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capitalism

concept · in 73 videos (2009–2026)

The market system John calls in many ways great but in need of regulation, whose corporations exist to make money. The brothers try to build companies that do good and give away all their profits. Later Hank faulted its pull toward problems the wealthy want solved and praised Complexly for adding more value than it captures.

Videos by year: 2009: 4 · 2010: 3 · 2011: 2 · 2012: 2 · 2013: 3 · 2014: 5 · 2015: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2023: 13 · 2024: 10 · 2025: 8 · 2026: 6

Also known as: markets, a capitalist case, businesses need profit, do businesses need to suck

Threads

Also named in the threads: John's house renovation and flooded basement (2009) · Hollywood, Ending: announcement and publication of John's novel (2026)

Questions

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

economic inequality (3) · attention economy (3) · extreme poverty (3) · recommender system (2) · United States (5) · DFTBA Records (3) · Donald Trump (2) · YouTube (3)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2009

  • 2009-01-20 · Hank's Journal!!! — Hank: His high-school songs range from rants against capitalism to lyrics raunchier than Eminem, which he won't share for fear of embarrassment or being flagged on YouTube. — 00:01:39
  • 2009-04-12 · The Death of Youtube?? Redesign Coming — John finds it strange that people think YouTube has a responsibility to the little guy: corporations are not in the business of being awesome, they exist to make money. — 00:01:20
  • 2009-10-11 · Puppy Elephant Defends Capitalism — John says capitalism has had a bad time recently: failure to regulate the free market is blamed for the Great Recession, the American healthcare system and more. — 00:00:40
    • John says he thinks the free market is in many ways a great thing. (hedged) — 00:00:50
    • John sketches a business: a dollar of fabric makes a puppy-sized elephant costume sold for $5, reinvested into more costumes until you are rich. (hypothetical) — 00:01:06
    • John says the free market lets him get competing bids from multiple contractors, making his basement repair as cheap and efficient as possible. (playful) — 00:01:27
    • John says capitalism isn't that simple: it runs on debt, since scaling a business needs borrowed money repaid with interest, which a good idea (costumes, penicillin) can repay at a profit. — 00:01:39
    • John says that when loan capital flows freely, wealth gets created. — 00:02:10
    • John grants that an unregulated free market can also lead to decreased economic activity, illustrated with a joke about costumed puppies keeping people home. — 00:02:14
    • John says that, on average, people in countries with freer markets get richer over time because those markets create wealth. — 00:02:27
  • 2009-12-13 · Eyelash Malaria — John argues that as long as drug companies are driven solely by the free market, too much money goes to eyelash research and too little to malaria research. — 00:00:44
    • John argues a malaria cure would not profit its maker as quickly as an eyelash drug, but its profits would rise long-term as the world economy grew; the free market isn't forward-thinking enough to see this. — 00:01:42

2010

  • 2010-01-11 · Ecosystem Services 101 with Hank — Hank argues that despite the supposed battle between capitalism and the environment, the environment is very good for the economy; destroying ecosystems for gain costs us in the long term. — 00:03:16
  • 2010-02-08 · Hypocrisy: All They Want is Money — Hank says big corporations create brands to sell more to more people, aiming campaigns at demographics with specific beliefs, while not caring about those brand values as long as the brands make money. — 00:01:08
    • Hank concludes there is only one corporate philosophy and brand value, make more money; corporations do good things only when that makes more people buy their products. — 00:03:29
    • Hank says big corporations have no conscience and only one goal; it is easy to forget, but it will always be true. — 00:03:43
  • 2010-12-27 · To: You - - From: The Vlogbrothers — Hank says the book is useful because he and John are now in the t-shirt business and want to be in it in a way that does not increase world suck. — 00:00:27

2011

  • 2011-01-26 · I OWN WARNER CHILCOTT! — John, a self-described capitalist, believes free and open markets yield better, cheaper goods, but not in unregulated markets: Walmart should not be allowed to sell highly enriched uranium. — 00:00:57
  • 2011-09-26 · Awesome Bankers? — John concludes that bankers can reduce world suck and that we can be bankers, facilitating sustainable economic growth in the developing world. — 00:02:55

