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Policy and Politics: Brotherhood 2.0 Week Begins

2012-11-04 · explainer · John · 3:33 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society (also: Economics) · mode: News analysis · tags: timely hook, punishment or challenge, community lore

Opening a punishment week of daily vlogs, John compares Obama's and Romney's tax plans on ordinary income and capital gains, prefers Obama's (hedged), and argues neither is radical: demonising opponents is more dangerous than either plan.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting; a week of Brotherhood 2.0-style daily vlogs as punishment; tax policy as the example of rhetoric diverging from policy; ordinary income taxed at 35% over $388,000

  • ★★★ John says the brothers are doing a week of Brotherhood 2.0-style daily vlogs as a punishment. — 00:00:00 · Brotherhood 2.0, Punishment
  • ★★★ John picks tax policy (joking it is a good way to get YouTube views) as the best example of how far political rhetoric has diverged from actual policy. — 00:00:00 · YouTube
  • ★ John warns he is not an expert, just a guy in his basement wearing a suit jacket, a button-down shirt and boxers. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ John says ordinary income, usually money from a job, is currently taxed at 35% above $388,000. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — Obama's 39% versus Romney's 28% top rate; the $500,000 family example; Obama's plan returns to 1990s rates

  • ★★★ Obama's deficit-reduction plan would cut most families' taxes but tax income over $388,000 at 39%; Romney's would cut that top marginal rate to about 28%. — 00:00:00 · Barack Obama
  • ★★ For a married couple with one kid making $500,000, John says Obama's plan means about $5,000 more tax and Romney's about $36,000 less; most people are unaffected. — 00:00:29 · Barack Obama
  • ★★ John says Obama's plan would take tax rates back to where they were in the 1990s and Romney's to about where they were in the late 1980s. — 00:00:29 · Barack Obama

00:00:58 — Romney's late-1980s rates; pundits' 'radical socialism' versus 'handouts to the filthy rich'; neither side communist or fascist; capital gains introduced

  • ★★★ Mocking pundits who scream 'radical socialism' or 'unprecedented handouts to the filthy rich', John says the differences are significant but neither side is communist or fascist. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Capital gains explained: risky upfront investment, Hank's VidCon, selling YouTube to Google, stock; the lower rate is meant to encourage entrepreneurship

  • ★★ 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 · capitalism
  • ★★ John says without Hank's large upfront investment VidCon would never have existed, which would suck because it is fun and has created jobs; the same holds, much larger, for YouTube. — 00:01:27 · VidCon, Hank Green, YouTube
  • ★★★ John says money from selling a company (say, YouTube to Google) or appreciated stock is capital gains, currently taxed at 15%, far below the ordinary income rate. — 00:01:56 · YouTube, Google
  • ★★ The idea, John says, is that taxing capital gains lower encourages entrepreneurship and investment, e.g. a PayPal employee deciding to start YouTube. — 00:01:56 · YouTube

00:02:26 — Whether lower rates spur business is an open question; rate lowest since 1972; Obama's 20% versus Romney's exemption under $250,000

  • ★★ John thinks it an open question whether people start businesses hoping for a slightly lower rate; some economists think it fuels growth, others don't. (hedged) — 00:02:26
  • ★★ Showing a graph, John says the capital gains tax is at its lowest point since 1972. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ Obama would raise the capital gains rate back to 20%, its level in 1997-2002; Romney would keep 15% but eliminate all tax on capital gains under $250,000. — 00:02:26 · Barack Obama
    • a number in question (doubtful): "$250,000" — check against the recording

00:02:55 — John prefers Obama's plan but might be wrong; neither plan is radical; demonising opponents and insults are more dangerous than either plan; 'see you tomorrow'

  • ★★★ 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 · Barack Obama, economic inequality
  • ★★★ John concludes the two tax plans are somewhat different but neither is radical. — 00:02:55 · Barack Obama
  • ★★★ John argues that imagining opponents as crazy, evil or traitorous, and trading insults instead of policy talk, leads to a society of screaming more dangerous than either plan. — 00:02:55
  • ★ Signing off with 'I'll see you tomorrow', John notes it has been a while since he said that. (playful) — 00:03:24

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says this is the first of six consecutive daily videos the brothers will make to fulfil the first of their two outstanding punishments. — video description · Punishment, Hank Green

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Barack Obama · capital gains tax · Mitt Romney · ordinary income · political polarization

Also: Projects: Brotherhood 2.0 · VidCon

Organizations: Google · PayPal · YouTube

Rituals: Punishment · See you tomorrow

Concepts: capitalism · communism · economic growth · economic inequality · entrepreneurship · fascism · socialism

Only in the description or credits: United States presidential election

Also centred on capital gains tax: Why The Rich Pay Lower Taxes

Also centred on political polarization: Idiotic Governance: How Our Political Discourse Hurts Our Economy · The Lowdown on the Shutdown · Thoughts from the Edge · The Politics of "Parks and Rec" · Brazil's Government is Falling Apart...and it's Good News? · Coming Out, Goats, Government, and Attack Ads with Denise Juneau

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