From Robber Barons to Bezos: Is History Repeating Itself? | Robert Reich

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  • Опубліковано 9 вер 2024

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  • @ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958
    @ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958 11 місяців тому +2369

    I'm 65 and entered the workforce when wages and productivity went separate ways in the mid 70's. In 1976 homelessness was almost unheard of in America. High school graduates earned enough money to buy a car and rent an apartment on minimum wage from one person. Normal people took an annual vacation and expected to retire at my age. This is not My America, it is a hostile occupation.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому

      Democrat programs are at an all time high the rich pay almost all the federal taxes isn't this what democrats want

    • @sterlingmarshel6299
      @sterlingmarshel6299 11 місяців тому +310

      The closing of mental health facilities across the country, spearheaded by Ronald Reagan. Trickle-down economics that was and is a failed policy by Reagan and Republicans continues today. High inflation in the late 70's and early 80's started us down a path we have today of low wages, that we have never recovered from and was paramount to the start of a growing homeless class
      Regulations by cities to build single-family housing - not everyone needs a 2500 sq foot home. Building freeways through low-income neighborhoods so higher-paid people can drive from the suburbs to their jobs. That eventually turned into a drive-till-you-afford-it mentality that put a strain on workers who drove hours and spent less time with their families and leisure time. There are so many variables for have worked against the regular everyday worker it is too much to cover in a small space of time

    • @randerodr7389
      @randerodr7389 11 місяців тому

      You are correct on all counts and very informed. Great comment.@@sterlingmarshel6299

    • @georgestorey8945
      @georgestorey8945 11 місяців тому +87

      I've said that for years it's timing in life that can make or break you. I worked two jobs from the late 80s until being laid off in 2018 two days before Christmas after 31 years with the same company. Found a job making more money but health issues told me it was time to slow down so I retired. Being a heavy equipment operator is tough on a body lol no regrets there but it is time.

    • @peterjones6640
      @peterjones6640 11 місяців тому +113

      I am 69 and echo your experience in the U.K. It is not just the USA who has experienced these changes.

  • @robertboudreau7955
    @robertboudreau7955 11 місяців тому +1420

    2 words. Citizens United. As long as it is legal for the rich to buy influence, there will be nothing but a gilded age.

    • @OMMXxPeNnY
      @OMMXxPeNnY 11 місяців тому

      Totally agree with you until we take care of that citizens United The corporations will own us Same with our corporate media we need to do something about I think that's more important for the democrats or whoever gets in should be the first thing they do For voting rights or anything else We need demand this out of the democrats if they get in power

    • @erock736
      @erock736 11 місяців тому +53

      More like corporations and government United.

    • @mikjb
      @mikjb 11 місяців тому +10

      Amen

    • @bz3105
      @bz3105 11 місяців тому +34

      BINGO. That's the issue right there. Period, end of story.

    • @Buttaman2218
      @Buttaman2218 11 місяців тому +31

      Also need term limits.

  • @calliecooke1817
    @calliecooke1817 10 місяців тому +80

    "All wealth is the result of someone's labor.", Adam Smith ---- This is what we forget. Billionaires didn't make America, America makes billionaires.

    • @garysmokesmeat
      @garysmokesmeat 8 місяців тому

      Which is why taxation is theft. If I earn money with my labor, no one has the right to take it, not even the IRS.

  • @jackcarraway4707
    @jackcarraway4707 10 місяців тому +90

    What I find even more frustrating is that when a CEO gives him/herself a raise, it"s seen as a "job well done", whereas workers wanting a raise are "ungrateful" and are apparently going to cause Weimar Republic levels of inflation.

    • @chris-vl8ps
      @chris-vl8ps 10 місяців тому +5

      Don't forget about the smooth brained politicians who give themselves raises!!

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      When was the last time the senste or congress or president got a raise stop spreading misinformation

    • @jackcarraway4707
      @jackcarraway4707 10 місяців тому

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031 Like how Nancy Pelosi got busted for insider trading and is multimillionaire...yet nothing happened.

    • @mysterioanonymous3206
      @mysterioanonymous3206 10 місяців тому

      American economy is consumption driven so people need money in their pockets to keep this going, simple as that.
      Inflation is a consequence of how money is being created anyways, NOT by how much people earn.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      You cannot give a lot of money to unskilled low producing workers that creates a situation where you have a lot of consumption because of lots of money passed out but low production from low skilled workers meaning you run out of things to buy leaving you with nothing but paper money and empty shelves

  • @Jkend199
    @Jkend199 11 місяців тому +116

    I'm 41, my dad is 67, when he started working he was miking $2/hr. but his first car was $2,000, 20 years later when I started working my first job paid $7.00/hr. but my first car was $20,000. wages went up 3.5x, but prices went up 10x, in effect my wages were worth half as much as his. This has been true my entire working life, wages go up, but prices go up MUCH faster. We make more money, but our money buys less, and who pockets the difference, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, they aren't the saviors of our society dudes, they are the cause of its problems....

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      Elon musk works seven days a week employees thousands of people averaging over a hundred thousand dollars a year makeing products that help curb global warming and paid 12 billion dollars in taxes last year and what did the government do with his money paid Harvard university seven hundred thousand dollars to blow lizards off trees with leaf blowers mabey musk should get a tax cut so he can create more environmentally friendly products and employee more people or should lizard blowing government get more of his money

    • @karlabritfeld7104
      @karlabritfeld7104 10 місяців тому +5

      That's exactly what has happened

    • @verigumetin4291
      @verigumetin4291 10 місяців тому

      You tool. They play by the rules the government sets. Keep thinking they are the real problem, and nothing will ever change.

    • @GeneralChangFromDanang
      @GeneralChangFromDanang 10 місяців тому +1

      Wait, you bought a $20k car when you were making $7 an hour?

    • @garysmokesmeat
      @garysmokesmeat 8 місяців тому

      The value of your currency has plummeted because big government prints money to buy votes, causing inflation.

  • @peterkuchenbrod5696
    @peterkuchenbrod5696 11 місяців тому +202

    As a huge Mark Twain fan, I recall coming across this term years ago and thinking, “this is no different from now.” People just need to recognize it. Thanks for this excellent video…it should go viral.

  • @dennisw64
    @dennisw64 11 місяців тому +724

    "Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it." - Winston Churchill

    • @humboldthammer
      @humboldthammer 11 місяців тому

      If you prefer, think of these times as Man's Pre Star Trek moment -- complete with our own Q. Mankind either ends war now, thus paving the way for a marvelous, worldwide civilization OR men and women are forever forbidden from the stars -- perhaps even our souls, bound to Earth, with the beasts.
      Q, just as Q-wizical as ever, says, "I don't believe men have souls. If they do, it's barely discernible. This time, Jean-Luc, it's not up to you and your crew to save the day. It's up to them -- souls or not!"

    • @karlabritfeld7104
      @karlabritfeld7104 11 місяців тому +11

      Yup, it's happening in America

    • @Spock_Rogers
      @Spock_Rogers 11 місяців тому +7

      Whydja wanna reed a book fur?

    • @briankh2007
      @briankh2007 11 місяців тому +7

      And Churchill's quote predicted this would happen again.

    • @ejt3708
      @ejt3708 11 місяців тому +29

      I think Churchil was quoting George Santayana.

  • @Don-tj6pb
    @Don-tj6pb 11 місяців тому +414

    How can we as a country be so short sighted! This is history repeating itself right before ourveyes!

    • @anncata7368
      @anncata7368 11 місяців тому +7

      Which political affiliates keep the wealthy around to finance their coffers?

    • @halfulford3081
      @halfulford3081 11 місяців тому

      By brainwashing the poor and uneducated people to vote against their best interest.

    • @marilynclarke6092
      @marilynclarke6092 11 місяців тому +11

      @Don-tjpb, I agree, especially in America, America doesn't seem to ever learn from its previous mistakes, so yes! It's history repeating itself over and over again. It's so saddening to witness it as well.

    • @joycecurrier1914
      @joycecurrier1914 11 місяців тому +12

      I'm sure it will get worse with the way education is going, especially with history.

    • @Coalminer69er
      @Coalminer69er 11 місяців тому +6

      Yes and we had a pandemic in the 1910s ,the roaring 20s, then we had the Great Depression in the 1930s .SOB I think we’re in for hard times soon .

