Republicans the Democrats went along with this Corporate Democrats who believed in the lie of the Trickle down Theory of wealth this included Bill and Hilary and Obama and his Vice President our current President and six term Senator Joe Biden who has finally started to change his economic beliefs some more in support of the working class only since he became the current President of course you could write a tick and long book on the details of what has occurred over this 50 to 60 year period of class warfare which is nothing more than a scheme to make the Wealthiest people even more Wealthy We the People let this happen by voting for the Republicans and Corporate Democrats we can only fix this mess by voting these People who presently control our entire Government and even our SCOTUS OUT OF OFFICE THIS WILL STILLTAKE MANY DECADES TO REPAIR AND CHANGE TO A MORE FAIR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM
TRUTH! Reagan began the single greatest bull market in the history of mankind. This bull market has pulled more people out of poverty than all of history’s other bull markets combined. You are so correct, Regan does deserve the credit for the prosperous times of which we are now living. Those who have failed to enter into the prosperity that is now available to us need to ask themselves, “why am I such a fuck up?”
@@lynnturman8157 Just recently I had a hard right bro spend an hour online informing me that no, there had been no march to the right, it had never happened, bla bla bla.
The most concerning thing about this new guilded age is that the people who are most in need are out there actively electing people who are going to enact legislation that will only continue to screw them, and us all, over.
Yes how presumptuous. I feel sorry for that kid growing up in such a skewed world. Anyone else remember the story of him telling his daughter that the homeless man had more money than he did? Only now he is being brought to account for lying about his wealth.
When you son in named "King" or "Royal" you know they come from a family with old money. Baron is new money. I actually met in University two guys with those first two names!!
When he creamed in Melania he said "tell me I'm a Baron!! Raaawrrr!!😂 Then Melania said "mrnfh". And thought, *i'll name the baby that if it's a boy... And he'll be taller than you.*
@@HeronPoint2021 my oldest friend named his first child king. he aint exactly "well to do". the exact opposite really. why king? iunno. just felt right. with the surname "meek" king meek... dont ask me!
Why would he do that to a person who paid twelve billion dollars in taxes employees thousands of people at an average wage of over one hundred thousand dollars a year make environmentally friendly products
The comparisons of then and now have truly depressed me for a long time. It feels good to see a video like this, and remind me that this IS totally beatable. Youve given me a lot of hope, for that you have earned a new subscriber 😊
We begin to see another side of inequality: the attraction of wealth to educated men to political positions, and the lack of morals and the ability of the rich to buy those men so they can keep pulling in money. Large corporations can generate very attractive offers for the weak to bring bills that aid their businesses.
So maney lies from democrats for instance the democrats say the rich pay little taxes when fact is the rich pay almost all the federal taxes democrats say the poor get cheated when fact is the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare democrats say middle class pay to much taxes fact is if you draw 1500 a month till your eighty that's over two hundred thousand dollars in ss and you did not pay that much in ss taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes democrats party of handouts and lies
@@fritzforsthoefel8031found the shill The fact y’all can’t see the grifting happening right in front of your eyes thanks to your tightly locked political bubbles is saddening.
Even as someone who typically doesn't like government intrusiveness; there's a reason why anti-trust laws, capital gains taxes and the like were necessary. I believe Sec. Reich was completely wrong about NAFTA back in the day; but he's damn sure right about this. Sadly, greed and human nature will assure this type of legislation will always be needed.
I agree with you on regulation in our economic system. I'm not a person who believes that capitalism itself is at the root of the problems, but see it as the pervasive, and all too often rewarded, abuses of the freedoms and opportunities presented by our system. Making it worse, when the people attempting to circumvent the regulations and oversight are put in charge of rewriting (or eliminating) the regulations and controlling (or eliminating) the oversight, we have a system doomed to create and/or exacerbate the inequalities and problems we are experiencing now. As a small business owner, with my wife (we build custom and semi-custom electric guitars and bass guitars), I need to be aware of and deal with regulations regularly, but I would not want to operate in a system devoid of those regulations. As a consumer, what regulations and oversight we have is vital to our system even being able to continue to function (as examples: without regulation and oversight, our food supply systems would be far worse, with more contamination problems, issues of haphazard or even dangerous composition; our power grid, our transportation networks, our communications, our financial sector operations, would all be ripped apart by those operating out of a purely greed driven motivation, etc).
I look at the people I've been given to vote for in the last few elections and I think, there are 332,000,000 of us, and these are the best you can come up with? Where's Teddy when we need him?
The top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the middle class draw more ss and medicare than they pay in taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return
@@fritzforsthoefel8031If you actually think " taxing the rich= communism" you have no right to try to inform other people of anything. Communism is state ownership. A progressive tax system is just common sense. Fyi those who have more used to pride themselves in giving as a form of Patriotism. Benjamin Franklin upon his death donated a great deal of money to the city of Philadelphia with the condition that they couldn't touch it for 100 years. By that time it had gathered enough interest to equal a million dollars and went to fund public education and the local fire department. That's not " Communism" it's Altruism and it's what real " Patriotism" looks like in practice. You corporate bootlicker.
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 They know deep down that the REAL issue, is overpopulation, and countries such as China and India that breed like rabbits. Every job that couldv been automated, has been outsourced. Human life as of now, is litterally cheaper than machine. They know deep down if they express this, theyl be called racists. REAL DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS in Sweden and Norway, know this. They close their borders, and protect their jobs religously. Sweden rejected Turkeys EU membership because of migrants. Norway isnt even IN the EU because they dont want their oil money taken advantage of by foreigners. If these people werent virtue signalers, they would realize that what illegal immigration has done to blue collar labour, is now affecting white collar work. Look at Software Development, Engineering, and all these other STEM fields. All taken over by China/India. (I DO NOT mean chinese/indian americans) We need to fund automation so we arent overtaken by people that breed like rabbits, and we must establish a proper UBI system.
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 and they can pay more! Bring back the 90+% tax bracket that existed in the 1950's, and include securities in that. There's no reason any person on planet earth needs to hoard $100 Billion+ in assets. It is an incredible disgrace that we not only allow, but glamorize this atrocious level of wealth. it serves nobody but the few who have it
I Like Ike & his 91% Tax Rate. I Like Ike & his 91% Tax Rate. I Like Ike & his 91% Tax Rate. Tax the Rich, feed the poor. Until there are no rich no more. Vote Blue.
5:13 That's why I think Australian mandatory voting is a good thing. Yeah, the districts can be manipulated, our media is heavily politically leaning. But also, no one's vote is ignored. Everyone has to vote, so everyone does. There's no voter suppression.
BUT . . . never before now -- not in the entire history of humanity -- have so many educated people lived so freely and so abundantly. And for just 17+ years, we have been connected to this shared, worldwide experience, with near-instant communication. It is GUARANTEED to Wake "THIS" Generation Up. Because the Father knows what you need, before you ask.
Given any system, it will be exploited. This is a core tenent of Anarchy. Another is that humans are animals. Socialable, the most communicative, and the best tool using animals on earth. But just animals. Ment to be free. There are places still untouched by modern hiarchies. Capital, skin color, clothing styles. None of that matters there. And they advance, albeit more slowly, as expected from a smaller population. Just like we all do. They dont need money. And they get the work done. Just like humans always have. The diffrence is, we dont have to work near as hard to get the work done as they. We have modernity to thank for that. Yet we still do, and now we over work. 40% of food is never sold, its left to rot; just to jack up the costs of the remaining 60%. We only have to farm as hard as we do for one year and preserve that 40% of food for use during a bad harvest. between 60% and 80% of work done is solely un-needed. Depending on what you tally as needed. If we got rid of money (as it is) and used localized posted boards for work to be done and work finsihed it would be 80% totally unneeded. We could all work only 20% of what we do now. Or work as hard as we do now; but towards the goal of automating every cruel, dangerious, or mind numbing job, and reduce our childrens workload by as much as 90%. People talk about the corralation between money and new product... success, and never about the other side that proves it is not causation. Every single advancement started from hobbies. Alchemists worked in secrect, physicist's where traveling showsmen while doing thier "real work", medical science advanced from the hobby of painting, radio advancements was all just from enthusiast's tinkering around until it became computers. For greifs sake, the two most advanced means of semiconductor mass production still are just highly refined hobby photography equipment and hobby magizine printing presses. That is not a joke, nor exaggeration. The tech moved to electrical production in WW2 because thats what the hobbiest left behind at home knew how to do. Along side knitting for magnetic cores, but that tech failed to miniturize. Had it not been for ww2 it would have all came from glassblowing and machining techniques and that would still be fine. If a hobby produces something that everyone wants, we can put the work in to mass produce it. We only have to make 8 billion of any given thing, we make more toys then that a month. Heck, single small production shops with less then 30 employees make more then that a year. Money just gives us an incentive to make things poorly so we have to make them over and over again. We live in strife, in self made cages for the mad god capital. Then wonder how things will advance without it, never wondering how much Capital has destroyed, hampered, and slowed us down making us produce the same thing over and over and over.
