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All statements about economic inequality

75 statements about economic inequality in 51 videos, by upload date.

Back to economic inequality.

2009

  • 2009-11-12 · On a Plane - On the Ground — Hank rejects calling first class a crass example of classism; the real class divide is that the rich can fly to see family and do business while people without money cannot, an opportunity he has. — 00:01:44

2011

  • 2011-11-21 · Old Man Narrates Young Girl — John argues copyright law currently privileges people like 2011 John, who can pay an estate $500 or so, and punishes people like 2004 John, who could not. — 00:02:42
  • 2011-11-21 · Old Man Narrates Young Girl — John says the legislation before Congress would increase that inequality: YouTube, Google and Tumblr can afford lawyers against Viacom, he can't, and it won't stop already-illegal wholesale piracy. — 00:02:54

2012

  • 2012-08-31 · Why The Rich Pay Lower Taxes — Hank opens a special edition on the basics of US tax policy and why Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. — 00:00:00
  • 2012-08-31 · Why The Rich Pay Lower Taxes — Hank says capital gains are how really rich people make most of their money: they invest, the asset gains value, they sell. — 00:01:46
  • 2012-08-31 · Why The Rich Pay Lower Taxes — Hank: Investment matters, Hank grants, but income seems worth more to him, so he asks why we tax money earned by providing actual value more heavily. (hedged) — 00:02:06
  • 2012-08-31 · Why The Rich Pay Lower Taxes — Hank: The rationale is that investment is very good for the economy and should be taxed less to encourage it; Hank says there isn't much good data supporting that claim. — 00:02:18
  • 2012-08-31 · Why The Rich Pay Lower Taxes — Hank feels it is tremendously unfair that an Applebee's waitress pays a higher tax rate than a billionaire; unsure whether it's good policy, it seems like bad ethics. (hedged) — 00:02:46
  • 2012-11-04 · Policy and Politics: Brotherhood 2.0 Week Begins — John thinks Romney's idea is bad, since even people with a billion dollars in capital gains would get their first $250,000 untaxed, and Obama's plan better, but he might be wrong. (hedged) — 00:02:26

2013

  • 2013-08-23 · Thoughts from Bath: The Legacy of Wealth — Hank says the Roman Baths, the abbey, the Royal Crescent and even Marks & Spencer are monuments to wealth, displays of the excesses we rightly complain about: income inequality, concentrated wealth, frivolous spending. — 00:01:58
  • 2013-08-23 · Thoughts from Bath: The Legacy of Wealth — Hank says the Roman Baths were built by enslaved survivors of a war of conquest, yet that is why we enjoy them: they were exceptional because only concentrated wealth and power made them possible. — 00:02:18
  • 2013-08-23 · Thoughts from Bath: The Legacy of Wealth — Hank says inequality is worse globally than within America: an income of $35,000 a year puts you in the richest 1% of the world, and $2,000 in the bank makes you richer than half the world. — 00:02:56
  • 2013-08-23 · Thoughts from Bath: The Legacy of Wealth — Hank says we must notice the amazing creations of our own age and ask what the greatest cultural legacy would be: peace, plenty, equality and awesome. — 00:03:12
  • 2013-09-03 · Bigger Pizzas: A Capitalist Case for Health Care Reform — John says that in the US the poorest 40% of Americans get less than 0.3% of the economic "pizza", which he calls problematic. — 00:00:00
  • 2013-12-06 · I Am President Snow — Hank says our deeply unequal society is not the result of bad guys: there is no President Snow, or he is not a person; not corrupt politicians or psychopathic CEOs. — 00:01:03
  • 2013-12-06 · I Am President Snow — Hank says inequality is caused by human nature, psychology, sociology and math, and you can't fight math. — 00:01:25
  • 2013-12-06 · I Am President Snow — Hank says inequality is also created by greed and by societal structures: rich people helping and socializing with rich people makes them much richer than the poor. — 00:01:53
  • 2013-12-06 · I Am President Snow — Hank says inequality is not the result of animosity but of the status quo: complacence, not evil, the simplest path. — 00:02:23
  • 2013-12-06 · I Am President Snow — Hank: Like Katniss with Effie, Hank doesn't hate himself for it, but because inequality is the path of least resistance we need structures to fight against it. — 00:02:53
  • 2013-12-06 · I Am President Snow — Hank says inequality is bad not just for poor people but for the economy and for people's happiness. — 00:03:05
  • 2013-12-06 · I Am President Snow — Hank says there is a very strong correlation between a society's equality and its people's happiness, the rich included. — 00:03:11
  • 2013-12-06 · I Am President Snow — Hank says we must fight inequality and recalibrate for equality, by helping people ourselves and by making the government do it. — 00:03:21
  • 2013-12-31 · GOOD NEWS: 14 Reasons 2014 May Be the Best Year Ever — John says wealth inequality remains a huge problem worldwide, but in the vast majority of countries the poor are becoming less poor. — 00:01:36