  • @WalterT-jq3eb
    @WalterT-jq3eb 11 місяців тому +57

    Thanks for bringing out what is really happening in America and what to do about it. It's about time for people to wake up and put a stop to greed in America. We need to tax the mega rich.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      The top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and it's you who don't pay enough taxes here is the proof if you draw 1500 a month in ss till your eighty that's over two hundred thousand dollars and you did not pay that much in ss taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return we have a debt so big it defies imagination because of democrat handouts vote out handout democrats before it's to late our childrens future depend on it

  • @reggiep6471
    @reggiep6471 10 місяців тому +33

    Corruption and inequality seem to be a common theme for this country throughout its existence.

  • @ADavid42
    @ADavid42 11 місяців тому +724

    Robert Reich is a national treasure and must be protected at all cost.

    • @garycombs5721
      @garycombs5721 11 місяців тому

      Friedman>>>>>>>Reich

    • @gbaker9295
      @gbaker9295 11 місяців тому +2

      Is that a threat?

    • @kodyhenry7
      @kodyhenry7 11 місяців тому

      ​@@gbaker9295 😂 loser. Does it sound like a threat? Slow down keyboard warrior. These are stupid comments. If you want to protect somebody then do something instead of type, protect this man.... If somebody wanted to search the best people to get rid of all they would have to do is search the UA-cam comments for these dumb phrases. If you want to protect the people pulling the curtain back, go stand up for your rights. He is one man sticking his neck out on the line, the only thing that can protect him is if he creates 10 more people willing to do the same thing and actually live it.

    • @Luked0g440
      @Luked0g440 11 місяців тому +10

      He is one of my heroes, as well as proof that good things really CAN come in small packages.

    • @jangisslen292
      @jangisslen292 11 місяців тому +5

      Sadly, neither Robert Reich nor any of us are getting any younger. Perhaps though, like small dogs, he’ll live a long life.

  • @RBReich
    @RBReich  11 місяців тому +146

    728 billionaires hold more wealth than half of American households. If that doesn’t tell you we’re in a second Gilded Age, I don’t know what will.

    • @dansaber4427
      @dansaber4427 10 місяців тому

      Robber Baron who? You mean Kings. They're called Kings. Good video.

    • @rickysmithnowlabs
      @rickysmithnowlabs 10 місяців тому

      chill

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      The rich pay almost all the federal taxes and we have a severe shortage of skilled workers why is that

    • @markmyjak7739
      @markmyjak7739 10 місяців тому

      There's plenty of wealth to go around. How many people watching this plan on buying stocks, bonds, precious metals or starting a business?

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому +1

      We owe 33 trillion dollars we have a twenty five trillion dollar economy we don't have any wealth to spread around

  • @ziondanny7081
    @ziondanny7081 11 місяців тому +75

    History always repeats itself. Our inability to step out of this loop is our greatest tragedy.

    • @lisaahmari7199
      @lisaahmari7199 11 місяців тому

      I think the greatest tragedy is that so many of us DO see it but are powerless to stop it. You can't reason with the very people who could join with us to put an end to it. They have been homeschooled and indoctrinated through their churches since leaving the womb to believe without question in free market capitalism. I don't see how we could break through that kind of brainwashing.

    • @honkhonk8009
      @honkhonk8009 10 місяців тому +1

      Europe progressed past feudalism because they were forced to compete for peasantry.
      Nowadays? Wev reverted back to feudalism. Why?
      Every job that couldv been automated, has been outsourced.
      China and India have billions of people, and billions of equally competent workers.
      If Microsoft cant hire for cheap, then they can hire from india.
      If Microsoft is sanctioned, then Alibaba just takes over and outproduces them.
      If China and India had the same population density as Canada, then we would still be experiencing 1950's wages.
      Theres a reason why socialist utopias such as Sweden reject migration from Turkey, and why Norway isnt even in the EU.
      Their smart, and they protect their jobs.
      Apple is able to pay their workers slave wages, because they can lobby democrats into importing MILLIONS of illegals for cheap labour.
      It used to be blue collar labour that was anhilated by globalism, and now its white collar labours.
      Jobs such as software development, engineering, business, and the rest, have been utterly anhilated by countries like China and India.
      If Democrats continue to virtue signal and delude themselves from the overpopulation issue, then its only gonna get worse.

    • @randomnobody9229
      @randomnobody9229 10 місяців тому +1

      ​@honkhonk8009 overpopulation issue. Millennial can't afford to have children. We are on the verge of population collapse in the Midwest. My wife and I know very few people who have children, and that is not unusual.

    • @gracieb.3054
      @gracieb.3054 10 місяців тому +3

      @@honkhonk8009 If you think it was democrats who have created a second gilded age, you need to look closer at policy. I don't know why you would say anyone is "importing" people, as if they are goods. How can this be about "importing" people, when you also say jobs have been outsourced. You are contradicting yourself. All I hear is someone who is very worked up, doesn't really have the facts straight and who has decided without evidence that democrats are to blame. I think you need to work on critical thinking skills.

    • @honkhonk8009
      @honkhonk8009 10 місяців тому

      @@gracieb.3054 I say importing people because thats litterally what capitalism treats labour as. Thats what corporations treat illegals as. They are cheap labour. They are cheap services. They are cheap GOODS. I dont have to spell this shit out bruh, your argument is purely a moral one.
      Please, explain to me how "importing people" and "outsourcing jobs" are contradictions. You realize its possible to be doing both? Im not sure what your tryna get at, because Im pretty sure America at the municipal, state, and federal level, support certain corporations having business at their respective areas. For example, Seattle giving massive tax writeoffs for Amazon tech work, or NY doing the same for Amazon warehouses, or the feds doing the same with TSMC fabs.
      Its much easier to run a factory in America since you dont have to deal with infrastructure issues, or chinese laws. But the people are expensive, and the PPP is high. Thats why corporations like Apple, hire illegals to the grunt labour. Unless your somehow in denial over this fact.
      In conclusion, stay delusional. Mf put up some emotional argument.

  • @longlakeshore
    @longlakeshore 11 місяців тому +119

    The Second Gilded Age began when Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980--almost 100 years after the First Gilded Age.

    • @user-zp7jp1vk2i
      @user-zp7jp1vk2i 11 місяців тому

      and telling us we'd all be receiving trickle down economics, while shipping the jobs off to China. ih, really?

    • @cariwaldick4898
      @cariwaldick4898 10 місяців тому +12

      True. He deregulated the banks, broke strikes, and gave us "Trickle-down (up) economics."

    • @philiplaundy5651
      @philiplaundy5651 10 місяців тому +3

      Do you remember the terrible economy his predecessor Jimmy Carter had created? Definite parallels to what we’re seeing today. Gilded age 2.0 might be true but it is too complicated to lay at the feet of one president. Unfortunately it always comes back to one root cause - the evil that resides in each person expressed as greed. Spiritual problems are hard to fix with taxation or regulation imo

    • @cariwaldick4898
      @cariwaldick4898 10 місяців тому

      @@philiplaundy5651 Sorry but Carter was a one term president, who had to deal with OPEC oil embargo--for US support of Israel. He's the one who created the Department of Energy. The economy took a hit over things out of his control, and he did the best he could.
      Reagan did a LOT of damage. Deregulating the banks was a mistake. It lead to the S&L crisis, recession then, and the housing bubble burst under Bush. It is STILL causing trouble. Banks are federally insured, and they need to be regulated. Deregulating, and allowing monopolies, is why we now have corporations that are "too big to fail," and we end up bailing out these behemoths when the economy turns.
      It's not just Reagan; congress is complicit, as are many state governments.

    • @neuroticnation144
      @neuroticnation144 10 місяців тому

      Reagan was definitely at the forefront of it. Trickle down economics was debunked before Reagan even started touting it. I can’t believe their still trying to peddle that tripe!

  • @keef920
    @keef920 11 місяців тому +16

    In a world where so many are sick and homeless, it is unethical to be a billionaire

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      So telsa and Amazon should shut down so musk and Jeff bezo can't make any more money you are aware that the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return

    • @seamusohoulihan666
      @seamusohoulihan666 9 місяців тому

      But yet social media moguls are wealthy

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 9 місяців тому

      What's your point

  • @ironmammoth7
    @ironmammoth7 11 місяців тому +184

    We really could use a modern-day Teddy Rosevelt right now. I think that person will be Katie Porter, I believe that she lead the change that we so desperately need.