My history classes in the 70's & 80's elementary through high school were so bland and whitewashed. Lots of emphasis on memorizing dates for next day quizzes. Easy A's and a complete waste of time. I first learned about slavery in America from the series Roots. Way more brutal and honest than what my history book portrayed.
I am 60 this is really the first time hearing this in real time I will share with my family thank you again, I do have a story about Amazon that I think is important.
Robert, why aren’t YOU running for high office? I never see or hear such common sense intelligence such as yours! It would actually give me hope when I feel COMPLETELY hopeless.
Is he a natural born citizen? I ask because think the highest office an immigrant can get is Governor. So if he's originally from England or France or something he can't get very far.
Agreed! His message would resonate with so many more people than the candidates our corrupted two-party system creates, because it is based on clearly understood, and clearly communicated facts, that have an obvious effect on the daily lives of us all.
You don't seem to want to hear the truth that we have a debt so high that it's estimated that intrest alone will be over a half a trillion dollars that our dollar is being destroyed by our debt so as to enable bric's to challenge our current for dominance you only want to hear about all the free things democrats want
All depressingly familiar in the UK, too. This time, however, the corporations are multinationals and so can avoid paying taxes commensurate with their earnings in many nations by using off-shore tax havens. Legislation needs to be targeted to deal with this on an international basis. From what I understand, the mega-billionaires in the US pay themselves a (relative) pittance and then use loans for their extravagant lifestyles as they are tax deductible. All legislation needs to be rather more fleet-of-foot than it is to keep up with excess tax avoidance.
So true Robert❤👍🤟Each generation must renew the struggle, nothing is given. We can look back 3-4 generations to get inspiration and decode the tricks that have been used before to trap us. Unity makes strong, Solidarity must be given before it can be expected.👍👍👍
Thank you for this encouraging video. I think social media makes this even more difficult, but with the massive increase in population since the19th century, the number of people living in misery and close to it makes the crisis more acute.
Commenting for the algorithm: This video is legit, the Chicago school pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes during the oil embargo and the politicians and businesspeople since then have brought the gilded age back.
In school one year it was "robber barrons" and later it was "industrialists". Celebrity culture taught us to worship money and fame. This desensitized us to this happening. In atleast in my opinion.
This is a great production and should be aired everywhere. Thanks for the history lesson. It's been a long time since I learned this. I appreciate the reminder. History repeating itself. What goes around comes around. Thanks, Robert, for what you do.
HOUSING has become a particularly cruel area where the inequality problem is causing real pain for anyone trying to buy or just to get by renting. It's way overpriced and, to buy anything, you need to not only outbid other buyers, but also overcome the 1% that has NO interest in living there and just wants another rental property owned by a private equity firm. Get the corporations out! Whenever tens of millions get priced out or thrown out of something undeniably essential, it's important they use their VOTE to vote in reforms. They'd be crazy not to. We saw this happen with the ACA and I can see it building with housing.
If that was true than how else can you add more houseing without letting rent rise so as to encourage more houesing does not rent control simply make matters worse
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 Rent control undeniably distorts the market and isn't practiced in many places, but those that have it do because all other options are worse, net-net. They're between a rock and a hard place, such as in NYC where housing always has been a problem. The supply problem is more due to NIMBY-ism.
Joe Biden letting in an estimated seven million illegal immegrants won't make the houseing shortage any better vote out handout democrats before it's to late
You get the democracy you deserve. The US has allowed itself to be divided and conquered by the rich. These people will always be there. They are ever vigilant for their quest for money and power. The US citizen has been worked and entertained into apathy. Younger voters have woken up. This is why republicans are trying to stifle the youth vote now.
The Gilded Age is now at a global level. Workforce can be exploited from anywhere, in any currency. Even when labour was fair, somebody, somewhere is suffering so that prices on goods remain relatively affordable. The wealthy elite will always find ways to dodge accountability.
This should have way more likes. Why anyone would argue against these simple facts is wild. I'd love to hear some of the arguments defending the robber barrons. I'm sure they echo what we hear today. "They create jobs and wealth though!"
Why are they robber barons? What exactly did they steal? They all started companies from scratch and built them. How does Elon Musk affect your life. Is he taking something from you? Elaborate.
We have a debt so big it defies belief because democrats won't pay for the handouts they want leaving our children a bankrupt shell of a nation vote out handout democrats before it's to late our childrens future depend on it
Then send half your taxes to pay for the handouts democrats want if not you are stealing from our children because it's them who will have to pay for the huge overwhelming unbelievable debt we have now vote out handout democrats our childrens future depend on it
Who should pay for the debt we have democrat solution more handouts our children will inherit a bankrupt shell of a nation because of democrat handouts that you won't pay enough taxes for don't you care about our children
At 56yrs old, I know I'll be working for the rest of my life. I am a Navy Veteran, a mother, and a fulltime worker. I have zero savings because I had to use my measly 401K in order to afford to move from my previous building as we were all being forced out. I have health issues of which my prescription medications are astronomically priced. I have a student loan that's in default because I missed a deferment while I was going through a very difficult break-up and move halfway across the country. I barely make ends meet although I work full-time. The benefits my employer offers don't cover even half what I have to pay out of pocket for healthcare as I'm not in my 20's anymore. My adult son has had to move in with me just so we can make it paycheck to paycheck. More and more labor unions are striking, demanding fair pay, compensation, benefits, and safe workplaces. All while corporations are reporting record profits! Politicians are enacting laws that restrict citizen freedoms. There are multiple conspiracy theories intended to distract American workers from the real threats - claiming "Replacement Theories", Anti-Trans Theories, as well as continuing to enact more and more voter suppression by jerrymandering voting districts. It's disgusting!!
I saw this Gilded Age coming about 26 years ago. Every so called legislative action to reform political donations only made it worse & culminated in Citizens United! Thank you for reporting. Need this reform again!
Correct again Professor. History is indeed repeating itself. Thanks for the lesson on TDR,I had no idea of his beliefs on this subject. What's worse about it now is that more people are here to live in poverty while they wallow in their wealth.
That will be hard cause the rich will never allow it to happen. Teddy Roosevelt was never actually elected. He was made vice president which at that time how a purely ceremonial position. It was Mc. Cinley's murder that got him the oval office and he actually lost the very next presidential election. Though luckily Woodrew Willsion continued his work.
Yes I always thought when Bernie was running he shouldn't had fireside chats And TH-cam are the internet to educate the people Maybe President Biden and some of the other progressive Democrats Could sit down and have fireside chats to educate the American people on where we're at Explain to them how we have a captured media The corporations run the country there's no red and blue it's just who you can pay off And explain about the lobbyist and the money coming in from Big pharma the insurance companies And also explain how Russia China and even Saudi Arabia Likes to divide our country With Miss Information Explain to him how Trump and Republican party has been taken over By fascist
I read about how, during the Reagan administration, large businesses lobbied to have a law passed stating that if a merger is deemed to be for greater company efficiency, then it should be allowed. The law was passed, but the wording is so vague that basically all mergers are now allowed, which basically neutered any anti-trust powers our government has and now only a handful of corporations own nearly all the businesses in America. Even now, Kroger and Albertsons are poised to merge and own 22% of the grocery stores in the USA, which is predicted to raise food prices across the nation catastrophically.
We have never had a Democracy. We have a Republic where we vote for representatives that vote for us and our collective desires for the betterment of the country. But, that is not happening today and has not for decades. We have essentially a two-party system where both parties (Democrats and Republicans) are pressured by corporations through Lobbyists, Special Interest Groups and promises of unlimited Campaign Contributions to sway votes in Congress in the Corporations' favor. However, Democrats are more benevolent to the working class and Republicans tend to favor corporations and the rich.
Yeah you already see Canada's social democracy backsliding and the UK's too. They'll end up like us because oligarchy is the stable equilibrium of capitalism.
