If you found this video informative, be sure to also watch our video on the failure of trickle-down economics. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/madyqKmeppnSmI0.html

It's amazing how people making $25,000 a year, buy the argument that rich people need tax relief.

Perfect example of this video in real life: my employer (a mid-sized company of 5,000 employees) boasted last year of crossing the 1 billion mark in revenue. They celebrated this milestone by issuing silver-embossed coffee mugs with the company logo to every employee, and for managerial staff, this was accompanied by a mini crystal trophy with 1 billion engraved on it. There was also a party with a ballroom, catering, lots of fanfare, and where execs lined up at the podium to give congratulatory speeches. Less than a month later, they issued a wage-freeze, cancelled bonuses, and did away with sick-leave. Three months after that, they fired 800 employees, and announced a slew of early retirements. The explanation: we're "restructuring" to position us for an even brighter future. Company stock went through the roof. Moral of the story: all the hard work, dedication, and success of our employees in earning record profits resulted in cuts, not rewards. The rewards go to the top, there's nothing but sacrifice for everybody else. And they think we don't see this!

I worked as an engineer for a small company supplying equipment to Samsung. Year on Year growth was up 60% yet the employer decided to make employees pay for healthcare (that had been provided) and freeze wage increases so we all had basically -$5000 raise a few months after the growth announcement. Meanwhile it was said that all of management got secret bonuses. In the parking lot literally every one of them stopped coming to work in a $35000 car and started showing up in a $75K plus car the next month. For context this was 15 years ago.

Man, the biggest threat to our country is ignorance. So thankful for this channel.

"They won't be able to create jobs if you tax their money away!" Pretty much every dime spent creating a job is tax deductible. They only get taxed on money that they don't spend creating jobs.

When Bernie first said “ billionaires shouldn’t exist” I thought that was a bit extreme. Some people do come up with great inventions or start businesses that benefit us and they should be rewarded. However, it’s hard to comprehend what a billion actually is, so I did a little calculation to put it in context. If a person made $25,000 per day, every day, starting on the day they were born how long would it take them to have $1 billion? Answer: 109 years and 188 days! Suddenly, I agreed with Bernie. No one “earns” that kind of money. Averaging out Jeff Bezos’ wealth this way, considering his age and $116.4b net worth (according to google), he had made over $5.67 million every day of his life. How can anyone defend that?

I helped someone who worked in a collection agency and what I learned was that the rich are some of the worst at paying their debts.

An economics professor once explained it like this: Suppose you give an extra $1 million per year to someone who already has $200 million. Will they increase spending? They probably already own all the cars, houses, and Lego sets they want. But, if you take that $1million and give 100 regular people each $10,000, they will likely buy cars, furniture, pay off debt, go on vacation, or find some other way to spend that money, that spending fuels the economy like rocket fuel.

Myth 12 - "It's their money, they earned it!" And we didn't?! 😂

I worked for GE, the Healthcare branch, many years ago. When our department met its financial target (which makes stockholders happy) by small, periodic layoffs to avoid notice by the media, cutting benefits, cutting corners on worker safety - basically all the unethical yet legal options available - the VP got a porche as a bonus. Everyone else, I mean EVERYONE ELSE, got a cheap t-shirt. The VP even called it that when he gave his stupid speech. He thought it was funny. But trust me, nobody laughed when he drove away in his porche. I took a magic marker and wrote "MY VP GOT A PORCHE AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT." Everyone wanted me to make them one. Even the VP's assistant. She put one on his chair so he would see it when he came to work. He thought it was hilarious. He wasn't even pretending to care about the unfairness of it. All those people who worked their asses off to get HIM a frickin porche. No shame. Not even the pretense of humility or appreciation. Where is the humanity?

Making money is not the same as keeping it there is a reason why investments aren't well taught in schools, the examples you gave are well stationed, the market crisis gave me my first millions, people shy away from hard times, I embrace them.. well at least my advisor does lol.

What I love is how people that are nowhere NEAR rich parrot off these scary-sounding proposals for making this government work for all of us.

I love how so many pundits say, "That tax is unconstitutional, probably" or "I'm pretty sure it's unconstitutional."

