The Carbon Tax: Capitalism, and discussing what happens when the "free market" is not regulated

2 years ago
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In 1940, 33.9% of workforce unionized - mostly in the private sector with only 4% of the public sector being unionized, in 2022 just 11.3% is unionized - 36% in the public sector and only 6% in private. Compare that with Iceland 92%. In fact, when America was in it's glory days in the 1940s to 1980s, it had some of the most "socialist" policies it has ever had. Socialism in quotes there, because that's not socialism, but rather social democratic policies. I explain the difference in the video also.

For tax years 1944 through 1951, the highest marginal tax rate for individuals was 91%. These are the same glory days that many right wing voters want to return the US to. It is 37% now. I.e. the rich - at least the rich who actually pay taxes - pay a cap of 37% now. And compare that with the wealth inequality chart from the previous video. Lets not even get started on capital gains tax changes...Since Reaganomics hit, the capitalists have pulled back worker freedoms and increased inequality, with the people being oppressed the most cheering them on.

Now, for my whole life I've labelled myself as a small government fiscal conservative. However, I've seen what lack of regulation does to the "free market". The main problem in capitalism is that negative social/environmental impacts are not priced into a companies bottom line. Beneficial social/environmental policies of the company are ALSO not priced in.

This means that the impact on the planet is ignored in the choices a company makes. If we want companies to make the correct choices, we must incentivize people in ways that you want them to behave.

The Carbon tax attempts to provide a penalty to companies that damage the environment, but in my opinion is too singularly focused on carbon in the air. However, it's a good step in the right direction. Of course, the problem always is that then politicians get in the way. I asked myself, where does this money then go? So I decided to actually find out. I had in my mind that the government wastes this money. But then I thought... Where did I get this opinion from if I've never actually dug into this in depth myself?

It turns out, it was propaganda, and I've been brainwashed. In Canada, more than 90% of the carbon tax is directly paid back to families. Where does the other 10% go? I discuss that also. Yes, that means that more than 80% of families will actually MAKE money from the carbon tax. The ones who don't are the heaviest consumers, which almost exclusively lines up with the richest households. In my opinion, if a family is financially set, and STILL chooses to spend money in ways that hurt the environment -buying everything from Amazon for example - then they deserve to subsidize the families who are not doing that. Again, that's only my opinion. So actually, I found out that not only am I okay with a carbon tax, I would prefer it was larger. Yes, me, a historic financial conservative, supports a LARGER tax. Crazy.

This picture that most Canadian's get back more than they spend is certainly not what certain corporations, and the politicians who they lobby are trying to make you believe. For example, here: https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/election-2019/conservative-leader-andrew-scheer-holds-rally-in-calgary-skyview where Andrew Scheer tells people who the carbon tax is benefiting, that they will remove the tax as a first order of getting elected - and the people cheer. Unfortunately nobody does any research and digging anymore, which makes everyone extremely susceptible to political spin.

This is not saying a carbon tax is always a good idea. It all depends on the details. How is it funded? Where does it go? But please, do your own research and don't let corporations/politicians tell you what your opinion is.

This video hopes to get into details on what the Carbon tax works in Canada.

I am including Carbon tax in a video about political systems, to help elucidate how, when regulations are lifted, capitalism always trends towards the gross inequality we see today. Regulations like the Carbon tax are important to avoid the pitfalls of capitalism from happening - Capitalists only looking at the bottom line.

I also include a discussion of the difference between social programs (social democracy) and socialism, for completeness, as the term "socialism" is used incorrectly and as propaganda these days.

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Music credits:

Epidemic sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/qfqvpi/

Closer by Jay Someday | https://soundcloud.com/jaysomedayMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

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