We have always lived in a guilded age, just never awakend to it We go to work evey day at the whims of authoritarian bosses a decidedly undemocratic system When did you realize the myth the we live under a truly democratic system
Remember that during America's most prosperous years of the 1950's and 60's ... the ultra Wealthy paid 90% Tax rate.... Now they pay 43.4% with massive loopholes for private jets, yachts, and income through company shares.
As our famous Uncle Bob would say, “Today’s hardship is all caused by bananas. The deregulation of bananas within government results in undue influence by a select few within our democracy.”
Abraham Lincoln stated before his assassination: "I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."
This is all very hopeful, however Robert misses a critical point. The end of the first Guilded Age did not come about because of regulations or trust busting or laws being passed that restricted the power of the robber barons. Those things were instead the consequence o something else. That something else was the Great Depression, which beginning in 1929, collapsed and ruined many companies and resulted in a weakening of power of the Robber Barons. The WW2 came later to finish off the last remnants because the turn from consumer production to military production helped collapse the last power the old Barrons and their companies still maintained following the depression. The rest of it, the regulations, the workers right, unions, minimum wage laws, that came only after the Robber Barons lost power.
I'm 65 and entered the workforce when wages and productivity went separate ways in the mid 70's. In 1976 homelessness was almost unheard of in America. High school graduates earned enough money to buy a car and rent an apartment on minimum wage from one person. Normal people took an annual vacation and expected to retire at my age. This is not My America, it is a hostile occupation.
Democrat programs are at an all time high the rich pay almost all the federal taxes isn't this what democrats want
The closing of mental health facilities across the country, spearheaded by Ronald Reagan. Trickle-down economics that was and is a failed policy by Reagan and Republicans continues today. High inflation in the late 70's and early 80's started us down a path we have today of low wages, that we have never recovered from and was paramount to the start of a growing homeless class
Regulations by cities to build single-family housing - not everyone needs a 2500 sq foot home. Building freeways through low-income neighborhoods so higher-paid people can drive from the suburbs to their jobs. That eventually turned into a drive-till-you-afford-it mentality that put a strain on workers who drove hours and spent less time with their families and leisure time. There are so many variables for have worked against the regular everyday worker it is too much to cover in a small space of time
You are correct on all counts and very informed. Great comment.@@sterlingmarshel6299
I've said that for years it's timing in life that can make or break you. I worked two jobs from the late 80s until being laid off in 2018 two days before Christmas after 31 years with the same company. Found a job making more money but health issues told me it was time to slow down so I retired. Being a heavy equipment operator is tough on a body lol no regrets there but it is time.
I am 69 and echo your experience in the U.K. It is not just the USA who has experienced these changes.
2 words. Citizens United. As long as it is legal for the rich to buy influence, there will be nothing but a gilded age.
Totally agree with you until we take care of that citizens United The corporations will own us Same with our corporate media we need to do something about I think that's more important for the democrats or whoever gets in should be the first thing they do For voting rights or anything else We need demand this out of the democrats if they get in power
More like corporations and government United.
Amen
BINGO. That's the issue right there. Period, end of story.
Also need term limits.
728 billionaires hold more wealth than half of American households. If that doesn’t tell you we’re in a second Gilded Age, I don’t know what will.
Robber Baron who? You mean Kings. They're called Kings. Good video.
chill
The rich pay almost all the federal taxes and we have a severe shortage of skilled workers why is that
There's plenty of wealth to go around. How many people watching this plan on buying stocks, bonds, precious metals or starting a business?
We owe 33 trillion dollars we have a twenty five trillion dollar economy we don't have any wealth to spread around
What I find even more frustrating is that when a CEO gives him/herself a raise, it"s seen as a "job well done", whereas workers wanting a raise are "ungrateful" and are apparently going to cause Weimar Republic levels of inflation.
Don't forget about the smooth brained politicians who give themselves raises!!
When was the last time the senste or congress or president got a raise stop spreading misinformation
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 Like how Nancy Pelosi got busted for insider trading and is multimillionaire...yet nothing happened.
American economy is consumption driven so people need money in their pockets to keep this going, simple as that.
Inflation is a consequence of how money is being created anyways, NOT by how much people earn.
You cannot give a lot of money to unskilled low producing workers that creates a situation where you have a lot of consumption because of lots of money passed out but low production from low skilled workers meaning you run out of things to buy leaving you with nothing but paper money and empty shelves
1st. Citizens United was an attack on middle class and lower SEC Americans
2nd. Learning is always a must, continue to educate yourselves everyone. History is important!
As a huge Mark Twain fan, I recall coming across this term years ago and thinking, “this is no different from now.” People just need to recognize it. Thanks for this excellent video…it should go viral.
Alot goes into misinformation and social conditioning. Also the rat race is being used in tandem with high CoL to keep the majority distracted and easier to control/manipulate through information THEY approve. Social media plays a big part in creating trends and distracting the public and its all just forms of control. Its not just the government, its the rich. The rich just use the government like a puppet through lobbying bribes, which is a clever way they come up with to get away with bribery while using the first amendment as a trojan horse.
I think it'll get much worse before it gets better. But if you look at how much has changed in our country since we made the dollar Fiat and since essentially The Vietnam War. Its not outlandish to me to think that within the next 40 years, at most, this country is either going to end up way more socialist. Or its going to eventually have a collapse. Or possibly, and really the best option, is degrowth. Either way I think some real real hard times are coming to this country as a whole. I think that should be very evident by how we lean so hardly on the credit system these days. Which the credit system is nothing but a band-aid fix for the simple truth that capitalism is NOT sustainable. Even WITH the new deal and all the shit we got out of the hardships of the American Gilded Age. Its so unsustainable they had to create a I-O-U system to insure consumption doesn't fail. Because without consumption, production fails. Money freezes. Banks shut down. Businesses die off. Homelessness and violence goes through the roof along with lay offs. Capitalism FAILS for EVERYONE if enough consumption is not happening.
Really all we need to do for serious change in this country is mass strikes. Mass protests. We need to induce these problems because that's the only way the rich are going to let some leash out at this point. Its what we needed during the Gilded Age its what we need again now. Infact, better we do it now, than wait for people to be eating the family pets cause they cant afford anything to eat. This is ALL why they go after guns so much. Republicans do it too all the time. Trump is the one who banned bump stocks. Nobody talks about that like they did when Biden banned pistol braces. Or weaponized the ATF to do it through briberies. They both do it. Its a good cop/bad cop routine. That is the entire purpose of the two party system lol. To good cop bad cop the masses.
"Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it." - Winston Churchill
If you prefer, think of these times as Man's Pre Star Trek moment -- complete with our own Q. Mankind either ends war now, thus paving the way for a marvelous, worldwide civilization OR men and women are forever forbidden from the stars -- perhaps even our souls, bound to Earth, with the beasts.
Q, just as Q-wizical as ever, says, "I don't believe men have souls. If they do, it's barely discernible. This time, Jean-Luc, it's not up to you and your crew to save the day. It's up to them -- souls or not!"
Yup, it's happening in America
Whydja wanna reed a book fur?
And Churchill's quote predicted this would happen again.
Thats a Santayana quote man dont give credit to idiots that dont deserve it
Money and lobbyist out of politics!! NOW!!!
I'm 41, my dad is 67, when he started working he was miking $2/hr. but his first car was $2,000, 20 years later when I started working my first job paid $7.00/hr. but my first car was $20,000. wages went up 3.5x, but prices went up 10x, in effect my wages were worth half as much as his. This has been true my entire working life, wages go up, but prices go up MUCH faster. We make more money, but our money buys less, and who pockets the difference, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, they aren't the saviors of our society dudes, they are the cause of its problems....
Elon musk works seven days a week employees thousands of people averaging over a hundred thousand dollars a year makeing products that help curb global warming and paid 12 billion dollars in taxes last year and what did the government do with his money paid Harvard university seven hundred thousand dollars to blow lizards off trees with leaf blowers mabey musk should get a tax cut so he can create more environmentally friendly products and employee more people or should lizard blowing government get more of his money
That's exactly what has happened
You tool. They play by the rules the government sets. Keep thinking they are the real problem, and nothing will ever change.
Wait, you bought a $20k car when you were making $7 an hour?
The value of your currency has plummeted because big government prints money to buy votes, causing inflation.
"All wealth is the result of someone's labor.", Adam Smith ---- This is what we forget. Billionaires didn't make America, America makes billionaires.