    • @homerthompson416
      @homerthompson416 11 місяців тому +41

      Forget that, we need a modern day French revolution. They knew what to do with their oligarchs.

    • @louisa6948
      @louisa6948 11 місяців тому +28

      I think President Biden is doing as much as he can....remember, he stood with UAWorkers...something no other president has ever done!
      As I'm sure many will agree here on this platform, President Biden wasn't our first choice. Nevertheless, he is a very very pleasant surprise!

    • @anthonycekic4509
      @anthonycekic4509 11 місяців тому

      ​@louisa6948 right now he's just trying to keep the Nepo-nazis from taking over. Thankfully, people are realizing the danger and getting out and voting, striking, and being all around active.

    • @dertbom
      @dertbom 11 місяців тому +2

      She's great and all, but I believe it's Sheldon Whitehouse.

    • @lisaahmari7199
      @lisaahmari7199 11 місяців тому +3

      I adore her, but she (unfortunately) is starting to come across as too smug, with her whiteboard. It is effective but starting to turn off even her fans. I hope her PR people are on that and figuring a way to keep her communication style effective, without letting it appear so condescending. She has the makings of a great leader. But great leaders have to appeal to all parts of the human psyche.....really, the way Buttigieg does.
      All of this said, I would vote for her in a heartbeat.

  • @vishuprathikanti9352
    @vishuprathikanti9352 11 місяців тому +59

    I can't believe I've never thought/heard of the term "second gilded age" until today. It's so true tho

    • @donklee3514
      @donklee3514 11 місяців тому +4

      The new feudalism?

    • @lisaahmari7199
      @lisaahmari7199 11 місяців тому

      The media really needs to keep repeating it, ad nauseum, the way Fox repeats talking points a million times a week.
      The other phrase they need to repeat over and over is "Christian Taliban" with regards to women's reproductive rights and book banning. To get the concept through people's heads as it is SO apt.

  • @renatocorvaro6924
    @renatocorvaro6924 11 місяців тому +127

    Mark Twain would punch Elon Musk in the face.

    • @eatmorenachos
      @eatmorenachos 11 місяців тому +28

      I think Twain would convince someone else to do it for him (maybe even a crowd)----but your sentiments are correct.

    • @renel7303
      @renel7303 11 місяців тому

      I'd pay for a ticket to watch. Elon is evil incarnate.

    • @samw5767
      @samw5767 11 місяців тому +6

      And could smoke him under the table.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому +4

      Why would he do that to a person who paid twelve billion dollars in taxes employees thousands of people at an average wage of over one hundred thousand dollars a year make environmentally friendly products

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому +1

      You probably haven't even met Elon musk

  • @Shining237
    @Shining237 11 місяців тому +55

    Mr Robert Reich is a champion of TRUTH for the American working class. God bless him 💞🕊️

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому +3

      He lies by withholding information he does not tell the truth

    • @alicemiller1970
      @alicemiller1970 11 місяців тому +1

      God bless you R.R. 🙏 AMEN

    • @brucebasile5083
      @brucebasile5083 11 місяців тому

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031 Another triggered corporate bootlicker troll spewing blather.

    • @Natibe_
      @Natibe_ 10 місяців тому

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031found the shill
      The fact y’all can’t see the grifting happening right in front of your eyes thanks to your tightly locked political bubbles is saddening.

    • @rickysmithnowlabs
      @rickysmithnowlabs 10 місяців тому

      ...lol

  • @AM-el4iv
    @AM-el4iv 11 місяців тому +18

    I'm a critical care nurse in Florida, previously a combat military medic veteran, that has been completely burned out for the increasingly unsafe expectations of hospital administrations. I have tried 3 hospitals here in FL and they are the same. Instead of hiring an appropriate number of RNs and paying them fairly, it's always the same. During Covid I worked over 48 hours a day and went home falling asleep on the wheel. Understaffed, and laughable pay compared to the stress, and nature of the assigments. I would not want a family member to come here and need treatment. Patients are rushed out of critical care, stepdown units, and from surgical med surg areas to home when they are not ready just to make room for more. We have available extra rooms in many cases, but no staff to properly care for the extra patients.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому +1

      There is a national shortage of skilled labor such as nurses democrats make it worse by paying high wages to low skilled workers no one will put in the time and effort of getting a skilled job

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      Va hospitals are government ran

    • @AM-el4iv
      @AM-el4iv 9 місяців тому +1

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031 No that's not the problem. Doesn't make sense. Healthcare here is under a capitalist system, no matter if the hospital self labels as non profit. If there is a high demand for a job, it should pay a high wage. Hospitals don't pay fast food worker wages. What we have is capitalism for the working people and socialism for the hospitals and corporations which get subsidies and bail outs.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 9 місяців тому

      So you are saying high skilled jobs should pay more than unskilled jobs that's not what democrats support

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 9 місяців тому

      The VA is non profit government run infamous for poor care at a high cost when democrats succeed in everyone getting universal government run healthcare like Sanders wants everyone can have poor healthcare

  • @Denise11Schultz
    @Denise11Schultz 11 місяців тому +225

    This might just be your best piece yet. How succinct! History doesn’t just rhyme, it echoes. It echoes with the cries of the many for economic justice. So many people believe they are not good enough, or not trying hard enough. I say, you are manipulated to be exploited workers and overactive consumers. What if you want to do something else, be something else? We can, we All Can. Support each other, instead of struggling in isolated shame. Thank you, Robert and team, for making sense of all the ‘What’s Wrong With This Picture?’ inanities and insanities that dominate our culture and society today (but Not Forever). Monopolies are Wealth Unions of the rich. Let’s replace their Collective Domination with our Collective Bargaining.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому +1

      What is an overactive consumer

    • @candyrosefreeman7232
      @candyrosefreeman7232 11 місяців тому

      ​@@fritzforsthoefel8031Oh I Know!!! Someone Who Practices,(A Thing I Can't Comprehend)
      "Retail Therapy". It's Pernicious...
      And Practised, Recklessly, Frequently And Seemingly,
      Unconsciously. The Human Brain Will Try Any And All Things, To Attempt To Alleviate,
      Emotional And Mental Suffering. Seems,
      Counter Intuitive. As Does Any ,Potentially, Self- Harming,
      Behavior.
      Pain And Trauma,
      Cause Psychopathy,That Demands Intense,
      Persistent
      Psychological
      Address.
      Just Saying. Blessings And Truth For All.

    • @brucebasile5083
      @brucebasile5083 11 місяців тому

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031 YAWN....ZZZZzzzz....

  • @bretheweb
    @bretheweb 11 місяців тому +82

    We've been in the New Age of the Robber Baron(Gilded Age sounds enabling) for a while now. I was warning people of this 15-20 years ago.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому

      Then why do the rich allow themselves to be taxed so much the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the top ten pay over seventy percent

    • @brorpaulhjelm6187
      @brorpaulhjelm6187 11 місяців тому +1

      We have an Capitalist Economic system called supply side economics also called Reaganomics or Trickle down Theory they started planning this in the 1960's and 1970's and fully instituted it in the 1980's when Reagan was the President it is actually just a scheme to enrich the Wealthy Elite under the George W Presidential Regime they called it Bush Enomics and said it was Reaganomics on Steroids this is not just the Republicans the Democrats went along with this Corporate Democrats who believed in the lie of the Trickle down Theory of wealth this included Bill and Hilary and Obama and his Vice President our current President and six term Senator Joe Biden who has finally started to change his economic beliefs some more in support of the working class only since he became the current President of course you could write a tick and long book on the details of what has occurred over this 50 to 60 year period of class warfare which is nothing more than a scheme to make the Wealthiest people even more Wealthy We the People let this happen by voting for the Republicans and Corporate Democrats we can only fix this mess by voting these People who presently control our entire Government and even our SCOTUS OUT OF OFFICE THIS WILL STILLTAKE MANY DECADES TO REPAIR AND CHANGE TO A MORE FAIR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM

