The fact that the idea of better salaries, a sensible healthcare and overall better quality of life is contentious in capitalism should raise huge red flags. But here we are
Рік тому+140
Neither of those things are socialism by any definition. You may as well be a social democrat (no offense)
@The important thing is that nothing is "impossible" under capitalism, it's just that the minority of people who hold power exploit the system for their benefit and abandon the true well being of the people. This is what we see today, and why socialism might be a better option for the majority of people.
@@iceshadow487 i mean most things are impossible under capitalism. It literally hobbles itself constantly for the sake of raising an imaginary line to an imaginary peak. Its a self defeating ideology, a contradiction. And ultimately a waste.
What pushed me over was realizing corporations torpedoing a company and laying everyone off just to increase profits for one quarter and being rewarded for this wasn't just "bad Capitalism", it's what the system was designed to actually do.
Exactly. We have to ask, "What the hell are we doing this for?" If even the concept of a successful business keeping people employed is considered immaterial, and the ultimate point is to just make a few dozen people richer while they let the rest of us burn, what kind of system is that? We're all suffering for a few psychopaths' sake.
The cruelest thing about capitalism is that "only caring about the line going up" is not even because of the greed of that small group of unelected capitalists, but because if they don't, they will immediately be replaced by capitalists who care even more about the line going up. This is a social law of capitalism that operates relentlessly like a law of nature and cannot be fought by the goodness of any individual capitalist.
This is really the best point to make. I know one millionaire. He is a good guy a generous philanthropist who does care for others. But there is a major dissociation he has. The company his friend had started and he had made millions in is buying up property both speculatively and renting it. Most of the property is in California. The irony of the situation is he is very concerned about the homeless issue in the SFBAY area but doesn’t understand that the solution would be to put himself out of business. But this is specifically why we have feel good identity politics versus class based politics. Because it gives something for wealthy liberals to focus their attention on other than putting their attention on the negative effects of the capitalist system.
I noticed many of these concerns over 50 years ago, but until the last 10 years or so I felt like I was the only Socialist in this Country. I'm happy to see that younger people are much more aware of the harm that we all suffer under capitalism and are open to an expansion of social programs.
@@jellybiscuitWhy do you think that there's no individuality under socialism? Do you really think that under Capitalism, each and every person has a chance to be recognized for their efforts? That say, Amazon workers get fair compensation and recognition and aren't simply replaced after the inevitable workplace injury/death? Do you know the name of your delivery person? Do they know your name? Does it even matter under our current system? Under Capitalism, we are all dehumanized.
"Accumulation of wealth at one pole is at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil, slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation, at the opposite pole,"-Karl Marx
lol that isn't true...i've had many crappy jobs where the boss suffered while the rest of us spent days laughing and joking around barely working but most of al...zero stress. Life was better for us...but i hate to say its because i'm cdn and my healthre is covered and rent is controlled. So i don't have many worries past one job...even if its below me...even better cuz i can be fired no problem. i get to live the true socailist life here..i wish you guys could. Even my heat/electricity is included in my rent. And our dentist is now free too as of 2024. I save a LOT living here.
Greetings from a person born in the USSR and thank you very much for your videos. Yes, in our country it was not possible to fully implement socialism, but progress was made on the way to it - we received free public education, free housing, and free medicine. We probably haven’t been able to overcome human greed and stupidity, but today, in the age of free information and the Internet, people have more opportunities to receive information, think and analyze. Never forget that the rich will commit any crime in order to maintain power.
As. person who also was born in USSR, I can confirm everything you said, plus want to add that there way less greediness and stupidity in society back then comparing to the modern capitalist Russia today.
I live in Russia. My grandma received free education and a good 3-room apartment for free from the USSR government, but for my generation, living under capitalism, getting your own home has become insurmountably expensive without a mortgage (which is a huge can of worms in itself), and life expenses are rising every year while wages barely keeping up with inflation. What good we have now, like free education and healthcare, is a legacy from the USSR as well. Post-USSR countries still in general heavily rely on the infrastructure built by the soviets. Sure, the USSR was far from perfect, especially in its later days, but still, i want to thank it for the many good things it did right and things we still have and extensively use now. Hopefully, some day there will be another socialist shift, maybe it will happen not even in Russia, but in the West this time, but still, i hope to see another, better version of the USSR in the future. And I'm proud that my country was once a pioneer of such a progressive and futuristic ideology. The top priority for any societal system should be people, not profits.
People tend to use the arguments of only being able to have bananas on New Year and having to wait 15 years for a car but even with these arguments, they still seem nothing in comparison to universal healthcare, no homelessnes , free education, no unemployment, etc. I'm just a zoomer but to me it seems like people under the USSR didn't know how good they had it and blinded by the consumerist lifestyle of the west, ended up dooming most of the East to being the source of dirt cheap labor and free resources for the West
in an end-of-year employee evaluation, i told my employer that we deserved a raise, not just for our hard work, but because me and my coworkers are the face of our company. i hope nothing bad happens to me or my coworkers because of this, but i want to continue striving for us to have a better quality of life. this channel keeps me believing that things can improve
@eski5084 you and your colleagues might be able to demand things more effective if you form a union, or maybe enter one. Usually, if one person asks for a raise, they as shut down. But, if they collectively demand a raise (otherwise they strike) they get more done.
Adam Smith, lover of markets and liberalism, believed that government is needed in order for the rich to stay rich and protect itself from the poor and the guillotines we know how to make. In a genuine moment he offered that a market based economy was a transitional proposition we would use until we got to the point where we became collectively creative enough to institute and intelligent, humane system, like exactly what JT is describing in this video. We need to evolve quickly though because those who resist our evolution look to places like Gaza as a future option for us because they see us as a commodity at best and a menace at worst. Workers of the world unite
All socialists should read early liberals, because the „liberalism“ we are presented with is not liberalism and whether they agree or not, it is a tool to dismantle the fake liberalism often used as propaganda for capitalism. Imagine calling oneself a liberal and believing in a Rentier system, but here we are.
The funniest part, in a sick way, about Adam Smith is everything he described started and continued with slavery, the foundation of capitalism. Slavery in America was THE most profitable business in history, and ultimately made more money than the next four major industries combined (railroads, etc.)
The writers of the constitution wrote about their fear of “tyranny of the majority.” Which is the very reason we do not have a direct democracy today. The fact that our government has taken measures to PREVENT the will of the majority is quite telling.
@@LearnAboutFlowChains were a lot less aesthetically pleasing to the eye versus a sleek white collar tie, yet they still have the same purpose, to keep you under.
@@jonatand2045 "Without the competition of the market you don't produce enough if what people need." What do people need that we must rely on market signals to account for?
I found your channel yesterday and watched why we should be a socialist in 2023, awesome video with really good points, never thought of myself as a socialist but you might convince me to chance my mind. I know I'm late to the party but got a new sub here
as an army veteran the military taught me the value of socialism especially when all my needs...food, clothing, shelter, medical, pay, etc. was given to me by the government but unfortunately the military exists to help capitalists...
@@Shimmer8you don't have to be a Tankie to appreciate the fact that the military had a decent social safety net. It isn't socialism, necessarily, and as we've seen with commoditized militarization, it can also be a great example of crony capitalism run wild, but the fact remains that it can be a path to stability and resources that many people would not otherwise have. I want everyone to have the security that my parents had. My father was able to do dialysis at home because of his genetic kidney disease that was exacerbated by his military service. There are hundreds of millions of people just like my father, except they didn't serve in the military. It can be a jumping off point for their kids. Why should our only option for stability require the potential sacrifice of our life?
@@joseayala2940 conservatives have trouble seeing the real world when they have their heads up their asses...a majority of them can't think for themselves so they let fox or newsmax tell them what to hate each day...and thank you for your service soldier!!! i appreciate what you do and stay well and take advantage of what the military has to offer, especially education!!!
@@longlostwraith5106 do people end up there simply for words, the camps are in permafrost, and those who died from hard work are simply buried behind the toilet without any accounting?
@@longlostwraith5106bro is comparing american jails to soviet kgb and gulag😂😂 u can get arrested in russia for saying anything against the government and the war😂 u can be arrested for simply by saying fuck putin
- If you loose your job because the company cut it due to less demand for its products, your company rationally acted as it was intended by the system. - If you then cant afford your rent anymore and get kicked out by your landlord, he acts as the system demands - realizing the maximum amount of profit his property can generate. - If then the police has to kick you out of the flat or imprisons you after you desperately stole some food in the super market, it is fulfilling the role of the state within this system as intended, securing the profits of landlords/owners of food companies. - If your country goes to War somewhere in the global south to secure natural ressources for its bourgoisie, it acts as the system intended, Capitalism is NOT build to benefit society as a whole
You just re-explained my first 3 points in different words - I am afraid you completely missed the point here. About the last point, I agree that planned economies dont automatically generate democratic political systems, and that we need to study and learn from their failures in the past. Even though its the primary capitalist economy, USA, which fought like what, 60 wars in foreign countrys within the last 100 years?
@@jonatand2045 Bro sees the world in an authoritarian-egalitarian spectrum. "-A company that gets rid of workers it doesn't need remains efficient. Not being able to do so would mean raising prices or going bankrupt." People who aren't working just put the burden on the nation instead of the company. Its better to help pull up people to fix their underlying issues. There are plenty of unemployed people out there that aren't being useful, and its not because they're just bad workers, but because its absolutely necessary for individual companies to constantly kick out workers to get employees that are willing to work for lower wages, even if in a national-scale it is much less profitable. "-Rental units aren't an infinite resource, so payment serves to allocate them and to promote the development of new units. If that doesn't happen it is because the government puts multiple barriers to development due to nimbys. Replacing the property tax with a land value tax would help without entering into socialism." B-b-b-but government government, everything is because of the government!!! The government is not an alien individual disconnected from society, it is in fact a part of society itself. It is the organized ruling class. The Monarch of the Feudal times was made up of the nobility, and acted in the interest of the nobility else be deposed or lose their military and economic backing. The same is for the ruling parties of today that must lick the boots of their capitalist nobility, else lose the support of the entire economic system. The government WILL NEVER act in what is good for nation-wide value. They will only do what is demanded by individual capitalists' profits. "-Thieves make things more expensive and inconvenient for everyone else. If the store owners didn't get secure profits, there wouldn't be a store." People become criminals when being one offers better chances for survival than honesty. That's why the poor are more likely to become criminals. And why people with access to the resources of organized crime continue being criminals, because said resources make it more valuable for them to rob banks than to work in some McDonalds. "-Socialist countries aren't beyond invading other countries for resources. Since they usually become dictatorship's,expansionism becomes more likely. Just look at Venezuela claiming Esequibo. Democracies are more wary of war." The extreme majority of socialist "expansionism" has been reclamation or reunification wars. Like the Soviet Union retaking former Tsardom lands. Or the People's Republic invading former lands of Qing. Or North Korea attempting to reunify Korea. To claim Socialists are "expansionist" just shows how much you know about history. What next? Is the United States attacking the Confederate States expansionism? Democracies have never been wary of war. Its not just the USA, but the European States as well. Have you not been looking at the world for the past 100 years? Funny you say they usually become "dictatorships." I suppose you think a One Party State is a dictatorship? Even though said dictatorships represent the will of their peoples' more accurately, with China having 80% of the population satisfied by the Governance. You must think being able to vote to elect a corporate-backed dictator every 4 years is "democracy."
@@DeletedSince.2020You really are clueless about history. The USSR kept their neighbors oppressed and under socialism to steal their wealth for nearly a century.
Hello, I'm your Filipino fan. Here in the Philippines, the socialists are heavily persecuted because our country was still controlled by the right leaning nations (USA, various countries in Europe, Singapore, etc.) and our country is actively clamping us down. Thanks for giving me the idea of socialism in the name of the struggle for the poor and the unfortunate. Also, I have developed my own form of socialism called "artistic socialism," in which we fought against the idea of corporate copyright system and monopolization of media. I wish you make a video addressing the digital piracy issue, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, MPA and RIAA, and how to solve it in a socialist manner.
