Yaron Answers: Inequality Under Capitalism

Yaron Brook answers a question from Graig: "In a truly capitalist society, would the gap between the rich and the poor increase, decrease, or remain static?"

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[timwh]

The comments are typical of the way ppl address the things said by objectivists like Yaron. People are not actually engaging with what's being said, they're reacting emotionally to certain words that are used.

I would challenge everyone in the comment section who is criticising this video to demonstrait that they understand what is said in it.

[carlosmaurer]

Wow, this is one of the best presentations I have seen from Mr. Brook. Congratulations.

[juliaisafilmbuff]

Okay, this dude is going to be one of the first deported to the gulag post-revolution.

[hardcoreharro]

The gap between rich and poor in a truly capitalist society would increase and decrease throughout time.

[WinslowSly]

Yoran, your thinking is so simplistic. You ignore many variables that effect income inequality. Is there really ever a free society?

[executehelenkeller]

This is pretty much it. What other people have is completely irrelevant to your life. We need to stop sticking our hands in each others pockets. You don't become poorer just because somebody else becomes richer. That is unless the government decides to inflate your currency, but that has nothing to do with income inequality.

[applesewer]

But money is power, isn't it? Isn't there a danger that vast amounts of wealth would consolidate in the hands of an elite few and their money would provide them with such influence that the society would no longer really be free?

[hotant]

A tax break is keeping your OWN money...it is not taking money from someone else. Your premise says that government owns your income and it lets you keep some.

[hrthrhs]

At first I thought he was dodging the question but actually, in a truly free society you couldn't predict what would happen to the poor-rich gap as that would depend on how people applied themselves, as they are truly free.

[eggory]

This is a great video! Keep up the good work.

[marcusporciuscatotheyounge]

A very clear and easy, even for liberals, to understand. The poor are not poor because the rich are rich. If one is poor, but able, one is just a loser.

[DPPZ]

He's proposing a utopian society which wouldn't function in the way he intends in the same way that Marxists do. The problem with both capitalism and communism is that they operate on an incomplete picture of what encompasses human nature, hence the divisiveness of both options. A society which attempts to balance both freedom and the position of those less well off is probably a better alternative than either system at the extremes.

[halloranedward]

slavery is a violation of commercial rights. did slaves in the 1820s get to choose what to sell? or did their masters tell them to sell cotton harvesting. did they choose what to buy? or did they have to work for food and shelter. did they get to choose who to buy from or sell to? or how much? or at what price?

[justintempler]

The people who keep electing the politicians do.

Government regulation of business is what causes business to get involved in government, if that's where you were going.

Bill Gates is a good example, he wanted nothing to do with government lobbying until Microsoft got threatened with anti-trust lawsuits, then for it's own survival it was forced to play the lobby game. Now it spends millions on lobbying.

Regulation is the cause, lobbying is the effect.

[MinarchoCapitalist]

Yaron predicted your comment and answered it in the first 15 seconds of this video.

[trucid]

I would say that the large gaps between the rich and the poor today is due to government sanctioned monopolies and wealth transfer.

[eggory]

This is partly true, what with the regressive inflation tax and anti-competition laws, but there is still a huge gap in how skilled people are, how ambitious they are, and to what extent their ambitions are financial. There are also some cases where less government could allow for legitimate monopolies, and profitable business practices which are illegal for no good reason. In any case it is much more important to understand that inequallity doesn't matter. Never cede the moral argument.

[tomjones]

"Who cares?" The best summary of Randian theory I've ever heard. [slow clap] XD

Also there are a lot of "probably" and other qualifiers. Almost seems like pure conjecture.

[halloranedward]

No, i am afraid that is the truth. (and reality does not change because of consensus, we live in an objective universe.)

[vivekkaushik]

More money doesn't mean more happiness or contentment. More money means more responsibility, more power, more influence, more problems, more fame but not satisfaction.