  • @robmaeder330
    @robmaeder330 11 місяців тому +372

    Robert, I am a converted Republican who formerly thought the support of business by the government created jobs and prosperity; make the pie bigger over cutting it up.
    I learned over last few years that this does not happen, and I saw it in my career. When tax cuts hit my company, it was not even discussed to increase wages. That only happened a bit during supply chain when we could not hire anyone.
    You do an amazing job showing the growing inequality of wealth. I think if underpaid people that are supporting Republicans understood this enough would switch to change the balance. In other countries and throughout history people were stuck with this inequality but we actually have a democratic society so the masses should vote out a party trying to support and exacerbate.
    I think the Republicans are MUCH better at marketing than the Democrats (with you as an exception). I think they know better that many weak minded people can be led astray with simple slogans and ideas even if wrong and immoral. Woke is an example.
    I was thinking about this and came up with the term "asleep sheep". It is the opposite of woke (awake) which somehow is bad!. It also hits on Orwell's class system. Maybe using Pink Floyd's Animals album would be more effective.
    I don't know if that's original, but if it is feel free to use it.
    Keep up the fight and spread you gift for marketing to fellow Democrats. They need help.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому

      You are aware that the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому +2

      Do you support a livable wage

    • @brendanaderifar2462
      @brendanaderifar2462 11 місяців тому +4

      excellent my friend.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому +1

      Name some of the corperate welfare you speak of no lies no propaganda just name some

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому +1

      Skilled workers usually make good wages which workers get underpaid

  • @mikepowell2776
    @mikepowell2776 11 місяців тому +9

    Political corruption, fiscal accretion and increasing social injustice are, regrettably, not monopolies. It’s not just in the US. Similar trends are apparent in UK and elsewhere. Your summary, as always, deserves the widest possible audience.

  • @Brian_195
    @Brian_195 11 місяців тому +24

    No one says it better than the great Robert Reich. Every American’s future, and every future generation, is dependent on heeding his vast knowledge and wise advice.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому +1

      He lies by withholding information I can show maney examples

    • @Brian_195
      @Brian_195 11 місяців тому +1

      Actually, he’s America’s biggest economic truth-teller. And, before stating any false examples you claim to have, you may want to learn how to spell “many” first.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому +1

      Sorry about that can't see that well words and letters blur and run together for me but I am improving

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому +1

      Does he tell you that the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes does he tell you that the top ten percent pay over seventy percent of the federal taxes does he tell you that the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes or that if you draw 1500 hundred dollars a month in ss till your eighty that's over two hundred thousand dollars and you did not pay that much in ss taxes who makes up the difference does he tell you that the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare does he tell you that the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return he tells you none of these things does he

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому +1

      Will you pay half your income to the government to pay for the handouts democrats want if not we add it to the debt our children will have to pay for liveing off our children the democrat way

  • @anthonycekic4509
    @anthonycekic4509 11 місяців тому +757

    We can thank Nixon and Reagan for ushering in this new Gilded Age.

    • @lynnturman8157
      @lynnturman8157 11 місяців тому +107

      Politics have swung so far to the right that Nixon would be considered a liberal democrat in today's political climate.

    • @garycombs5721
      @garycombs5721 11 місяців тому

      TRUTH!
      Reagan began the single greatest bull market in the history of mankind. This bull market has pulled more people out of poverty than all of history’s other bull markets combined.
      You are so correct, Regan does deserve the credit for the prosperous times of which we are now living.
      Those who have failed to enter into the prosperity that is now available to us need to ask themselves, “why am I such a fuck up?”

    • @dominicfucinari1942
      @dominicfucinari1942 11 місяців тому +61

      And worse than them, Paul Manafort, Art Laffer, Milton Friedman, John R Shad, Jack Francis-Welch, and the Koch brothers.

    • @SirAndacar
      @SirAndacar 11 місяців тому +29

      @@lynnturman8157 Just recently I had a hard right bro spend an hour online informing me that no, there had been no march to the right, it had never happened, bla bla bla.

    • @FreedomFighter1776
      @FreedomFighter1776 11 місяців тому +5

      @@SirAndacar LBJ's Great Society welfare/socialism took us left and the middle class has paid for it.

  • @joevignolor4u949
    @joevignolor4u949 11 місяців тому +61

    FDR was more of a centrist than people often think. He said, "I believe in a system of free enterprise where every man can go as far as his natural God given talents can take him, but not to the extent of making fodder out of large segments of the population." He also said, "The problem I have is that the socialists think I eat caviar for breakfast while the capitalists think I eat beans for breakfast. Actually, I eat steak and eggs for breakfast just like the majority of Americans do." All that sounds pretty centrist to me.

    • @JoseLopez-tk4tq
      @JoseLopez-tk4tq 11 місяців тому +10

      Welcome to the Gilded Age 2.0! Where workers are treated as merely meat/fodder for the grinder.

    • @JuanMartinez-xf3uz
      @JuanMartinez-xf3uz 11 місяців тому +4

      As was Lincoln, who sued railroad workers over labor desputes when he worked as a corporate lawyer.

    • @mja91352
      @mja91352 11 місяців тому +2

      Thanks, Captain Obvious

    • @terdragontra8900
      @terdragontra8900 10 місяців тому +4

      The second quote is mushy and reeks of being formulated for the optics, it isnt good evidence for or against any of his policies really, in my opinion.

    • @mathewlloyd9717
      @mathewlloyd9717 10 місяців тому +2

      Youre right, FDR nationalizing industries, forcing farmers to destroy "surplus" crops to prop up food prices, not allowing businesses to operate unless they agreed to his draconian rules, and him changing his heavy handed rules left and right, that all sounds super centrist

  • @katydidiy
    @katydidiy 11 місяців тому +261

    If you get all antsy about the rich leaving this country, just charge them an appropriate exit fee. That would be any riches acquired while enjoying the mechanism that enabled them!

    • @JLocke0113
      @JLocke0113 11 місяців тому +20

      Or just apply tariffs to any individual company they own.

    • @karlabritfeld7104
      @karlabritfeld7104 11 місяців тому +26

      Agree. They're not going to leave anyway as they've got it too good here.

    • @anncata7368
      @anncata7368 11 місяців тому

      The government can and SHOULD freeze their bank accounts legally.

    • @ejt3708
      @ejt3708 11 місяців тому

      Wake up! It will never happen! That was talked about in the 80's when we were sold Tinkle Down Economics. Then in the 90's, we start hearing about Bermuda, and Antigua, and Panama! Just grab control while we still can, even if the thieves escape with our money.

    • @cariwaldick4898
      @cariwaldick4898 10 місяців тому

      If they want to leave, LET THEM! Seriously, look at the biggest corporations, and how they're crowding out competition. Walmart killed Mainstreet, and Amazon is killing everything else. Raise their taxes, and if they choose to leave, wave buh-bye. Once gone, treat them like an outside country when they want to sell their goods back to the biggest consumer market in the world. We do not NEED these monopolies!!

  • @bigcrazewolf
    @bigcrazewolf 11 місяців тому +4

    Mark Twain - “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” checks out🎯

  • @TheRealTomWendel
    @TheRealTomWendel 11 місяців тому +16

    A consumer driven economy, which many claim the US has, needs competition among sellers to function most effectively. The consolidation of monopolies and oligopolies in almost every market sector must be addressed by the public sector in order to restore health to our economy.

    • @stevenhiggins3055
      @stevenhiggins3055 11 місяців тому

      Who the hell is claiming the U.S. has a "consumer driven economy"!? The official name is "Supply-Side Economics," literally the opposite of consumer (demand side) driven!
      I mean, I'm not disagreeing on your points, but I'm just baffled that anyone could think that unless they aren't from or at least living in the U.S. when the name literally tells you the opposite.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому +3

      Public schools have a near Monopoly and you are right about it leeding to poor outcomes would you support school choice and competition for schools or do you agree with democrat politicians that only want the rich to be able to afford to send there children to private schools

    • @TheRealTomWendel
      @TheRealTomWendel 11 місяців тому

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031Are you trolling or do you really think that’s a relevant point?
      Public schools fill a need for most people that aren’t filled by private markets. That circumstance is known in classical economics as market failure- private schools don’t provide the good or services in a efficient way to all the consumers. A market for education will fail to properly evaluate the commons (goods or services that benefit everyone regardless of whether they pay or not).
      Public schools transformed American education positively until private schools (where available) siphoned off the most affluent students- often by appealing to elitism. This was a libertarian or conservative driven movement as are almost all efforts to defund public education, which is clearly the reason for the decline.
      There’s also abundant evidence demonstrating that private school students score better not because they’re better educators but because private schools are able to cherry pick students, and they can get rid of problematic students with little due process. Where do all those students end up? In the public system.
      There’s zero evidence that private schools perform better than public ones. There are outstanding examples and terrible examples of both. There’s plenty of reliable information about what works and what doesn’t in education. If you genuinely care about this important issue, you can easily access it.

