The Best Argument Against the Welfare State | Prof. Walter Williams

Walter E. Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. In this video, he gives the best argument against the welfare state and for free enterprise.
#walterwilliams #welfarestate
Full video, quoted under creative common: • Walter Williams on Gov...
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[@susancook3353]

"What do you call it when someone steals someone else's money secretly? Theft. What do you call it when someone takes someone else's money openly by force? Robbery. What do you call it when a politician takes someone else's money in taxes and gives it to someone who is more likely to vote for him? Social Justice." ~ Thomas Sowell

[@11kravitzn]

Is there no such thing as justly and rightfully taking what someone makes a claim to?

[@susancook3353]

@@11kravitzn Not in the context of taxing what one has earned and giving it to someone who has done nothing to warrant the taking other than that person's vote. No one has any right to demand from others what they, themselves haven't earned. Another Sowell quote: "Welfare states on both sides of the Atlantic have discovered that largesse to losers does not reduce their hostility to society, but only increases it. Far from producing gratitude, generosity is seen as an admission of guilt, and the reparations as inadequate compensations for injustices - leading to worsening behavior by the recipients." ~ Thomas Sowell

[@Macheako]

@@11kravitzn That's kind of an odd way of asking that question, and honestly man, I've seen this so many times in my own conversations, but just the way stuff gets phrased has a HUUUUGE impact on actually understanding the ideas. But you basically asked "Is there ever any rightful justification in taking something that belongs to another free person?" to which the answer is "Nah". But there's something which still begs the question in that question you asked. "Just what does it mean that something *belongs* to a person? And what IS and what ISNT Private Property and how do WE decide?" It really is crazy that so many people have to ask these questions (As I believe they are considered part of "Civil Life") when so much time, hardwork, and effort has gone into schooling, and public education. It's almost as if we're *literally* paying grown adults to teach millions of children various poor life habits and dysfunctional understandings of their own history.... almost ;)

[@11kravitzn]

@@susancook3353 If the taxes are being levied only to curry favor with a separate constituency, then that is immoral. But that is clearly a comically over-cynical mischaracterization of taxation and welfare. As long as the community (including the government that represents them) has the ability to take from you what you make a claim to, you only use it with the implicit allowance of the community. Ownership only means that people are able and willing to protect your usage of a thing. That someone gives you something doesn't mean anything if it isn't theirs to give. That you do something for someone and they nominally give you something doesn't mean you earn it. You're right that no one has the right to demand something from others. But the community and those acting on its behalf can ask it's members for what the community seems their due, and to take by requisite means (force, if necessary) what they refuse to relinquish. The Sowell quote is a baseless claim that obviously requires evidence if it wants to be taken seriously by any by the most credulous.

[@Pseudify]

Rex Juglandorum. I bet the community of viewers of this video would gladly vote to confiscate most or all of your money. And we would do this with the implicit assumption that we are protecting your right to view content such as this. I believe this is what the community seems their due. I have spoken...

[@michaeltevis1180]

Rip professor Williams a true peaceful giant.

[@melchiel4413]

This man, Walter E. Williams, G-d bless him, has gotten me to re-dedicate myself and try again. I am going through something that is stopping me functioning (even more than my disabilities normally do), I considered offing myself to be honest with you. Not being able to work or go to school indefinitely is a horrible prospect to a grown man with any sense of dignity. I don't know if I'll be successful, but I have to at least try.

[@machinebp23]

@@melchiel4413keep trucking brother.

[@melchiel4413]

This man, Walter E. Williams, G-d bless him, has gotten me to re-dedicate myself and try again. I am going through something that is stopping me functioning (even more than my disabilities normally do), I considered offing myself to be honest with you. Not being able to work or go to school indefinitely is a horrible prospect to a grown man with any sense of dignity. I don't know if I'll be successful, but I have to at least try.

[@LH-nd9qg]

Guessing by the video and sound quality, that suit and those spectacles this has to be mid 90's

[@solonsolon9496]

Almost, it's earlier, it's 1992.