2012

  • 2012-09-25 · Do Businesses Need to Suck? — John sets out to explain how he and Hank try to run DFTBA Records, their e-tailer, as a business that doesn't suck. — 00:00:00
    • John says we all feel for-profit companies kind of suck even though we like what they make, like iPads and Dr Pepper, and wonders why, as co-owner of one. — 00:00:00
    • John is excited for DFTBA Records to also become a place where talented people without built-in audiences can make things that help pay for college and travel. — 00:02:55
    • John calls all this their continuing attempt to build a business without being evil, hoping they are expanding in the right directions. — 00:03:24
  • 2012-11-04 · Policy and Politics: Brotherhood 2.0 Week Begins — John explains the idea behind capital gains: growing the economy needs large, risky upfront investments, and investors willing to take risks are super useful. — 00:01:27

2013

  • 2013-05-24 · What's Up with Start Ups — Hank thinks an interesting, sustainable business comes from treating users as people you need, not as hours to be monetized. (hedged) — 00:02:31
  • 2013-05-31 · Optimism is Not Insane — Hank thinks we see a graph rising toward a disaster point and assume we have only years left, but usually we adapt: capitalism, technology and even Congress adapt. (hedged) — 00:02:04
  • 2013-09-03 · Bigger Pizzas: A Capitalist Case for Health Care Reform — John returns to the subject of America's inefficient health care system to make a capitalist argument for reform, starting with a brief defense of capitalism. — 00:00:00
    • John: thanks to innovation and competition capitalism makes the pizza bigger over time, so even a constant percentage slice means more pizza; that is why people now have refrigerators. — 00:00:29

2014

  • 2014-04-29 · Influence, Airports, and the Nerdfighter Book Club — John says the people of Annawadi whom Katherine Boo writes about live above the global poverty line and participate in, some would say benefit from, global capitalism, with complicated results. — 00:02:59
  • 2014-06-10 (said on 2014-06-07, implied) · Our Old Friend Complexity: Behind the Beautiful Forevers — John says that by many measures life in Annawadi is better than it would be without global capitalism and the growth of the over-city. — 00:02:52
  • 2014-09-22 · Bill Gates and John Green Discuss Agriculture — John says agriculture is a weird market: capitalist, yet the US gives what amounts to direct assistance through crop insurance; like health, it is kind of a market and kind of not. — 00:00:56
  • 2014-09-29 · Bill Gates and John Green Discuss Progress — Bill Gates: Gates calls capitalism a weird but fantastic system: it gives people an incentive to work, but lets someone with certain skills and timing end up with mind-blowing resources. — 00:01:24
  • 2014-10-03 · Hong Kong Protests Explained — Hank calls Hong Kong a capitalist powerhouse created as a bridge to the capitalist world, with the world's third largest stock exchange and the eighth most traded currency. — 00:01:47
    • Hank notes some hope Hong Kong, a testing ground for China's capitalism, could test Chinese democracy, but says the cultural gap between China's control and Hong Kong's freedom may be too big. (hedged) — 00:04:48
    • Hank hopes that, as China found ways to allow actual capitalism within its borders, there may be a way for actual democracy too: a fantastic outcome. 'I guess we'll see.' (hedged) — 00:06:13

2015

  • 2015-04-07 · John Reviews Kids Movies — John says The Lego Movie is a story about overcoming the creativity-stifling power of big business, itself made by a big business and a movie-length commercial for another. — 00:00:10
    • John says one could argue corporate America critiques itself only to look good and sell more, but the film has a fantastic theme song and is enjoyable, so he forgives it everything. (playful) — 00:00:49
  • 2015-06-12 · Why is College So Expensive? — Hank says rising spending looks like a natural outgrowth of capitalism and short-term self-interest, but asks whether treating students as customers will disserve everyone. (hedged) — 00:04:07