Too bad that the people who need to hear this the most have decided to shut out all dissenting voices

Thank you Robert! I often wonder what shape this country would be in if we had just left the tax rates as they were before the 1980s!!! What a crime!!! Literally!!!!!

I worked for a company where the greedy owner hatched this plan: He reluctantly agreed to allow the employees off on holidays with pay, but in return they now "owed back" those hours without pay, at the time of his choosing, which was always overtime hours where they should have gotten time and a half anyway. After learning of this in my new management position I hatched my own plan. Without telling the owner I scheduled for the workers to come in on several Saturdays to pay back those hours. However, I let them bring their kids and all they had to do after clocking in, was just watch TV and enjoy all the pizza and ice cream I provided. No work. After a couple of those "special work days", no one owed back to the owner their swapped time.

Pay me a million a year, and I would be happy to pay 70% in taxes. That still leaves me $300k a year. And after living off of less than $40k a year, living off of $300K a year would be a breeze!

When you live in a society where you have two or three jobs and still struggle to pay for basics, the society is not a meritocracy. The economy is doing great, but for whom? Call your local hedge fund manager and ask how many blue collar workers own shares in the stock market?

So good to see this sane exposure. Over 20 years I've been shouting this and it's so sad to see that so many of my peers still think the system works because they are OK with their situation. Lately many of them have been shown their value to the rich and are starting to come around. The poor are dried up so they will extract the middle money. Just hoping they start pushing back and don't bend over like we've always been expected to do and complied.

This is one of the top 100 most informative and level headed videos on all of KZfaq.

How to know if you will be affected by the estate tax: If you can unironically call the piece of crap that you live in an “Estate.”

America : higher taxes on the rich will kill the economy Northern and Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada : You sure 'bout that?

My wife got a bonus of $500, but received only $205 after taxes. I got a $3k raise last year that was a net of $143/mo. In middle America, it’s tough to get ahead when the government confiscates your efforts. Super wealthy have ways to shield their income from taxes. The middle class and lower income spend all their money just to get by.

Keep making these! These videos need to be shared broadly. Good job keeping to the facts and explaining observation. Citations of source data help quash naysayers.

We've seen a lot of these arguments in Australia over the past 10 or so years as well. Not a surprise that it's always off the back of Murdoch's media corporations

Also in Myth 12; the rich would be nowhere without their workers. At most a very successful mom and pop operation that pays the bills. To be wealthier requires the cooperation of others.

This guy did something in 8 minutes what our crappy education system couldn't do in 15 years

Like your videos Robert, and you have some strong points. As a Northern European it can be a little strange to see Americans beeing very patriotic and quoting "Ask not what your country can do for you..." and on the other hand act very "Every man for them self". But, I am also a citizen of the highest taxed country in the world Denmark, and see the other side of the coin. Public administration of money is usually very inefficient. An example is that public building projects NEVER EVER meets budgets or deadlines (at least in DK). The attitude seems to be: "Doesn't really matter, it is not MY money and we'll just get more funds". I think the core of it is a more caring for your fellow man, and a sense of understanding that when you protect the tribe, the tribe protects you. Was probably easiere to see in the stoneage :) Keep up the good videos. Don't always agree, but you don't get smarter only listening to people saying what you want to hear.

Boss, "I worked hard for my money!" Employee, "B*llsh*t! I worked hard for your money!"

Well if the rich should get to keep their $ because they earned it...why do I as someone who is not well off & has to actually work for a living have to give up any of my $ to taxes?! Using their logic-- since I earned it, I should get to keep it all. I shouldn't have any taxes taken out of my paychecks etc. What the rich need to realize is if it weren't for us lowly middle/poor classes holding them up they wouldn't have any $ to be worried about in the first place. This was a very informative video!

Thank you for providing the additional context around each of the myths instead of harping on bullet points that can scare people.

You’re a treasure. Please continue to keep us informed. Love your clarity.

1/6 of my pay is taken every paycheck, I only made 7,000 last year, the logistics problem of working and eating was harder to solve than any job trump has ever had

This was quite informative. You didn’t mention all the loopholes which the very rich have created for themselves in our government structure. No mention of large corporations which manage to avoid paying taxes at all. They utilize our roads, internet, airports and every form of popular communication to advertise, process orders and ship them.

watch out for rich people. If everyone knew this... wait, almost everyone I know does and still nothing is being done about it. I am thankful that you made this video. Maybe someday... Vote people, vote.

