TED Talks -- Economics

[rdsrds2120]

You economists out there! Judge this guy, I know you want to.

-rd

[Night Strike]

His entire argument is built on a false premise. The only way the marketplace can fulfill consumer demand is for an investor or entrepreneur to come along and provide the supply to fill the demand. You have to have capital available to create the products for consumers to purchase. So yes, you do want to keep taxes on the investors low because otherwise they won't be investing their money.

[Neoteny]

ECONOMICS IS A LIE

[Army of GOD]

I don't know much about macroeconomics (or, at least I don't think I know much about it), but it's not like the "rich" people are sticking the money they have up their ass and not using it in any way. I guess the typical BBS aregument would be:

This "TED" guy (if that is his real name) is implying that the government would be able to invest the taxed money more efficiently than the wealthy which isn't necessarily true.

or something like that. idunnolol

[Haggis_McMutton]

I don't know much about macroeconomics (or, at least I don't think I know much about it), but it's not like the "rich" people are sticking the money they have up their ass and not using it in any way. I guess the typical BBS aregument would be:

This "TED" guy (if that is his real name) is implying that the government would be able to invest the taxed money more efficiently than the wealthy which isn't necessarily true.

or something like that. idunnolol

Unconvincing BBS impersonation.

4/10. Needs work.

[Army of GOD]

I don't know much about macroeconomics (or, at least I don't think I know much about it), but it's not like the "rich" people are sticking the money they have up their ass and not using it in any way. I guess the typical BBS aregument would be:

This "TED" guy (if that is his real name) is implying that the government would be able to invest the taxed money more efficiently than the wealthy which isn't necessarily true.

or something like that. idunnolol

Unconvincing BBS impersonation.

4/10. Needs work.

It's hard to do when my penis is of much greater size

[BigBallinStalin]

I just read A Tale of Two Cities.

Eh, it was okay.

[thegreekdog]

I don't disagree with this guy, although he spent way less time on the most important issue for me (35% tax rate on work, 15% tax rate on investment).

[PLAYER57832]

His entire argument is built on a false premise. The only way the marketplace can fulfill consumer demand is for an investor or entrepreneur to come along and provide the supply to fill the demand. You have to have capital available to create the products for consumers to purchase. So yes, you do want to keep taxes on the investors low because otherwise they won't be investing their money.

I see, so is that why the past 2 decades have been such a prolific time for the majority of Americans?

OOOOPS.. it hasn't. It has been a wonderful time to be wealthy, though.

[thegreekdog]

His entire argument is built on a false premise. The only way the marketplace can fulfill consumer demand is for an investor or entrepreneur to come along and provide the supply to fill the demand. You have to have capital available to create the products for consumers to purchase. So yes, you do want to keep taxes on the investors low because otherwise they won't be investing their money.

I think his point is that since capital gains taxes have been low, the job creators haven't created jobs (at least here in the US, which may be a big point he's missing) using that capital. It's tough to argue with him when jobless rates are high (which I don't believe is the job creators' faults) and when peoples' salaries or purchasing power have increased. The big caveat for me here, is that I'm not an economist, I'm a tax guy.

[Frito Bandito]

Pretty good common sense approach.

Henry Ford had it right when he said his workers needed to make enough to afford the cars they made.

Rich people sitting on money doesn't help much,... but we do want to help people have the opportunity to be well off.

[PLAYER57832]

Pretty good common sense approach.

Henry Ford had it right when he said his workers needed to make enough to afford the cars they made.

Rich people sitting on money doesn't help much,... but we do want to help people have the opportunity to be well off.

Its not just the sitting on the money bit now that hurts. You also have to pay attention to how it is earned. People forget that assembly lines were actually considered a great innovation, a worker benefit, even if they wound up not being quite a wonderful as might have once been thought. I mean.. as I am hearing lot lately, the guy who invented the third shift never worked it!!!!

Also, a big problem is that we are no longer in a time when the world can just expand and grow. Resources are limited and unless we develop more ways to truly recycle, reuse, sustain, we are doomed to a slide. Add in the fact that a lot of destruction is permanent... waters polluted take decades or more to clean, species cannot (at least yet) simply be recreated and brought back, delicate balances cannot be restored, particularly when we don't even really understand all the dynamics in those systems yet.

