What's Wrong with an "Entitlement Society"? - Matt Bruenig

[@donyoung7874]

Entitlement's talking to your constituents from the back of your yacht, after they have to kayak out to it in order to find out why you aren't supporting the president's infrastructure bill. But hey, at least he gave them a few minutes of his time to talk about it. Sinema on the other hand...

[@stevesmith7839]

In fact, production per person has increased by hundreds of times since the beginning of the industrial revolution. There is no jobs for a huge percentage of the populations of first world countries. All the "free market" industry couldn't put everyone able to work if it wanted to. All the American "unemployment" figures don't account for people who have given up looking for work and people who are under employed or working 3 jobs just to be able to eat. The problem isn't that workers don't create enough wealth in the course of their job to support themself and others. Profitability has increased by several times particularly over the last 30 years in which real wages have also shrank. So, the owner class has been scooping up ALL the additional wealth created while at the same time divorcing themselves from most tax liability and putting themself into the biggest welfare class making the government subsidize them, bail them out, buy bad assets off their books, and simp for them. Meanwhile, it is economic Darwinism for the working class. This isn't about "equality." This is about running a society in a way that works. 600,000 medical related bankruptcies a year does not work. 40,000 deaths per year from not having health insurance does not work. More than half of Americans not able to financially survive a 400 dollar emergency does not work. Having riots tearing through our cities does not work. Conducting war across half the globe for a cost of ONE TRILLION A YEAR does not work. Destroying the global ecosystem so that public health suffers and environmental disaster happens does not work.

[@cow_tools_]

Matt Bruenig has a great podcast voice.

[@selfishcapitalist3523]

An entitlement society is a miserable society.

[@JudoJonny5]

Forget stoves. Having front facing refrigerators instead of chest/cooler style that keep the cold in instead of pouring it out every time you open the door would save enough power to run a whole State or two per anum. But then you'd have to dig for your vegan hummus which is way, way too much to ask

[@falsificationism]

Love the graphic. It equally applies to first generation college kids who often make 2-3x what their family members make. Perhaps nearly $100k/yr. But they use a good percentage of their post-tax income to help out family members with basic living expenses, really just leaving about the same left over as everyone else, despite the high income. Or worse, they support family AND have student loan debt to service, limiting their ability to add new family members.

[@samzeng159]

I don't know why but a lot of American or even European kitchens do not have range hoods. If you are going to use a gas stove you 100% need a hood to vent the gas.

[@ConanDuke]

10:00 Sustainable Biogas: If you vent you septic and compost to your gas stove, it's actually better for the environment. Electric stoves typically run off of coal. Hope this helps.

[@selfishcapitalist3523]

Poor people should have fewer kids than rich people. Problem solved.

[@RowenaSnow-px3jg]

No factory workers to make money off of, then.

[@peteferguson518]

In France we call our social safety system "Etat-Providence" providential state.

[@marshallkvas2211]

I think it might be the colonial taxes 😂

[@laurentsaint-laurent3659]

Maybe some PR person or think-tank should rename it "demand side capitalism" to make the pill easier to swallow .... After all these years of "supply sides capitalism" ...

[@mortotalitarianism]

Taxing labor is a good thing. Protect asset holders by funding the government via taxing labor. 25% VAT is good. Land Value Taxes are bad. Nordic liberalism is the way.

[@kkimberling]

I've heard that value added taxes are regressive, but I'm not that familiar with them. Why would VATs be preferable to other types of taxes in your opinion?

[@daheikkinen]

The Nordic model taxes the lower and middle class more. The taxes on the 1 percenters are similar to America.

[@mortotalitarianism]

@@kkimberling I'm a totalitarian. I want the maximal possible amount of government involvement with the taxation. I don't like streamlined/simple tax plans -- I like elaborate/excessive bureaucrat-dependent tax plans.

[@kkimberling]

@@mortotalitarianism Ah, I see. Well at least you're honest.

[@selfishcapitalist3523]

@@mortotalitarianism Thanks for the honesty.

[@thegrumpyoldmechanic6245]

"Promote the general welfare" mean anything?

[@TheMKCrab]

"provide for the common defense" too

[@whatareyoulookingat908]

Promote and provide are two different things.

[@LongDefiant]

@@whatareyoulookingat908 The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; (, Article I, Section 8, Clause 1)

[@mortotalitarianism]

It means everything. It means the government can do whatever it wants -- not that the government was allowed to do whatever the powers were that the founders listed in the constitution in a manner that would promote the general welfare. Why would government people try to write a document that would limit their powers?

[@whatareyoulookingat908]

@@LongDefiant Not really. If you go back the founders spoke specifically to this and how it would be unnecessary to add to the Constitution if congress truly had that authority; it was just for defense and promoting the common good. ** However, the OP stated the Promote as opposed to the provide.

[@Hoireabard]

Pay-per-child welfare was a disaster for the USA. There was a good faith effort to create an “entitlement” society in the 60’s war on poverty. Who could have anticipated how people would abuse a well intentioned program? If at first you don’t succeed try, try again. Try like the Scandinavians who are smarter in their efforts. But be cognizant of why the USA first failed or you will never be successful. Try again.