[@sirkayda7205]

Shoulder pads. Definitely early 90's. And still accurate today.

[@youren8]

My favorite Rush Limbaugh guest host!

[@DarthBalsamic]

I wish more people understood this. It's astonishing how even the people running government and are voted in don't even understand. Even so-called economists who are are celebrated, especially on the left, but also on the so-called right, don't understand what Walter William's is explaining here. If this was understood, as even the Founders and any economist worth his salt would, this government would be ran much more efficiently and limitedly, as well as fulfilling it's core responsibility. We have things all backwards now.

[@SirLurkington]

Another difference between taxes and theft is that taxes contain an allocation, paying someone to do it so there’s more loss through the process compared to theft where it’s generally 1:1.

[@nPcDrone]

Government should help everyone by doing less

[@thornsoylentgreen7166]

yes, i agree. Government should help everyone by doing less. But their help and causes everyone to do less. Lazy people do less.,companies do less and workers do less.

[@walta369]

Once the government controls companies and corporations they don't need to improve in those fields. Almost all inventions, all innovation, and all improvements came from competition. Competition brings innovation not government. The government should help create opportunity and stay out of as much as possible in times of ease and help in crisis. That is balance. The global failures historically even nowadays of governments also proves that they should stick to basic things and protection as well as law enforcement. The bigger the government the smaller the citizen.

[@wolfgangglechner8490]

Despite its very poor sound quality, this videoclip is great and worth listening several times: It shoes the very simple truth behind state founded welfare in very compelling examples. Great Professor!

[@kimobrien.]

The beginning of the constitution says "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare," Promote the General Welfare. Its doesn't say promote the impoverishment of the people for the benefit of a few or make promises we have no intention of keeping.

[@Jean-qn4fy]

The government isn't giving Don's $200 to the lady. They are going to use $100 for her and keep $100 for admin fees.

[@rickkrockstar]

If you teach a man to fish, then charge him a daily percentage of what he catches, you own him, but if you teach a man to fish for a single payment, then you have taught a man to fish for his freedom.

[@11kravitzn]

Taxes are not a royalty. They are a recompensation to the society and community that brought him up, taught him to fish, and provides the myriad other comforts, conveniences, opportunities and guarantees that he enjoys, yet so often takes for granted.

[@roar40s]

@@11kravitzn You are totally wrong.

[@wolfgangglechner8490]

@@11kravitzn Thats only half true. Taxes are a mix of funding 1. essentially necessary tasks like civil and outer security, infrastructure etc. and 2. social transfer or redistribution. Your point is only valid for number 1.

[@11kravitzn]

@@wolfgangglechner8490 What's the difference between taxes going to foodstamps or to fixing bridges in a poor area of the country? Both are taking funds and using them to pay for things people could pay for themselves but simply don't have the means to do so. There is no sharp distinction. Taxes are what we pay back to our community, that the community can use to make life better for its members. It only feels like theft to those with no gratitude, compassion, or comraderie. My point stands for both public goods that affect many members of the community (such as security or infrastructure), as well as for narrower goods that only affect individuals such as foodstamps or financial assistance. At any rate, in no case are taxes a royalty as the OP implies, which was one of my main points and you did nothing to contest that.

[@wolfgangglechner8490]

@@11kravitznDear Nutking, public funded infrastructure equals opportunities and not the individual outcome. The most vulnerable thing is individual incentive and motivation, and even a slight skewing on that field makes a huge damage over years leave alone decades, both for the Individuum and society. Anyway I appreciate your serious contributions to this debate, while still having a different opinion.

[@hottyoompaloompa1782]

Brilliant!

[@drg111yt]

Excellent - statists should spend more time playing in the traffic.

[@harrybudgeiv349]

Being an anarchist and Capitalist is the dumbest thing

[@markking8274]

Wow! Succinct and so well stated.

[@Macheako]

yo, a video of a well dressed black man just droppin TRUF BOMBS on the welfare state.... hand me the popcorn 🤣🍿🍿🍿

[@joeiiiful]

Spot on.