2014

2015

  • 2015-05-15 · Happy Graduation, Future Dead People — Hank says it may feel we are destined for a cutthroat world of ever-increasing inequality, but not if we choose compassion: we decide our world by being it. — 00:02:42
  • 2015-06-05 · Just for Nerdfighters — Hank worries about the decoupling of productivity and wages: the rich may just get richer while the poor do not benefit, creating instability and suffering. — 00:01:34
  • 2015-06-08 · Monday Bonus Video! — John says the decoupling is a big part of the dramatic rise in US wealth disparity over about the last 20 years; the richest 1% of Americans control about 40% of total wealth. — 00:02:02
  • 2015-06-08 · Monday Bonus Video! — John calls this inequality bad morally, economically and socially: decreasing economic mobility means the most talented and innovative people are less likely to get chances to start businesses and create jobs. — 00:02:13
  • 2015-06-08 · Monday Bonus Video! — John thinks wealth inequality is one of the biggest US issues and the wage-productivity decoupling very worrying, but we are mid-history and can collectively decide whether declining mobility is permanent. (hedged) — 00:03:18
  • 2015-07-03 · Thoughts from Yachts — Hank says he knows no way to counteract that selfishness except through force, which is why he believes in taxes, even though he hates paying them. — video description
  • 2015-07-03 · Thoughts from Yachts — Hank hopes growing productivity will one day give everyone enough to minimize suffering, but in Cannes and Saint-Tropez he worries no one will ever be satisfied, so wealth keeps concentrating instead of serving global goals like ending poverty, war and climate insecurity. (hedged) — 00:02:08
  • 2015-07-17 · Is YouTube Good for Humanity? — Hank dislikes that the internet's focus on the cheap and free forces platforms to consolidate culture on huge platforms whose economies of scale make a few people very rich and employ few middle-class people. — 00:00:56

2016

2017

  • 2017-01-17 · How Young Is History? — John says much of what we think inevitable or natural about humanness isn't: not wealth inequality, climate change or polarization, but not literacy, free speech or a three-hour Rome-Florence trip either. (hedged) — 00:03:02
  • 2017-05-09 · Your Neighborhood, Your Life Expectancy — John sums up that the longevity gap between rich and poor in the US is real and very high by international standards. — video description
  • 2017-05-09 · Your Neighborhood, Your Life Expectancy — John says low life expectancy communities have less healthy food, more uninsured people and more diabetes and hypertension, while the healthiest tend to be rich with excellent health care. — 00:01:58
  • 2017-07-28 · Why You Haven't Started a Business — The description says small business is extremely important: it helps even out inequality, ties communities together and employs over half of working Americans. — video description
  • 2017-07-28 · Why You Haven't Started a Business — Hank says this is especially true for the very rich, and more and more money is in their hands; for them a small business is an inconsequential investment for a lot of work. — 00:02:09
  • 2017-08-01 · Death and How to Avoid It (...for a while) — recommendation: John lists the video's sources: Healthcare Triage on the opioid crisis, Our World in Data on wealth inequality being lower than historical averages, CBS News on overdoses as the leading cause of death for Americans under 50, FBI figures on homicide rates, and Vox's newest stats on overdose deaths. — video description
  • 2017-08-01 · Death and How to Avoid It (...for a while) — John says wealth inequality is growing, though still low by historical standards, which is bad for the poor and for the social order because it inhibits economic growth and socioeconomic mobility. — 00:00:39
  • 2017-09-29 · What's This Video About? — Hank: Asked what Turtles All the Way Down is about, Hank thinks of its themes: relationships with people whose brains have problems, understanding people who experience the world differently, amid dramatic inequality. — 00:02:55
  • 2017-11-17 · Why Are Taxes So Complicated? (The Musical?) — Hank says high earners are taxed more because they can afford it and because raising their rate brings in far more money; hence brackets and more complexity. — 00:04:12