@@radical_emo. I'm constantly dropping JT's videos when having debates with internet strangers lol. They often just laugh it off, but there have been a good dozen or so times where someone comes back a few hours later and goes "holy shit. thank you." ^.^
Excellent as always! One thing worth noting, however, is that the primary goal of the capitalist class isn't really maximizing their profits; it is maintaining and reinforcing the capitalist class structure. They would gladly sacrifice some profits/wealth in the name of maintaining or fortifying the capitalist class structure that gives them their lofty status and power in our capitalist society.
@tekstone That might still be thought as profitable: a small investment towards maintaining class structure may be much more profitable, since the bourgeoisie may of the monies in relation to what the proletariat has. As such, if the bourgeoisie have less, but their less becomes more valuable, then the maintaining of the structure is profitable. E.g. crises and wars may seemingly hurt the bourgeoisie, but in contrast, they are opportunities for wealth.
@@ClassicalTraining Yes, I see your point and agree that there is generally a material benefit to the bourgeoisie to maintaining the class structure that benefits them at the expense of everyone else. But the fact that they are willing to maintain this class structure rather than change it even though it means the likely destruction of the entire human race on the planet (nuclear war, climate change, pandemics, etc.) indicates that maintaining the structure is more important than profiting to them. Surely there will be no profit to be had in a post-nuclear-war apocalypse, nor will there be any profit to be had when we hit +4 degrees C and all human life on earth perishes.
racism, homophobia, religious warmongering and much more, to divide the working class to fight each other just like they keep the unemployment rate keeping millions without a job so we fight for the few "opportunities" out there instead of co-operating
I know I'm late to this discussion, but I've been thinking a lot about this lately. That's really what this anti-wokism is about. Keep the working class resentful of the minorities and the LGBTQ+ plus and nicely distracted from the fact that the US is becoming more of oligarchy under people such as Elon Musk.
I've always felt that a company should NOT be more powerful than a federal government. It actually makes no sense. How can a corporation wield more money, control, and power than a government? It's nonsensical.
@@OutdoorLonghairno, not since 1776. But it is an interesting development. Read the debates between Jefferson and Hamilton or Madison and you will see a striking difference. There is a reason why Jefferson was not invited to the Constitutional Convention of 1789. Not because he was in France, but because the intention of the Constitutional Convention was to restrict democracy and preserve the aristocratic class in the new USA. Jefferson‘s proposals included a 100% wealth inheritance tax, redistribution of land, destroying land monopolies through progressive taxation, freedom from monopolies etc. better not invite him.
Or turned around: they earn a lifetime's income roughly every 48 days. Or if you break it down to more reasonable timescales: If a worker works 40 hours in a week, their CEO gets 40 hours worth of income for 8 minutes of work.
@@stoneneils the CEO never “builds” the company singlehandedly. They may have started it, but every single person who has ever come through the company built that company too, and in 99.99% of cases, were paid for only a small fraction of what they built.
@@wolframstahl1263And the best part yet? Because of what the US's federal minimum wage is, someone working for that amount makes a single dollar in those eight minutes, before taxes.
I become a socialist/communist for 3-4 months and your channel helped me a lot! thank you for creating such videos. btw I'm a teenager from a very unequal country (Iran) and honestly it's good to see so many teens interested in socialism and can think of a better world!
Question for you: Do you think in Iran, with the government structure there, would you be allowed to implement worker co-operatives in your towns, if the people decided to work together to do such a thing? Is that allowed and is is possible? Because if so, check out the One Small Town strategy. Just read the first page of the website or watch: "ONE SMALL Town Introduction Oct 2023" to get an overview of how it works. Do you think that could start in Iran?
To basically put it into consumer terms, yes an old car that needs to be hand cranked to start is far better than a horse drawn carriage but in an advanced society a hand cranked car doesn't meet the transportation demands of the masses. Capitalists understand the need for a new car to meet the need of society but only for increased profit. A socialist understands that yes, capitalism was an improvement to feudalism but also understand that capitalism needs replacing to better serve society for the benefit of society.
At the very least we need to adopt more socialistic practices. I saw in Florida (?) And now some other places There are government funded grocery stores. The people living there absolutely love them and they work great, but they all cope super hard by saying "but it's not socialism"
@@JoeBauers8... but if you were in the aristocracy it was an improvement upon the guillotine. Capitalism/meritocracy is really just feudalism with extra steps... and a paint job. 🙃
Call me Amish but I don't drive however would DIE to have a horse drawn carriage. That I would drive...or ride..or whatever you do on a carriage..steer? Slap horse ass?
The Pandemic should've opened a lot of people eyes to the horrors of Capitalism, at a time where Billionaires should've been getting less and working-class people should've been making more the opposite happened, Republicans were willing to throw elderly people under the bus to save the economy, & despite people constantly propping up the "Benefits" of Capitalism they'll never admit their lives haven't changed or have actually gotten worse under Capitalism.
So the 1% of greed is what makes the entire idea of capitalism bad? I've been to European countries that are socialist and they have strong limitations on wealth accumulation. Don't get me wrong the positives were really good but I just hate the limitations that those governments put on businesses for the "betterment of the people". These top companies can pay their employees more if they wanted to but they don't and yet people still go and work there. How is that Capitalisms fault?
@@jester3443regulations depends on who is being regulated. Also that doesn’t mean anything when the environment is still being destroyed by Capitalism. It’s literally the destruction of the climate. So called regulations haven’t made life better.
@@meeraj-4774 Socialism: a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. The collectivized means of production will.
@@meeraj-4774 The current largest worker cooperative from what I can find is the Basque Mondragon Corporation. From the most recent statistics I found its networth is approximately 24.725 billion USD and employs about 82000 employees.
I’m 66, when I was 17 I lived for 5 years as a nomadic hippy, I lived in numerous communes and in communal settings. None of us had any money but we all had everything we needed, I can honestly say it was the happiest time of my life, I had nothing but was totally free
damn bro ur real af for leaving a platform for their stance on the genocide in Palestine, not too many ppl that criticize the system actually stand by their principles even if it won't be in their best monetary interest, thank you!
@@alex2147 No, I imagine Nebula asked him to make a statement 'condemning both sides' just as every other corporate and media shill has. JT just has solid principles and is also lucky enough (through his own work ofc) to be able to support himself without those sponsors.
Thank you for everything you do to bring these videos to the internet. I hope your new year is kind to you, and i hope one day we can be free from capitalist exploitation.
Bro, that's one of the best videos I've ever seen regarding socialism! Clear, straight to the point, effective. Someone who isn't a socialist is part of the problem. Period.
Thanks for your work here in UA-cam! I'm from Brazil and your videos helped me a lot to understand the politcal situation in the U.S. Unfortunaly, our country is also plagued by right-wing extremists (bolsonaristas) that copy the same strategies used by trumpism. By watching your videos I was able to understand that Brazil and the United States are in a much similar situation than I once imagined.
We have similar stuff in Sweden, Sverige Demokraterna, a far right party with origins from white supremacist and neo-fascist groups currently have the second most seats in the Riksdag, they have been toning down their Nazism a bit, but they still hold strong to their anti-muslim views which have become more common and socially acceptable.
I work as a union theater stagehand. One of the guys got mad and called me a socialist I said, "duh, but we've literally seized the means of Theater production. Me AND you" That got applause from my union brothers and sisters. We can do this, folk
I wonder why is the poverty so high, maybe it has to with increase government spending, sometimes with no taxes to be able to fund the government spending.
Wow, no. The poverty rate is high in the US compared to other countries, but it’s a very flawed measurement. It’s calculated by taking the percentage of people making 60% of the average income. So, if you had a country with an average income of two dollars a day, and 10% of people made $1.40, you would theoretically have less poverty than the US. Plus the US “poverty” rate income is higher than a lot of European and OECD countries, including Hungary, Poland, Israel, Estonia and the Czech Republic. In fact, the income at the US “poverty” rate is 3X higher than the average income in Mexico
It’s a country that uses money to create products and technology that is NOT necessary to anyone, just because “they want to”. America is a country that neglects basic needs, feeds on the working class’ money, and create things that the majority doesn’t want. America isn’t democratic in the slightest. The government is manipulative, lies in elections, and puts lower people at a disadvantage where they can exploit their work and money. Hmm… Sounds a lot like China if you ask me. America’s Capitalism isn’t more “free” or “democratic” than the shithole that is China’s communism.
Thinking homelessness, hunger and war are flaws of the system leads to a reformist persuasion. Acknowledging that those are its inevitable outcomes leads to a revolutionary one.
Let's try to be constructive when speaking to baby leftists and even non-leftists in the comments. This genuinely might be their first exposure to some of these ideas that counteract what they have been taught to think.
I was just in a chain I think the OP might have deleted after I explained why their position was wrong. If you are patient and not overly aggressive, you have a much greater chance of changing their mind - or at least planting the seed to eventually change their mind.
What’s the best way to address comments that say they’re from a socialist country and say it doesn’t work? I find that retort the most difficult to answer.
Today, the existing communist states in the world are in China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and North Korea (DPRK). These communist states often do not claim to have achieved socialism or communism in their countries but to be building and working toward the establishment of socialism in their countries. Is the people in this country are really happy and free? No, this only benefits the government but not the people itself.
Decided to become a union rep in part due to the deprogram, first, and second thought the last couple of years opening my eyes to concepts i had previously never given serious consideration.
@@aaron101889 On the issue of Palestine? this video of his on the first thought channel dives into the issue: ua-cam.com/video/mE5o4TUZtxk/v-deo.html The deprogram (a podcast JT is making with his comrades) has a subreddit where the issue is discussed extensively. It's not an official source but still it translates their view pretty well I believe.
Seeing what Elon Musk is doing and how people think, "I won't be around when the world goes down." What about your descendents? People don't care or have given up searching for better alternatives. We need a change!
You were one of the influential people about my political transformation JT. I hope you can reach out more people out there . Have a nice productive year ahead wish you the best.
Lovely production and script on this one. I watched last years video and this one is even better. Thanks JT I hope you have a good 2024 and continute to reach new people.
This is just my situation here. I've been trying to jump into IT because I've kind of gotten bored of being a Security Guard. Currently at 22/hr. IT helpdesk positions often start at 15/hr in CA. Meanwhile, apartments are sky rocketing in price and I just can't take that kind of hit. I understand costs go up year over year, but this really does feel like "If you are poor, fuck you. We'll find someone who will easily handle the $2k/month rent price." Hell, I have a friend who owns multiple homes. She jacked up the rent over 1k each month because of "market value." The underlying theme to these little stories is that while, yes, someone is providing something of value, it's getting to the extremes now. Where if you aren't it a senior position in whatever field you are working in, grabbing a place to live on your own will be out of reach. Meanwhile, those already own are just jacking up prices tremendously "because they can."
The thing about the “Capitalism has only been around for a few hundred years” point is that feudalism before it was around far, far longer; meaning, if one follows the model put forward by that comparison and assumes they’ll follow a similar lifespan, we still have a while yet before capitalism finally dies. Edit: Woah guys, I’m not saying this in support of capitalism, I hate it too.
There is no reason to believe that just because the pace of life and of social/economic change was much slower thousands of years ago then the pace of change will be just as slow today. Today, things evolve at a much, much faster pace. Besides, we have many existential crises breathing down our necks that threaten to destroy life as we know it and that will force us to change and adapt, or else perish as a species.
Society has exponentially progressed with technology. We are no longer using the Guttenberg press or horse-drawn carriages, why should we limit ourselves to a political philosophy born from that era?
Social change is dependent on high levels of communication among people, advanced communication technology wasn't present in the past which plays a major role in social change and revolutions but now that advanced communication technology is present its far easier to bring changes (Just look at the internet). Supose we'll take the same amount of time we took to move on from feudal society, we will be crips on a burning planet by then.
3:12 The fact that the 10 richest people would still be in the 1% even if they lost 99.999% of their wealth is just mindblowing. Put another way, this means that these few are roughly 100,000 times more wealthy than the least wealthy of the 1%.
My question is if the government didn't print money would there be any left for the rest of us at all!?!?!? I'm 53 and remember the first billionaire..now they are everywhere..its insane. Although its only a thousand millions..its a lot but at least I can fathom it unlike say the width of the Milky Way.