Thank you for stating all of this in an easy to understand format!

Your channel is a perfect medicine to cure PragerU's diesease. Thank you for your work.

Re: #12 there was something I heard once, but I can't remember exactly how it goes. But it was something along the lines of "Everything you are, you owe to Athens." It was basically an argument for the existence of taxation in the first place and the responsibility of those who had made their fortunes in a cultural environment to give back to the system that allowed them to succeed. Couldn't agree more.

I think there’s some truth to the one about tax avoidance. From what I understand, a lot of super rich people have offshore accounts and holding companies etc. you could triple their tax rate and still not see a cent if they’re holding it offshore. Plus increasing the tax rate will probably make people who weren’t previously using tax havens decide to start doing it. I’m not saying don’t tax the rich, but put laws in place to stop them hiding their earnings and assets first.

I have always had the greatest respect for you, Robert, and I am glad that I have found your KZfaq channel. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, See you next video!

Anyone else notice the Ouija board spelling out “B E R N” at the end?

I don't even think you would have to necessarily raise taxes on the rich. Just cut out all of the loopholes. If I have a regular old income tax and we add in social security, medicare and state. I'm taxed around 28% of my income. Period. Point blank. Across the board. Year after year after year. Even after paying in and claiming 0, most times I still owe at filing. While if Amazon had to play by the same set of rules they'd be looking at about a $650 million dollar tax bill year after year after year. And that's just one giant. Just imagine how wealthy the whole country would be. There would be no deficit. There would be surpluses every year. But, as long as the rich remain drunk on greed and power, and we continue to let them remain in power, then things will never change.

Robert, please include in your talks that all wealth, including inherited wealth, was produced by our economic system. It was produced by everyone's labor and everyone's consumption. Every bit of profit consists of our money. The more wealth one has, the less everyone else has. It must be taxed accordingly. After all, those who have little money can hardly pay any tax at all - because their earnings trickled up through profits to others.

Great job. Love Robert Reich. Will always listen to any presentation he makes.

Thank you. Good to hear the truth. A dollar given to the rich is unnoticed but a dollar given to a poor person is spent at a local store and boosts the economy.

We should hear this side of the story more often. It was very informative. Thank you Robert Reich

I love Dr. Reich's content and it's pro -progressive, anti-corporate, anti-conservative talking points. I have been subscribed for a while now and I encourage others to do the same.

Accurate analogies for "trickle down" economics. You can die of thirst with a trickle of water. If you only water your garden and sprinkle your lawn the garden will thrive. You can die of hunger if you get fewer and fewer calories over time.

I remember when I was a young adult, me and my gf both thought if you were in a higher tax bracket, that it affected all your income. This myth is way too common; school didnt help me here, but the internet eventually did. Although the internet is a complicated tool too; went down all kinds of rabbit holes for a while.

Buy American-purchase a congressmember today!

Keep up the good work! You are great at making these things understandable. I wish you had a column in the New York Times where you could help them tell the public what we need to know.

Well said Robert Reich! Thank you Sir for your clear and concise points about this very important topic. If only more Americans - and people of the "rich" countries the world over - could hear and understand this analysis. People wake up! Please, if you don't get it, replay the video. There's gotta be at least a few points that ring true for you.

I like how only the rich are torn up about this. Time to feel what us middle class folk feel everyday.

I need a glowing eyes edit of Reich saying “R U B B I S H”

This was the best 8+ minutes I spent this weekend. Thank you!

in germany, one of our richest dudes has openly admitted in an interview that he hardly has to pay any taxes. He was surprised himself when he found out and he thinks it is somehow unfair, but he can only laugh about it. Did anything change after that? Nope, not at all

Thank you Robert, thank you for educating the world without teachers we would all be doomed!

It's pretty simple. When you pay the people more they have more money to spend on goods and services. Keep wages low and the economy stagnates.

For the last myth, "they earned their wealth," it's also worth noting the rich never would have gotten rich in the first place if it wasn't for their employees and their customers.