    • @brucebasile5083
      @brucebasile5083 10 місяців тому

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031 Typical anti public education, school choice propaganda, that is a republican scam to take money from public schools and give it to religious schools. Take a hike with that garbage.

    • @agchains78543
      @agchains78543 10 місяців тому

      Instead the public sector has been complicit, with buyouts and the like.

  • @christinaulibarri4777
    @christinaulibarri4777 11 місяців тому +74

    Thank you Mr. Reich. You are a treasure trove of knowledge.

  • @josephg160
    @josephg160 11 місяців тому +138

    Those who claim that if we raise taxes on the super rich, they will leave the country. When they told that im like do you hear yourself?

    • @sethbritton6970
      @sethbritton6970 11 місяців тому +54

      It's an empty threat anyway. They're not paying for the privelege they enjoy anyway, and so we wouldn't even notice if they left.
      Then we could sieze all their local assets and turn them to good for the public at large.

    • @MrMarinus18
      @MrMarinus18 11 місяців тому +10

      Well then tax their American assets still.

    • @jrcenteno1896
      @jrcenteno1896 11 місяців тому

      Good riddance! Leave the Country! And take your bought-off congressmen {Geatz} , and Judges {Thomas} with you ! 😮

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому

      That's exactly what communist leader mao in china did took rich people's money and gave it to the masses and raised low skilled workers wages dramatically result millions starved now in china under capitalism low skilled workers make low wages and there is billionaires result china has one of the fastest growing economies in the world explain that

    • @XxMySsTiCxX
      @XxMySsTiCxX 11 місяців тому

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031There is a huge difference between Amazon, Tesla, Meta, Microsoft and apple. and any successful business 99.99% of us will ever found. dont speak such drivel

  • @bigcatproductions2789
    @bigcatproductions2789 11 місяців тому +36

    TAX the Rich 💵 TAX the Rich 💵

    • @sterlingmarshel6299
      @sterlingmarshel6299 11 місяців тому +3

      doesn't solve the fundamentally flawed capitalistic model.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому

      The top five percent pay over half the federal taxes and the middle class draw more ss and medicare than they pay in taxes and the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare the rich pay almost all the federal taxes and get next to nothing in return

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому +1

      Say the following three times communism does not work communism does not work communism does not work

    • @brucebasile5083
      @brucebasile5083 11 місяців тому

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031 Corporate bootlicker troll.

    • @UnashamedCaliforniagirl
      @UnashamedCaliforniagirl 6 місяців тому

      ​​@@fritzforsthoefel8031If you actually think " taxing the rich= communism" you have no right to try to inform other people of anything. Communism is state ownership. A progressive tax system is just common sense. Fyi those who have more used to pride themselves in giving as a form of Patriotism. Benjamin Franklin upon his death donated a great deal of money to the city of Philadelphia with the condition that they couldn't touch it for 100 years. By that time it had gathered enough interest to equal a million dollars and went to fund public education and the local fire department. That's not " Communism" it's Altruism and it's what real " Patriotism" looks like in practice. You corporate bootlicker.

  • @CaraMarie13
    @CaraMarie13 9 місяців тому +5

    The most concerning thing about this new guilded age is that the people who are most in need are out there actively electing people who are going to enact legislation that will only continue to screw them, and us all, over.

  • @mikejames4540
    @mikejames4540 11 місяців тому +10

    All depressingly familiar in the UK, too. This time, however, the corporations are multinationals and so can avoid paying taxes commensurate with their earnings in many nations by using off-shore tax havens.
    Legislation needs to be targeted to deal with this on an international basis. From what I understand, the mega-billionaires in the US pay themselves a (relative) pittance and then use loans for their extravagant lifestyles as they are tax deductible. All legislation needs to be rather more fleet-of-foot than it is to keep up with excess tax avoidance.

    • @LJinx3
      @LJinx3 10 місяців тому +1

      Not just taco havens, often having the ability to sit their money offshore in a country with low corporate tax - see Ireland as a good example.

  • @paulrumohr
    @paulrumohr 11 місяців тому +9

    All unregulated markets end up as monopolies.

  • @FYMASMD
    @FYMASMD 11 місяців тому +23

    History always repeats itself. Humans are very predictable.

    • @humboldthammer
      @humboldthammer 11 місяців тому +1

      BUT . . . never before now -- not in the entire history of humanity -- have so many educated people lived so freely and so abundantly. And for just 17+ years, we have been connected to this shared, worldwide experience, with near-instant communication. It is GUARANTEED to Wake "THIS" Generation Up.
      Because the Father knows what you need, before you ask.

    • @AnonymousAnarchist2
      @AnonymousAnarchist2 11 місяців тому +1

      Given any system, it will be exploited.
      This is a core tenent of Anarchy.
      Another is that humans are animals. Socialable, the most communicative, and the best tool using animals on earth.
      But just animals.
      Ment to be free.
      There are places still untouched by modern hiarchies. Capital, skin color, clothing styles. None of that matters there.
      And they advance, albeit more slowly, as expected from a smaller population.
      Just like we all do.
      They dont need money. And they get the work done.
      Just like humans always have.
      The diffrence is, we dont have to work near as hard to get the work done as they. We have modernity to thank for that.
      Yet we still do, and now we over work. 40% of food is never sold, its left to rot; just to jack up the costs of the remaining 60%. We only have to farm as hard as we do for one year and preserve that 40% of food for use during a bad harvest.
      between 60% and 80% of work done is solely un-needed. Depending on what you tally as needed. If we got rid of money (as it is) and used localized posted boards for work to be done and work finsihed it would be 80% totally unneeded.
      We could all work only 20% of what we do now. Or work as hard as we do now; but towards the goal of automating every cruel, dangerious, or mind numbing job, and reduce our childrens workload by as much as 90%.
      People talk about the corralation between money and new product... success, and never about the other side that proves it is not causation.
      Every single advancement started from hobbies. Alchemists worked in secrect, physicist's where traveling showsmen while doing thier "real work", medical science advanced from the hobby of painting, radio advancements was all just from enthusiast's tinkering around until it became computers. For greifs sake, the two most advanced means of semiconductor mass production still are just highly refined hobby photography equipment and hobby magizine printing presses. That is not a joke, nor exaggeration.
      The tech moved to electrical production in WW2 because thats what the hobbiest left behind at home knew how to do. Along side knitting for magnetic cores, but that tech failed to miniturize.
      Had it not been for ww2 it would have all came from glassblowing and machining techniques and that would still be fine.
      If a hobby produces something that everyone wants, we can put the work in to mass produce it.
      We only have to make 8 billion of any given thing, we make more toys then that a month. Heck, single small production shops with less then 30 employees make more then that a year.
      Money just gives us an incentive to make things poorly so we have to make them over and over again.
      We live in strife, in self made cages for the mad god capital. Then wonder how things will advance without it, never wondering how much Capital has destroyed, hampered, and slowed us down making us produce the same thing over and over and over.

  • @BuzyBeeABC
    @BuzyBeeABC 11 місяців тому +187

    This is Trump’s elitist dream! Didn’t he even name his son “Baron”?

    • @mikjb
      @mikjb 11 місяців тому +17

      Yes how presumptuous. I feel sorry for that kid growing up in such a skewed world.
      Anyone else remember the story of him telling his daughter that the homeless man had more money than he did?
      Only now he is being brought to account for lying about his wealth.

    • @user-zp7jp1vk2i
      @user-zp7jp1vk2i 11 місяців тому +6

      When you son in named "King" or "Royal" you know they come from a family with old money. Baron is new money. I actually met in University two guys with those first two names!!