@@iPlayOnSpica Ah yes, I understand. I believe what strikes me as so absolutely mindblowing about that 100,000x wealth factor is the fact that the wealth disparity in terms of absolute numbers is by far the greatest _within_ the top 1%. It has sometimes been said that the real problem are the 0.1%, which is an attempt to underscore that very point. As an average person, it is all too easy to think of the 1% as one monolithic block of "rich people" even though the 1% includes e.g. successful sportspeople and entertainers whose net worth is in the single-digit millions, as well as those very few at the very top of the capitalist foodchain whose wealth is as incomprehensible as saying that someone on this planet owns _2 million dollars ... a hundred thousand times over._
Supposedly the incentive for having wealth is that average, less talented people get to benefit from the genius of the wealthy. For example, the computer people are very wealthy, however, average people who could not possibly invent or maintain advanced technology all benefit from its genius.
@@francisdashwood1760 There is no net benefit, to the contrary. We're witnessing a never-before-seen redistribution of wealth from the population to the capitalist class, facilitated by computers. In return, we "get" to use FB, X and TikTok. Great "benefit" lmao
”If these ten men were to lose 99.999 percent of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be richer than 99 percent of all the people on this planet” That is soo fucked, how can we allow this?!
Because he is lying to you. Just because suddenly everyone in the world have 150k on their bank account it won't mean they won't be poor again in a few years if they lead a bad life.
@@mariano98ify how did you completely miss the point there lol he's simply stating they are SO rich they could lose almost all of it and still be richer than you or me
@@mariano98ifyah, the good old "poor don't deserve any help because they lead a bad life". Not only is that bs, it has nothing to do with what they said
i’m sorry to hear that you felt the need to leave the Nebula platform. As someone who values independent creators and isn’t a fan of feeding money, hungry morally ambiguous, mega corpse I enjoyed supporting you and others with my Nebula membership. good luck with your future endeavors!
My path towards socialism began by asking myself “why are people so scared of communism when it shares a root word with ‘community’?” That, and me generally just being curious as to why after doing a lot of research on the far right and the nazis given how bad it’s getting right now, and thanks to that I’ve learned a lot. One thing I’ve learned is that capitalism really likes defining an enemy for its own self and financial interest and never the well being of actual people, even if it self sabotages in the long run.
Im not gonna say socialism is iredeemable but... there is a reason people are scared of communism. Read Stalin and the many atrocities the USSR has committed. The secret police, oppression of political disidents. My parents (Romania) lived in that paranoia. Where you would always be scared someone will hear you criticise the government and rat you out and you become a political prisoner. You might say USSR was an experiment and it had some failures like i hear people say... But to families whose life was ruined by this experiment it sounds awfully dismissive and idealistic. The even worse take I hear some people say is that political repression is required to maintain the socialist system against capitalist forces.... If repression is required, I'd rather live in capitalism. And there are many people who feel like that. I've got a feeling in the ideal socialist state noone could make videos about how crooked the system is and to try capitalism but the reverse happens commonly as we can see right here. Aspiring socialist should listen to the testimonies of all manners of intellectuals who were jailed for thinking the wrong things and how anti-intellectualism was pushed to an extreme degree. The worker was above the intellectual, university education was seen with disdain. I watch these kinds of videos sometimes for fun cause some points being made are good but this blindspot is so huge i can't assume anything else but bad faith and ignoring the blindspot to make your position look better en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sighet_Prison I've visited this prison and it was horrifying. I recommend it to any aspiring socialist. Not to give up the idea entirely but to better understand what the dangers are
I would love to see a video about the history of the transition from feudalism to capitalism. Plus a breakdown of key aspects from our history that can teach us how to transition from capitalism to socialism.
It was an incredibly complicated event that happened over the course of hundreds of years, I think it'd be hard for JT to fit it into a second thought style video but would still be cool
It took me until after the election and doing some research into how democracy in the US functions in practice, but I managed to get radicalized before year's end, in part thanks to your channel. I'm now a card-carrying member of the DSA and plan to get involved with my local chapter as soon as I'm back from out-of-state. Thank you for what you do.
God, inlove second thought's work. It's like you have harvested the thoughts that sit just under the surface of my consciousness, expressing ideas i intuitvly know but am unable to articulate fully. Which is exactly why your videos are perfect to share with friends and family.
Your videos about socialism are really some of the most accessible for laypeople. When I want to try to help out someone who doesn't know much about the ideas, your videos are some of the most helpful and easy for newbies to understand. I really appreciate you.
equality of possibility is cool, not of outcome. when you have the same chances it is good for a society but when you take from the successful that worked hard and use it to fund the lazy people you are destroying your country.
@@testmuster-gw4mq Not every poor person is lazy. That’s a very ignorant statement. But also not every rich person worked for their wealth. Socialism isn’t trying to make the rich poor but is trying to make the poor “rich”. Socialist just want the poor to live comfortable, humane lives. Yes there will be some lazy people who choose to not work but they can also be shamed & peer pressured to do so.
So what would multi-party socialism look like? Because under capitalism power and wealth accumulates with very few people, interests aligning and able to influence politics disproportionately. So kinda one party too. But socialists agree on what to do for people pretty generally too. (I’m talking about policy, not about how to bring about socialism) so what different parties would come about? Like a vegan socialist party, Christian socialist party, etc etc?
Thank you, JT, for being by far nicer & more patient than I am in explaining the basics of socialism. I simply don't have it in me to explain over & over to whiny, petulant man-children that licking boots is the past -- that a united workers' front is the future
@@johnburns8660 That is one of the most central goals. Since then there will be no more (corporatist) boots to lick. Unless you are into that. I do not judge. More power to you.
@@johnburns8660Well dictatorships in a leftist society are a bug in rightist(?) societies they're a feature so hopefully you won't need it at all worst case scenario... let's remember that the we're at the fifth French republic.
There are a multitude of flaws with almost every argument presented in this video. Basically every point made is emotional appeal or half truths. Leaving out key information. I’ll give you one such example. Let’s start with Covid around the 2:10 mark and the reasoning behind why the ultra rich were able to increase their wealth at such a high rate. Pretty simple, governments forced small businesses to close while allowing large corporations to operate. Had businesses been allowed to operate as normal you wouldn’t have seen such a large increase at the expense of everybody else who either had to stop their operations or were fired or laid off.
Thank you for this video and for being the definition of a class act in the way you handled the Nebula issue, and in the way you speak about it. I'm becoming a Patreon backer as soon as I figure out how. Wishing you all the best in the new year!
_The oppressor would not be so strong if he didn't have accomplices among the oppressed_ - Simone de Beauvoir And after leaving you with the GOAT quote: Happy New Year!
Knowing that capitalism replaced feudalism makes me actually hopeful that socialism is the next step in our economic evolution as a replacement for capitalism. Thank you for keeping us hopeful
Hopeful and fascinating reading into the anti-monarchist revolutions, mainly around the 19th century. Even though it's not a socialist video i recommend Epic history TV's video on the 1848 revolutions, or just looking into the 1848 revolutions in general because there's quite a lot of parallels you can draw from that time to now, plus it'll give you some context for what was going on at the time if you're into reading marx himself.
I believe so, too. But I would go a step further to imagine the next, next economic evolution. I think that can help us be even MORE prepared for a more socialist future. What comes after socialism? Moneyless Society. There is a great book I highly recommend by Matthew Holten. I believe you can even get it for free if you sign up with Moneyless Society as a PDF copy. Not expensive as a paperback book either. The book, like the podcast they have, explains the transition from a monetary-capitalist driven economy we have now, to a more socialist empowered one, with lots of worker co-ops and unions and such, towards using automation, community contribution and collaboration to create such abundance and prosperity that we eventually won't even need money to survive and thrive. That is aided with the current town strategy called One Small Town from Michael Tellinger and his team.
Good video. However, I think you could've included another big reason to become a socialist in 2024; The AI automation of jobs. In the next couple years, there's a good chance we'll see unemployment numbers begin to climb, and never come back down, thanks to many companies replacing office workers with AI. It's already happening in some places.
Yeah, in Socialism the profit from AI technology would go to the people whose jobs were removed, but in capitalism it goes to the people who collect wealth, leaving a bunch of unemployment
Just did a super thanks. Love your channel. Watching for about 2 years now, I went back to some of your older stuff and it was interesting but this is interesting and important. Your content has provided clarity to my views and aided in the evolution of my beliefs. I am spreading the word Keep up the excellent work.
We're speed-hurdling towards fascism because of capitalism's endless growth demands. But this video makes me feel....dare I say it.....hopeful??? Nice. 😊
We already have fascism with Joe Biden. Here we have a feeble minded and weak leader who promotes corruption, election interference is being normalized, free speech that seems more limited, wanting to shut down the fossil fuel industry, (which will only crush the economy and make citizens more dependant on Government?) Skyrocketing inflation and taxes to keep citizens poor, and a one-sided justice system. In the end there needs to be a choice other than Do you want to be poor because an inner circle of unionized workers (of which you can't join) tell you that you will be poor for the benefit of a society while that same inner circle become the Capitalists hiding behind the Socialist label or Do you want to be poor because the Government you pay taxes to tells the society (You will be poor and like it). At least with Capitalism, you might be poor but you have the ability to create something for yourself. Socialism and Communism are for lazy sacks of shit.
HAUSUHUHASHUUHAUHS and you supported Hamas, don't you think that's contradictory? Didn't you know that Palestine was created by a literal N4zl? amin al-husseini literally participated in N4zl propaganda. you are not anti-facists, much less anti-capitalists. You are, literally, the worst kind of capitalism: state monopoly.
Realizing people couldn’t afford a ~$3000 tuition at my in state college. I grew up in private school and wealthy public schools so when I went to college it surprised how many had student loans even for at relatively cheap price. Like people couldn’t afford to set aside $600 per month for a chance at class mobility made me realize peeps aren’t lazy or overspending it was crap pay not to mention the language of marketing yourself I encountered made me feel less than human
Social market economy/ Social democracy is like putting a band aid on a flesh wound. Social democracy may improve our western lives but always at the expense of the third world. That is how modern capitalist imperialism works
Hi - I've been following you for about a year, I think. You've really started me thinking. But I'm still lost on what very specific changes socialism would make to our lives. So if you were looking for ideas for 2024, maybe a series that shows different business models, from a mega-corporation to a mom-and-pop pizza shop with a couple employees, and how they would function under socialism. And what about the stock market, where a good many people grow their wealth? (such as it is, in this day and age.) Would there even be a stock market? How would banks work? And what is the balance between private enterprise and government oversight? At what point does property have to become public? Like that aforementioned pizza place - if ma and pa spent 20 years making pizza and earning money to buy their equipment and storefront, do they not deserve to make a profit from the labor of the workers they hire (assuming they can pay a decent wage). What if they are slowing down and need the help, but still need the income to survive? Or does the hiring of workers necessitate that all the means of the pizza production now becomes the democratic property of the people who work at the business? Could they just vote ma and pa out at that point? Or make decisions that are detrimental to the company because there are more employees than there are owners? I think many of your videos assume that everyone is going to make smart, moral decisions, but there are a lot of stupid and greedy/lazy people. It's easy to look at the large mega-corporation and billionaires as evil, but I'd like to see how smaller businesses of many different types would fare under the rules of socialism. Thanks and Happy New Year!
these are great questions but i think theyre mostly a little specific and this video was more geared toward tackling the big general problems. I think that as most change doesn't happen very quickly, it is more important that we're behind the big ideas and try to tackle the largest issues first, though I'm sure some economist has answers for your questions, that would not be me.
@@WolfHeathen I've been anti-capitalist since I learned what the capitalist mode of production was, and to what extent socialist and socialdemocratic measures were way more effective than the current free market dystopia.
Even before I knew it had that definition, I believe I was a socialist. I have long believed everyone should have a home, food, healthcare, and education, as a simple baseline
What is crazy is that the corporate mainstream media has done so much propaganda for so long to the people that it should be COMMON PLACE for the majority of people to believe in basic human rights, like everybody should have a home, food, healthcare and education. That's not a radical idea. That's a sane idea. But capitalism has commodified homes, food, healthcare, education and more. So we get Conservative politicians (often the worst on this issue) who might even *say* they believe in those human rights, but they really are just promoting privatization for capitalists to generate more profit off exploiting people and resources, while causing austerity so that even healthcare or education suffer more. It is madness. We need to stop feeding the madness and start building a better system. Way easier said than done. But I believe with the right community-based strategy we can do it. My suggestion is to check out the One Small Town Contributionism initiative and see if it can work for your country and towns. Free and voluntary, as always, but take a good look as see what you think. Any questions? Any other suggestions?
