The Enslavement of the Middle Class (Documentary)

Shoutout to Andrei Jikh for inspiring the part about the worker productivity/income split and ClearValue Tax for the Great Melt-Up part! They've got great channels!

So you run a country and you have a problem:
Every few years, you have to get re-elected.
And what is the #1 way to get fired by voters?
If the economy is doing bad… Because a bad economy equals people struggling to pay rent, buy food, and all that stuff.
Heck even if you run a dictatorship, if the people are suffering too much, eventually you’re gonna get overthrown…
So that’s why your #1 priority as a noble leader is “growth” - economic growth
Why? Because if your country makes more money, there’s less unemployment, the plebs are at least content with the status quo, you get more tax dollars, more weapons, more nukes, more leverage over other countries, and ultimately, more power.
Why do you think all they talk about at the Federal Reserve, on CNBC, on the White House podium is “growth”?
Why do you think they’re so scared of an “economic slowdown”?
It’s because America is mostly run by a bunch of people who might get fired every few years by voters.
And creating growth lets you keep your power and gain more of it.
But here’s the thing, the only way you’re gonna get more economic growth, is if you have a giant segment of your population slaving away
What do I mean by that?
Well just think about what it takes for a giant country like the US to grow at 2% a year: if your economy is gonna grow at 2% a year indefinitely, someone’s gotta pick up the trash?
Someone’s gotta flip the hamburgers build the roads, construct the buildings, clean the sewers, do the bookkeeping, mop the floors, deliver your food, operate the buses, and a bunch of other tasks that are very vital, but also very miserable to do?
In other words, you need a bunch of people, who no matter how much they hate their lives, no matter how resentful and bitter they are about giving up on their dreams - you need them to still get up every day… and just take it. Take it for the good of the country…
Because if your population doesn’t do that, there’s nothing!
If everyone today who works a miserable job isn’t motivated to wake up tomorrow and do your plumbing, pick up your trash, make sure the street lights are working - everything goes to hell.
In fact, this is the only difference between a 1st world country and a 3rd world country:
Putting aside the corruption we cover on this channel, the only difference between a 1st world country and a 3rd world country is some dude waking up, and deciding to pick up your trash…
The trash man has no real motivation to pick up your trash?
So how do you motivate him?
Well back in the day, you’d motivate people by making them indentured servants: they’d owe you money, so they’d have to work for you to pay it off, or else they’d go to prison!
But those days are over.
And even if you could still get away with that, it’s just not very efficient. If a pleb feels subjugated, they will resent you, they won’t work as hard, they’ll dig their heels into the ground and eventually, it will backfire.
So there lies the multi-trillion dollar question of every nation-state.
How do you convince your population to want to be cogs in the wheel? To feel the need to sacrifice their working lives for the good of the country - without using force?
Simple - you stack the cards against them so much that they feel like they always have to work
You give them just enough freedom to feel free, but not enough to where they’ll actually ever break free…
You pay them just enough so they can live paycheck to paycheck, but not enough to where they’ll ever become financially free…
And when they do manage to save up a meager savings - you convince them to get in debt!
The key here is the perception of free will! Tell someone they have to do something, and they feel bossed around.
But if you set up society in a way where they come to that conclusion themselves, well then, you have an obedient, willing cog in the machine…
And if there’s one thing America has perfected more than any other country, it’s that America has created a well-oiled nation of cogs. But not just any cogs - willing cogs
Willing cogs, where no matter how much they hate their jobs, no matter how much they hate their lives!… They will always get up in the morning, and pick up your trash. They will always shut up and take it.
See the politicians are right! The middle class is the backbone of society!
They’re the ones who do the grunt work.
They’re the ones that fund the bailouts, that fund the wars.
They’re the ones that built America into the greatest superpower the world has ever seen.

[dentonfender]

Comedian George Carlin stated in one of his comedy gigs years ago, "the poor are there just to scare the shit out of the middle class so they will keep going to those "jobs"".

[ThZuao]

The best prison is the illusion of freedom.

[paulwilless]

We're not even the cogs, we're the grease.

[denaheffron]

Let's protect this information and each other.

[danielpeet]

What you’re referring to is the working class. The professional class (or middle class) and the managerial class (upper middle class) are being outright eliminated. A few positions are kept to wave a carrot in front of everyone. How many people have MBAs? How many middle management jobs paying $150k/ year exist? Also, Ford was paying $5/day?!?! That’s 1/4 Oz of gold per day. Thats $660/day or $3300/ week in today’s money.

[bonvivant]

This is the problem when you measure the success of an economy on how the top 1% are doing in the stock market rather than how the bottom 30% are doing in the supermarket.

[davidweyer]

And then when we were able to pay off our homes, they created property taxes. No matter what, we are slaves, regardless of whether or not we are in debt.

[stenyethanmathews]

Peasants/serfdom/indentured servitude/slavery never went away. They only got reinvented each era.

[DNAofDoggie]

The more you know
The more miserable you become.
The curse of knowledge
Sometimes ignorance is a bliss.

[daviddobarganes]

Europe doesn't have a bad economy because people aren't incentivized to work; it struggles because investment capital goes where people are the most exploitable and where the legal system is the most corruptible

[Lastluke]

Medieval peasants had more holidays than we do now…

[MG-ekuf]

Glad to see you back doing the work that made you what you are today. Keep it up.

[errabbitc]

the middle class is nearly collapsed already.

[ThanhTran-eleu]

I appreciate your team's time and efforts to put together this video. I hope it reaches a wide audience and sparks meaningful conversations about this!

[gamester]

The trash guy that I know that works for waste management makes $55 an hour
But he’s been working for them for many years

[Bat_Boy]

Homelessness is the masters whip on the backs of the middle class. DONT SLIP UP!

[samizstudio]

After I moved to Canada and found a job, I told one of my colleauges that people here are actually living in a modern slavery. He got mad.

[freeestyleobsessed]

Congratulations, in 52 minutes you’ve completely demolished my worldview

[sandyshoals]

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." VanGoethe

[abdullahsakib]

In all my 24 year lifespan, this is the best content I've seen on