Which is why taxation is theft. If I earn money with my labor, no one has the right to take it, not even the IRS.
How can we as a country be so short sighted! This is history repeating itself right before ourveyes!
Which political affiliates keep the wealthy around to finance their coffers?
By brainwashing the poor and uneducated people to vote against their best interest.
@Don-tjpb, I agree, especially in America, America doesn't seem to ever learn from its previous mistakes, so yes! It's history repeating itself over and over again. It's so saddening to witness it as well.
I'm sure it will get worse with the way education is going, especially with history.
Yes and we had a pandemic in the 1910s ,the roaring 20s, then we had the Great Depression in the 1930s .SOB I think we’re in for hard times soon .
Robert Reich is a national treasure and must be protected at all cost.
Friedman>>>>>>>Reich
Is that a threat?
@@gbaker9295 😂 loser. Does it sound like a threat? Slow down keyboard warrior. These are stupid comments. If you want to protect somebody then do something instead of type, protect this man.... If somebody wanted to search the best people to get rid of all they would have to do is search the TH-cam comments for these dumb phrases. If you want to protect the people pulling the curtain back, go stand up for your rights. He is one man sticking his neck out on the line, the only thing that can protect him is if he creates 10 more people willing to do the same thing and actually live it.
He is one of my heroes, as well as proof that good things really CAN come in small packages.
Sadly, neither Robert Reich nor any of us are getting any younger. Perhaps though, like small dogs, he’ll live a long life.
I'm a critical care nurse in Florida, previously a combat military medic veteran, that has been completely burned out for the increasingly unsafe expectations of hospital administrations. I have tried 3 hospitals here in FL and they are the same. Instead of hiring an appropriate number of RNs and paying them fairly, it's always the same. During Covid I worked over 48 hours a day and went home falling asleep on the wheel. Understaffed, and laughable pay compared to the stress, and nature of the assigments. I would not want a family member to come here and need treatment. Patients are rushed out of critical care, stepdown units, and from surgical med surg areas to home when they are not ready just to make room for more. We have available extra rooms in many cases, but no staff to properly care for the extra patients.
There is a national shortage of skilled labor such as nurses democrats make it worse by paying high wages to low skilled workers no one will put in the time and effort of getting a skilled job
Va hospitals are government ran
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 No that's not the problem. Doesn't make sense. Healthcare here is under a capitalist system, no matter if the hospital self labels as non profit. If there is a high demand for a job, it should pay a high wage. Hospitals don't pay fast food worker wages. What we have is capitalism for the working people and socialism for the hospitals and corporations which get subsidies and bail outs.
So you are saying high skilled jobs should pay more than unskilled jobs that's not what democrats support
The VA is non profit government run infamous for poor care at a high cost when democrats succeed in everyone getting universal government run healthcare like Sanders wants everyone can have poor healthcare
History always repeats itself. Our inability to step out of this loop is our greatest tragedy.
I think the greatest tragedy is that so many of us DO see it but are powerless to stop it. You can't reason with the very people who could join with us to put an end to it. They have been homeschooled and indoctrinated through their churches since leaving the womb to believe without question in free market capitalism. I don't see how we could break through that kind of brainwashing.
Europe progressed past feudalism because they were forced to compete for peasantry.
Nowadays? Wev reverted back to feudalism. Why?
Every job that couldv been automated, has been outsourced.
China and India have billions of people, and billions of equally competent workers.
If Microsoft cant hire for cheap, then they can hire from india.
If Microsoft is sanctioned, then Alibaba just takes over and outproduces them.
If China and India had the same population density as Canada, then we would still be experiencing 1950's wages.
Theres a reason why socialist utopias such as Sweden reject migration from Turkey, and why Norway isnt even in the EU.
Their smart, and they protect their jobs.
Apple is able to pay their workers slave wages, because they can lobby democrats into importing MILLIONS of illegals for cheap labour.
It used to be blue collar labour that was anhilated by globalism, and now its white collar labours.
Jobs such as software development, engineering, business, and the rest, have been utterly anhilated by countries like China and India.
If Democrats continue to virtue signal and delude themselves from the overpopulation issue, then its only gonna get worse.
@honkhonk8009 overpopulation issue. Millennial can't afford to have children. We are on the verge of population collapse in the Midwest. My wife and I know very few people who have children, and that is not unusual.
@@honkhonk8009 If you think it was democrats who have created a second gilded age, you need to look closer at policy. I don't know why you would say anyone is "importing" people, as if they are goods. How can this be about "importing" people, when you also say jobs have been outsourced. You are contradicting yourself. All I hear is someone who is very worked up, doesn't really have the facts straight and who has decided without evidence that democrats are to blame. I think you need to work on critical thinking skills.
@@gracieb.3054 I say importing people because thats litterally what capitalism treats labour as. Thats what corporations treat illegals as. They are cheap labour. They are cheap services. They are cheap GOODS. I dont have to spell this shit out bruh, your argument is purely a moral one.
Please, explain to me how "importing people" and "outsourcing jobs" are contradictions. You realize its possible to be doing both? Im not sure what your tryna get at, because Im pretty sure America at the municipal, state, and federal level, support certain corporations having business at their respective areas. For example, Seattle giving massive tax writeoffs for Amazon tech work, or NY doing the same for Amazon warehouses, or the feds doing the same with TSMC fabs.
Its much easier to run a factory in America since you dont have to deal with infrastructure issues, or chinese laws. But the people are expensive, and the PPP is high. Thats why corporations like Apple, hire illegals to the grunt labour. Unless your somehow in denial over this fact.
In conclusion, stay delusional. Mf put up some emotional argument.
Political corruption, fiscal accretion and increasing social injustice are, regrettably, not monopolies. It’s not just in the US. Similar trends are apparent in UK and elsewhere. Your summary, as always, deserves the widest possible audience.
Thanks for bringing out what is really happening in America and what to do about it. It's about time for people to wake up and put a stop to greed in America. We need to tax the mega rich.
The top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and it's you who don't pay enough taxes here is the proof if you draw 1500 a month in ss till your eighty that's over two hundred thousand dollars and you did not pay that much in ss taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return we have a debt so big it defies imagination because of democrat handouts vote out handout democrats before it's to late our childrens future depend on it
Robert, I am a converted Republican who formerly thought the support of business by the government created jobs and prosperity; make the pie bigger over cutting it up.
I learned over last few years that this does not happen, and I saw it in my career. When tax cuts hit my company, it was not even discussed to increase wages. That only happened a bit during supply chain when we could not hire anyone.
You do an amazing job showing the growing inequality of wealth. I think if underpaid people that are supporting Republicans understood this enough would switch to change the balance. In other countries and throughout history people were stuck with this inequality but we actually have a democratic society so the masses should vote out a party trying to support and exacerbate.
I think the Republicans are MUCH better at marketing than the Democrats (with you as an exception). I think they know better that many weak minded people can be led astray with simple slogans and ideas even if wrong and immoral. Woke is an example.
I was thinking about this and came up with the term "asleep sheep". It is the opposite of woke (awake) which somehow is bad!. It also hits on Orwell's class system. Maybe using Pink Floyd's Animals album would be more effective.
I don't know if that's original, but if it is feel free to use it.
Keep up the fight and spread you gift for marketing to fellow Democrats. They need help.
You are aware that the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return
Do you support a livable wage
excellent my friend.
Name some of the corperate welfare you speak of no lies no propaganda just name some
Skilled workers usually make good wages which workers get underpaid
The Second Gilded Age began when Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980--almost 100 years after the First Gilded Age.
and telling us we'd all be receiving trickle down economics, while shipping the jobs off to China. ih, really?
True. He deregulated the banks, broke strikes, and gave us "Trickle-down (up) economics."
Do you remember the terrible economy his predecessor Jimmy Carter had created? Definite parallels to what we’re seeing today. Gilded age 2.0 might be true but it is too complicated to lay at the feet of one president. Unfortunately it always comes back to one root cause - the evil that resides in each person expressed as greed. Spiritual problems are hard to fix with taxation or regulation imo
@@philiplaundy5651 Sorry but Carter was a one term president, who had to deal with OPEC oil embargo--for US support of Israel. He's the one who created the Department of Energy. The economy took a hit over things out of his control, and he did the best he could.