[@marshallsweatherhiking1820]

This current bill doesn't have much at all in the way of pure "welfare" (as in cash payments). The vast majority of the money is for very specific things. I'm also more in favor of government paying people to DO THINGS... but it seems the COC bourgeoisie oppose that even more than "handouts" because they don't want government cutting into their labor market.

[@cameronb3834]

I’m pretty entitled I don’t give a crap

[@markdevine7934]

Induction is the best way to cook for the planet

[@bfrost7]

listen to the podcast, first time watching a vid, jenn pan is a cutie.

[@matthewmcree1992]

Wow, Matt you finally found the thing that I, a Marxist, truly have in common with the woke bougy liberals we all love to hate: I love gourmet cuisine/cooking AND gas rangetops! The difference is that I believe EVERYONE should have access to fancy cuisine and a fancy kitchen!

[@willdurant141]

Gas gotta go

[@musicmansion3110]

We pay taxes for SS so I wouldn't consider it welfare.

[@zefreak]

Most americans get out more from SS than they ever put in - it is a welfare program

[@dmike3507]

It's a myth that welfare isn't something we pay for. Everybody who has ever had a job, and paid taxes, has paid for every welfare program. However private charities provide assistance that people don't pay for, thus it's quite strange why conservatives love private charities but hate the government. Needless to say people are very confused in this society.

[@whatareyoulookingat908]

I back Manchin's opposition. The working class cannot afford more inflation that the bill would bring.

[@5508Vanderdekken]

Please explain your theory of money and inflation - it seems absolutely fascinating

[@dmike3507]

You can easily look up past inflation rates and how they've been affected by large government spending programs (spoiler alert: it has NEVER in our nation's history led to an out-of-control inflationary spiral). Inflation is affected by many different factors and it fluctuates whether there are large government spending programs or not. That being said tax increases are supposed to stifle inflation yet our taxes are at the lowest rates they've been since the early 1930s.

[@marshallsweatherhiking1820]

@jay t dawgzone Not to mention, most of the time an increase in the money supply is driven by banks lending at low interest rates. If inflation gets out of hand, the central bank will raise their interest rate. The federal government does spend money into existence as well, but that's only a part of the picture. The bigger source is actually banks. Over the past 12 years inflation was low despite massive QE, because corporations were mostly hoarding the cash injections after they "trickled up".

[@whatareyoulookingat908]

@jay t dawgzone The rich already pay a disproportionately high amount of taxes. The "rich" as you call them typically aren't as wealthy as you might imagine. In truth, a large percentage of them have their wealth invested in their companies they built... this includes many average homeowners who may have had a house for years and bought a second that they rent out. Maybe you should instead better yourself and get other like-minded individuals to pay for things YOU believe in and leave everyone else alone? It seems you are being cavalier with other people's money but not your own.

[@whatareyoulookingat908]

@@dmike3507 Sure it has, you just didn't look very hard.. See the Carter administration. And spending such high levels when we're already seeing a drop in consumer confidence, jobs, wages proportionate to inflation, etc is a horrible idea. So again,., why would you want to hurt the working class more?

[@ericrobertbradley6591]

I guess in a market society the only children that should survive are from successful parents 😕 we need to acknowledge how deadly our system really is

[@selfishcapitalist3523]

Natural selection

[@ericrobertbradley6591]

@@selfishcapitalist3523 humanity has conquered nature

[@selfishcapitalist3523]

@@ericrobertbradley6591 That's a heresy of socialism.

[@joebibiano4461]

A conservative argument is that the entitlement society works in Scandinavia because they are small monoculture societies. Would be a great debate.

[@marshallsweatherhiking1820]

Do you have reasoning to back up any of this up? The USA is not really that much more "multicultural" than most European countries. You'd know if you traveled there. The only difference I see is the US had more slavery.

[@nickbooze9766]

Matt is so goofy looking. I’m absolutely trying to steal Liz from him.

[@weejockpoopongmcplop]

He's like the human embodiment of a potato.

[@RowenaSnow-px3jg]

He's a cute sort of goofy.

[@tylerhackner9731]

Nothing

[@mitchclark1532]

You should watch the videos instead of just commenting on the titles.

[@joebibiano4461]

Happiness and well-being is distinct. The Scandinavians are happy because they are content and stable, yet when they do endure adversity, they are significantly fragile. Suffering builds resilient character. This is the conclusion.

[@marshallsweatherhiking1820]

The US seems pretty fragile to me. Other places have far more community cohesion. It's not ethnic tension either. It's the absurd levels of individualism.

[@LongDefiant]

Violent protests erupting out of nowhere? Constant talk of civil war and secession? White vs Asian vs Black vs Hispanic? Republican vs Democrat? Seems fragile to me.

[@daheikkinen]

The Finns have sisu

[@selfishcapitalist3523]

@@LongDefiant Diversity is a weakness, NOT a strength.