    • @Iquey
      @Iquey 11 місяців тому

      When he creamed in Melania he said "tell me I'm a Baron!! Raaawrrr!!😂 Then Melania said "mrnfh". And thought, *i'll name the baby that if it's a boy... And he'll be taller than you.*

    • @paradiselost9946
      @paradiselost9946 10 місяців тому +2

      @@user-zp7jp1vk2i my oldest friend named his first child king.
      he aint exactly "well to do". the exact opposite really. why king? iunno. just felt right. with the surname "meek"
      king meek... dont ask me!

    • @user-zp7jp1vk2i
      @user-zp7jp1vk2i 10 місяців тому +1

      @@paradiselost9946 Royal is now a lawyer other lawyers consult; King is now Prof. at 'USC in debate. old money.

  • @kimhorton6109
    @kimhorton6109 11 місяців тому +14

    We begin to see another side of inequality: the attraction of wealth to educated men to political positions, and the lack of morals and the ability of the rich to buy those men so they can keep pulling in money. Large corporations can generate very attractive offers for the weak to bring bills that aid their businesses.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому

      If that were true why do they allow themselves to be taxed so much the top five percent pay over half the federal taxes

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому

      So maney lies from democrats for instance the democrats say the rich pay little taxes when fact is the rich pay almost all the federal taxes democrats say the poor get cheated when fact is the poor get subsidized housing food assistance cash assistance and free healthcare democrats say middle class pay to much taxes fact is if you draw 1500 a month till your eighty that's over two hundred thousand dollars in ss and you did not pay that much in ss taxes and the average person draws out three dollars for every dollar paid in medicare taxes democrats party of handouts and lies

  • @fatstrat64
    @fatstrat64 11 місяців тому +4

    This answers the question on why learning history is so important!

    • @JulieRainyPDX
      @JulieRainyPDX 11 місяців тому +1

      My history classes in the 70's & 80's elementary through high school were so bland and whitewashed. Lots of emphasis on memorizing dates for next day quizzes. Easy A's and a complete waste of time. I first learned about slavery in America from the series Roots. Way more brutal and honest than what my history book portrayed.

    • @fatstrat64
      @fatstrat64 10 місяців тому

      @@JulieRainyPDX just like in every profession there are good ones and bad ones?

  • @ejt3708
    @ejt3708 11 місяців тому +8

    Yes Bob! We are! Now lets "Bust The Trusts."

  • @sharpol4236
    @sharpol4236 11 місяців тому +24

    thank you for this ! hopefully more people will learn something

  • @MarthaSalinas-y5i
    @MarthaSalinas-y5i 11 місяців тому +22

    Thanks so much for speaking the truth.. please share this.. most of all educate the young.. with this valuable information...🇺🇸💙

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому

      He lies by withholding information can give maney examples

    • @andrefreysen4693
      @andrefreysen4693 11 місяців тому

      Please do@@fritzforsthoefel8031

    • @brucebasile5083
      @brucebasile5083 11 місяців тому

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031 AS predicted another corporate bootlicker spewing nonsense. Take a hike, chief.

  • @ianfurqueron5850
    @ianfurqueron5850 11 місяців тому +5

    I made similar comments during a discussion a few weeks ago, calling the current climate a second gilded age. The big difference between then and now is the current barons have learned from the mistakes of the past and have adjusted their influence to prevent another Teddy or similar from ever gaining power. As long as both sides blame each other for the problems of the country, there will be no possibility of change.

  • @pneulancer
    @pneulancer 11 місяців тому +5

    Even as someone who typically doesn't like government intrusiveness; there's a reason why anti-trust laws, capital gains taxes and the like were necessary. I believe Sec. Reich was completely wrong about NAFTA back in the day; but he's damn sure right about this. Sadly, greed and human nature will assure this type of legislation will always be needed.

    • @Metalbass10000
      @Metalbass10000 10 місяців тому +3

      I agree with you on regulation in our economic system. I'm not a person who believes that capitalism itself is at the root of the problems, but see it as the pervasive, and all too often rewarded, abuses of the freedoms and opportunities presented by our system. Making it worse, when the people attempting to circumvent the regulations and oversight are put in charge of rewriting (or eliminating) the regulations and controlling (or eliminating) the oversight, we have a system doomed to create and/or exacerbate the inequalities and problems we are experiencing now. As a small business owner, with my wife (we build custom and semi-custom electric guitars and bass guitars), I need to be aware of and deal with regulations regularly, but I would not want to operate in a system devoid of those regulations. As a consumer, what regulations and oversight we have is vital to our system even being able to continue to function (as examples: without regulation and oversight, our food supply systems would be far worse, with more contamination problems, issues of haphazard or even dangerous composition; our power grid, our transportation networks, our communications, our financial sector operations, would all be ripped apart by those operating out of a purely greed driven motivation, etc).

  • @jaegrant6441
    @jaegrant6441 11 місяців тому +11

    5:13 That's why I think Australian mandatory voting is a good thing.
    Yeah, the districts can be manipulated, our media is heavily politically leaning. But also, no one's vote is ignored. Everyone has to vote, so everyone does. There's no voter suppression.

  • @blubaughmr
    @blubaughmr 11 місяців тому +7

    Recently, reflecting on where we are now, I've been wondering why Robert Reich hasn't made this video.
    Now it's here.
    Thank you!

  • @johnstevenson9956
    @johnstevenson9956 11 місяців тому +50

    I look at the people I've been given to vote for in the last few elections and I think, there are 332,000,000 of us, and these are the best you can come up with? Where's Teddy when we need him?

    • @karlabritfeld7104
      @karlabritfeld7104 11 місяців тому

      FDR was the last good president

    • @frankd.506
      @frankd.506 11 місяців тому +12

      Id settle for FDR .

    • @matejebach5487
      @matejebach5487 11 місяців тому +3

      surveiled, monitored and liquidated on time.

    • @krysti2
      @krysti2 11 місяців тому +1

      You'd better find a Robert Reich video about Teddy's Imperialism and Racist Hierarchy views. 😂. 🎉

    • @JimHolder-pk2kk
      @JimHolder-pk2kk 11 місяців тому

      We have the people we need. It just takes door-knocking and voting to get them elected.

  • @nightwalkerscrypt
    @nightwalkerscrypt 11 місяців тому +3

    my household can hardly afford to eat with the constant rise in food at the store. I make nearly $3 over the min wage for my area and live in "affordable rent" apartment and still our rent is nearly half our monthly income. And our building is one of the most affordable in the city for the record. Things are out of control and no end in site.

  • @frankgrabasse4642
    @frankgrabasse4642 11 місяців тому +33

    In the first gilded age we actually taxed the rich. What a concept!

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому +4

      The top five percent pay over half the federal taxes what are you talking about

    • @honkhonk8009
      @honkhonk8009 10 місяців тому

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031 They know deep down that the REAL issue, is overpopulation, and countries such as China and India that breed like rabbits.
      Every job that couldv been automated, has been outsourced. Human life as of now, is litterally cheaper than machine.
      They know deep down if they express this, theyl be called racists.
      REAL DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS in Sweden and Norway, know this.
      They close their borders, and protect their jobs religously.
      Sweden rejected Turkeys EU membership because of migrants.
      Norway isnt even IN the EU because they dont want their oil money taken advantage of by foreigners.
      If these people werent virtue signalers, they would realize that what illegal immigration has done to blue collar labour, is now affecting white collar work.
      Look at Software Development, Engineering, and all these other STEM fields. All taken over by China/India. (I DO NOT mean chinese/indian americans)
      We need to fund automation so we arent overtaken by people that breed like rabbits, and we must establish a proper UBI system.

    • @garrettbrown775
      @garrettbrown775 10 місяців тому

      The top 1% alone own 33% of the nation's wealth and the bottom 50% only have 2.6%. You're okay with this???

    • @fray3dendsofsanity
      @fray3dendsofsanity 10 місяців тому +4

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031 and they can pay more! Bring back the 90+% tax bracket that existed in the 1950's, and include securities in that. There's no reason any person on planet earth needs to hoard $100 Billion+ in assets. It is an incredible disgrace that we not only allow, but glamorize this atrocious level of wealth. it serves nobody but the few who have it

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      So shut telsa down fire thousands of workers push back putting electric vehicles on the highways by years is that what your saying

  • @willdodge200
    @willdodge200 11 місяців тому +7

    The first gilded age ended? It's still going. The numbers are just higher and wealth is more out in the open.

