here in America were used to being number one number one richest country
number one middle-class well
unfortunate looks like those days might be over really interesting story %uh the
new york times when a new
I'm poor show times called the upshot that's a website covering policy in
politics and they
actually work with the Luxembourg income study database
to put these numbers together and to show you who is
the new number one in median wages middle-class et cetera
and how we've been doing over the last 35 years for small
we a thirty-five years ago we're doing great we were actually number one in
terms of both
median income and the middle class by a long shot
and we've been in a steady decline since a specially
compared to other countries and right now when americans are asked about 30
percent of people in america believe the country is headed
in the right direction so that's obviously a very bad number because the
overwhelming majority think that we're headed in the wrong direction
well it turns out that gut feeling that they have is
totally right so now let me quote the New York Times the results of the study
while the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers in
New York Times analysis shows that across
the lower and middle-income tears citizens a other advanced countries
have received considerably larger raises
over the last three decades now that's something that we've been talking about
on the internet for a long time
and we've shown you charts along these lines before
the productivity of the american worker did not go down it actually went up
significantly
but the gains from their productivity did not go to the great majority of us
he went to the top one percent into the corporations who took more so those
games
will take the tell you more about those facts in a second now they can continue
to explain
how we're doing compared to other countries middle-class incomes in Canada
substantially behind in 2000 now appear to be
higher than in the United States so when you talk about middle-class
we have a new champion its Canada it's not the US anymore
now median income in Canada pulled into a tie
with their median United States income in 2010 and has most likely surpass that
since then
now that's a different number and understand that that's really important
one thing is how the middle class is doing
the number people that are in the middle upper income brackets right
this is not that average salary that we get here in the US with average income
that we %um
because the average is still pretty high because our cop
salaries are top income is so gargantuan Lehigh
is so much higher then almost any other country
because we have great income inequality in this country
that does that is not reflected in the median income so the median income
is not just taking all the salaries and then dividing by the number people here
in the US
it shows you the income where fifty percent of Americans
are below that number and fifty percent of Americans are above that number
right so it's basically the middle love than number of people
that are getting that's our okay so when you look at that couldn't compare in
Canada
and America the median Inc Canada now beat us
meaning there are more people in Canada that are wealthier
than in the US now the very wealthy
here in the US to substantially better but for the rest of us
Canada now on average does batter
group they doesn't quite have the same ring we're number two new
the guys above us are actually literally above us home
they're right there there are neighbors they're not that different but they beat
us why cuz they have different Paul six we'll get to that in a second
now for small that's the middle class and the median at
income how about the poor the poor and bowl
by the way before you get to that let me actually show your charger is important
it shows you believe that the US had all these different countries
and now how those countries have caught up as you see on the far left there
Canada's caught us and is now surpassing us but
all those countries about huge jumps but
not everyone has caught us but everyone is coming very close to us while
in the last especially 12 years fourteen years
we have stagnated okay an IRA to Roth is nowhere near them in fact we're not even
growing anymore
I'll get to that in a second as well now let's go to the poor the poor in much of
Europe
earned more than poor Americans so
mmm to poor doing better elsewhere in the middle class is doing better
elsewhere
what are we really doing well in alright the very very very top
elites in america are super elites
boy that makes almost feel good doesn't it now of course the
idea was that's okay guys when I can be a so that
has a trickle-down economics so those guys will get the money but it will
trickle down to you guys
the middle class the and the poor you'll do better except
that's not what happened it did not trickle-down
they just held turns out there was just a lie
to excuse them getting lower taxes and
getting a bigger percentage of the money more facts and family at the twentieth
percentile the income
distribution in this country makes significantly less money
than a similar path family in Canada Sweden Norway Finland
or the Netherlands a lot of those are what the
concerns in this country would call ass socialist countries gonna be like Europe
well maybe our top one percent as want to be like your but other 99 percent of
us would mind
especially if you're in the bottom brackets they treat you far more
humanely over there
now remember the thirty five years ago as your test points up
the reverse was true so not only did I risk you better back then
but are poor did better are middle-class it better
at this is really important this is what I emphasize all time on the show
in 1976 the supreme court says money is speech in 1978
in bloody decision they say that corporations have the right
pack MN their constitutional right
to spend money in politics in 1980 Ronald Reagan is
a elected and all these charts
change right between 1978 1980 invite thirty-five years ago was
1979 up until that point we had about forty years
where the American worker had great product if any
and great returns when we actually work for that money