2016

  • 2016-04-05 · What's Wrong with Monopoly? — John says Monopoly's worst flaw is its self-contradictory take on capitalism: land and monopolies come by a roll of the dice, yet it celebrates getting rich by bankrupting opponents. — 00:01:23
    • John argues the tale of a genius rightly rewarded is really a woman's invention improved by thousands of players: a story of capitalism working turns out to be capitalism failing. — 00:03:01
  • 2016-06-10 · Hank Roasts Himself Diss Track - Roast Yourself Challenge — Hank raps that he pays people to do things and help him create: capitalism, a system he supports though his former self would hate it. (playful) — 00:01:27

2017

  • 2017-02-14 · Human Life Is Getting Better. Faster Than Ever Before. — John grants that Cold War foreign aid was often minimally effective at reducing poverty and improving health, but says it was designed to sway governments toward capitalism or communism; aid since 1990 has been better targeted, especially in health care, and he points to an OECD research overview. — video description
  • 2017-07-28 · Why You Haven't Started a Business — Hank: Saying it is not a simple story and others research it better, Hank wants more people to know the joy of starting their own thing, giving someone a job and building a team that creates value. — 00:03:15
  • 2017-09-15 · My Butt Has Some Complaints About Australia — Hank says toilet paper pricing is intentionally confusing and wants a per-yard cost; that is how profit works. — 00:03:10
    • Hank argues a business buying lots of toilet paper sees that premium as a big expense to eliminate, at the cost of people with butt problems having a good day. — 00:03:41

2018

  • 2018-01-09 · Your Attention — John doesn't buy the argument that this makes corporations or the people who work at them evil. — 00:02:49
  • 2018-11-09 · I Don't Know What Work Is — Hank believes in these projects not because they are good businesses but because they are sustainable engines for doing good, and because they bring him joy. — 00:03:06

2019

  • 2019-01-11 · What is Burnout? — Hank says this matters especially in our twenties, and thinks American reliance on 'all-capitalism-all-the-time' is a big part of how workers have been exploited and put in unsustainable situations. (hedged) — video description
  • 2019-02-22 · I Don't Want The Same Things Anymore — Hank says it's just about people coming together to solve problems and make things people like. — 00:03:25
  • 2019-04-26 · It's Time to Care About "Business" — Hank argues it is important to understand business, a weird, imaginary structure that is nonetheless the foundation of much of how humans create value today. — 00:02:26
  • 2019-07-26 · The Best $10,000 I Ever Spent — Hank: As long as business leaders keep believing the lies of Econ 101, Hank says, we will be destroying value when we think we are creating it. — 00:02:59

2020

  • 2020-01-17 · It's Like Shark Tank, but for Charity — Hank sees business as good: employing people, treating them fairly, creating value for the world and finding ways for that value to sustain itself. — 00:00:30
  • 2020-11-27 · Finally Launching this Project!!! — Hank questions the one thing companies won't compromise on, making money: a company selling needed, easy-to-make goods could give all the money away. — 00:00:50

2021

  • 2021-09-21 · how we spend our days — John: Trying to spend his days carefully, John meets an obstacle: aspirational capitalism says he has absolute choice, but even with immense professional privilege he has little choice in what he does with his days. — 00:00:29

2022

  • 2022-07-22 · What are These Boys Doing?? — Hank: The brothers are trying to find out whether they can make things people really love and build companies that give away all their profits, so the money makes the world better rather than the owners' lives. — 00:00:33