Reagan did a LOT of damage. Deregulating the banks was a mistake. It lead to the S&L crisis, recession then, and the housing bubble burst under Bush. It is STILL causing trouble. Banks are federally insured, and they need to be regulated. Deregulating, and allowing monopolies, is why we now have corporations that are "too big to fail," and we end up bailing out these behemoths when the economy turns.
It's not just Reagan; congress is complicit, as are many state governments.
Reagan was definitely at the forefront of it. Trickle down economics was debunked before Reagan even started touting it. I can’t believe their still trying to peddle that tripe!
Corruption and inequality seem to be a common theme for this country throughout its existence.
try, through-out man kinds existence bud.
Mark Twain - “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” checks out🎯
We really could use a modern-day Teddy Rosevelt right now. I think that person will be Katie Porter, I believe that she lead the change that we so desperately need.
Forget that, we need a modern day French revolution. They knew what to do with their oligarchs.
I think President Biden is doing as much as he can....remember, he stood with UAWorkers...something no other president has ever done!
As I'm sure many will agree here on this platform, President Biden wasn't our first choice. Nevertheless, he is a very very pleasant surprise!
@louisa6948 right now he's just trying to keep the Nepo-nazis from taking over. Thankfully, people are realizing the danger and getting out and voting, striking, and being all around active.
She's great and all, but I believe it's Sheldon Whitehouse.
I adore her, but she (unfortunately) is starting to come across as too smug, with her whiteboard. It is effective but starting to turn off even her fans. I hope her PR people are on that and figuring a way to keep her communication style effective, without letting it appear so condescending. She has the makings of a great leader. But great leaders have to appeal to all parts of the human psyche.....really, the way Buttigieg does.
All of this said, I would vote for her in a heartbeat.
Those who claim that if we raise taxes on the super rich, they will leave the country. When they told that im like do you hear yourself?
It's an empty threat anyway. They're not paying for the privelege they enjoy anyway, and so we wouldn't even notice if they left.
Then we could sieze all their local assets and turn them to good for the public at large.
Well then tax their American assets still.
Good riddance! Leave the Country! And take your bought-off congressmen {Geatz} , and Judges {Thomas} with you ! 😮
That's exactly what communist leader mao in china did took rich people's money and gave it to the masses and raised low skilled workers wages dramatically result millions starved now in china under capitalism low skilled workers make low wages and there is billionaires result china has one of the fastest growing economies in the world explain that
@@fritzforsthoefel8031There is a huge difference between Amazon, Tesla, Meta, Microsoft and apple. and any successful business 99.99% of us will ever found. dont speak such drivel
This might just be your best piece yet. How succinct! History doesn’t just rhyme, it echoes. It echoes with the cries of the many for economic justice. So many people believe they are not good enough, or not trying hard enough. I say, you are manipulated to be exploited workers and overactive consumers. What if you want to do something else, be something else? We can, we All Can. Support each other, instead of struggling in isolated shame. Thank you, Robert and team, for making sense of all the ‘What’s Wrong With This Picture?’ inanities and insanities that dominate our culture and society today (but Not Forever). Monopolies are Wealth Unions of the rich. Let’s replace their Collective Domination with our Collective Bargaining.
What is an overactive consumer
@@fritzforsthoefel8031Oh I Know!!! Someone Who Practices,(A Thing I Can't Comprehend)
"Retail Therapy". It's Pernicious...
And Practised, Recklessly, Frequently And Seemingly,
Unconsciously. The Human Brain Will Try Any And All Things, To Attempt To Alleviate,
Emotional And Mental Suffering. Seems,
Counter Intuitive. As Does Any ,Potentially, Self- Harming,
Behavior.
Pain And Trauma,
Cause Psychopathy,That Demands Intense,
Persistent
Psychological
Address.
Just Saying. Blessings And Truth For All.
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 YAWN....ZZZZzzzz....
In a world where so many are sick and homeless, it is unethical to be a billionaire
So telsa and Amazon should shut down so musk and Jeff bezo can't make any more money you are aware that the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return
But yet social media moguls are wealthy
What's your point
When people say "Hard work won't kill you" they are wrong. People actually died of exhaustion and dehydration on Ford Motor Companies Assembly line, until the 40 hour work week and Overtime were made into law. 16 hour days x 7 day work week= injuries and death at an alarming rate. I forget the horrible numbers of one years workers who lost a limb and Companies said tough luck...
No one says it better than the great Robert Reich. Every American’s future, and every future generation, is dependent on heeding his vast knowledge and wise advice.
He lies by withholding information I can show maney examples
Actually, he’s America’s biggest economic truth-teller. And, before stating any false examples you claim to have, you may want to learn how to spell “many” first.
Sorry about that can't see that well words and letters blur and run together for me but I am improving
Does he tell you that the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes does he tell you that the top ten percent pay over seventy percent of the federal taxes does he tell you that the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes or that if you draw 1500 hundred dollars a month in ss till your eighty that's over two hundred thousand dollars and you did not pay that much in ss taxes who makes up the difference does he tell you that the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare does he tell you that the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return he tells you none of these things does he
Will you pay half your income to the government to pay for the handouts democrats want if not we add it to the debt our children will have to pay for liveing off our children the democrat way
If you get all antsy about the rich leaving this country, just charge them an appropriate exit fee. That would be any riches acquired while enjoying the mechanism that enabled them!
Or just apply tariffs to any individual company they own.
Agree. They're not going to leave anyway as they've got it too good here.
The government can and SHOULD freeze their bank accounts legally.
If they want to leave, LET THEM! Seriously, look at the biggest corporations, and how they're crowding out competition. Walmart killed Mainstreet, and Amazon is killing everything else. Raise their taxes, and if they choose to leave, wave buh-bye. Once gone, treat them like an outside country when they want to sell their goods back to the biggest consumer market in the world. We do not NEED these monopolies!!
Just arrest them. The end.
I can't believe I've never thought/heard of the term "second gilded age" until today. It's so true tho
The new feudalism?
The media really needs to keep repeating it, ad nauseum, the way Fox repeats talking points a million times a week.
The other phrase they need to repeat over and over is "Christian Taliban" with regards to women's reproductive rights and book banning. To get the concept through people's heads as it is SO apt.
A consumer driven economy, which many claim the US has, needs competition among sellers to function most effectively. The consolidation of monopolies and oligopolies in almost every market sector must be addressed by the public sector in order to restore health to our economy.
Who the hell is claiming the U.S. has a "consumer driven economy"!? The official name is "Supply-Side Economics," literally the opposite of consumer (demand side) driven!
I mean, I'm not disagreeing on your points, but I'm just baffled that anyone could think that unless they aren't from or at least living in the U.S. when the name literally tells you the opposite.
Public schools have a near Monopoly and you are right about it leeding to poor outcomes would you support school choice and competition for schools or do you agree with democrat politicians that only want the rich to be able to afford to send there children to private schools
@@fritzforsthoefel8031Are you trolling or do you really think that’s a relevant point?
Public schools fill a need for most people that aren’t filled by private markets. That circumstance is known in classical economics as market failure- private schools don’t provide the good or services in a efficient way to all the consumers. A market for education will fail to properly evaluate the commons (goods or services that benefit everyone regardless of whether they pay or not).
Public schools transformed American education positively until private schools (where available) siphoned off the most affluent students- often by appealing to elitism. This was a libertarian or conservative driven movement as are almost all efforts to defund public education, which is clearly the reason for the decline.
There’s also abundant evidence demonstrating that private school students score better not because they’re better educators but because private schools are able to cherry pick students, and they can get rid of problematic students with little due process. Where do all those students end up? In the public system.
There’s zero evidence that private schools perform better than public ones. There are outstanding examples and terrible examples of both. There’s plenty of reliable information about what works and what doesn’t in education. If you genuinely care about this important issue, you can easily access it.
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 Typical anti public education, school choice propaganda, that is a republican scam to take money from public schools and give it to religious schools. Take a hike with that garbage.
Instead the public sector has been complicit, with buyouts and the like.
I made similar comments during a discussion a few weeks ago, calling the current climate a second gilded age. The big difference between then and now is the current barons have learned from the mistakes of the past and have adjusted their influence to prevent another Teddy or similar from ever gaining power. As long as both sides blame each other for the problems of the country, there will be no possibility of change.
FDR was more of a centrist than people often think. He said, "I believe in a system of free enterprise where every man can go as far as his natural God given talents can take him, but not to the extent of making fodder out of large segments of the population." He also said, "The problem I have is that the socialists think I eat caviar for breakfast while the capitalists think I eat beans for breakfast. Actually, I eat steak and eggs for breakfast just like the majority of Americans do." All that sounds pretty centrist to me.