Thank you Professor for basic illumination of the murky area of misleading slogans and general misperceptions about U.S. tax policies. Keep up the excellent work of providing conceptual clarity. :)

I wish all the sources were in the description.

The biggest myth is that you could actually get most of these people to pay their fair share. They're willing to spend millions to avoid paying and have no qualms at all about misrepresenting their financial situations. Too big to fail, too rich to go to jail, however you want to put it, they're all too special to have to follow the law.

I like what Warren Buffett said once about taxes on corporations. he said "when I go into a meeting about the costs of a new business, taxes never even enter into the conversation."

I found this “Myth Busters” episode both informative and very entertaining. You and your channel should be nominated for a Streamy award. Keep up the great work. I just wish more people knew the facts as well as you do.

A broad base of middle class workers are taxed heavily on overtime and that is often required overtime, reducing the wage over all, and the number of jobs available. Lay offs are timed at Christmas for profit figures to end the year and draw in investments. Meantime families are let go at the time that their full taxation is payable for the year. Usually w/o a right off of any kind.

The fact is there are three types of incomes: Earned income. Passive income, and portfolio income. The only income that is taxed is the Earned income. The earned income needs to stop being taxed because our long hours of labor, sacrifices, and time away from our families should be enough!

4:00 I'd reframe this differently. If the top 1% holds 90% of the wealth, then tax revenue should be NO LESS than 90% from these individuals.

Chomsky taught us this a long time ago.

Did anyone notice that the people who are taxed the least, if anything, yet use the most of the total taxes also complain about it the most?

I find there are good examples for both sides of the argument. It is hard to say what would truly happen as there is no way to know exactly how everyone will react to certain tax bills.

7:07 Ok. I am in love with this channel now.

We need to “ save democracy from oligarchy”

Wealth can be a beautiful thing, often leading to greater health and well-being, as well as allowing one to pursue loftier spiritual goals. But greed is by far one of the ugliest things as it almost always leads to spiraling downward and degradation of the soul. Harmony or chaos, these are the only choices, the first being a conscious pursuit and latter being an unconscious one.

Robert Reich, you have contributed greatly to the debate and are a great resource to me as a teacher. So I want to give you a 10/10 for your interviews, films, books, and videos. However, here are a few comments that I would like to add. Words like ''theft'', ''cheating'' and others words add to the rhetoric and little to the the otherwise thoughtful arguments. My comments about your choice of words are not necessarily in reference to this video but to your discourse in general. So now we are down to 9.9/10. In regards to your comments about the rich benefiting from government funded infrastructure, the military and stability, I would add that their hard earned dollars come from a country that appropriated land and resources from native Indians, built wealth on the back of slaves, and more recently, built even more wealth on many workers who seem to be an input, a resource, a cost to be reduced. The living wage is on life support. The wealthy should understand that their riches needs a strong, educated and growing middle class. Having said that, the U.S.'s 4% growth under higher tax laws are an unsustainable model on a warming planet with limited resources. Rich and poor will have to figure out a new balancing act. How long will we be able to burn the candle at both ends with price and profit as our model and believe that devying up the pie as policy is the existential question? I know that you are well aware and concerned with these issues as well. It seems like we have to change our song. As George Carlin used to say something like ''the planet's doin just fine....we're the problem.'' So I'll give you a whopping 9/10. However, in the end the score might be: The Planet 1 Humanity 0. Like Capitalism, the planet is not evil. It's just indifferent. However, we shouldn't be. Thanks again for your invaluable contributions and opening my eyes just a little more. The world needs a lot more Roberts!