I completely understand the Best buy analysis. Back from 2005-2010, I worked at a Gamestop... after a year, we started hiring some of our customers who wanted to work there, and we became a top 300 store out of 5000 locations. Got awards for customer service for 4 straight years. Then corporate and middle management tried to fuck with things, replaced our Store Manager who was out for two months after surgery with some complete idiot who never plays games and had no idea what he was talking about... I got fired for cussing dude out when he made an off-duty employee stand outside while we counted money after a midnight launch. And they lost the rest of an awesome 4-year crew that made them insane bank. Now the stupid ass company is half useless trinkets, funcopops and "geek shirts." Fuck corporate.
Good video. Sadly, things will have to get worse before more people 'get' what you are saying. Starting this year, the pain to the people will accelerate. Get ready, because things are about to get real exciting in another 2 weeks.
I'm a democratic socialist; just for perspective. "In capitalism, you have an opportunity to become wealthy. Socialism requires you to give your money to others who may not deserve it." CAPITOLISM requires ME to give money to people who don't deserve it! Every billionaire was born into wealth. They didn't earn it, they don't deserve it. What they do is sit on their asses while workers make THEM more money than they'd be able to spend in 3 lifetimes! Wake up! No one, I repeat, NO ONE needs that much money and yet they keep the wages in their companies at poverty levels just so they can horde wealth.
It's so weird that they tried to make you both sides the Israel/Palestine conflict, it just goes to show being fully independent is usually the most free choice
As a Nebula payer, I'd be interested to hear more about that too. This kind of issue is what I expect at large corporations concerned about their marketable image, not from a cooperative. Even if there is "no bad blood" (phew?), it's sad as cooperatives are exactly the kind of workplaces this channel promotes... Or I'm just worried about Nebula, our best shot at challenging the current UA-cam model.
On October 7th Second Thought sent out a tweet calling for support of Hamas' attack, saying there would be biased coverage of their ""atrocities"" by mainstream news and that this was what liberation struggle looked like.
If this video doesn't convince my dad to stop voting conservative nothing will. Thank you so much. Your channel has been an amazing source of hope for me through these last years. I appreciate you and the tireless, important work you do.
@@jonatand2045Capitalism necessarily produces great wealth and products (no matter how useful those products actually are) to a select few, leaving out a majority to drive. It’s not much to ask for a fairer cut of the pie when plenty struggle in life.
@@jonatand2045 I don't know what phone do you have, but I do know, that your phone was made in a factory by workers. And workers would still be able to make that phone if they suddenly began living in socialism. I think they would even improve design of that phone, so it would be more repair-friendly and overall better.
@@jonatand2045 Idk, I think it would be better, if we have a system with stable economy and which places people over profits, than system that would crush my bones for additional 5 cents of profit, and which economy goes into crisis every 5-10 years
Agreed but why are you using an Ai generated drawing as a pfp? :( please just commission someone, you're contributing to workers having less work and having to lower their already low wages, artists in this case
Look this has all been said before and the main issue with socialism is the execution. The only few countries you can say these ideas even somewhat work in are the Scandinavian countries and Sweden and that is for a very simple reason: the population was homogenous. Currently they aren’t with a lot of Arabs moving in however in the rise of their social Democratic state everybody wanted the same things. There has not been one country in history where socialism worked on a big scale due to this issue of having the population have their own personal interest in mind that goes against the personal interests of other inhabitants.
I grew up in China and was taught all the ills of capitalism. Having lived in US for the latter part of my life allows me to see it for real. Its really sad actually, because there's no peaceful way possible to transition from capitalism to socialism. The powerful will never give up their power and the bottom 90% will continue to suffer to the point where the only thing they can lose are the shackles around their ankles. I sincerely hope that i don't live long enough to see that day.
South Africa is a country where people pay for their healthcare, housing, education and taxes. Many here go to churches or other organisations that they give their little money to get false advice on supposedly how to climb the corporate ladder like its as easy as cooking food. This capitalism is good rhetoric has gotten boring for me as a South African.
Keep up the good work, sir. I'm an artist with some physical disabilities. My wife and I live in our van and live on "in kind" work agreements with friends. Your channel gives me hope for the future. Thank you.🙏
@@SecondThought its my first time reading actual theory. Ive been anti capitalist for a long while, and I finally decided to learn about the alternative. I don’t even know if I am going in the right direction, but Im currently reading the Communist Manifesto. Its a little hard to digest but ill push on 🫡
@@CraigKeidel I dont even know half those names lmao. I have a LOT of research ahead of me. Kinda tough to find time tho, Im in my final year of school.
Thank you for this videos bro, I am Brazilian and here the socialists are working to rebuild the communist brazilian movement and to improve the organization of the working class. Your videos are motivating me to go forward and help on this rebuilding. Thank you very much for your great work. I'm very glad to see that even in the centrality of global capitalism there is people working to emancipate the working class. We are going to win this battle! Thank you very much for the inspiration
I'm glad the ideas of socialism are at least becoming more popular among the people I know. Every now and then I'm surprised when someone I know just blatantly agrees with me when I say I hate capitalism. I've got co-workers that hate capitalism. We have a chance to give us a better world, we just need to keep putting in the work.
@Mindless0wnage Tovarisch, we need to push the envelope further. We need to keep promoting the true message of socialism, on every platform possible, much like comrade Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov advised us.
All the problem you addressed are not impossible in Capitalism and Socialism is not a solution. I fled from my socialist home country Syria to the Capitalist Germany to get universal healthcare, at the beginning state support and a chance to finish high school and enter a German high class university. All the problems you addressed, are possible to improve and to integrate into a capitalist society.
@@emptyvoid5272 "So what do you think is the 'real' socialist country?" No such thing. The socialist revolution will encompass the globe, which ofc is beyond borders. Borders and nationalities will not exist under communism
The fact that the idea of better salaries, a sensible healthcare and overall better quality of life is contentious in capitalism should raise huge red flags. But here we are
Neither of those things are socialism by any definition. You may as well be a social democrat (no offense)
@
Their point is that capitalism has been failing people for centuries. Despite developments.
@ that’s my point though, even those ideas that are pretty tame. Sound pretty contentious under capitalism. And that’s a huge red flag
@The important thing is that nothing is "impossible" under capitalism, it's just that the minority of people who hold power exploit the system for their benefit and abandon the true well being of the people. This is what we see today, and why socialism might be a better option for the majority of people.
@@iceshadow487 i mean most things are impossible under capitalism. It literally hobbles itself constantly for the sake of raising an imaginary line to an imaginary peak. Its a self defeating ideology, a contradiction. And ultimately a waste.
What pushed me over was realizing corporations torpedoing a company and laying everyone off just to increase profits for one quarter and being rewarded for this wasn't just "bad Capitalism", it's what the system was designed to actually do.
I only partially agree. I don’t thinl anyone ever imagined the financializatiom of every industry to be servants of the stock market.
@RobinSentell especially privatization of Healthcare
Hasbro/WotC?
@@RobinSentell Marx did. Also Richard Wolff is pretty aware of this.
Exactly. We have to ask, "What the hell are we doing this for?"
If even the concept of a successful business keeping people employed is considered immaterial, and the ultimate point is to just make a few dozen people richer while they let the rest of us burn, what kind of system is that? We're all suffering for a few psychopaths' sake.
The cruelest thing about capitalism is that "only caring about the line going up" is not even because of the greed of that small group of unelected capitalists, but because if they don't, they will immediately be replaced by capitalists who care even more about the line going up. This is a social law of capitalism that operates relentlessly like a law of nature and cannot be fought by the goodness of any individual capitalist.
Capitalism requires humans who behave like robots, because the instant someone shows a shred of humanity, they're replaceable.
theyre basically an AI. .a paperclip maximizer
True socialism is patriotic and national, Karl Marx was a subversive judeo globalist , AH was the one who figured it out.
This is really the best point to make. I know one millionaire. He is a good guy a generous philanthropist who does care for others. But there is a major dissociation he has. The company his friend had started and he had made millions in is buying up property both speculatively and renting it. Most of the property is in California.
The irony of the situation is he is very concerned about the homeless issue in the SFBAY area but doesn’t understand that the solution would be to put himself out of business.
But this is specifically why we have feel good identity politics versus class based politics. Because it gives something for wealthy liberals to focus their attention on other than putting their attention on the negative effects of the capitalist system.
This is why there can’t be altruistic corporations/billionaires under capitalism.
I noticed many of these concerns over 50 years ago, but until the last 10 years or so I felt like I was the only Socialist in this Country. I'm happy to see that younger people are much more aware of the harm that we all suffer under capitalism and are open to an expansion of social programs.
Congrats on being a pioneer of personal failure?
@@jellybiscuitWhy do you think that there's no individuality under socialism? Do you really think that under Capitalism, each and every person has a chance to be recognized for their efforts? That say, Amazon workers get fair compensation and recognition and aren't simply replaced after the inevitable workplace injury/death?
Do you know the name of your delivery person? Do they know your name? Does it even matter under our current system?
Under Capitalism, we are all dehumanized.
@jellybiscuit congrats on being a jerk.
@@madcube1581 better than gulags
Socialism isn't about gulags. It's about the democratization of the economy.
@@gordonfreeman7187
"Accumulation of wealth at one pole is at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil, slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation, at the opposite pole,"-Karl Marx
The problem is inflation and interest. It is a sin in Islam ☪️ religion.. it only makes the rich richer. Please wake up
Marx is more correct by the day. Workers of the World Unite
Socialism is patriotic and national, Karl Marx was a judeo globalist r*t*rd, AH was the one who figured it out.
lol that isn't true...i've had many crappy jobs where the boss suffered while the rest of us spent days laughing and joking around barely working but most of al...zero stress. Life was better for us...but i hate to say its because i'm cdn and my healthre is covered and rent is controlled. So i don't have many worries past one job...even if its below me...even better cuz i can be fired no problem. i get to live the true socailist life here..i wish you guys could. Even my heat/electricity is included in my rent. And our dentist is now free too as of 2024. I save a LOT living here.
@@stoneneilsWhat the hell even is your job?
Greetings from a person born in the USSR and thank you very much for your videos. Yes, in our country it was not possible to fully implement socialism, but progress was made on the way to it - we received free public education, free housing, and free medicine. We probably haven’t been able to overcome human greed and stupidity, but today, in the age of free information and the Internet, people have more opportunities to receive information, think and analyze. Never forget that the rich will commit any crime in order to maintain power.
Thank you for you were the pioneers, hopefully the 'socialisms' of this millenia will learn from your experience.
Blame the gerontocrats. They're ruining the US too.
As. person who also was born in USSR, I can confirm everything you said, plus want to add that there way less greediness and stupidity in society back then comparing to the modern capitalist Russia today.
I live in Russia. My grandma received free education and a good 3-room apartment for free from the USSR government, but for my generation, living under capitalism, getting your own home has become insurmountably expensive without a mortgage (which is a huge can of worms in itself), and life expenses are rising every year while wages barely keeping up with inflation. What good we have now, like free education and healthcare, is a legacy from the USSR as well. Post-USSR countries still in general heavily rely on the infrastructure built by the soviets. Sure, the USSR was far from perfect, especially in its later days, but still, i want to thank it for the many good things it did right and things we still have and extensively use now. Hopefully, some day there will be another socialist shift, maybe it will happen not even in Russia, but in the West this time, but still, i hope to see another, better version of the USSR in the future. And I'm proud that my country was once a pioneer of such a progressive and futuristic ideology. The top priority for any societal system should be people, not profits.
People tend to use the arguments of only being able to have bananas on New Year and having to wait 15 years for a car but even with these arguments, they still seem nothing in comparison to universal healthcare, no homelessnes , free education, no unemployment, etc.
I'm just a zoomer but to me it seems like people under the USSR didn't know how good they had it and blinded by the consumerist lifestyle of the west, ended up dooming most of the East to being the source of dirt cheap labor and free resources for the West
Hope your channel, Hakim YUGOPNIK, the deprogam and first thought continue to grow in 2024. You ARE making a difference!
in an end-of-year employee evaluation, i told my employer that we deserved a raise, not just for our hard work, but because me and my coworkers are the face of our company. i hope nothing bad happens to me or my coworkers because of this, but i want to continue striving for us to have a better quality of life. this channel keeps me believing that things can improve
@@cronos122770you sound like a terrible boss
@@cronos122770once u do this the Labor Union calls for a strike and all of „your hard earned money“ says bye.