Welcome to the Gilded Age 2.0! Where workers are treated as merely meat/fodder for the grinder.
As was Lincoln, who sued railroad workers over labor desputes when he worked as a corporate lawyer.
Thanks, Captain Obvious
The second quote is mushy and reeks of being formulated for the optics, it isnt good evidence for or against any of his policies really, in my opinion.
Youre right, FDR nationalizing industries, forcing farmers to destroy "surplus" crops to prop up food prices, not allowing businesses to operate unless they agreed to his draconian rules, and him changing his heavy handed rules left and right, that all sounds super centrist
We've been in the New Age of the Robber Baron(Gilded Age sounds enabling) for a while now. I was warning people of this 15-20 years ago.
Then why do the rich allow themselves to be taxed so much the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the top ten pay over seventy percent
We have an Capitalist Economic system called supply side economics also called Reaganomics or Trickle down Theory they started planning this in the 1960's and 1970's and fully instituted it in the 1980's when Reagan was the President it is actually just a scheme to enrich the Wealthy Elite under the George W Presidential Regime they called it Bush Enomics and said it was Reaganomics on Steroids this is not just the Republicans the Democrats went along with this Corporate Democrats who believed in the lie of the Trickle down Theory of wealth this included Bill and Hilary and Obama and his Vice President our current President and six term Senator Joe Biden who has finally started to change his economic beliefs some more in support of the working class only since he became the current President of course you could write a tick and long book on the details of what has occurred over this 50 to 60 year period of class warfare which is nothing more than a scheme to make the Wealthiest people even more Wealthy We the People let this happen by voting for the Republicans and Corporate Democrats we can only fix this mess by voting these People who presently control our entire Government and even our SCOTUS OUT OF OFFICE THIS WILL STILLTAKE MANY DECADES TO REPAIR AND CHANGE TO A MORE FAIR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM
We can thank Nixon and Reagan for ushering in this new Gilded Age.
Politics have swung so far to the right that Nixon would be considered a liberal democrat in today's political climate.
TRUTH!
Reagan began the single greatest bull market in the history of mankind. This bull market has pulled more people out of poverty than all of history’s other bull markets combined.
You are so correct, Regan does deserve the credit for the prosperous times of which we are now living.
Those who have failed to enter into the prosperity that is now available to us need to ask themselves, “why am I such a fuck up?”
And worse than them, Paul Manafort, Art Laffer, Milton Friedman, John R Shad, Jack Francis-Welch, and the Koch brothers.
@@lynnturman8157 Just recently I had a hard right bro spend an hour online informing me that no, there had been no march to the right, it had never happened, bla bla bla.
@@SirAndacar LBJ's Great Society welfare/socialism took us left and the middle class has paid for it.
It’s not repeating it never ended. This is America. The only “benefit” of living in America over Europe is that this is encouraged.
The most concerning thing about this new guilded age is that the people who are most in need are out there actively electing people who are going to enact legislation that will only continue to screw them, and us all, over.
This is Trump’s elitist dream! Didn’t he even name his son “Baron”?
Yes how presumptuous. I feel sorry for that kid growing up in such a skewed world.
Anyone else remember the story of him telling his daughter that the homeless man had more money than he did?
Only now he is being brought to account for lying about his wealth.
When you son in named "King" or "Royal" you know they come from a family with old money. Baron is new money. I actually met in University two guys with those first two names!!
When he creamed in Melania he said "tell me I'm a Baron!! Raaawrrr!!😂 Then Melania said "mrnfh". And thought, *i'll name the baby that if it's a boy... And he'll be taller than you.*
@@HeronPoint2021 my oldest friend named his first child king.
he aint exactly "well to do". the exact opposite really. why king? iunno. just felt right. with the surname "meek"
king meek... dont ask me!
@@paradiselost9946 Royal is now a lawyer other lawyers consult; King is now Prof. at 'USC in debate. old money.
Mark Twain would punch Elon Musk in the face.
I think Twain would convince someone else to do it for him (maybe even a crowd)----but your sentiments are correct.
I'd pay for a ticket to watch. Elon is evil incarnate.
And could smoke him under the table.
Why would he do that to a person who paid twelve billion dollars in taxes employees thousands of people at an average wage of over one hundred thousand dollars a year make environmentally friendly products
You probably haven't even met Elon musk
Recently, reflecting on where we are now, I've been wondering why Robert Reich hasn't made this video.
Now it's here.
Thank you!
The comparisons of then and now have truly depressed me for a long time. It feels good to see a video like this, and remind me that this IS totally beatable.
Youve given me a lot of hope, for that you have earned a new subscriber 😊
We begin to see another side of inequality: the attraction of wealth to educated men to political positions, and the lack of morals and the ability of the rich to buy those men so they can keep pulling in money. Large corporations can generate very attractive offers for the weak to bring bills that aid their businesses.
If that were true why do they allow themselves to be taxed so much the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes
So maney lies from democrats for instance the democrats say the rich pay little taxes when fact is the rich pay almost all the federal taxes democrats say the poor get cheated when fact is the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare democrats say middle class pay to much taxes fact is if you draw 1500 a month till your eighty that's over two hundred thousand dollars in ss and you did not pay that much in ss taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes democrats party of handouts and lies
Mr Robert Reich is a champion of TRUTH for the American working class. God bless him 💞🕊️
He lies by withholding information he does not tell the truth
God bless you R.R. 🙏 AMEN
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 Another triggered corporate bootlicker troll spewing blather.
@@fritzforsthoefel8031found the shill
The fact y’all can’t see the grifting happening right in front of your eyes thanks to your tightly locked political bubbles is saddening.
...lol
Thank you Mr. Reich. You are a treasure trove of knowledge.
A treasure trove of dishonesty
Thanks so much for speaking the truth.. please share this.. most of all educate the young.. with this valuable information...🇺🇸💙
He lies by withholding information can give maney examples
Please do@@fritzforsthoefel8031
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 AS predicted another corporate bootlicker spewing nonsense. Take a hike, chief.
At least these guys actually made useful stuff. Today's money pretty much goes to insurance commercials and lawyers.
Even as someone who typically doesn't like government intrusiveness; there's a reason why anti-trust laws, capital gains taxes and the like were necessary. I believe Sec. Reich was completely wrong about NAFTA back in the day; but he's damn sure right about this. Sadly, greed and human nature will assure this type of legislation will always be needed.
I agree with you on regulation in our economic system. I'm not a person who believes that capitalism itself is at the root of the problems, but see it as the pervasive, and all too often rewarded, abuses of the freedoms and opportunities presented by our system. Making it worse, when the people attempting to circumvent the regulations and oversight are put in charge of rewriting (or eliminating) the regulations and controlling (or eliminating) the oversight, we have a system doomed to create and/or exacerbate the inequalities and problems we are experiencing now. As a small business owner, with my wife (we build custom and semi-custom electric guitars and bass guitars), I need to be aware of and deal with regulations regularly, but I would not want to operate in a system devoid of those regulations. As a consumer, what regulations and oversight we have is vital to our system even being able to continue to function (as examples: without regulation and oversight, our food supply systems would be far worse, with more contamination problems, issues of haphazard or even dangerous composition; our power grid, our transportation networks, our communications, our financial sector operations, would all be ripped apart by those operating out of a purely greed driven motivation, etc).
I look at the people I've been given to vote for in the last few elections and I think, there are 332,000,000 of us, and these are the best you can come up with? Where's Teddy when we need him?
FDR was the last good president
Id settle for FDR .
surveiled, monitored and liquidated on time.
You'd better find a Robert Reich video about Teddy's Imperialism and Racist Hierarchy views. 😂. 🎉
We have the people we need. It just takes door-knocking and voting to get them elected.
TAX the Rich 💵 TAX the Rich 💵
doesn't solve the fundamentally flawed capitalistic model.
The top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the middle class draw more ss and medicare than they pay in taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return
Say the following three times communism does not work communism does not work communism does not work
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 Corporate bootlicker troll.
@@fritzforsthoefel8031If you actually think " taxing the rich= communism" you have no right to try to inform other people of anything. Communism is state ownership. A progressive tax system is just common sense. Fyi those who have more used to pride themselves in giving as a form of Patriotism. Benjamin Franklin upon his death donated a great deal of money to the city of Philadelphia with the condition that they couldn't touch it for 100 years. By that time it had gathered enough interest to equal a million dollars and went to fund public education and the local fire department. That's not " Communism" it's Altruism and it's what real " Patriotism" looks like in practice. You corporate bootlicker.