Aldo Leopold has a quote I like "The first rule to intelligent tinkering is to keep all the parts". We allow business to tinker, and don't require them to be responsible, to prove what they do is even safe in the long term.

Businesses need to be forced to operate within the real limits that do exist. the early 1900's was about accepting limits of humanity, society. This generation's task is probably more about accepting limits of the world around us. Sadly, I don' think we are learning those lessons fast enough. I am not sure we can afford the kinds of disasters in the environment it took to revise thinking about things like worker safety.

A few hundred workers killed in a fire or riots is bad, but the environment... simply cannot be repaired.

[Phatscotty]

You economists out there! Judge this guy, I know you want to.

-rd

Even Bill Clinton and Obama disagree with this amateur.


He needs to realize that Leftism is a religion as well...he would also like to know that his fantasy was blown out of the water a couple days ago, as it was proved again by California that raising taxes chased away job creators and almost doubled their deficit from 9 billion to 16 billion. Obviously, tax increases did not work. Obviously, tax increases were a disaster.

His premise should also include that Democrats do not challenge the reality because they usually acknowledge it is in fact reality. Only once in a while does a loon try to flip things up-side down and blow a bunch of complete touchy feely bullshit up everyone's ass.

They raised taxes on the rich, now they are F'd. I will fight with everything I have to make sure I do not have to bailout these insane Californians. Also, to the Californians who think they can just destroy their own state and pillage it's treasury for benefits and grow their government to the point where it suffocates their entire economy...don't even think you can just move to a different state and leave the destruction behind ya, and then start to get involved with making other states more like California was.

Destroyers will be held accountable, and the rest of the responsible states might just build a wall around their state to make sure they suffer the consequences of the economic and moral bankrupting of California.

[saxitoxin]

I see, so is that why the past 2 decades have been such a prolific time for the majority of Americans?

OOOOPS.. it hasn't. It has been a wonderful time to be wealthy, though.

incorrect: "the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer"
correct: "the rich are getting richer and the poor are experiencing no measurable impacts - positive or negative - on their income or earning potential"


http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/p16.html

[Timminz]

the responsible states might just build a wall around their state to make sure they suffer the consequences of the economic and moral bankrupting of California.

Git yer guns!

[Phatscotty]

Hmm, isn't this organization supposed to be a "nonpartisan/nonprofit/NON TAXABLE" group? Looks like this speaker broke the rule about refraining from speaking about politics. Maybe they will have to change from paying 0 taxes to paying their fair share.

I think I'm gonna point this out to TED. After all, it is astounding how stupid people can be.

[saxitoxin]

Hmm, isn't this organization supposed to be a "nonpartisan/nonprofit/NON TAXABLE" group? Looks like this speaker broke the rule about refraining from speaking about politics. Maybe they will have to change from paying 0 taxes to paying their fair share.

I think I'm gonna point this out to TED. After all, it is astounding how stupid people can be.

TED refused to release the video because it was too partisan and the well-educated TED audience rated it as "mediocre." But, as with many things in life, the sloths in the mob get what they want -

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics ... everywhere

[saxitoxin]

To be fair, I didn't actually watch the whole thing. At the start he said "occasionally I go out to eat with friends."

Honey, by the looks of it you're going out to eat a lot more than occasionally.

If someone is going to make such a blatant lie as that I can't be bothered to sit through the next five minutes.

[Mr_Adams]

Welcome to Keynesian Economics. The idea that consumption is value. Like how he talks about how people make less, even though we know people actually make more, but what they do make is worth less? Or how the investments made by government have TERRIBLE records? How he ignore the fact that the rich who do create jobs (and they really DO create jobs) do it by coming up with new products that survive in the market place, and no matter how many millions of middle class consumers there are, if there isn't a buisness to bring the product to market, there is no economy? I was surprised he didn't attempt to pass the broken window fallacy on his audience there.

Pretty good common sense approach.

Henry Ford had it right when he said his workers needed to make enough to afford the cars they made.

What does this have to do with marginal tax rates?