[@therealraulcamacho6260]

Brain cell count increased by watching this

[@jeremyhodge6216]

This video is should sum it up about Big Government 🤔

[@jima611]

I don’t entirely agree with this if it’s about taxes, but when it comes to welfare I think it’s spot on. Certain taxes have their place, although small and limited. Welfare has little to no place. Too many people can benefit from it that’s don’t need to because it’s made too easy.

[@valerietaylor9615]

It’s not that easy to get welfare, and even harder to keep it, because they’ll use any excuse to deny your benefits if they can. Besides, half of the households that are eligible for food stamps, don’t even apply.

[@Boricua1966]

Government = MOB. (No offense to the Mob)

[@Angel268201]

When this talk take place?

[@Neworldisordered]

1992 .. see link to original speech under video

[@Angel268201]

msk msk thank you

[@bbeaum1]

"Capitalism has been so successful in eliminating the traditional problems of man, the historic problems of man, such as disease, pestilence, gross hunger and poverty that all other human problems appear to us to be at once inexcusable and unbearable." Walter Williams 0:43

[@Jeremy-ql1or]

No disrespect to Dr. Walters but I there are lots of better arguments against the welfare state.

[@Tounushi]

TaXaTiOn Is ThEfT

[@harrybudgeiv349]

We already pay taxes. Why can't we decide where that money goes?

[@russelltimmerman3771]

5:57 ALL governments are coercive. Every single one in history.... In addition every single culture in history has redistribution.. And nearly always it is in some way a coerced redistribution... Taxes have been around for longer than currency. Even in Tribal communities if you were not willing to share your kill you could easily find yourself ostracized from said community and in most cases that is a death sentence, because pre technological individuals do not last in the wilds on their own for long. So what you are complaining about is simply the human condition. Humans coerce each other.. and have done so for as long as there have been humans. We tried laissez faire capitalism in the 19th century, the results were so horrific we did away with the concept. Capitalism did not solve human ills on its own, it was mixed societies, that hold both values of personal freedom and communal interests in tension with each other, that did away with starvation, and people dying in the streets. You can't solve for any one value (in this case individual freedom) without destroying your society. People hold many values, and often they conflict, and a good society is always evaluating those values, debating them and working out the best compromises as our circumstances change.

[@Sharedcare]

I struggle with the concepts being promoted, not sure when this event took place but maybe somewhat outdated, how ever certainly does not correlate with my value system, how we treat the most unfortunate in our society reflects our humanity

[@charactersmoreorthree]

I agree that how we treat the unfortunate reflects our humanity, I'm sure Professor Williams would agree; what he's speaking towards is using coercive or physical violence to achieve those goals. If we did away with government welfare, there would still be private charity, which still takes place despite the money taken from taxes, and I'd argue that it would increase to offset the effort through government handouts. Private charities also would better spend the money since they wouldn't have a steady stream of guaranteed like that taken at the barrel of a gun. Before the welfare state, for millennia charities, religious institutions and mutual aid societies provided for those in need, it's not hard to believe that would happen again when the welfare state apparatus is dissolved.

[@roar40s]

How WE treat them. Not the government. Look into objective selfishness. A philosophy of Ayn Rand.

[@Sharedcare]

@nickyiil I am not enforcing my morality on the rest I am simply voicing an opinion and you have no right to stop me doing so

[@Sharedcare]

@@charactersmoreorthree Well I would suggest that whilst taxation may be coercive which of course it is, it is a condition of living in (to a greater to lesser degree) a stable regulated society and that needs to have very wealthy individuals paying a sensible amount of tax as a proportion of their income to fund this rather than relying on their charity

[@daviddegraff5137]

Help them up, don't hold them up.

[@harrybudgeiv349]

So he is literally saying that we need to get rid of the entire government. That's not going to happen

[@chestermarcol3831]

No, what he is saying is that our government, well intentioned at first, has grown into a bully. A cancer. It takes as much as it wants, and doesn't give a damn about accountability for how the money they took from you is spent. Taxation w/o representation. I would submit that the only way, at this point, it can be dealt with, is the same way the future citizens of this country dealt with it the last time.