2018

  • 2018-04-10 · Who Do Tax Breaks Benefit? — John: These deductions mostly benefit wealthy people, and by far the greatest benefit, in dollars and share of income, goes to the richest 1% of US households. (hedged) — 00:03:22

2019

  • 2019-01-11 · What is Burnout? — The description sums up: ask whether burnout is a fuel or an opportunity problem; fuel can be fixed with a new story, opportunity is slower and sometimes can't be fixed because of deep inequality. — video description
  • 2019-03-29 · The Largest Theft of All Time — The description says Hank realized that most theft in America is literally the rich robbing the poor. — video description
  • 2019-08-16 · ...Not My Proudest Moment — Hank wants a sociologist to explain it, but it seems real: both a cause of increasing inequality and something that worsens with it, and the source of much bad. (hedged) — 00:03:15
  • 2019-12-27 · Why I'm Worried about 2020 — The description says the world has moved back on global faith in democracy, a hit from the social internet, rising inequality, and pundits, operatives and TV news wanting people freaked out. — video description

2020

2021

  • 2021-04-09 · A Thought is Not an Idea — Hank: This makes Hank think about how older people have hoarded all kinds of capital, not just financial, and he does not want to be that person. — video description
  • 2021-11-02 · enough — Replying to a viewer's hotel analogy for wealth, John comments that people can travel between floors but the wealthy often choose not to. — creator comment

2022

  • 2022-04-29 · 5 Ways to Actually Understand Very Large Numbers — Hank says it might be better to measure other things, such as how effective a country's tax policy is at reducing inequality. (hedged) — 00:02:55
  • 2022-12-16 · What I Would Have Tweeted — Hank: A would-be tweet says saving the world needs ways to make rich bros feel powerful without giving them real power; Hank admits it is not a nuanced take. (playful) — 00:00:58
  • 2022-12-20 · The Best Books Get Better — John says Gatsby proved more than a book for the season because its themes of class, inequality and the American dream grew more poignant through the Great Depression, World War II and the post-war era. — 00:00:58

2023

  • 2023-05-09 · on hope — John says centuries ago the man would also have got absolute power over a kingdom; making the role ceremonial is real but insufficient progress, and ongoing injustice in power and resources doesn't negate it. — 00:02:00

2024

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 exemptions are how you create an oligarchy: favours for big businesses that please the president, none for small businesses, terrible for consumers. — 00:15:31
  • 2025-06-17 · My Religion — John says he constantly misses the mark, hoarding wealth though he knows it is a sin and not treating neighbours as he would wish, so he constantly needs forgiveness. — 00:02:26
  • 2025-12-19 · My Big 2026 Prediction is...Not Fun — Hank says AI is a tool of economic elites designed to concentrate wealth in their hands, and that this is why they are building it. — 00:04:53

2026

  • 2026-04-24 · The AI Question that No AI Person Asks — Hank: AI might even make housing worse by further concentrating wealth, since intense inequality creates incentives to serve only the wealthiest consumers. (hedged) — 00:02:07
  • 2026-05-26 · Hank Green Is a Fool — John says he and Hank have more than enough money, and despite what billionaires believe, there is no difference between more than enough and much more than enough. — 00:02:55
  • 2026-08-21 · Not (Just) Dunking on Jeff Bezos — Hank's good news: optimizing for thriving, a world that provides for people's wants and needs and is more equal and just, will produce more thriving and more creation. — 00:08:47