I see, so is that why the past 2 decades have been such a prolific time for the majority of Americans?

OOOOPS.. it hasn't. It has been a wonderful time to be wealthy, though.

incorrect: "the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer"
[ALMOST]correct: "the rich are getting richer and the poor are experiencing no measurable impacts - positive or negative - on their income or earning potential"


http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/p16.html

[ACTUALLY correct: These sort of statistics don't take individuals into account. the average individual moves up through these ranks throughout their lives. You flip burgers when you are 16 years old and in highschool, you are part of the reddish line. Then you graduate, and get a better job. Now you are part of the maroon line.Going to the community college, and get a better job, or a promotion at your current job, because they like your ambition. Now you are part of the pale green line. You get the point. If you have the ambition, more often than not, you can move up through the income scale, no problems. So, the whole bleeding heart liberal cry that these people are "stuck" in this lower class is entirely a failure to ask the right questions. Here is a graph asking the right question (though it is in Euros, you get the point.):



Besides that, the average person makes plenty of money to survive. This crying about proportions is a bunch of bull. You are getting a smaller piece of a bigger pie, you are still getting more in the end. How many pour people have you met who have X-Boxes, PS3's, flat screen TV's, etc. the income distribution isn't unfair. What's unfair is people who use the government to get rich through scams like Solyndra, and people who live off of programs like Food Stamps who don't really need it. And here's a hint: The solution to corruption in big government is NOT more government.

[Phatscotty]

Do yacht workers need to make enough to afford the yachts they make?

[Army of GOD]

I make enough to have sex with myself

[rdsrds2120]

I make enough to have sex with myself

I still don't know how much you make.

-rd

[PLAYER57832]

[ACTUALLY correct: These sort of statistics don't take individuals into account. the average individual moves up through these ranks throughout their lives. You flip burgers when you are 16 years old and in highschool, you are part of the reddish line. Then you graduate, and get a better job. Now you are part of the maroon line.Going to the community college, and get a better job, or a promotion at your current job, because they like your ambition. Now you are part of the pale green line. You get the point. If you have the ambition, more often than not, you can move up through the income scale, no problems. So, the whole bleeding heart liberal cry that these people are "stuck" in this lower class is entirely a failure to ask the right questions. Here is a graph asking the right question (though it is in Euros, you get the point.):

Nope. That's how it used to be. Today, more and more middle class kids cannot even afford college.. and many of those who graduated cannot pay off the massive debt they incurred. This in a time when US power overall is sliding.

Companies are gaining more power, but individuals are losing.

Besides that, the average person makes plenty of money to survive. This crying about proportions is a bunch of bull. You are getting a smaller piece of a bigger pie, you are still getting more in the end. How many pour people have you met who have X-Boxes, PS3's, flat screen TV's, etc. the income distribution isn't unfair. LOL, LOL

Yep, people should be happy to take whatever the wealthy toss their way. No one else actually works, just the wealthy. No one else has any right to anything.

What's unfair is people who use the government to get rich through scams like Solyndra, and people who live off of programs like Food Stamps who don't really need it.

I see, so food stamps and a few programs to support companies you dislike are why our deficit is so high, according to you?

And here's a hint: The solution to corruption in big government is NOT more government.

It is a solution to controlling abuse of companies like BP.. Funny, when was the last time the US government caused the destruction of an entire US ecosystem? (and yes, I do know about wars... but were they really caused by the government?)

[Night Strike]

Nope. That's how it used to be. Today, more and more middle class kids cannot even afford college.. and many of those who graduated cannot pay off the massive debt they incurred. This in a time when US power overall is sliding.

So it's the government's job to pay for everyone to go to college? Maybe it's the college's problem for always raising prices. Or it's the student's fault for getting a useless degree with a bunch of loan money. Not every person has to go to college and take on debt if they don't want to. People have to learn how to be responsible for their actions instead of crying to the government to bail them out.

[Phatscotty]

Nope. That's how it used to be. Today, more and more middle class kids cannot even afford college.. and many of those who graduated cannot pay off the massive debt they incurred. This in a time when US power overall is sliding.

Has not the government taken measures every year for the last 50 years to make college more affordable and more accessible?

What happened?