In the first gilded age we actually taxed the rich. What a concept!
The top five percent pay over half the federal taxes what are you talking about
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 They know deep down that the REAL issue, is overpopulation, and countries such as China and India that breed like rabbits.
Every job that couldv been automated, has been outsourced. Human life as of now, is litterally cheaper than machine.
They know deep down if they express this, theyl be called racists.
REAL DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS in Sweden and Norway, know this.
They close their borders, and protect their jobs religously.
Sweden rejected Turkeys EU membership because of migrants.
Norway isnt even IN the EU because they dont want their oil money taken advantage of by foreigners.
If these people werent virtue signalers, they would realize that what illegal immigration has done to blue collar labour, is now affecting white collar work.
Look at Software Development, Engineering, and all these other STEM fields. All taken over by China/India. (I DO NOT mean chinese/indian americans)
We need to fund automation so we arent overtaken by people that breed like rabbits, and we must establish a proper UBI system.
The top 1% alone own 33% of the nation's wealth and the bottom 50% only have 2.6%. You're okay with this???
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 and they can pay more! Bring back the 90+% tax bracket that existed in the 1950's, and include securities in that. There's no reason any person on planet earth needs to hoard $100 Billion+ in assets. It is an incredible disgrace that we not only allow, but glamorize this atrocious level of wealth. it serves nobody but the few who have it
So shut telsa down fire thousands of workers push back putting electric vehicles on the highways by years is that what your saying
Yes. Parallels are almost exact.
Vote Teddy Roosevelt!!
Bring back Sherman Anti-trust and Glass/Stiegel.
I Like Ike & his 91% Tax Rate. I Like Ike & his 91% Tax Rate. I Like Ike & his 91% Tax Rate. Tax the Rich, feed the poor. Until there are no rich no more. Vote Blue.
Ike was the only republican president of my lifetime that I liked and respected.
5:13 That's why I think Australian mandatory voting is a good thing.
Yeah, the districts can be manipulated, our media is heavily politically leaning. But also, no one's vote is ignored. Everyone has to vote, so everyone does. There's no voter suppression.
History always repeats itself. Humans are very predictable.
BUT . . . never before now -- not in the entire history of humanity -- have so many educated people lived so freely and so abundantly. And for just 17+ years, we have been connected to this shared, worldwide experience, with near-instant communication. It is GUARANTEED to Wake "THIS" Generation Up.
Because the Father knows what you need, before you ask.
Given any system, it will be exploited.
This is a core tenent of Anarchy.
Another is that humans are animals. Socialable, the most communicative, and the best tool using animals on earth.
But just animals.
Ment to be free.
There are places still untouched by modern hiarchies. Capital, skin color, clothing styles. None of that matters there.
And they advance, albeit more slowly, as expected from a smaller population.
Just like we all do.
They dont need money. And they get the work done.
Just like humans always have.
The diffrence is, we dont have to work near as hard to get the work done as they. We have modernity to thank for that.
Yet we still do, and now we over work. 40% of food is never sold, its left to rot; just to jack up the costs of the remaining 60%. We only have to farm as hard as we do for one year and preserve that 40% of food for use during a bad harvest.
between 60% and 80% of work done is solely un-needed. Depending on what you tally as needed. If we got rid of money (as it is) and used localized posted boards for work to be done and work finsihed it would be 80% totally unneeded.
We could all work only 20% of what we do now. Or work as hard as we do now; but towards the goal of automating every cruel, dangerious, or mind numbing job, and reduce our childrens workload by as much as 90%.
People talk about the corralation between money and new product... success, and never about the other side that proves it is not causation.
Every single advancement started from hobbies. Alchemists worked in secrect, physicist's where traveling showsmen while doing thier "real work", medical science advanced from the hobby of painting, radio advancements was all just from enthusiast's tinkering around until it became computers. For greifs sake, the two most advanced means of semiconductor mass production still are just highly refined hobby photography equipment and hobby magizine printing presses. That is not a joke, nor exaggeration.
The tech moved to electrical production in WW2 because thats what the hobbiest left behind at home knew how to do. Along side knitting for magnetic cores, but that tech failed to miniturize.
Had it not been for ww2 it would have all came from glassblowing and machining techniques and that would still be fine.
If a hobby produces something that everyone wants, we can put the work in to mass produce it.
We only have to make 8 billion of any given thing, we make more toys then that a month. Heck, single small production shops with less then 30 employees make more then that a year.
Money just gives us an incentive to make things poorly so we have to make them over and over again.
We live in strife, in self made cages for the mad god capital. Then wonder how things will advance without it, never wondering how much Capital has destroyed, hampered, and slowed us down making us produce the same thing over and over and over.
All unregulated markets end up as monopolies.
This answers the question on why learning history is so important!
My history classes in the 70's & 80's elementary through high school were so bland and whitewashed. Lots of emphasis on memorizing dates for next day quizzes. Easy A's and a complete waste of time. I first learned about slavery in America from the series Roots. Way more brutal and honest than what my history book portrayed.
@@JulieRainyPDX just like in every profession there are good ones and bad ones?
I am 60 this is really the first time hearing this in real time I will share with my family thank you again, I do have a story about Amazon that I think is important.
thank you for this ! hopefully more people will learn something
Robert, why aren’t YOU running for high office? I never see or hear such common sense intelligence such as yours! It would actually give me
hope when I feel COMPLETELY hopeless.
He is un-electable (if that is even a word) because "people prefer a lie that conforms to their beliefs and prejudice over a truth they do not like".
Is he a natural born citizen? I ask because think the highest office an immigrant can get is Governor. So if he's originally from England or France or something he can't get very far.
born in Pennsylvania @@stevenhiggins3055
Agreed! His message would resonate with so many more people than the candidates our corrupted two-party system creates, because it is based on clearly understood, and clearly communicated facts, that have an obvious effect on the daily lives of us all.
Reich speaks no facts he lies by withholding information I can name maney examples
I wish you would run for President of the United States!!! ❤❤❤
I wish democrats would pay enough taxes to pay for the handouts we get already we have a debt so big it defies belief democrat solution more handoutd
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 Your ignorance knows no bounds. No surprise here. Corporate bootlicker troll
@@fritzforsthoefel8031I wish men would go back to being strong and silent instead of loud and whiny gossips.
Our debt is destroying us you would rather hear how maney handouts democrats want to give at our childrens expense is that what your saying
You don't seem to want to hear the truth that we have a debt so high that it's estimated that intrest alone will be over a half a trillion dollars that our dollar is being destroyed by our debt so as to enable bric's to challenge our current for dominance you only want to hear about all the free things democrats want
All depressingly familiar in the UK, too. This time, however, the corporations are multinationals and so can avoid paying taxes commensurate with their earnings in many nations by using off-shore tax havens.
Legislation needs to be targeted to deal with this on an international basis. From what I understand, the mega-billionaires in the US pay themselves a (relative) pittance and then use loans for their extravagant lifestyles as they are tax deductible. All legislation needs to be rather more fleet-of-foot than it is to keep up with excess tax avoidance.
Not just taco havens, often having the ability to sit their money offshore in a country with low corporate tax - see Ireland as a good example.
I can't help but feel that Robert Reich is someone who is for ALL Americans...IF we'll listen to him
Robert Reich ist ein unfassbar cooler Amerikaner!
Indeed.
So true Robert❤👍🤟Each generation must renew the struggle, nothing is given. We can look back 3-4 generations to get inspiration and decode the tricks that have been used before to trap us. Unity makes strong, Solidarity must be given before it can be expected.👍👍👍
Democracy is a ongoing process.
It is not a static equilibrium, that can be maintained without effort.
Thank you for this encouraging video. I think social media makes this even more difficult, but with the massive increase in population since the19th century, the number of people living in misery and close to it makes the crisis more acute.
Commenting for the algorithm: This video is legit, the Chicago school pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes during the oil embargo and the politicians and businesspeople since then have brought the gilded age back.
In school one year it was "robber barrons" and later it was "industrialists". Celebrity culture taught us to worship money and fame. This desensitized us to this happening. In atleast in my opinion.
This is a great production and should be aired everywhere. Thanks for the history lesson. It's been a long time since I learned this. I appreciate the reminder. History repeating itself. What goes around comes around. Thanks, Robert, for what you do.
