Hi there - Nebula is offering something unusual for a limited time: Lifetime Subscriptions. If you're looking for the best deal, I still recommend subscribing for a year at a time, at just $2.50/month. But if you strongly believe in what we're building, want to support PolyMatter more directly, and/or just don't like subscriptions, you can pay $300 today to get access to Nebula forever. go.nebula.tv/lifetime?ref=polymatter Why are we doing this? Nebula has never taken VC money. It's important for us that creators have a stake in the business. Lifetime subscriptions are a way of getting more money today so that we can invest in more exclusive content and keep making Nebula even better. We tried it on an experimental basis earlier this year and were really surprised and delighted by how popular it turned out to be. How long will this last? This is not a permanent subscription tier. It's a limited time offer. We may or may not offer Lifetime in the future. If we do, the price may increase. Do I still get Nebula Classes? Yes, this is a full, unrestricted subscription to Nebula. I already have Nebula. Can I still sign up to Lifetime? Yes! Anyone is eligible. In any case, thanks so much for watching!

The second worse non horrific thing behind tipping culture is the idea that cash is a bad gift, even though it's more flexible than a gift card

Remember to check unclaimed property every now and then. I checked once and saw that Delaware had the unused portion of my Starbucks gift card.

From what I am aware of, Delaware is a little domestic tax haven for corporations based in the US… There is even one building with 100,000+ registered companies based at that one address for tax and accounting reasons… No surprises here.

People: oh hey, I have an unused Amazon gift card. I should use it... Delaware: DO NOT REDEEM! DO NOT REDEEM!

The “average” American spends 600 dollars on gift cards every year??? I don’t even give 600 dollars in gifts in a year… that’s an insane number to throw out there haha

This whole video’s premise is about 6 months out of date. The Supreme Court changed the rule in a case about this so that the state where the card was purchased gets the money.

I had to stop and comment…what a line!! “The Court did what courts are good at…conceal the arbitrary nature of its ruling with complexity” 😂😂😂

I regifted a Starbucks card after literally 20 years, and it worked. So it would seem that Starbucks at least holds their own, and doesn't let Delaware claim them.

Never clicked faster, Delaware and obscure financial inventions 🤩

I think a lot of people would appreciate it if you added some brief annotations to your sources.

I doubt a single person I know buys anywhere near $600 in gift cards per year. If you said the average was $60 I’d wonder if it’s still that high

For fuck's sake people, just give cash. No it's not tacky. It's WORSE to give gift cards. It's okay if you don't know what to get someone ffs.

One thing I wonder though is when do they claim an unused gift card? If it says that there is no expiration date for the funds, and then I use the card, what happens if Delaware already claimed it? Or does that even happen?

Wonderful--yet another grievance to fuel my vendetta against the state of Delaware.

"It sounds like Delaware is colluding with Big Corporate" and it is

This is super convenient because I was recently contemplating the best way to destroy the state of Delaware. Now I know, I just need to use the remaining value on all my old gift cards. Thanks PolyMatter!

I still don't get why Delaware gets the unclaimed giftcards of companies that aren't even registered there

Thats heavily distorted I think. Outside of christmas and birthdays, I'd be surprised if the average person buys any gift cards. Mostly gift cards are bought by companies to hand out like candy for good behavior. My company gives out hundreds in gift cards every month.

What a wild video - how in the world did you come across this topic?

Are those auditing firms just given open access to the transaction records of the companies so that they can find unspent gift card money?

How do gift cards are even unclaimed? If it expires it go go back to the company? And if not, wouldn't it just be an unredeemed banlace on the company's books?

I would just like to say that some are commenting that a rulling in which gave moneygram's unclaimed checks to the state in which the purchase originated these purchases were considered as money orders which doesn't apply to gift cards

this is insane. thanks for shining light on it

Well, I guess Delaware would win Monopoly then.

I thought most gift cards no longer expire. So how do they determine when it is unclaimed? And what happens if someone finds their gift card and tries to use it after Delaware has already taken the money?

:0 Delaware made it into a PolyMatter video!!! -From a Delaware local

Even if it’s a total overstep by the state, I kinda love the fact that little Delaware is just gobbling up everyone’s gift cards not giving a single fuck

For some reason this video sounds slowed down. I can’t tell if it’s actually narrated in real time, or if it was slowed down. (Playing this at 1.25x sounds pretty normal)

Polymatter can you please quote where the $600 a year figure comes from another person below pointed out to be total giftcard sector revenue divided by total Americans only makes it about a $1.50 per person Another figure I found put it at about $20 a year both nowhere near the $600 a year

I found something very lacking in this video -- the "how to" part. How does an auditor know how much a company has in unclaimed gift cards? How does the company know? And even if known, does Delaware have an enforcement mechanism? If yes, what is it? Can they force a company that incorporates there, but has their office in Texas, to turn over their gift card records? ANY details would have been great ....