  • @janlindtner305
    @janlindtner305 11 місяців тому +13

    So true Robert❤👍🤟Each generation must renew the struggle, nothing is given. We can look back 3-4 generations to get inspiration and decode the tricks that have been used before to trap us. Unity makes strong, Solidarity must be given before it can be expected.👍👍👍

    • @jfverboom7973
      @jfverboom7973 11 місяців тому

      Democracy is a ongoing process.
      It is not a static equilibrium, that can be maintained without effort.

  • @Craxin01
    @Craxin01 11 місяців тому +5

    Greed destroys everything.

  • @brianmeek5236
    @brianmeek5236 11 місяців тому +5

    Now they don’t run them out of business,they buy them out and add a non competition clause to the sale

  • @untermench3502
    @untermench3502 11 місяців тому +3

    The Robber Barons didn't have as much worry about taxes in those days. The GQP is trying to reduce taxes to make a new Golden Age possible.

  • @misterbanshee7992
    @misterbanshee7992 11 місяців тому +6

    It’s gotten to point where I need to be retired over seas in my 50s 😂 housing , healthcare in US not affordable anymore.

  • @nuplanner5345
    @nuplanner5345 11 місяців тому +15

    Thank you for this encouraging video. I think social media makes this even more difficult, but with the massive increase in population since the19th century, the number of people living in misery and close to it makes the crisis more acute.

  • @BarbStClair
    @BarbStClair 11 місяців тому +11

    Robert, why aren’t YOU running for high office? I never see or hear such common sense intelligence such as yours! It would actually give me
    hope when I feel COMPLETELY hopeless.

    • @UTArch1
      @UTArch1 11 місяців тому

      He is un-electable (if that is even a word) because "people prefer a lie that conforms to their beliefs and prejudice over a truth they do not like".

    • @stevenhiggins3055
      @stevenhiggins3055 11 місяців тому

      Is he a natural born citizen? I ask because think the highest office an immigrant can get is Governor. So if he's originally from England or France or something he can't get very far.

    • @BarbStClair
      @BarbStClair 11 місяців тому

      born in Pennsylvania @@stevenhiggins3055

    • @Metalbass10000
      @Metalbass10000 10 місяців тому +2

      Agreed! His message would resonate with so many more people than the candidates our corrupted two-party system creates, because it is based on clearly understood, and clearly communicated facts, that have an obvious effect on the daily lives of us all.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      Reich speaks no facts he lies by withholding information I can name maney examples

  • @thedamnedatheist
    @thedamnedatheist 11 місяців тому +1

    It isn't just in America, it's everywhere. One thing though, there is no "Middle Class", that is a divisive term coined to insulate the rich. If you are paid a wage/salary then you are by definition, "Working Class".

  • @darinsingleton3553
    @darinsingleton3553 11 місяців тому +1

    Here's to all the "Good" people, who remain so fiercely dedicated to ensuring that "Nothing Will Fundamentally Change."

  • @lordlycan5035
    @lordlycan5035 11 місяців тому +7

    Perfectly put..

  • @MrM-hl1vp
    @MrM-hl1vp 11 місяців тому +7

    Vote 💙

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому

      Then send half your taxes to pay for the handouts democrats want if not you are stealing from our children because it's them who will have to pay for the huge overwhelming unbelievable debt we have now vote out handout democrats our childrens future depend on it

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому

      Who should pay for the debt we have democrat solution more handouts our children will inherit a bankrupt shell of a nation because of democrat handouts that you won't pay enough taxes for don't you care about our children

  • @high_dee_beebee1760
    @high_dee_beebee1760 11 місяців тому +9

    I wish you would run for President of the United States!!! ❤❤❤

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому

      I wish democrats would pay enough taxes to pay for the handouts we get already we have a debt so big it defies belief democrat solution more handoutd

    • @brucebasile5083
      @brucebasile5083 11 місяців тому +1

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031 Your ignorance knows no bounds. No surprise here. Corporate bootlicker troll

    • @lbarnx
      @lbarnx 11 місяців тому +2

      ​@@fritzforsthoefel8031I wish men would go back to being strong and silent instead of loud and whiny gossips.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому

      Our debt is destroying us you would rather hear how maney handouts democrats want to give at our childrens expense is that what your saying

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 11 місяців тому

      You don't seem to want to hear the truth that we have a debt so high that it's estimated that intrest alone will be over a half a trillion dollars that our dollar is being destroyed by our debt so as to enable bric's to challenge our current for dominance you only want to hear about all the free things democrats want

  • @myfriendgoo2816
    @myfriendgoo2816 11 місяців тому +5

    HOUSING has become a particularly cruel area where the inequality problem is causing real pain for anyone trying to buy or just to get by renting. It's way overpriced and, to buy anything, you need to not only outbid other buyers, but also overcome the 1% that has NO interest in living there and just wants another rental property owned by a private equity firm. Get the corporations out! Whenever tens of millions get priced out or thrown out of something undeniably essential, it's important they use their VOTE to vote in reforms. They'd be crazy not to. We saw this happen with the ACA and I can see it building with housing.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      Why is it that cities that have rent control have the biggest shortage of houseing

    • @myfriendgoo2816
      @myfriendgoo2816 10 місяців тому

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031 The shortage leads to the rent control, not the other way around.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      If that was true than how else can you add more houseing without letting rent rise so as to encourage more houesing does not rent control simply make matters worse

    • @myfriendgoo2816
      @myfriendgoo2816 10 місяців тому

      @@fritzforsthoefel8031 Rent control undeniably distorts the market and isn't practiced in many places, but those that have it do because all other options are worse, net-net. They're between a rock and a hard place, such as in NYC where housing always has been a problem. The supply problem is more due to NIMBY-ism.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      Joe Biden letting in an estimated seven million illegal immegrants won't make the houseing shortage any better vote out handout democrats before it's to late

  • @douglasspickler4925
    @douglasspickler4925 11 місяців тому +16

    This is a great production and should be aired everywhere. Thanks for the history lesson. It's been a long time since I learned this. I appreciate the reminder. History repeating itself. What goes around comes around. Thanks, Robert, for what you do.

  • @V1detta
    @V1detta 11 місяців тому +7

    Robert Reich ist ein unfassbar cooler Amerikaner!

  • @Vort_tm
    @Vort_tm 11 місяців тому +4

    So who can/will do something about it? We need representatives who understand this, and we have precious few.

  • @Just_Santi
    @Just_Santi 11 місяців тому +7

    so we just need to find a modern day teddy roosevelt?

    • @littlebitofhope1489
      @littlebitofhope1489 11 місяців тому

      We have one. He just didn't get elected. Instead one of the Robber Barons did.

    • @MrMarinus18
      @MrMarinus18 11 місяців тому

      That will be hard cause the rich will never allow it to happen.
      Teddy Roosevelt was never actually elected. He was made vice president which at that time how a purely ceremonial position. It was Mc. Cinley's murder that got him the oval office and he actually lost the very next presidential election. Though luckily Woodrew Willsion continued his work.

    • @Don-tj6pb
      @Don-tj6pb 11 місяців тому +3

      Bernie Sanders

    • @OMMXxPeNnY
      @OMMXxPeNnY 11 місяців тому

      Yes I always thought when Bernie was running he shouldn't had fireside chats And UA-cam are the internet to educate the people Maybe President Biden and some of the other progressive Democrats Could sit down and have fireside chats to educate the American people on where we're at Explain to them how we have a captured media The corporations run the country there's no red and blue it's just who you can pay off And explain about the lobbyist and the money coming in from Big pharma the insurance companies And also explain how Russia China and even Saudi Arabia Likes to divide our country With Miss Information Explain to him how Trump and Republican party has been taken over By fascist

  • @stevehix1469
    @stevehix1469 7 місяців тому +2

    When people say "Hard work won't kill you" they are wrong. People actually died of exhaustion and dehydration on Ford Motor Companies Assembly line, until the 40 hour work week and Overtime were made into law. 16 hour days x 7 day work week= injuries and death at an alarming rate. I forget the horrible numbers of one years workers who lost a limb and Companies said tough luck...