[@BrianMcGuirkBMG]

Horsefeathers!

[@joeiiiful]

Explain your comment please. Does it mean that you disagree with Professor Williams?

[@BrianMcGuirkBMG]

@@joeiiiful Yes. Of course. It's complete right wing nonsense. Saying tax is theft is preposterous. Health services in most western countries are not run for pure profit. People due and or are bankrupted in the US for lack of access to healthcare. Americans pay about 3 times over for healthcare compared to other countries. It's the land of the free only if you're very wealthy. Nobody in the UK goes bankrupt with medical bills. Americans comprehend the need for taxes to finance roads and police and fire services. But healthcare it too close to communism for you. Your wealthy leaders induce fear of communism long after communism is ancient history. Just move the line to include a few more things to benefit the whole of society and you'll all be better off.

[@11kravitzn]

If this is the BEST argument against welfare, then welfare is completely safe.

[@roar40s]

Fool.

[@joeiiiful]

What is your argument?

[@11kravitzn]

@@joeiiiful ...that if this is the best, and as this is terrible, the best argument is terrible, and so the competing claim is easily defended.

[@raymundhofmann7661]

What about (too much) welfare rewarding failure, thus oppressing peoples self responsibility, motives and purpose? Can be seen in wealthy European countries nicely.

[@11kravitzn]

@@raymundhofmann7661 Can you link me to any empirical evidence for that claim?

[@dachronic6709]

Umm i dont know what he meant "the government has no source" Umm tax payers are the source. sry

[@lordgrishnakh1148]

Ummm that was Exactly the point. The government can't Do anything without forcefully Undoing something else (thought taxes), because it does not produce it's Own wealth For itself like a private person does.

[@kristianmarinov8851]

80% Ideology, 20% Factual Description. A gross ommission of facts, and relevant perspectives for analysing welfare holistically.

[@jamesstrutz4937]

I DISAGREE WITH YOUR CONCLUSION & PREMISE. WILLIAMS IS RIGHT ON!!!

[@harrybudgeiv349]

This video has zero argumentation of why the welfare state is actually bad. No one cares about theory, either give us alternatives with results or stop talking

[@agricolaregs]

Capitalism is the alternative.

[@ctrchg]

Just another disguised put-down of those who need. Jeez, what a load of BS.

[@donaldbryan1521]

Gary Monti - got substance?

[@TehOldGamer]

If they need so much you'd better help them. I'm not interested. I have enough trouble taking care of my own.

[@minorityblogger]

Substantial “feels” I’d wager

[@rickkrockstar]

Welfare is all basic psychology, it's Classical Conditioning.. it's how you train a dog to do something without showing them food, welfare dies the same it rewards for not working...

[@joeiiiful]

Would you be so kind as to explain your comment. Of course you won't because you have no argument that has any substance. Further if you are a Leftist Marxist, Socialist, Communist Democrat then you definitely don't have any argument of substance.

[@mikeyseo]

This guy is a Schill

[@Neworldisordered]

Why?

[@thesaneparty4079]

Yes- He's a shill for Big Reason. Those dastardly people who think freedom is a good thing.

[@mikeyseo]

@@Neworldisordered bc he makes shit up. Makes baseless statement after baseless statement. He simply draws out a fantastical picture for you to believe. Using the characters we all know. The world is complex. But we dont need idiots like this to tell us how it works. Because all he is doing is LYING. Or this guy doesnt know what he is talking about. I seen him once talk about how ppl.get married based on perceived sexual or material benefits. This is simply NOT true.

[@mikeyseo]

@@thesaneparty4079 only idiots read the topic and immediately agree with the content.

[@jfuite]

@@mikeyseo You mean some people get married based on perceived sexual or material benefits?? What?? Oh no, of course not. Obviously, we get married to play patty cakes together.

[@gorillapeeteets8203]

You bought that house with what professor? Money I assume? Money used from where?