Superb presentation with great visuals. Thank you Robert Reich 🤗
Greed destroys everything.
Excellent history lesson and summary Robert.
The first gilded age ended? It's still going. The numbers are just higher and wealth is more out in the open.
It’s gotten to point where I need to be retired over seas in my 50s 😂 housing , healthcare in US not affordable anymore.
HOUSING has become a particularly cruel area where the inequality problem is causing real pain for anyone trying to buy or just to get by renting. It's way overpriced and, to buy anything, you need to not only outbid other buyers, but also overcome the 1% that has NO interest in living there and just wants another rental property owned by a private equity firm. Get the corporations out! Whenever tens of millions get priced out or thrown out of something undeniably essential, it's important they use their VOTE to vote in reforms. They'd be crazy not to. We saw this happen with the ACA and I can see it building with housing.
Why is it that cities that have rent control have the biggest shortage of houseing
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 The shortage leads to the rent control, not the other way around.
If that was true than how else can you add more houseing without letting rent rise so as to encourage more houesing does not rent control simply make matters worse
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 Rent control undeniably distorts the market and isn't practiced in many places, but those that have it do because all other options are worse, net-net. They're between a rock and a hard place, such as in NYC where housing always has been a problem. The supply problem is more due to NIMBY-ism.
Joe Biden letting in an estimated seven million illegal immegrants won't make the houseing shortage any better vote out handout democrats before it's to late
You get the democracy you deserve. The US has allowed itself to be divided and conquered by the rich. These people will always be there. They are ever vigilant for their quest for money and power. The US citizen has been worked and entertained into apathy. Younger voters have woken up. This is why republicans are trying to stifle the youth vote now.
The Gilded Age is now at a global level. Workforce can be exploited from anywhere, in any currency. Even when labour was fair, somebody, somewhere is suffering so that prices on goods remain relatively affordable. The wealthy elite will always find ways to dodge accountability.
Perfectly put..
This should have way more likes. Why anyone would argue against these simple facts is wild. I'd love to hear some of the arguments defending the robber barrons. I'm sure they echo what we hear today. "They create jobs and wealth though!"
Why are they robber barons? What exactly did they steal? They all started companies from scratch and built them. How does Elon Musk affect your life. Is he taking something from you? Elaborate.
We have a debt so big it defies belief because democrats won't pay for the handouts they want leaving our children a bankrupt shell of a nation vote out handout democrats before it's to late our childrens future depend on it
Vote 💙
Then send half your taxes to pay for the handouts democrats want if not you are stealing from our children because it's them who will have to pay for the huge overwhelming unbelievable debt we have now vote out handout democrats our childrens future depend on it
Who should pay for the debt we have democrat solution more handouts our children will inherit a bankrupt shell of a nation because of democrat handouts that you won't pay enough taxes for don't you care about our children
At 56yrs old, I know I'll be working for the rest of my life.
I am a Navy Veteran, a mother, and a fulltime worker.
I have zero savings because I had to use my measly 401K in order to afford to move from my previous building as we were all being forced out. I have health issues of which my prescription medications are astronomically priced. I have a student loan that's in default because I missed a deferment while I was going through a very difficult break-up and move halfway across the country.
I barely make ends meet although I work full-time. The benefits my employer offers don't cover even half what I have to pay out of pocket for healthcare as I'm not in my 20's anymore.
My adult son has had to move in with me just so we can make it paycheck to paycheck.
More and more labor unions are striking, demanding fair pay, compensation, benefits, and safe workplaces.
All while corporations are reporting record profits!
Politicians are enacting laws that restrict citizen freedoms. There are multiple conspiracy theories intended to distract American workers from the real threats - claiming "Replacement Theories", Anti-Trans Theories, as well as continuing to enact more and more voter suppression by jerrymandering voting districts.
It's disgusting!!
I saw this Gilded Age coming about 26 years ago. Every so called legislative action to reform political donations only made it worse & culminated in Citizens United!
Thank you for reporting.
Need this reform again!
Correct again Professor. History is indeed repeating itself. Thanks for the lesson on TDR,I had no idea of his beliefs on this subject. What's worse about it now is that more people are here to live in poverty while they wallow in their wealth.
consider who you're listening to 👁
so we just need to find a modern day teddy roosevelt?
We have one. He just didn't get elected. Instead one of the Robber Barons did.
That will be hard cause the rich will never allow it to happen.
Teddy Roosevelt was never actually elected. He was made vice president which at that time how a purely ceremonial position. It was Mc. Cinley's murder that got him the oval office and he actually lost the very next presidential election. Though luckily Woodrew Willsion continued his work.
Bernie Sanders
Yes I always thought when Bernie was running he shouldn't had fireside chats And TH-cam are the internet to educate the people Maybe President Biden and some of the other progressive Democrats Could sit down and have fireside chats to educate the American people on where we're at Explain to them how we have a captured media The corporations run the country there's no red and blue it's just who you can pay off And explain about the lobbyist and the money coming in from Big pharma the insurance companies And also explain how Russia China and even Saudi Arabia Likes to divide our country With Miss Information Explain to him how Trump and Republican party has been taken over By fascist
So who can/will do something about it? We need representatives who understand this, and we have precious few.
It's 2025 and we're back to having Robber Barons like Musk, Bezo and Zukerberg
I read about how, during the Reagan administration, large businesses lobbied to have a law passed stating that if a merger is deemed to be for greater company efficiency, then it should be allowed. The law was passed, but the wording is so vague that basically all mergers are now allowed, which basically neutered any anti-trust powers our government has and now only a handful of corporations own nearly all the businesses in America. Even now, Kroger and Albertsons are poised to merge and own 22% of the grocery stores in the USA, which is predicted to raise food prices across the nation catastrophically.
We have never had a Democracy. We have a Republic where we vote for representatives that vote for us and our collective desires for the betterment of the country. But, that is not happening today and has not for decades.
We have essentially a two-party system where both parties (Democrats and Republicans) are pressured by corporations through Lobbyists, Special Interest Groups and promises of unlimited Campaign Contributions to sway votes in Congress in the Corporations' favor. However, Democrats are more benevolent to the working class and Republicans tend to favor corporations and the rich.
The Robber Barons didn't have as much worry about taxes in those days. The GQP is trying to reduce taxes to make a new Golden Age possible.
Great videos! We need to re-educate people about history...which seems to be repeating itself.
The problem was never fixed. That's why we are here again.
This is the nature of capitalism
And you're good with it??
@@karlabritfeld7104 not in the slightest.
Yeah you already see Canada's social democracy backsliding and the UK's too. They'll end up like us because oligarchy is the stable equilibrium of capitalism.
Now they don’t run them out of business,they buy them out and add a non competition clause to the sale
We have always lived in a guilded age, just never awakend to it
We go to work evey day at the whims of authoritarian bosses a decidedly undemocratic system
When did you realize the myth the we live under a truly democratic system
Remember that during America's most prosperous years of the 1950's and 60's ... the ultra Wealthy paid 90% Tax rate.... Now they pay 43.4% with massive loopholes for private jets, yachts, and income through company shares.
As our famous Uncle Bob would say, “Today’s hardship is all caused by bananas. The deregulation of bananas within government results in undue influence by a select few within our democracy.”
Absolutely!
History has been repeating the Gilded age since Reagan in 1981.
The Roosevelts would be sooooo disappointed if they saw how basically EVERYTHING they achieved has been reversed over time. 😢😪
Roosevelt according to his own treasury secretary was a failure read what he wrote for yourself
Abraham Lincoln stated before his assassination:
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes
me to tremble for the safety of my country. Corporations have been
enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power
of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon
the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands
and the Republic is destroyed."
Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
This is all very hopeful, however Robert misses a critical point. The end of the first Guilded Age did not come about because of regulations or trust busting or laws being passed that restricted the power of the robber barons. Those things were instead the consequence o something else. That something else was the Great Depression, which beginning in 1929, collapsed and ruined many companies and resulted in a weakening of power of the Robber Barons. The WW2 came later to finish off the last remnants because the turn from consumer production to military production helped collapse the last power the old Barrons and their companies still maintained following the depression. The rest of it, the regulations, the workers right, unions, minimum wage laws, that came only after the Robber Barons lost power.
The professor always tells it like it is.
Its pretty amazing once you realize practically all our problems comes from capitalism but everyone is just too scared to admit it
Exactly.