  • @HydraOverlord
    @HydraOverlord 11 місяців тому +1

    1st. Citizens United was an attack on middle class and lower SEC Americans
    2nd. Learning is always a must, continue to educate yourselves everyone. History is important!

  • @wondersnature
    @wondersnature 11 місяців тому +6

    Superb presentation with great visuals. Thank you Robert Reich 🤗

  • @DrDRE4391
    @DrDRE4391 11 місяців тому +12

    We have never had a Democracy. We have a Republic where we vote for representatives that vote for us and our collective desires for the betterment of the country. But, that is not happening today and has not for decades.
    We have essentially a two-party system where both parties (Democrats and Republicans) are pressured by corporations through Lobbyists, Special Interest Groups and promises of unlimited Campaign Contributions to sway votes in Congress in the Corporations' favor. However, Democrats are more benevolent to the working class and Republicans tend to favor corporations and the rich.

  • @1ring2rule3pigs
    @1ring2rule3pigs 11 місяців тому +10

    Great videos! We need to re-educate people about history...which seems to be repeating itself.

  • @rubyclark7595
    @rubyclark7595 10 місяців тому +1

    This old girl look to your reports Everyday... Thanks Reich💙🙏

  • @omegabat39
    @omegabat39 10 місяців тому +2

    In school one year it was "robber barrons" and later it was "industrialists". Celebrity culture taught us to worship money and fame. This desensitized us to this happening. In atleast in my opinion.

  • @salsusmagnsu
    @salsusmagnsu 11 місяців тому +3

    Everyone needs this message!

  • @brendanaderifar2462
    @brendanaderifar2462 11 місяців тому +17

    Correct again Professor. History is indeed repeating itself. Thanks for the lesson on TDR,I had no idea of his beliefs on this subject. What's worse about it now is that more people are here to live in poverty while they wallow in their wealth.

  • @jimmyr9468
    @jimmyr9468 11 місяців тому +5

    Bring back the unions to bring back the middle class!

  • @LauraoAirylea
    @LauraoAirylea 10 місяців тому +2

    The Gilded Age is now at a global level. Workforce can be exploited from anywhere, in any currency. Even when labour was fair, somebody, somewhere is suffering so that prices on goods remain relatively affordable. The wealthy elite will always find ways to dodge accountability.

  • @greateagle8799
    @greateagle8799 10 місяців тому +1

    It’s not repeating it never ended. This is America. The only “benefit” of living in America over Europe is that this is encouraged.

  • @fredturner7787
    @fredturner7787 11 місяців тому +4

    We have always lived in a guilded age, just never awakend to it
    We go to work evey day at the whims of authoritarian bosses a decidedly undemocratic system
    When did you realize the myth the we live under a truly democratic system

  • @ricktarkowski1027
    @ricktarkowski1027 11 місяців тому +6

    Absolutely!
    History has been repeating the Gilded age since Reagan in 1981.

  • @bullpaxton2001
    @bullpaxton2001 10 місяців тому +3

    This should have way more likes. Why anyone would argue against these simple facts is wild. I'd love to hear some of the arguments defending the robber barrons. I'm sure they echo what we hear today. "They create jobs and wealth though!"

    • @msisles6278
      @msisles6278 10 місяців тому

      Why are they robber barons? What exactly did they steal? They all started companies from scratch and built them. How does Elon Musk affect your life. Is he taking something from you? Elaborate.

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      We have a debt so big it defies belief because democrats won't pay for the handouts they want leaving our children a bankrupt shell of a nation vote out handout democrats before it's to late our childrens future depend on it

  • @delavalmilker
    @delavalmilker 7 місяців тому

    As an ardent student of history, I am struck by the remarkable similarities between the Gilded Age of the late 19th/early 20th century, and what we are seeing today: consolidation and monopolization of critical industries, rise of a new "Robber Baron" class, huge wealth and income inequality, corruption of the political process by money. The parallels between the two ages are amazingly the same.

  • @eric2500
    @eric2500 10 місяців тому +2

    The figure labelled " Plain Business Man" being robbed reminds me of the enduing effects of one of those industries of the 50's and 60's - the Advertising Industry, as informed by Psychology, *which has tricked so many small and medium size business owners that they are on the side of their monopolist competitors rather than their workers and customers.*

  • @ShukakuTheCrazy1
    @ShukakuTheCrazy1 11 місяців тому +6

    This is the nature of capitalism

    • @karlabritfeld7104
      @karlabritfeld7104 11 місяців тому

      And you're good with it??

    • @ShukakuTheCrazy1
      @ShukakuTheCrazy1 11 місяців тому +1

      @@karlabritfeld7104 not in the slightest.

    • @homerthompson416
      @homerthompson416 11 місяців тому +1

      Yeah you already see Canada's social democracy backsliding and the UK's too. They'll end up like us because oligarchy is the stable equilibrium of capitalism.

  • @dvdv8197
    @dvdv8197 11 місяців тому +5

    The Roosevelts would be sooooo disappointed if they saw how basically EVERYTHING they achieved has been reversed over time. 😢😪

    • @fritzforsthoefel8031
      @fritzforsthoefel8031 10 місяців тому

      Roosevelt according to his own treasury secretary was a failure read what he wrote for yourself

  • @kelseystrate2035
    @kelseystrate2035 11 місяців тому +8

    The professor always tells it like it is.

  • @GhostRiderSpiritOfVengeance
    @GhostRiderSpiritOfVengeance 10 місяців тому +2

    The comparisons of then and now have truly depressed me for a long time. It feels good to see a video like this, and remind me that this IS totally beatable.
    Youve given me a lot of hope, for that you have earned a new subscriber 😊

  • @karmicsmite9920
    @karmicsmite9920 9 місяців тому

    I can't help but feel that Robert Reich is someone who is for ALL Americans...IF we'll listen to him

  • @b991228
    @b991228 11 місяців тому +4

    As our famous Uncle Bob would say, “Today’s hardship is all caused by bananas. The deregulation of bananas within government results in undue influence by a select few within our democracy.”

  • @antongeorghiou342
    @antongeorghiou342 11 місяців тому +3

    This is all very hopeful, however Robert misses a critical point. The end of the first Guilded Age did not come about because of regulations or trust busting or laws being passed that restricted the power of the robber barons. Those things were instead the consequence o something else. That something else was the Great Depression, which beginning in 1929, collapsed and ruined many companies and resulted in a weakening of power of the Robber Barons. The WW2 came later to finish off the last remnants because the turn from consumer production to military production helped collapse the last power the old Barrons and their companies still maintained following the depression. The rest of it, the regulations, the workers right, unions, minimum wage laws, that came only after the Robber Barons lost power.

  • @karllieck9064
    @karllieck9064 11 місяців тому +3

    We are in the Golden Age of Assholism.

  • @craigweidhuner6295
    @craigweidhuner6295 11 місяців тому +2

    Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

  • @josephabraham4058
    @josephabraham4058 10 місяців тому +2

    This “education” begins in public school. But there is no education today. It is difficult to find a HS graduate that can understand economic history. Even more difficult to find a college graduate who not only understands it, but appreciates the parallels.
    People are so buys today scrambling to survive, keep up with their neighbors, buy the American Dream, and consume their drugs and alcohol that it is impossible to get invested.
    “Please don’t take this little comfort”, they decry, “just leave me alone”.

  • @PizzaDave802
    @PizzaDave802 11 місяців тому +4

    👍👍

  • @Mark_Nadams
    @Mark_Nadams 11 місяців тому +8

    We need to find a way to show those duped by the republican rhetoric they are voting against their own best interests.

  • @kurtzwar729
    @kurtzwar729 11 місяців тому +4

    I Like Ike & his 91% Tax Rate. I Like Ike & his 91% Tax Rate. I Like Ike & his 91% Tax Rate. Tax the Rich, feed the poor. Until there are no rich no more. Vote Blue.

    • @thewolfdoctor761
      @thewolfdoctor761 11 місяців тому

      Ike was the only republican president of my lifetime that I liked and respected.

  • @plt903
    @plt903 11 місяців тому +2

    Money and lobbyist out of politics!! NOW!!!

  • @louis_the_hedgehog
    @louis_the_hedgehog 11 місяців тому +1

    This is why I am interested in the history of the American labor movement.