Did you get fired?
@eski5084 you and your colleagues might be able to demand things more effective if you form a union, or maybe enter one. Usually, if one person asks for a raise, they as shut down. But, if they collectively demand a raise (otherwise they strike) they get more done.
ll
Adam Smith, lover of markets and liberalism, believed that government is needed in order for the rich to stay rich and protect itself from the poor and the guillotines we know how to make. In a genuine moment he offered that a market based economy was a transitional proposition we would use until we got to the point where we became collectively creative enough to institute and intelligent, humane system, like exactly what JT is describing in this video. We need to evolve quickly though because those who resist our evolution look to places like Gaza as a future option for us because they see us as a commodity at best and a menace at worst. Workers of the world unite
All socialists should read early liberals, because the „liberalism“ we are presented with is not liberalism and whether they agree or not, it is a tool to dismantle the fake liberalism often used as propaganda for capitalism. Imagine calling oneself a liberal and believing in a Rentier system, but here we are.
The funniest part, in a sick way, about Adam Smith is everything he described started and continued with slavery, the foundation of capitalism. Slavery in America was THE most profitable business in history, and ultimately made more money than the next four major industries combined (railroads, etc.)
The writers of the constitution wrote about their fear of “tyranny of the majority.” Which is the very reason we do not have a direct democracy today. The fact that our government has taken measures to PREVENT the will of the majority is quite telling.
@@LearnAboutFlowChains were a lot less aesthetically pleasing to the eye versus a sleek white collar tie, yet they still have the same purpose, to keep you under.
@@jonatand2045 "Without the competition of the market you don't produce enough if what people need."
What do people need that we must rely on market signals to account for?
I found your channel yesterday and watched why we should be a socialist in 2023, awesome video with really good points, never thought of myself as a socialist but you might convince me to chance my mind. I know I'm late to the party but got a new sub here
Now is always the best time to do the right thing
welcome to the club :)
Welcome, friend! We’re glad you’re here
Greetings and welcome! If you liked this video, definitely go on a deep dive of the previous videos on this channel. Excellent stuff!
you're never late to the party!!! All are welcome!
as an army veteran the military taught me the value of socialism especially when all my needs...food, clothing, shelter, medical, pay, etc. was given to me by the government but unfortunately the military exists to help capitalists...
That is indeed ironic
@@Shimmer8you don't have to be a Tankie to appreciate the fact that the military had a decent social safety net.
It isn't socialism, necessarily, and as we've seen with commoditized militarization, it can also be a great example of crony capitalism run wild, but the fact remains that it can be a path to stability and resources that many people would not otherwise have.
I want everyone to have the security that my parents had. My father was able to do dialysis at home because of his genetic kidney disease that was exacerbated by his military service. There are hundreds of millions of people just like my father, except they didn't serve in the military.
It can be a jumping off point for their kids. Why should our only option for stability require the potential sacrifice of our life?
@@Shimmer8grow up
I'm still in the Army & agree with you brother, i don't know why there so many conservative inclined people in the military.
@@joseayala2940 conservatives have trouble seeing the real world when they have their heads up their asses...a majority of them can't think for themselves so they let fox or newsmax tell them what to hate each day...and thank you for your service soldier!!! i appreciate what you do and stay well and take advantage of what the military has to offer, especially education!!!
If an economic system allows innocent people to die for profit, then that system should NEVER be allowed ever....
Have you heard anything about the Gulag and 1937 in USSR?
@@ivmet1985 Have you heard anything about the Modern Prison Complex in USA? It dwarfs the Gulags in comparison.
@@longlostwraith5106 do people end up there simply for words, the camps are in permafrost, and those who died from hard work are simply buried behind the toilet without any accounting?
@@ivmet1985 2 out of 3. Only Alaska has permafrost, I think, and there aren't many prisons there.
@@longlostwraith5106bro is comparing american jails to soviet kgb and gulag😂😂 u can get arrested in russia for saying anything against the government and the war😂 u can be arrested for simply by saying fuck putin
- If you loose your job because the company cut it due to less demand for its products, your company rationally acted as it was intended by the system.
- If you then cant afford your rent anymore and get kicked out by your landlord, he acts as the system demands - realizing the maximum amount of profit his property can generate.
- If then the police has to kick you out of the flat or imprisons you after you desperately stole some food in the super market, it is fulfilling the role of the state within this system as intended, securing the profits of landlords/owners of food companies.
- If your country goes to War somewhere in the global south to secure natural ressources for its bourgoisie, it acts as the system intended,
Capitalism is NOT build to benefit society as a whole
You just re-explained my first 3 points in different words - I am afraid you completely missed the point here.
About the last point, I agree that planned economies dont automatically generate democratic political systems, and that we need to study and learn from their failures in the past.
Even though its the primary capitalist economy, USA, which fought like what, 60 wars in foreign countrys within the last 100 years?
@@jonatand2045 Bro sees the world in an authoritarian-egalitarian spectrum.
"-A company that gets rid of workers it doesn't need remains efficient. Not being able to do so would mean raising prices or going bankrupt."
People who aren't working just put the burden on the nation instead of the company. Its better to help pull up people to fix their underlying issues. There are plenty of unemployed people out there that aren't being useful, and its not because they're just bad workers, but because its absolutely necessary for individual companies to constantly kick out workers to get employees that are willing to work for lower wages, even if in a national-scale it is much less profitable.
"-Rental units aren't an infinite resource, so payment serves to allocate them and to promote the development of new units. If that doesn't happen it is because the government puts multiple barriers to development due to nimbys. Replacing the property tax with a land value tax would help without entering into socialism."
B-b-b-but government government, everything is because of the government!!! The government is not an alien individual disconnected from society, it is in fact a part of society itself. It is the organized ruling class. The Monarch of the Feudal times was made up of the nobility, and acted in the interest of the nobility else be deposed or lose their military and economic backing. The same is for the ruling parties of today that must lick the boots of their capitalist nobility, else lose the support of the entire economic system. The government WILL NEVER act in what is good for nation-wide value. They will only do what is demanded by individual capitalists' profits.
"-Thieves make things more expensive and inconvenient for everyone else. If the store owners didn't get secure profits, there wouldn't be a store."
People become criminals when being one offers better chances for survival than honesty. That's why the poor are more likely to become criminals. And why people with access to the resources of organized crime continue being criminals, because said resources make it more valuable for them to rob banks than to work in some McDonalds.
"-Socialist countries aren't beyond invading other countries for resources. Since they usually become dictatorship's,expansionism becomes more likely. Just look at Venezuela claiming Esequibo. Democracies are more wary of war."
The extreme majority of socialist "expansionism" has been reclamation or reunification wars. Like the Soviet Union retaking former Tsardom lands. Or the People's Republic invading former lands of Qing. Or North Korea attempting to reunify Korea. To claim Socialists are "expansionist" just shows how much you know about history. What next? Is the United States attacking the Confederate States expansionism?
Democracies have never been wary of war. Its not just the USA, but the European States as well. Have you not been looking at the world for the past 100 years?
Funny you say they usually become "dictatorships." I suppose you think a One Party State is a dictatorship? Even though said dictatorships represent the will of their peoples' more accurately, with China having 80% of the population satisfied by the Governance. You must think being able to vote to elect a corporate-backed dictator every 4 years is "democracy."
@@jonatand2045 There is no such thing as an unproductive employee. Only unproductive managers and bosses.
@@jonatand2045 I am well aware mate. Why are you stating the obvious?
@@DeletedSince.2020You really are clueless about history. The USSR kept their neighbors oppressed and under socialism to steal their wealth for nearly a century.
Hello, I'm your Filipino fan. Here in the Philippines, the socialists are heavily persecuted because our country was still controlled by the right leaning nations (USA, various countries in Europe, Singapore, etc.) and our country is actively clamping us down.
Thanks for giving me the idea of socialism in the name of the struggle for the poor and the unfortunate.
Also, I have developed my own form of socialism called "artistic socialism," in which we fought against the idea of corporate copyright system and monopolization of media. I wish you make a video addressing the digital piracy issue, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, MPA and RIAA, and how to solve it in a socialist manner.
Solidarity from your Indonesian neighbour!
Solidarity from Indonesia.
Copyright, especially when I saw in education (copyright education) are just full of capitalist propaganda tbh.
i had the same idea about making a "artistic socialism" before, so yeah, you're not alone
hirap sa pinas bai, akalain mo yun konting kritisismo sa government, enemy of the state ka kaagad.
Sucks to see that Singapore is involved in that, considering how well they shine as an example of what can be done in terms of public housing.
This is one of the best channels I found in 2023, thank you.
Thank you for watching!
Same, i have been sending these videos to my friends to make them socialists.
@@radical_emo.is it working?
@@krasinmarinov they havent watched them yet
@@radical_emo. I'm constantly dropping JT's videos when having debates with internet strangers lol. They often just laugh it off, but there have been a good dozen or so times where someone comes back a few hours later and goes "holy shit. thank you." ^.^
Excellent as always! One thing worth noting, however, is that the primary goal of the capitalist class isn't really maximizing their profits; it is maintaining and reinforcing the capitalist class structure. They would gladly sacrifice some profits/wealth in the name of maintaining or fortifying the capitalist class structure that gives them their lofty status and power in our capitalist society.
@tekstone
That might still be thought as profitable: a small investment towards maintaining class structure may be much more profitable, since the bourgeoisie may of the monies in relation to what the proletariat has. As such, if the bourgeoisie have less, but their less becomes more valuable, then the maintaining of the structure is profitable. E.g. crises and wars may seemingly hurt the bourgeoisie, but in contrast, they are opportunities for wealth.
@@ClassicalTraining Yes, I see your point and agree that there is generally a material benefit to the bourgeoisie to maintaining the class structure that benefits them at the expense of everyone else. But the fact that they are willing to maintain this class structure rather than change it even though it means the likely destruction of the entire human race on the planet (nuclear war, climate change, pandemics, etc.) indicates that maintaining the structure is more important than profiting to them. Surely there will be no profit to be had in a post-nuclear-war apocalypse, nor will there be any profit to be had when we hit +4 degrees C and all human life on earth perishes.
I bet literally no one else knows what you mean when you say bourgeoisie 💀
of course, I know or else I wouldn't be commenting this.
@@Serena_in_the_City don't be so quick to bet... A surprising amount of people are revisiting Marx's writings nowadays!
That's what union busting is all about!
One way that oligarchs protect their wealth is by redirecting the people's anger from them to other people
racism, homophobia, religious warmongering and much more, to divide the working class to fight each other just like they keep the unemployment rate keeping millions without a job so we fight for the few "opportunities" out there instead of co-operating
I know I'm late to this discussion, but I've been thinking a lot about this lately. That's really what this anti-wokism is about. Keep the working class resentful of the minorities and the LGBTQ+ plus and nicely distracted from the fact that the US is becoming more of oligarchy under people such as Elon Musk.
I've always felt that a company should NOT be more powerful than a federal government. It actually makes no sense. How can a corporation wield more money, control, and power than a government? It's nonsensical.
Our government and corporations are one. Been that way for a very long time.
@@ey67 yeah like 1776
@@OutdoorLonghairno, not since 1776. But it is an interesting development. Read the debates between Jefferson and Hamilton or Madison and you will see a striking difference. There is a reason why Jefferson was not invited to the Constitutional Convention of 1789. Not because he was in France, but because the intention of the Constitutional Convention was to restrict democracy and preserve the aristocratic class in the new USA.
Jefferson‘s proposals included a 100% wealth inheritance tax, redistribution of land, destroying land monopolies through progressive taxation, freedom from monopolies etc. better not invite him.
The United States Government is a Registered Limited Liability Tax-exempt Corporation with implied immunity.
@@matthewkopp2391 so that’s why Alexander Hamilton is so popular, it’s one of the crappiest musicals and gets so much praise for some reason 😭
"CEO's make 300 times what workers make." If a working life time is 40 years then CEO's get 7.5 LIFETIMES of worker pay EACH YEAR... That's vampiric.