2023

  • 2023-06-20 · Reflections from a Terrible CEO — John says the biggest reason he enjoys the job despite its meetings is the companies' whys: every company has a problem to solve, and theirs are, in his opinion, the best. — 00:03:33
  • 2023-06-27 · Alone on the Cancer Boat: A Vlogbrothers Reunion — John says he has never been so enthusiastic about a for-profit-for-charity venture in his life. — 00:00:00
  • 2023-07-11 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson — John says J&J is not an evil monolith but a company of people, most of whom he believes want their work to make the world better. — 00:04:52
  • 2023-07-14 · The Good News Video — Hank says people at J&J have worked far harder on multidrug-resistant TB than he has, and infectious-disease researchers could probably earn more on baldness cures or cancer research, so he doesn't want to be mad at the whole company: writing it off is wrong. — 00:01:53
  • 2023-08-01 · Three Mornings — John argues corporations too often mask or invisibilize the work behind their products so consumers won't think about it; the Awesome Coffee Club wants buyers to know its coffee's makers are talented and passionate. — 00:04:31
  • 2023-09-12 · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Danaher and Cepheid — John says Danaher choosing profits over people is not inevitable: most people want to do right and sometimes just need polite but impassioned reminders. — 00:07:23
  • 2023-09-14 · Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES — John says no child dreams of being a pharma executive who limits access; most such people want to make the world better and need polite but insistent reminders that this doesn't mean maximizing short-term profit. — 00:33:48
  • 2023-09-15 · The Worst Disease in Human History — Hank says the people at Danaher and Cepheid, despite their pricing targets, can look hard at the spreadsheets, ask what is right, and get MDR-TB cartridges to about $5. — 00:04:58
  • 2023-09-19 · So, um.... GOOD NEWS?!?!?! — John says advocacy should reflect that these companies have made choices that expand access to diagnostics for those who need them most. — 00:03:55
  • 2023-09-30 · An Incredible Update — John gives J&J huge credit for showing it cares about patient access, even though it acted under heavy pressure, including from governments such as South Africa's. — 00:02:00
  • 2023-12-01 · It's OK if you think less of me after this! — Hank's goal, though he doesn't know if they'll ever reach it, is to beat Newman's Own, as companies compete for market share and profit. — 00:04:55
  • 2023-12-05 · MASSIVE Tuberculosis News — John finds it most interesting that the trial used existing drugs in innovative combinations rather than proving a patentable billion-dollar compound, the kind of trial drug companies have little incentive to run. — 00:03:24
  • …and 1 statement more in 2023 — all statements of 2023

2024

  • 2024-01-16 · The Bank of Nerdfighteria — John: The idea from the start was that by working with really talented people, starting businesses could raise more money than the brothers could ever donate on their own, and that has happened. — 00:01:55
  • 2024-03-26 · I Own Danaher — John argues that if a company's primary obligation is to shareholders rather than employees, customers or the social order, the only way to make Danaher do right is reputational harm exceeding its profit from overcharging the poor. — 00:03:06
  • 2024-08-07 · Dear Hank and John Livestream! — John finds it distressing to turn his self into a capitalized resource, the purest capitalism, where the influencer economy measures a person's value by how well they monetize themselves. — 00:24:05
  • 2024-08-09 · Why isn't This Illegal? — Hank says Good Store makes it easy to do what customers want because its incentive is a good long-term relationship, not locking people in for one extra month. — 00:04:47
  • 2024-09-25 · You have no chance to survive make your time. — John has come to love it more as an extensive collaboration: online there are still moments capitalism can't capture, when people mash up many people's work across time and space into something better than anyone could make alone. — 00:03:20
  • 2024-10-25 · I Don't Want them to Get Away With It… — Hank says he thinks it is great that Cepheid makes a lot of money from the tests. — 00:03:00
  • 2024-10-30 · Sipping the Tea with Hank — John says Good Store sells better versions of things people already need, and the money goes to Sierra Leone instead of to some billionaire. — 00:05:13
  • 2024-11-03 · Hank's very messy post-cancer year of mistakes, meaning… — Hank: Rather than just a great product, Hank wants a different model: whether an e-commerce company can give all its profit away fascinates him, and he can't not do it. — 00:09:21
  • 2024-11-13 · Some New Things… — John says they work as hard on the supply chain as on anything, because Good Store gives all profit to charity and doesn't want to make the world worse through a bad supply chain. — 00:19:29
  • 2024-11-19 · Let's Talk about Money — announcement: John says that income is what lets the brothers run Good Store and donate 100% of its profit to charity; he will report how much that profit is and whom it benefits. — 00:00:16