we got that money but they changed the rules in the late nineteen seventies
and in 1980 and then what happened was from then on
you can get your product if it E they got your product every they got the
foods have your labor
so but is you see with median per capita income that again this is the most
important number cuz shows you
where we are a relative to other countries
not the average because our rich skew the average but the median
on where the country is since 2000 the US is pretty much
unchanged I have a Briton well they're up twenty percent
Netherlands up 14 percent Canada up 20 percent
so it was bad from you know basically 1979 to 2000 but since 2000 it's gotten
even worse
cuz we're not even going up at all anymore for median income
so where that basically the median income in the
country going nowhere so people were on the wrong track
you're right burke et instead
a it's not all countries now the countries that have different rules
are doing fine thank you let me show you so quick summary of that
graphic 14 here britain is at ninety points 7 Canada at 19 points 7 this is
middle-class incomes okay so this is a slightly different
the number cuz it's not the median incomes the middle class income
abut you see the same exact results arlen 16.29 to lose 30 .9
and the US down at the bottom there since 2000 .3 percent
basically no change at all so why why did this happen while the New York Times
study
concludes there was three main reasons one was educational attainment the US
has risen for more slowly
so if you don't focus on education while you don't get good results secondly
US companies distribute a smaller share their bounty
for the middle class and poor so what do they do they take more dividends
they take more stock options but they give lower wages to their workers at
those companies
and finally governments in Canada and Western Europe take more aggressive
steps to raise take-home pay
%uh low and middle income households by redistributing
income so now here in America of such terrible things you can redistribute
income
but here's some other ways that they do it for example in Sweden they have
universal health care in Canada they have universal health care we were told
that
that was gonna destroy their middle-class accept the terms other
middle-class
actually get paid more than we do
right and the railroad is much higher same for Sweden
right so they were lying to you it does not hurt the middle class that actually
helps middle-class
plus they get the universal health care so that's a poor redistribution where
the society says regular people die in the streets
well we're gonna do is pro corporations that are doing well for the
top brackets that are doing well well they're gonna share
I'll slightly higher percentage you that so that people don't die in the street
so that everybody gets healthcare
everybody gets subsidize in some countries including Sweden
child-care so and what is I create he creates opportunity
so those people then can go work now bombs the goal work
and a half earn higher wages it creates opportunity by the way also for
education
when you say education is gonna be subsidized so if you're poor but your
son or your daughter did great in school
what we're gonna give you an opportunity to get into the middle class
and even into the rich brackets
because we've given you a chance for us here in the US it or redistribute by
money
I don't want that poor kid who worked his ass off to get really good grades
have the same opportunity that I had I don't want to have that opportunity dole
readership
my money don't you dare take a higher percentage
in taxes so when you have incredibly low rates for the rich
you have incredibly low rates for corporations what happens
the rich get richer and the rest the bus start falling behind
final conclusions this study the American rich pay lower taxes
than the rich in many other places this is not an accident
it is by design our middle class is getting destroyed
on purpose so the rage can have
even more money now it's a question of what do you do with taxes is not to say
that you should take
all the tax you get seventy percent ninety percent are all the money from
the top brackets
so question what's sensible person society
so that in fact the poor and the middle class go off
as the which also go up how do I know that I can work
you for small word here in the US between 1940 and 1980 we had great
prosperity
for all those different classes week as we had a decent
income tax we had the same corporate taxes
we have the loopholes that we have now and our government was not gutted
by the rich and powerful who bought our politicians finally
when they say well if you do all that it more work
let's go the example sweet even with the large a welfare state
in Sweden per capita GDP their has grown more quickly
than in the United States over almost any extended recent period
a decade twenty years thirty years
take any of those time periods
and Sweden with their large welfare state has had their
income go up substantially higher in the US
as a matter of the increase in their rate
they're lying to you it's not true that if you regal
all the rules and the laws in favor the rich and the multinational corporations
that it will trickle down to you
trickles down on you in terrible ways
look at the actual numbers we can be a more just society would be a fair
society
but honestly the first thing you got to do to fix the system is
if you allow the rich to buy their politicians
well of course they're gonna set the rules to their advantage
we should go back to having a democracy like we had
until the Supreme Court decided the corporations and the rich
could spend unlimited money on politicians there is an answer
has a constitutional amendment as Justice John Paul Stevens said today
that amendment is necessary you must go above the head of the Supreme Court
that's a guy who served on the supreme court for 35 years
a Wolfpack we agree with that wolf dash pack dot com
get them and made get back our democracy
and then we can regain our middle class
and we can regain our status among nations
that we are just society and a prosperous society
we can do both right now unfortunately we're not doing
either for 99 percent of us