Or turned around: they earn a lifetime's income roughly every 48 days.
Or if you break it down to more reasonable timescales: If a worker works 40 hours in a week, their CEO gets 40 hours worth of income for 8 minutes of work.
@@wolframstahl1263If folks looked at it this way, they'd be forcing change in a nanosecond...unless they just don't give a shit.
Not if the CEO built the company but oh my GOD what a scam when its just a hired ivy league knob who last two years and takes home 40 million.
@@stoneneils the CEO never “builds” the company singlehandedly. They may have started it, but every single person who has ever come through the company built that company too, and in 99.99% of cases, were paid for only a small fraction of what they built.
@@wolframstahl1263And the best part yet? Because of what the US's federal minimum wage is, someone working for that amount makes a single dollar in those eight minutes, before taxes.
I become a socialist/communist for 3-4 months and your channel helped me a lot! thank you for creating such videos.
btw I'm a teenager from a very unequal country (Iran) and honestly it's good to see so many teens interested in socialism and can think of a better world!
Question for you: Do you think in Iran, with the government structure there, would you be allowed to implement worker co-operatives in your towns, if the people decided to work together to do such a thing? Is that allowed and is is possible? Because if so, check out the One Small Town strategy. Just read the first page of the website or watch: "ONE SMALL Town Introduction Oct 2023" to get an overview of how it works. Do you think that could start in Iran?
To basically put it into consumer terms, yes an old car that needs to be hand cranked to start is far better than a horse drawn carriage but in an advanced society a hand cranked car doesn't meet the transportation demands of the masses. Capitalists understand the need for a new car to meet the need of society but only for increased profit. A socialist understands that yes, capitalism was an improvement to feudalism but also understand that capitalism needs replacing to better serve society for the benefit of society.
At the very least we need to adopt more socialistic practices. I saw in Florida (?) And now some other places There are government funded grocery stores. The people living there absolutely love them and they work great, but they all cope super hard by saying "but it's not socialism"
I would argue that capitalism was definitely not an improvement on feudalism
@@JoeBauers8... but if you were in the aristocracy it was an improvement upon the guillotine. Capitalism/meritocracy is really just feudalism with extra steps... and a paint job. 🙃
Call me Amish but I don't drive however would DIE to have a horse drawn carriage. That I would drive...or ride..or whatever you do on a carriage..steer? Slap horse ass?
Could I ask why? Is there anything you personally prefere in traditionalism over capitalism?@@JoeBauers8
The Pandemic should've opened a lot of people eyes to the horrors of Capitalism, at a time where Billionaires should've been getting less and working-class people should've been making more the opposite happened, Republicans were willing to throw elderly people under the bus to save the economy, & despite people constantly propping up the "Benefits" of Capitalism they'll never admit their lives haven't changed or have actually gotten worse under Capitalism.
So the 1% of greed is what makes the entire idea of capitalism bad? I've been to European countries that are socialist and they have strong limitations on wealth accumulation. Don't get me wrong the positives were really good but I just hate the limitations that those governments put on businesses for the "betterment of the people". These top companies can pay their employees more if they wanted to but they don't and yet people still go and work there. How is that Capitalisms fault?
@Kyrid Jesus this is so asinine, limitations are not bad. If we didn't have regulations our lives would be a million times worse.
@@jester3443regulations depends on who is being regulated. Also that doesn’t mean anything when the environment is still being destroyed by Capitalism. It’s literally the destruction of the climate. So called regulations haven’t made life better.
@@Kyridwhen the choice is between that and being homeless and starving would you really call that "choosing"
it actually has for the us but they just simply moved manufacturing else where so we wouldnt have a lot of pollution@@TheFxEditor
imagine hearing "better life for everyone" and disagreeing
Technically, it's "better life for nearly everyone", and some people are just filled with hope.
I mean that's great and all but who is paying? 😂
@@meeraj-4774 Socialism: a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. The collectivized means of production will.
@@TheNarrator6020 cool theory bro.. But not practical at all.
@@meeraj-4774 The current largest worker cooperative from what I can find is the Basque Mondragon Corporation. From the most recent statistics I found its networth is approximately 24.725 billion USD and employs about 82000 employees.
I’m 66, when I was 17 I lived for 5 years as a nomadic hippy, I lived in numerous communes and in communal settings. None of us had any money but we all had everything we needed, I can honestly say it was the happiest time of my life, I had nothing but was totally free
There are decades where nothing happens, and weeks where decades happen.
damn bro ur real af for leaving a platform for their stance on the genocide in Palestine, not too many ppl that criticize the system actually stand by their principles even if it won't be in their best monetary interest, thank you!
I’m kind of confused, is he saying that HIS stance on the genocide is 50/50? Cause that is fucked up fr
@@alex2147 I mean he said there are no civilians in Israel so it doesn't matter if thier is a attack on them.
@@alex2147No. Not at all. JT is on the correct side.
@@alex2147 No, I imagine Nebula asked him to make a statement 'condemning both sides' just as every other corporate and media shill has. JT just has solid principles and is also lucky enough (through his own work ofc) to be able to support himself without those sponsors.
Thank you for everything you do to bring these videos to the internet. I hope your new year is kind to you, and i hope one day we can be free from capitalist exploitation.
Bro, that's one of the best videos I've ever seen regarding socialism! Clear, straight to the point, effective. Someone who isn't a socialist is part of the problem. Period.
Thanks for your work here in UA-cam! I'm from Brazil and your videos helped me a lot to understand the politcal situation in the U.S. Unfortunaly, our country is also plagued by right-wing extremists (bolsonaristas) that copy the same strategies used by trumpism. By watching your videos I was able to understand that Brazil and the United States are in a much similar situation than I once imagined.
Many places are. The more you look the more common you realize it is.
South America has a lot of them. "Cartistas" here in Paraguay.
Brazil mentioned 🇧🇷🇧🇷
I follow your politics too, because your leaders are so much like the gop. I hope we can help both our countries become better for it's people 😊
We have similar stuff in Sweden, Sverige Demokraterna, a far right party with origins from white supremacist and neo-fascist groups currently have the second most seats in the Riksdag, they have been toning down their Nazism a bit, but they still hold strong to their anti-muslim views which have become more common and socially acceptable.
😢 Glad to hear you didn't compromise your ideals for money you always have my support bro
Thank you very much!
I work as a union theater stagehand.
One of the guys got mad and called me a socialist
I said, "duh, but we've literally seized the means of Theater production. Me AND you"
That got applause from my union brothers and sisters.
We can do this, folk
The poverty in the so called richest country on earth is absolutely staggering! What a cesspit of a country 💩
I wonder why is the poverty so high, maybe it has to with increase government spending, sometimes with no taxes to be able to fund the government spending.
Wow, no. The poverty rate is high in the US compared to other countries, but it’s a very flawed measurement. It’s calculated by taking the percentage of people making 60% of the average income. So, if you had a country with an average income of two dollars a day, and 10% of people made $1.40, you would theoretically have less poverty than the US. Plus the US “poverty” rate income is higher than a lot of European and OECD countries, including Hungary, Poland, Israel, Estonia and the Czech Republic. In fact, the income at the US “poverty” rate is 3X higher than the average income in Mexico
That’s so B.S.
@trainrhys bro literally just described capitalism and called it socialism💀💀💀
It’s a country that uses money to create products and technology that is NOT necessary to anyone, just because “they want to”.
America is a country that neglects basic needs, feeds on the working class’ money, and create things that the majority doesn’t want.
America isn’t democratic in the slightest. The government is manipulative, lies in elections, and puts lower people at a disadvantage where they can exploit their work and money.
Hmm… Sounds a lot like China if you ask me. America’s Capitalism isn’t more “free” or “democratic” than the shithole that is China’s communism.
Thinking homelessness, hunger and war are flaws of the system leads to a reformist persuasion.
Acknowledging that those are its inevitable outcomes leads to a revolutionary one.
The same homeless that use the money they get to buy drugs?
You, Hakim and Yugopinik have been my favorites creators this year
Let's try to be constructive when speaking to baby leftists and even non-leftists in the comments. This genuinely might be their first exposure to some of these ideas that counteract what they have been taught to think.
I was just in a chain I think the OP might have deleted after I explained why their position was wrong. If you are patient and not overly aggressive, you have a much greater chance of changing their mind - or at least planting the seed to eventually change their mind.
What’s the best way to address comments that say they’re from a socialist country and say it doesn’t work? I find that retort the most difficult to answer.
Today, the existing communist states in the world are in China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and North Korea (DPRK). These communist states often do not claim to have achieved socialism or communism in their countries but to be building and working toward the establishment of socialism in their countries.
Is the people in this country are really happy and free? No, this only benefits the government but not the people itself.
Decided to become a union rep in part due to the deprogram, first, and second thought the last couple of years opening my eyes to concepts i had previously never given serious consideration.
Unions are often weak though. I work for a gm supplier thats also UAW and it's a joke.
We, the Russian workers, need to look up to American workers who form unions and fight for their rights. Good luck ✊🤝
Thanks! You are absolutely brilliant and still very relatable.
Excellent video as always. Your firm stance on Palestine will be remembered. Thank you for your work.
Is it elaborated somewhere? Cause this was vague and I'd like his thoughts
@@aaron101889 On the issue of Palestine? this video of his on the first thought channel dives into the issue: ua-cam.com/video/mE5o4TUZtxk/v-deo.html The deprogram (a podcast JT is making with his comrades) has a subreddit where the issue is discussed extensively. It's not an official source but still it translates their view pretty well I believe.
Seeing what Elon Musk is doing and how people think, "I won't be around when the world goes down." What about your descendents? People don't care or have given up searching for better alternatives. We need a change!
You were one of the influential people about my political transformation JT. I hope you can reach out more people out there . Have a nice productive year ahead wish you the best.
@ligdjumvidja8294 JT and the boys are great. For me, further information can be found in BadEmpanada's analyses and GDF.
ua-cam.com/video/KzHA3KLL7Ho/v-deo.htmlsi=Fqq3XjuY7u-0F7VM
Lovely production and script on this one.
I watched last years video and this one is even better.
Thanks JT I hope you have a good 2024 and continute to reach new people.
Thanks so much! I appreciate your support
As a socialist of forty five years I still find this question an interesting and viable one. Good work.
Excellent content
I hope he shares your 2 $ with the hole community.
This is just my situation here. I've been trying to jump into IT because I've kind of gotten bored of being a Security Guard. Currently at 22/hr. IT helpdesk positions often start at 15/hr in CA. Meanwhile, apartments are sky rocketing in price and I just can't take that kind of hit. I understand costs go up year over year, but this really does feel like "If you are poor, fuck you. We'll find someone who will easily handle the $2k/month rent price."
Hell, I have a friend who owns multiple homes. She jacked up the rent over 1k each month because of "market value." The underlying theme to these little stories is that while, yes, someone is providing something of value, it's getting to the extremes now. Where if you aren't it a senior position in whatever field you are working in, grabbing a place to live on your own will be out of reach.
Meanwhile, those already own are just jacking up prices tremendously "because they can."
The thing about the “Capitalism has only been around for a few hundred years” point is that feudalism before it was around far, far longer; meaning, if one follows the model put forward by that comparison and assumes they’ll follow a similar lifespan, we still have a while yet before capitalism finally dies.
Edit: Woah guys, I’m not saying this in support of capitalism, I hate it too.
There is no reason to believe that just because the pace of life and of social/economic change was much slower thousands of years ago then the pace of change will be just as slow today. Today, things evolve at a much, much faster pace. Besides, we have many existential crises breathing down our necks that threaten to destroy life as we know it and that will force us to change and adapt, or else perish as a species.
It's not necessarily linear, as other variables (for example technology and international awareness) have increased at exponential rates
Society has exponentially progressed with technology. We are no longer using the Guttenberg press or horse-drawn carriages, why should we limit ourselves to a political philosophy born from that era?
XKCD Extrapolation
Social change is dependent on high levels of communication among people, advanced communication technology wasn't present in the past which plays a major role in social change and revolutions but now that advanced communication technology is present its far easier to bring changes (Just look at the internet). Supose we'll take the same amount of time we took to move on from feudal society, we will be crips on a burning planet by then.
