Will Middle Class Taxes Go Up?

An argument regarding a certain answer to a certain questions.

When a Presidential candidate is asked a question, and they believe that a straightforward answer will be used against them, they may avoid the question instead. The question is, is this a smart strategy? Or can the dodge of the question hurt that candidate just as much?

[oz]

Ah politics, where straight answers go to die.

[bagel]

"Or is it?"


*Vsauce music starts playing*

[MrRushabhT]

I LOVE when the music starts. It's one of the trademarks of this channel's videos; as soon as the BS starts, so does the ragtime.

[jollow]

This would have been great for Warren, had Bernie never said anything.

[storyspren]

It's a loaded question. That said, Bernie gives the straight answer, but he's not losing momentum because of that since people know it'll remove costs elsewhere.
A better way to answer would've been "yes, but all your out-of-pocket expenses will be gone." Even better, bring up how disingenuous the question is first, then answer it.

[FreakazoidRobots]

If you're a politician, it's wise to give _careful_ answers to questions. The rest is entirely situational.

[bw]

The non straight answer was completely fine when initially asked the question but when pressed on it again, she should have just answered clearly and concisely.

[Mars]

If the public were less lazy and actually went to check the whole context of quotes then I'd say yes its better to give a straight forward answer. Sadly the public is far too lazy to be bothered with this so its probably best to give a more roundabout answer that is still technically true.

Though if pushed, its probably best to just give in and give a straight answer.

[ethanpetersen]

If a politician can’t give a simple “no” to something people obviously don’t like, I think it’s pretty safe to say the answer is yes.

[Llamaland]

I want someone to look at me the way Pete looks at Warren

[thisrecordingsessiontm]

As Gumball from _The Amazing World of Gumball_ said, *"I will eliminate the middle class."*

[TreyDieterich]

At least appearing honest makes most candidates more appealing

[gigantkranion]

Reminds me when I was in elementary school and middle school kids would ask each other...

"Does your mom know that you're gay?"

...Because sometimes you cannot simply just answer with a "yes" or "no."

[AANasseh]

Insulting the average voter's intelligence? I think you're forgetting that the average voter doesn't have enough intelligence to get insulted!

[Chycjj]

I really love how you don't pad-out your videos to make them 10 minutes long. You say exactly what needs to be said and that's it! Please never stop this!

[carrier]

Quite simple. We just need a square deal.

[thestargateking]

I think her response is reasonable, the yes or no question of “will taxes go up” is way to overly simplistic, because you are ONLY asking for a yes or no. Asking for a yes or no prevents adding the extra detail that by raising taxes overall costs will go down.

Focusing on taxes going up derails the discussion, it’s more important to focus on the Net result, while it is important to talk about how you’d get to the net result, when it comes between choosing which to focus on, the net result is better.

[Cabothedog]

The clarity of an answer is not dependent on saying "yes" or "no" without more information. The reason people care about higher taxes is because of the cost, so if the taxes go up but the overall cost goes down, this is very important relevant information! Leaving out relevant information (as would be the case if she just answered "yes" to the question) is being _less_ clear.

[pewp_tickalar]

"Premiums, copays, and out-of-pocket expenses will be eliminated and replaced with an increased Medicare tax, an increase that is lesser than the costs of the expenses that it will replace. Any other country that funds healthcare this way spends nearly half as much or less per person as the US does. It's a more efficient funding model than for-profit insurance is."

[Kekoapono]

All I ever want from politicians is honesty.