This is such a hotly debated topic and everyone has their own OPINIONS of what is right and wrong. While I hate to see the bite that Uncle Sam takes out of my paycheck it is still my privilege to pay taxes and enjoy all of the freedoms that I have. Avoiding this responsibility just makes you selfish, you want to get all of the benefits of our modern society while not contributing to it. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to give away any more money than I have to, but I sure am happy to see a firefighter, police officer, a standing bridge, or even a school where kids can learn to read. A 100% pure capitalist economy would have zero public programs, and zero anti-trust laws, and zero regulations on labor. That results in 70hr work weeks, no over-time, and no paid time-off, predatory lending, and monopolies this list goes on. All of the rules we complain about today are a counter to a long forgotten real life situation where the government said a business had gone too far against the public. No do some of these rules need to be updated to make them relevant to today's modern society, yeah. Should we toss out the baby with the bath water, no. The government's job is to establish the rules of the game, to be a referee, and if called for, punish the ones who violate the rules. The government also has the responsibility to nudge industries toward the future. Without emissions and fuel economy standards cars would not have evolved much from the gas guzzlers of the 1970s. All that being said a global/national economy is a very complicated thing to manage, there is no simple solution, like 35% tax across the board. I hope people will understand that most of the people you see on cable news are trying to sell you an agenda.

Excellent. Love Robert Reich’s clear & concise explanation of Economic issues. Debunks the Right’s lies!

Brilliant. You deserve many more views. A pity honesty is ignored and lies are praised.

I knew a married couple, a mechanic and a public school teacher, who found out from the lawyer doing their wills that they were in line to pay federal and state estate taxes. The dollar amount excluded from the estate tax is changed infrequently. The amount is not indexed to inflation. Perhaps it is one of those contentious political issues that no one dares to touch?

Keep on telling it, Robert. You are a breath of much needed fresh air! Thank you.

An eye opening information,keep up good work

"trickled on economics" is the true phrase I beleive.

Yes my colleages used to say the more my boss makes the more i will make. We only got a 2% and 0% based on projections Our CEO has a party complex, a massive mansion, and several vacation homes....the company also couldnt afford a 401K match.

Amazing how many people study economics for years and years and years and NEVER get to the conclusion that capitalism is at the very least a bit exploitative.

We should donate to Mr Reich and ask him to use ads to boost his channel, more conservatives should see this, I hope they can change their mind.

The comment about the government subsidizing big pharma is one that deserves more discussion. The public, through research grants and the like, essentially invests in the development of new drugs, new medical treatments etc. The government (aka the public) should be treated as any other investor, with profits returned to the investor based on the share of funding that went into the development of the product. As part of licensing for any new drug, pharmaceutical companies should provide a summary of the amount of public funding that went into the development of the drug. A proportionate share of the income from the profits from the drugs should be returned to the public investors to go into funding future research or basic health care.

You know, I don't agree with your politics on the whole but I certainly enjoy your content. Always room for more/better opinions than the ones I currently hold

"Trickle down mentalities" ? Urinate on people who pay income taxes.

I just recently found your videos, they are so informative & truthful! I love that you call a spade a spade & speak the truth that many misled conservatives refuse to acknowledge

Like my dad always said "well somebody's has to take out the trash".

Rich people mainly gain wealth through inheritance, the value produced by other people's labor, and returns from having invested the large amounts of money gained from those sources. I don't understand why we are so overly sentimental about this topic. People talk about the allegedly sacred relationship between a billionaire and his money the same way they would talk about the relationship between a little girl and her dog.

The way he says "baloney" is so powerful

dam he hammers Fox news to the bottom :)) very informative yet basic knowledge that everyone should know about

Thank you for sharing this information. Day it again and again.

Had no idea you had a twin, Mr. Reich. You and Ronald make a good team.

This might be because I know how I feels being at the bottom of the economy, but if I made millions coming in, I would gladly pay half my income in taxes if it meant I could invest in my country.

I love watching major media blast the ideas. Wealthy millionaires who were born in to being above laws, afraid of laws our recent ancestors had to endure while actually *creating something*. Speaking on behalf of their even wealthier and obvious influencers. If we do not recover from this there will likrly be something far worse than the great depression over our horizon

You have to love this guy. A truly educated man!

My left leaning, business owning, people employing brother-in-law explained it to me like this: Imagine you work for me. You pay taxes to pay for the education you have received to make you a suitable employee. Your taxes pay for your healthcare ( I live in a civilised country) so you can show up for work fit and healthy Your taxes pay for the roads you drive on to get to your place (my place) of employment, and the police and armed serices who keep you safe. But so do I And I employ 100 of you. Have you got it yet?

Remember when Regan choose to pay 90% of his income? Instead of going through loopholes. Wow the republican party changed a lot.