3:12 The fact that the 10 richest people would still be in the 1% even if they lost 99.999% of their wealth is just mindblowing. Put another way, this means that these few are roughly 100,000 times more wealthy than the least wealthy of the 1%.
My question is if the government didn't print money would there be any left for the rest of us at all!?!?!? I'm 53 and remember the first billionaire..now they are everywhere..its insane. Although its only a thousand millions..its a lot but at least I can fathom it unlike say the width of the Milky Way.
@@iPlayOnSpica Ah yes, I understand. I believe what strikes me as so absolutely mindblowing about that 100,000x wealth factor is the fact that the wealth disparity in terms of absolute numbers is by far the greatest _within_ the top 1%.
It has sometimes been said that the real problem are the 0.1%, which is an attempt to underscore that very point. As an average person, it is all too easy to think of the 1% as one monolithic block of "rich people" even though the 1% includes e.g. successful sportspeople and entertainers whose net worth is in the single-digit millions, as well as those very few at the very top of the capitalist foodchain whose wealth is as incomprehensible as saying that someone on this planet owns _2 million dollars ... a hundred thousand times over._
Supposedly the incentive for having wealth is that average, less talented people get to benefit from the genius of the wealthy. For example, the computer people are very wealthy, however, average people who could not possibly invent or maintain advanced technology all benefit from its genius.
@@francisdashwood1760 There is no net benefit, to the contrary. We're witnessing a never-before-seen redistribution of wealth from the population to the capitalist class, facilitated by computers. In return, we "get" to use FB, X and TikTok. Great "benefit" lmao
”If these ten men were to lose 99.999 percent of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be richer than 99 percent of all the people on this planet”
That is soo fucked, how can we allow this?!
Because he is lying to you. Just because suddenly everyone in the world have 150k on their bank account it won't mean they won't be poor again in a few years if they lead a bad life.
@@mariano98ify your reply literally has NOTHING to do with the original statement op was commenting about
@@mariano98ify how did you completely miss the point there lol he's simply stating they are SO rich they could lose almost all of it and still be richer than you or me
@@roman3mp1r39 yes, and my point is: source? If not the same their stock value vs real value to provide the needs of the population.
@@mariano98ifyah, the good old "poor don't deserve any help because they lead a bad life". Not only is that bs, it has nothing to do with what they said
i’m sorry to hear that you felt the need to leave the Nebula platform. As someone who values independent creators and isn’t a fan of feeding money, hungry morally ambiguous, mega corpse I enjoyed supporting you and others with my Nebula membership.
good luck with your future endeavors!
My path towards socialism began by asking myself “why are people so scared of communism when it shares a root word with ‘community’?” That, and me generally just being curious as to why after doing a lot of research on the far right and the nazis given how bad it’s getting right now, and thanks to that I’ve learned a lot. One thing I’ve learned is that capitalism really likes defining an enemy for its own self and financial interest and never the well being of actual people, even if it self sabotages in the long run.
Why do you think capitalism has destroyed our communities? The concept shares too much in common.
True socialism is patriotic and national, Karl Marx was a subversive judeo globalist , AH was the one who figured it out.
That's not capitalism but more like populism. Politics made to discredit a political group.
Im not gonna say socialism is iredeemable but... there is a reason people are scared of communism. Read Stalin and the many atrocities the USSR has committed. The secret police, oppression of political disidents. My parents (Romania) lived in that paranoia. Where you would always be scared someone will hear you criticise the government and rat you out and you become a political prisoner.
You might say USSR was an experiment and it had some failures like i hear people say... But to families whose life was ruined by this experiment it sounds awfully dismissive and idealistic. The even worse take I hear some people say is that political repression is required to maintain the socialist system against capitalist forces.... If repression is required, I'd rather live in capitalism. And there are many people who feel like that. I've got a feeling in the ideal socialist state noone could make videos about how crooked the system is and to try capitalism but the reverse happens commonly as we can see right here.
Aspiring socialist should listen to the testimonies of all manners of intellectuals who were jailed for thinking the wrong things and how anti-intellectualism was pushed to an extreme degree. The worker was above the intellectual, university education was seen with disdain. I watch these kinds of videos sometimes for fun cause some points being made are good but this blindspot is so huge i can't assume anything else but bad faith and ignoring the blindspot to make your position look better
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sighet_Prison
I've visited this prison and it was horrifying. I recommend it to any aspiring socialist. Not to give up the idea entirely but to better understand what the dangers are
@@doomsdayrabbit4398 Because it demonstrateably has.
I would love to see a video about the history of the transition from feudalism to capitalism. Plus a breakdown of key aspects from our history that can teach us how to transition from capitalism to socialism.
It was an incredibly complicated event that happened over the course of hundreds of years, I think it'd be hard for JT to fit it into a second thought style video but would still be cool
Unionize!
When the workers take control of the companies... When the workers control the means of production, then you can change the system.
As for history, look at unions in the 20-60's.... Or a quick search of the beginning of the IWW
The auto workers unions of today are currently making some pushes for change in the way they are governed as well as larger political pushes.
It took me until after the election and doing some research into how democracy in the US functions in practice, but I managed to get radicalized before year's end, in part thanks to your channel. I'm now a card-carrying member of the DSA and plan to get involved with my local chapter as soon as I'm back from out-of-state. Thank you for what you do.
God, inlove second thought's work.
It's like you have harvested the thoughts that sit just under the surface of my consciousness, expressing ideas i intuitvly know but am unable to articulate fully.
Which is exactly why your videos are perfect to share with friends and family.
Your videos about socialism are really some of the most accessible for laypeople. When I want to try to help out someone who doesn't know much about the ideas, your videos are some of the most helpful and easy for newbies to understand. I really appreciate you.
Equality is always cool (or should be).
Not for the people at the top (and for lobbyied/bribed politicians)
equality of possibility is cool, not of outcome. when you have the same chances it is good for a society but when you take from the successful that worked hard and use it to fund the lazy people you are destroying your country.
@@andreyhenriquethomas9554 Bribed politicians and the ultrarich are never cool.
@@testmuster-gw4mq
That is not socialism, however.
Also equality of opportunity, as of now, is at best a myth.
@@testmuster-gw4mq Not every poor person is lazy. That’s a very ignorant statement. But also not every rich person worked for their wealth. Socialism isn’t trying to make the rich poor but is trying to make the poor “rich”. Socialist just want the poor to live comfortable, humane lives. Yes there will be some lazy people who choose to not work but they can also be shamed & peer pressured to do so.
Great video! SOCIALISM IS THE FUTURE!
@philmanvel8136
¡Hasta la victoria, siempre!
Waiting for the "socialism is when bad" comments lol
@@Feefa99how about “please actually visit china once, double dog dare”
What is a tankie?
socialism is when [things that are currently happening due to capitalism]
@@Zaaggastkich single-party communist supporter. Think Stalin or Lenin.
Essentially its authoritarian communism.
So what would multi-party socialism look like? Because under capitalism power and wealth accumulates with very few people, interests aligning and able to influence politics disproportionately. So kinda one party too.
But socialists agree on what to do for people pretty generally too. (I’m talking about policy, not about how to bring about socialism) so what different parties would come about? Like a vegan socialist party, Christian socialist party, etc etc?
Thank you, JT, for being by far nicer & more patient than I am in explaining the basics of socialism. I simply don't have it in me to explain over & over to whiny, petulant man-children that licking boots is the past -- that a united workers' front is the future
I’ll explain all day for ya, have to spread the message somehow 🫡
Will ability to lick boots become a less important part of the personal skillset?
@@johnburns8660
That is one of the most central goals. Since then there will be no more (corporatist) boots to lick.
Unless you are into that. I do not judge. More power to you.
@@johnburns8660Well dictatorships in a leftist society are a bug in rightist(?) societies they're a feature so hopefully you won't need it at all worst case scenario... let's remember that the we're at the fifth French republic.
@@johnburns8660I mean, only if you're not into it. We don't kink-shame here.
Thank you for not compromising your principals and morals, you just got a new sub 🇵🇸 ❤
This guy literally has a channel on a platform owned by google lol
@@victoriancu4409If you have a good alternative to youtube I'd love to hear it.
There are a multitude of flaws with almost every argument presented in this video. Basically every point made is emotional appeal or half truths. Leaving out key information. I’ll give you one such example.
Let’s start with Covid around the 2:10 mark and the reasoning behind why the ultra rich were able to increase their wealth at such a high rate.
Pretty simple, governments forced small businesses to close while allowing large corporations to operate. Had businesses been allowed to operate as normal you wouldn’t have seen such a large increase at the expense of everybody else who either had to stop their operations or were fired or laid off.
Seeing so many pro-socialism comment makes me more hopeful that humanity isn't done for just yet and there may be a future.
There will always be hope thankfully. Problem is that there is more... NOT HOPE lolz. Hope humanity fixes this depressing problem one day!
True socialism is patriotic and national, Karl Marx was a subversive judeo globalist , AH was the one who figured it out.
Thank you for this video and for being the definition of a class act in the way you handled the Nebula issue, and in the way you speak about it. I'm becoming a Patreon backer as soon as I figure out how. Wishing you all the best in the new year!
do you have background information on this issue with Nebula? I'm not sure what it's about.
_The oppressor would not be so strong if he didn't have accomplices among the oppressed_
- Simone de Beauvoir
And after leaving you with the GOAT quote: Happy New Year!
Yes, there are millions of Andrew tate following morons, who like to work for poverty wages, because Andrew told them that’s the thing to do hahahaha
Thanks!
Knowing that capitalism replaced feudalism makes me actually hopeful that socialism is the next step in our economic evolution as a replacement for capitalism. Thank you for keeping us hopeful
Hopeful and fascinating reading into the anti-monarchist revolutions, mainly around the 19th century. Even though it's not a socialist video i recommend Epic history TV's video on the 1848 revolutions, or just looking into the 1848 revolutions in general because there's quite a lot of parallels you can draw from that time to now, plus it'll give you some context for what was going on at the time if you're into reading marx himself.
I believe so, too. But I would go a step further to imagine the next, next economic evolution. I think that can help us be even MORE prepared for a more socialist future. What comes after socialism? Moneyless Society. There is a great book I highly recommend by Matthew Holten. I believe you can even get it for free if you sign up with Moneyless Society as a PDF copy. Not expensive as a paperback book either.
The book, like the podcast they have, explains the transition from a monetary-capitalist driven economy we have now, to a more socialist empowered one, with lots of worker co-ops and unions and such, towards using automation, community contribution and collaboration to create such abundance and prosperity that we eventually won't even need money to survive and thrive. That is aided with the current town strategy called One Small Town from Michael Tellinger and his team.
Communism is already here. The bolsheviks will lie and feed you cow blood soup.
@@coolioso808you truly have mental health problems
can you tell how many socialists countries became capitalists and why?
Hopefully as time goes on more people will become socialist
Im not
@@S__C__B__edits you're the typical capitalist. only thinking of himself rather than future generations.
I'm a socialist!!!!!
I believe in equality not modern slavery!!!!
@@jonatand2045 socialism is only for cooperations??
@@jonatand2045Why would it suddenly get smaller ? At worst it would be growing slower (and that's not even sure).
Good video. However, I think you could've included another big reason to become a socialist in 2024; The AI automation of jobs. In the next couple years, there's a good chance we'll see unemployment numbers begin to climb, and never come back down, thanks to many companies replacing office workers with AI. It's already happening in some places.
Yeah, in Socialism the profit from AI technology would go to the people whose jobs were removed, but in capitalism it goes to the people who collect wealth, leaving a bunch of unemployment
AI could force capitalism to end. Too much poor people would cause a collapse in the economy, and brutal events.
Just did a super thanks. Love your channel. Watching for about 2 years now, I went back to some of your older stuff and it was interesting but this is interesting and important. Your content has provided clarity to my views and aided in the evolution of my beliefs. I am spreading the word Keep up the excellent work.
We're speed-hurdling towards fascism because of capitalism's endless growth demands. But this video makes me feel....dare I say it.....hopeful???
Nice. 😊
We already have fascism with Joe Biden. Here we have a feeble minded and weak leader who promotes corruption, election interference is being normalized, free speech that seems more limited, wanting to shut down the fossil fuel industry, (which will only crush the economy and make citizens more dependant on Government?) Skyrocketing inflation and taxes to keep citizens poor, and a one-sided justice system.