I dont get it why shoundt the company get the money in the beginning because you bought it from them. Then you can use your gift card with the amount you choose. If you dont use it the company just doesnt have any further costs and so has this profit

I love how you described the courts. It's a very useful statement i shall use.

How is cash considered bad? I absolutely hate digital and hate gift cards even more. It reminds of how companies use to issue their own currency in towns they controlled.

So what about gift cards internationally? As they also sent to this location

So Delaware is basically Switzerland.

Maintaining a tiny country as a clearing house for money and property is the most European thing

I live in Delaware. You have no idea. Most of the fortune, 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware. Some of the most important court cases in the world happen here too.

The shot at the end is glorious sir

Other states have a choice. They can either get mad, or they can "git gud." I don't like the characterization of this situation as a "race to the bottom." People who open businesses tend to prefer doing so in locations with minimal taxes, streamlined regulations, and an efficient and fair adjudication process. Delaware has these things in spades. Instead of complaining about it, other states and jurisdictions should seek to emulate Delaware's legal framework.

Very interesting video, PolyMatter!

I like this. Now Delaware can get most of its money from big business instead of taxing the hell out of its residents like other states (New York). Want low taxes? Go to Delaware. That's what I did.

3:57 "Concealing the arbitrary nature of its ruling with complexity" DAMN

Unused gift cards in the US are often seized by the state, with Delaware being the state that profits the most. Delaware is one of five states with no sales tax and low property taxes, but collects a significant amount of revenue through unclaimed gift cards. All 50 US states have laws that allow them to claim unclaimed property, but these were originally envisioned with physical property in mind. With the rise of intangible wealth, such as gift cards, the system has become more complicated. The Supreme Court has attempted to resolve disputes over which state is entitled to unclaimed property, but their rulings have often been complex and arbitrary. Delaware has become a popular state for corporations to register in due to its lenient tax laws, with 95% of businesses that incorporate outside their home state choosing Delaware. The state's Division of Corporations is known for its speed and efficiency, making it an attractive option for businesses.

Ngl, thumbnail looks like an ad

So 'Ozark' should of setup their series in Delaware as it seems to be capital of money laundering too?😅

no issue with advertising - nebula is great, but you do not make it at all clear the distinction between your advertising for nebula and the actual content of the video. Advertising should always be explicitly shown and stated to be as such. Do better PolyMatter.

That ad segue was great 😮

all of this is just telling me... if all 50 states had a solid loophole to tax me, they would do it.

How does State Politicians come to think of these random assets or services? I didn't know gift cards were seized if it wasn't used.

Modern problems require modern solutions.

The states formed the federal govt, it's not like the federal govt gave them permission to do things ("delegated"). What you said at 10:30 sounds backwards.

Lifetime nebula for half the average a us citizen spends on gift cards seems like a good deal.

When do gift cards become eligible for the state to claim it? I'm confused on the timing.

Thanks for this. My dad was a nuts-and-bolts economist, and he clued me in to Delaware's scams so long ago. Admittedly, being a Vermonter, I recently have had a different favorite presidential contender, but Joe Biden has ALWAYS smelled fishy to me. (That said, I do feel stuck with him right now.)

What I love about this KZfaq channel is that he can take some thing that seems so ridiculous and so unimportant, and reveal that it’s actually part of significant political and economic institutions that affect everything that happens to us.

I keep telling people stop buying gift cards, it’s a economic black hole where you turn your universally accepted currency into seashells

Scary, haunting music would go well with chapter one 😂

This doesn't make sense or is at least leaving out important information. How could Delaware know which gift cards are unused? Is there a forced expiration period?

It's misleading to call these collections of unclaimed property "revenue". The money is an asset of the state that are generally available to spend, but technically they can be claimed, or at least should in theory be able to be claimed, so the state should recognize a liability when taking the money, not recognizing revenue. However, I admit that government accounting is often done differently than corporate accounting, and thus the state might be able to claim it as revenue. From a paper by the "National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators", "Most states do not hold the unclaimed property in trust or otherwise segregate funds, until missing owners are located. Rather, a majority of states take unclaimed property collections into general revenue at the conclusion of a fiscal year. The liability to pay reappearing owners is acknowledged; however, claimants are typically paid from current receipts. Because some percentage of property is never claimed, states have generally not encountered cash flow issues under this model. While some states initially did create “trust funds” in which all unclaimed assets were maintained, over time they have been viewed as holding “surplus” funds, which have been redirected in part by state legislatures." I also have to say that it definitely had to be scary to face down those unclaimed property audits where you get large bills from the state that have no basis in reality, but I don't think it should be all that hard to prove that you don't have anyone's unclaimed property unless you're a really small business that doesn't have a full accounting department, in which case I don't think the state would think you'd have much that you'd owe. I do acknowledge though that such small business owners are far more likely to just remove the liabilities from their accounts and record them as revenue than actually make the effort to give the money to the state. There's a bunch of procedures you have to follow first, and then there's paperwork and time limits and all sorts of stuff that most of them will not want to bother with as they don't have enough time or manpower to deal with it.