2025

  • 2025-03-11 · Hank Green's Brother — John says that instead of enriching billionaires by buying something like Tide, he is fighting coral reef devastation. — 00:02:50
  • 2025-04-11 (said on 2025-04-10, implied) · How Actually Crazy is This Mess? — Hank says formerly capitalist business owners have no ideological allegiance to capitalism and will become oligarchs the moment they can: a top-tier power grab, but rational. — 00:15:31
  • 2025-06-06 · The Secret Inside my MIT Commencement Speech — Hank says the capitalist impulse orients toward problems most easily turned into money, overweighting the problems the most powerful and wealthy want solved. — 00:15:33
  • 2025-08-08 · I'm Glad I Ignored That Billionaire — Hank says what differentiates Good Store in the market is that it donates its profit to charity. — 00:00:00
  • 2025-10-10 · Maybe This is My Problem — Hank argues that following only the profit motive yields systems that rob people of community, because people hanging out at a potluck aren't scrolling on phones or watching cable news. — 00:04:46
  • 2025-11-11 · John's Annual Psychophysical Decline — announcement: John explains that Good Store finds the world's best stuff, sells it rather than giving it away, and donates 100% of its profit to charity. (playful) — 00:03:04
  • 2025-11-24 · Good Store Holiday Gift Guide LIVE with Hank and John — ask: John urges viewers to do their holiday shopping at Good Store, where 100% of the profit goes to charity, instead of at Walmart, where the profit supports the Walton family. — 00:01:16
  • 2025-12-12 · The Economics of a YouTube White Noise Video — Hank wants to move people already listening to white-noise videos or sleepy-time podcasts to a new place, capturing part of YouTube's white-noise market for making the world better. — 00:02:55

2026

  • 2026-02-04 · We Just Sold Our Company for $0 — Hank is proudest that Complexly always sought to add far more value than it captures: rather than a subscription platform or sale to an ed tech company, it stayed open to every learner. — 00:05:36
  • 2026-02-13 · Why Isn't Everybody a Nonprofit?! — Hank says an organization focused on doing good in the world does not have to be a nonprofit; it can be a business. — 00:01:56
  • 2026-04-14 · Babies. Babies. Babies. — John thanks Hank for his 'stupid idea' of a business that donates 100% of its profit to charity: a great stupid idea. (playful) — 00:04:52
  • 2026-05-22 · Why I Made Crash Course a Non-Profit — Hank says he has seen many such sales go wrong and knows how money's pressures pull content and products until a business serves itself more than its mission. — 00:02:38
  • 2026-05-26 · Hank Green Is a Fool — John thinks the private equity people meant Crash Course doesn't make economic sense, not for lack of views but because it is free and expensive to make, needing a huge team. — 00:02:15
  • 2026-10-02 · the most powerful attention-consuming tools in the history of the world — John says consuming content is a central theme of Hollywood, Ending: it really means engaging with art, but within capitalism we view that engagement as consumption and art as content. — 00:00:01
    • John says consumption has long driven growth in capitalist economies, from food to gasoline to accounting services, and increasingly content too is consumed as part of economic growth. — 00:00:58
    • John does not believe making and distributing art is primarily capitalistic: we made art before capitalism, and shoehorned it into mercantilist and hunter-gatherer economies before. — 00:02:26
    • John says the capitalist system tells us we merely consume content when we engage with and share art, but what happens is more interesting and more important. — 00:02:26
    • John recalls Ursula K. Le Guin's line that capitalism's power feels inescapable, as the divine right of kings once did, and any human power can be resisted and changed. — 00:02:55
    • John says the current system will still end, and together we will help decide when and how, and what replaces it, because any human power can be resisted and changed. — 00:03:25