In the end there needs to be a choice other than Do you want to be poor because an inner circle of unionized workers (of which you can't join) tell you that you will be poor for the benefit of a society while that same inner circle become the Capitalists hiding behind the Socialist label or Do you want to be poor because the Government you pay taxes to tells the society (You will be poor and like it). At least with Capitalism, you might be poor but you have the ability to create something for yourself. Socialism and Communism are for lazy sacks of shit.
How are we going towards fascism?
every fascism regime is a capitalist one too
HAUSUHUHASHUUHAUHS and you supported Hamas, don't you think that's contradictory?
Didn't you know that Palestine was created by a literal N4zl?
amin al-husseini literally participated in N4zl propaganda.
you are not anti-facists, much less anti-capitalists. You are, literally, the worst kind of capitalism: state monopoly.
Idk how you came to that conclusion but I think more towards Feudalism than Fascism.
Realizing people couldn’t afford a ~$3000 tuition at my in state college. I grew up in private school and wealthy public schools so when I went to college it surprised how many had student loans even for at relatively cheap price. Like people couldn’t afford to set aside $600 per month for a chance at class mobility made me realize peeps aren’t lazy or overspending it was crap pay not to mention the language of marketing yourself I encountered made me feel less than human
This video wins my heart. I hate capitalism, we need balance between socialism and capitalism. We need heavy regulations on profit making companies.
Social market economy/ Social democracy is like putting a band aid on a flesh wound.
Social democracy may improve our western lives but always at the expense of the third world. That is how modern capitalist imperialism works
Hi - I've been following you for about a year, I think. You've really started me thinking. But I'm still lost on what very specific changes socialism would make to our lives. So if you were looking for ideas for 2024, maybe a series that shows different business models, from a mega-corporation to a mom-and-pop pizza shop with a couple employees, and how they would function under socialism. And what about the stock market, where a good many people grow their wealth? (such as it is, in this day and age.) Would there even be a stock market? How would banks work? And what is the balance between private enterprise and government oversight? At what point does property have to become public? Like that aforementioned pizza place - if ma and pa spent 20 years making pizza and earning money to buy their equipment and storefront, do they not deserve to make a profit from the labor of the workers they hire (assuming they can pay a decent wage). What if they are slowing down and need the help, but still need the income to survive? Or does the hiring of workers necessitate that all the means of the pizza production now becomes the democratic property of the people who work at the business? Could they just vote ma and pa out at that point? Or make decisions that are detrimental to the company because there are more employees than there are owners? I think many of your videos assume that everyone is going to make smart, moral decisions, but there are a lot of stupid and greedy/lazy people. It's easy to look at the large mega-corporation and billionaires as evil, but I'd like to see how smaller businesses of many different types would fare under the rules of socialism. Thanks and Happy New Year!
these are great questions but i think theyre mostly a little specific and this video was more geared toward tackling the big general problems. I think that as most change doesn't happen very quickly, it is more important that we're behind the big ideas and try to tackle the largest issues first, though I'm sure some economist has answers for your questions, that would not be me.
Thank you JT and everyone for all your hard work and dedication ✌️❤️✊
I've been a socialist since I learned what it was.
True socialism is patriotic and national, Karl Marx was a subversive judeo globalist , AH was the one who figured it out.
I've been an anti-socialist since I learned what it was.
@@WolfHeathen I've been anti-capitalist since I learned what the capitalist mode of production was, and to what extent socialist and socialdemocratic measures were way more effective than the current free market dystopia.
Your All Fools! Neofeudalism is clearly better than Both!
@user-jp2hn3ge1x understandable, but please do, name 5 times Socialism failed.
Every system has its own issues socialism might solve some problems but it’ll just create others. Socialism would just give the government more power.
Even before I knew it had that definition, I believe I was a socialist. I have long believed everyone should have a home, food, healthcare, and education, as a simple baseline
What is crazy is that the corporate mainstream media has done so much propaganda for so long to the people that it should be COMMON PLACE for the majority of people to believe in basic human rights, like everybody should have a home, food, healthcare and education. That's not a radical idea. That's a sane idea. But capitalism has commodified homes, food, healthcare, education and more. So we get Conservative politicians (often the worst on this issue) who might even *say* they believe in those human rights, but they really are just promoting privatization for capitalists to generate more profit off exploiting people and resources, while causing austerity so that even healthcare or education suffer more. It is madness.
We need to stop feeding the madness and start building a better system. Way easier said than done. But I believe with the right community-based strategy we can do it.
My suggestion is to check out the One Small Town Contributionism initiative and see if it can work for your country and towns. Free and voluntary, as always, but take a good look as see what you think. Any questions? Any other suggestions?
That’s not a socialist. That’s social democrat. Socialism is the full demolition of private property and that everything is publicly owned
That doesn’t make you a socialist
Why would you admit that you’re a leech?
and who pays for that? you gotta earn it induvidually!
Thanks for spreading the reasonable Word! From Poland 🇵🇱
I completely understand the Best buy analysis.
Back from 2005-2010, I worked at a Gamestop... after a year, we started hiring some of our customers who wanted to work there, and we became a top 300 store out of 5000 locations. Got awards for customer service for 4 straight years.
Then corporate and middle management tried to fuck with things, replaced our Store Manager who was out for two months after surgery with some complete idiot who never plays games and had no idea what he was talking about...
I got fired for cussing dude out when he made an off-duty employee stand outside while we counted money after a midnight launch.
And they lost the rest of an awesome 4-year crew that made them insane bank.
Now the stupid ass company is half useless trinkets, funcopops and "geek shirts."
Fuck corporate.
Good video. Sadly, things will have to get worse before more people 'get' what you are saying. Starting this year, the pain to the people will accelerate. Get ready, because things are about to get real exciting in another 2 weeks.
I'm a democratic socialist; just for perspective.
"In capitalism, you have an opportunity to become wealthy. Socialism requires you to give your money to others who may not deserve it."
CAPITOLISM requires ME to give money to people who don't deserve it! Every billionaire was born into wealth. They didn't earn it, they don't deserve it. What they do is sit on their asses while workers make THEM more money than they'd be able to spend in 3 lifetimes! Wake up! No one, I repeat, NO ONE needs that much money and yet they keep the wages in their companies at poverty levels just so they can horde wealth.
We can make a better world! A better future is posible, if we get rid of capitalism and super individualisim
Excellent. Perfect explanations on all points and clearly presented and talked about. I will be watching this YT channel much more often.
This is utopian thinking. Socialism is just poverty.
@@owenkeller2748I really wonder: what makes you think that?
I really appreciate your source referencing, which allows me to take a deeper dive into the underlying data.
It's so weird that they tried to make you both sides the Israel/Palestine conflict, it just goes to show being fully independent is usually the most free choice
As a Nebula payer, I'd be interested to hear more about that too. This kind of issue is what I expect at large corporations concerned about their marketable image, not from a cooperative. Even if there is "no bad blood" (phew?), it's sad as cooperatives are exactly the kind of workplaces this channel promotes...
Or I'm just worried about Nebula, our best shot at challenging the current UA-cam model.
On October 7th Second Thought sent out a tweet calling for support of Hamas' attack, saying there would be biased coverage of their ""atrocities"" by mainstream news and that this was what liberation struggle looked like.
If this video doesn't convince my dad to stop voting conservative nothing will. Thank you so much. Your channel has been an amazing source of hope for me through these last years. I appreciate you and the tireless, important work you do.
@@jonatand2045Capitalism necessarily produces great wealth and products (no matter how useful those products actually are) to a select few, leaving out a majority to drive. It’s not much to ask for a fairer cut of the pie when plenty struggle in life.
you are a furry bro
@@jonatand2045 I don't know what phone do you have, but I do know, that your phone was made in a factory by workers. And workers would still be able to make that phone if they suddenly began living in socialism. I think they would even improve design of that phone, so it would be more repair-friendly and overall better.
@@jonatand2045 Idk, I think it would be better, if we have a system with stable economy and which places people over profits, than system that would crush my bones for additional 5 cents of profit, and which economy goes into crisis every 5-10 years
Agreed but why are you using an Ai generated drawing as a pfp? :( please just commission someone, you're contributing to workers having less work and having to lower their already low wages, artists in this case
Look this has all been said before and the main issue with socialism is the execution. The only few countries you can say these ideas even somewhat work in are the Scandinavian countries and Sweden and that is for a very simple reason: the population was homogenous. Currently they aren’t with a lot of Arabs moving in however in the rise of their social Democratic state everybody wanted the same things. There has not been one country in history where socialism worked on a big scale due to this issue of having the population have their own personal interest in mind that goes against the personal interests of other inhabitants.
I grew up in China and was taught all the ills of capitalism. Having lived in US for the latter part of my life allows me to see it for real. Its really sad actually, because there's no peaceful way possible to transition from capitalism to socialism. The powerful will never give up their power and the bottom 90% will continue to suffer to the point where the only thing they can lose are the shackles around their ankles. I sincerely hope that i don't live long enough to see that day.
Um. China is capitalist
South Africa is a country where people pay for their healthcare, housing, education and taxes.
Many here go to churches or other organisations that they give their little money to get false advice on supposedly how to climb the corporate ladder like its as easy as cooking food.
This capitalism is good rhetoric has gotten boring for me as a South African.
As a South African I can agree with you
Keep up the good work, sir.
I'm an artist with some physical disabilities. My wife and I live in our van and live on "in kind" work agreements with friends. Your channel gives me hope for the future. Thank you.🙏
Capitalism does work... for capitalists
Bedankt
Lmao this dropped literaly as I started reading marx for the first time. Nice
Ayyy good luck! He can be a little dry compared to someone like Lenin
@@SecondThought its my first time reading actual theory. Ive been anti capitalist for a long while, and I finally decided to learn about the alternative.
I don’t even know if I am going in the right direction, but Im currently reading the Communist Manifesto. Its a little hard to digest but ill push on 🫡
Make sure you broaden your scope to include Bakunin, Luxemburg, Guevara and Marcos.
@@SecondThoughtA little dry he says 😂
@@CraigKeidel I dont even know half those names lmao. I have a LOT of research ahead of me. Kinda tough to find time tho, Im in my final year of school.
Thank you for this videos bro, I am Brazilian and here the socialists are working to rebuild the communist brazilian movement and to improve the organization of the working class. Your videos are motivating me to go forward and help on this rebuilding. Thank you very much for your great work. I'm very glad to see that even in the centrality of global capitalism there is people working to emancipate the working class. We are going to win this battle! Thank you very much for the inspiration
Thanks to JT I've been on the wave since 2022 ✊️
Love to hear it ✊
Excellent video.Greetings from Brazil 🇧🇷
Wow! This is what our country needs to hear and understand. Hope your supporters will contribute what they can!
Second thought is so much better than me at communicating these concepts than I am
I'm glad the ideas of socialism are at least becoming more popular among the people I know. Every now and then I'm surprised when someone I know just blatantly agrees with me when I say I hate capitalism. I've got co-workers that hate capitalism. We have a chance to give us a better world, we just need to keep putting in the work.
Socialism is poverty
Socialism is poverty and it’s fueled by hatred. Why are you full of hate?
As always, fantastic work tovarisch.
Our boy Jecond Thought bringin the bangers nonstop.
@Mindless0wnage Tovarisch, we need to push the envelope further. We need to keep promoting the true message of socialism, on every platform possible, much like comrade Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov advised us.
All the problem you addressed are not impossible in Capitalism and Socialism is not a solution.
I fled from my socialist home country Syria to the Capitalist Germany to get universal healthcare, at the beginning state support and a chance to finish high school and enter a German high class university.
All the problems you addressed, are possible to improve and to integrate into a capitalist society.
"I fled from my socialist home country Syria"
Syria is not socialist. It is a bourgeois capitalist state.
@@handsfortoothpicks indeed it is Socialist ruled by the Arab Socialist Al-Ba’ath
@@bsharahdaoud5285 So? Arab "socialism" isn't socialism. It is just social democracy.
@@handsfortoothpicksSo what do you think is the 'real' socialist country?
@@emptyvoid5272 "So what do you think is the 'real' socialist country?"
No such thing. The socialist revolution will encompass the globe, which ofc is beyond borders. Borders and nationalities will not exist under communism