Don't forget, 10% for the big guy!

Good on em

This demonstrates that economic vigor and advancement is inversely proportional to taxation.

Not buying gift cards to own the state of Delaware!

I rarely receive gift cards but when I do they’re usually coffe shop ones and I use them almost immediately😂😂😂

But why Delaware is a monopoly in this field. Is there no other state with 0 corporate taxes? No other small state want to grab this opportunity?

I mean, I appreciate the info, my man, but how do I know that Bloomberg's ownership of Nebula doesn't color your opinion on how corrupt or non-corrupt this system is?

wayyy to many ads for the length of this video

At 5:26, I noticed you made a mistake. You put Hong Kong as a country, but really it's a place in China.

jeez that's nasty. corpo-America really is a pretty cyberpunk dystopia

I much prefer assuming that you should pronounce the last two vowels in "escheat" separately, along with the Greek CH, so that it's similar to "S - K - Ott" because that's how you pronounce Latin words that look similar, and the work clearly comes from Latin. I know it's not how it's pronounced in English, but I can dream.

I really dislike how little separation the is between the content and the ad for Nebula.

But how does the unused/lost gift card translate into money in the state’s hand? Does the company pay the government?

2:10 "oil-rich emirate" Legend has it USA already rushes to get the oil

Wow! Never expected this 😂😂😂😂

a lot of people seem to think the $600 is too high but i think theyre missing that most of it is definitely not "gifted" im pretty sure starbucks alone is one of the biggest driver of the average. i can eeasily see starbucks customers spending more than $600 a year on their gift cards the rest is probably majority from people buying gift cards for themselves cuz of a discount or smth also idk if this is still a common thing but when i was a kid i would buy gift cards with my cash so i could use them online without asking my parents lol. i feel like this is probably still a thing especially in gaming

great video

I know you’re going for shock factor, but honestly the video here is pretty biased and vastly undersells how actually useful the court system in Delaware is when it comes to disputes between major corporations. Delaware courts are fast, no-nonsense and predictable. If two large companies want to fight each other in court, the Delaware system guarantees speedy and fair resolution. Their court system is a huge contributor to America’s economic success - sure, Delaware then uses it to extract some rents to its benefit, but to me it’s undeniable that the system does more for the country than Delaware extracts from it

And it's mainly run by Blackhawk networks a private monopoly.

Hail to thee proud Delaware, in loyalty we stand

So Biden releases Victor Bout and just so happens to be the Delaware representative.

TIL Delaware is a diagonally cut Connecticut.

This all makes me want to start a business and move it to Delaware. I wonder if the Big Guy gets his 10% of this.

I love this kind of competition. I live in Northern Europe with e.g. basically two grocery store chains. Assumingly due to restrictive legislation. We could use US-like competition.

Gift cards are the worst gift. Just give money instead. It doesn't expire, and it can be used in any store.

Reminder that courts only have power when government decides not to pass or clarify laws.

I tried to do that with my Laura Ashley and that's been debunked. Same with my m and s card as well. It's like they shifted it to HSBC. They shouldn't do that cos it's basically mean it's my locked money. I lost it all when its expired. So it's like its acting as basically ... it just sucks all your money basically. I rather give cash now after i found out what's happened.

Am I crazy to think that this video is not 1x speed?? feel like it was edited to 0.85x or somewhere around it, the speech doesnt feel natural at all

It's time to tax Delaware at 3x the rate of everyone else.

"A game of 'gotcha' that shocks the conscience" is a great description of how both major political parties treat the majority of their constituents...

LOL, naughty Delaware.

Love the random polish roblox card stock footage 😂

i always knew they were up to something

This guy has an axe to grind.

3:51 oof

why are you showing Peurto Rico its not even A state

I was thinking at the beginning “bro the government takes it”😂

This is so damn random lolol Delaware gets lost and forgotten GCs

How is Delaware turning gift cards into money? Auction them off? How if they don't physically have them?

Now I know what a rogue state means.