WEBVTT

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This is the unemployment rate during the covid-19 pandemic.

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And this is Amazon CEO.

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Jeff Bezos net worth during that same time span.

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From March to June 2020 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos saw his wealth

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Rise by an estimated 48 billion dollars the founder of the video

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conferencing platform Zoom grew his nest egg.

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Dye over 2.5 billion and former Microsoft CEO.

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Steve ballmer's net worth increased by 15.7 billion.

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These kinds of examples might lead you to think that when billionaires

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profit during a crisis.

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It's just a matter of right place right time.

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Well, that's not false, but it's not entirely true either

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Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson saw his wealth increase by 5 billion.

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Well Elon Musk saw an increase of 17.2 billion.

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When you add up the numbers billionaires in the United States

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have increased their total net worth 637 billion during the covid-19

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pandemic so far.

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At the same time more than 40 million Americans filed for unemployment

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with tens of millions of Americans out of a paycheck and the

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stock market plummeting by 37% in March.

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How is it that the rich have continued getting richer.

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This isn't the first time billionaires have seen gains while

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a large portion of Americans were feeling losses when the housing

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bubble burst in 2007 home prices fell 21% and roughly 3.1 million

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homes were foreclosed on in the United States the stock market

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plummeted by over 50% and by the end of 2009 8.8 million

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Americans have lost their jobs and the effects linger from 2009

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to 2012 the incomes of the bottom 99% Brew by only .4% but the

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income of the top 1% grew by a staggering 31.4% in the same

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time span and it all ties back to two things first the government

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disproportionately gave more Aid to Banks and corporations.

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2008 the emergency economic stabilization.

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Act was signed into law creating a 700 billion dollar program

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to purchase devalued assets from Banks.

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This was called the troubled asset relief program or talk later

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President Obama would direct 75 billion dollars in funds from

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tarp to help reduce interest payments for homeowners.

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That means homeowners received around 10% of the direct relief

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the banks and corporations did and this leads to reason number

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two when the stock market bounce back the unequal bailouts

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that meant that the wealthy still had money on hand to invest

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and that's profit while the middle and lower classes did not

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In 2008 the Federal Reserve lowers short-term interest rates

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to near zero, they would remain that low for nearly a decade.

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This paved the way for a historic bull market on Wall Street

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that began in 2009 and lasted until March 2020 when the pandemic

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hit in that time the S&P 500 gained 462% That means that a $1,000

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investment in the S&P 500 at the low point of the financial

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crisis could have returned roughly $4,620 while someone who could

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afford a $1000000 investment could have pulled in over 4.6 million.

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By 2009 the world's high-net-worth individuals have grown their

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share of global wealth by 19% to 39 trillion recouping

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nearly all of their losses in a single year that quick recovery

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and larger share of the world's wealth enabled them to continue

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to make money at an exponential rate.

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In fact the top 1% captured 95% of the income gains made from

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2009 to 2012 and by 2020 the combined wealth of the billionaire

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class and United States had increased by over 80%

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Which brings us back to the moment when the coronavirus

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pandemic Rock the economy in 2019.

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The FED reported that 4 in 10 Americans didn't have enough

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cash in their bank accounts to cover a $400 unexpected

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expense in the first few months of 2020 40 million Americans

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found themselves unemployed due to covid-19 many small businesses

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had to close due to lockdowns and social distancing.

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While others were forced to try to operate with entirely

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remote staff the small business administration made 349 billion

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dollars available to small businesses with the paycheck

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Protection Program, but like in 2008 243 million of that was

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snapped up by large publicly traded corporations some of which

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were valued at over 100 million dollars even hedge fund submitted

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claims to try to tap into what they saw as free money on March

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16th, 2020 just five days after covid-19 was declared a pandemic

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the Dow suffered the worst single-day points drop and its history.

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Play June 4th 7 of the world's richest people had seen their

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fortunes increased by over 50% part of what made this possible

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was a stock market rebound filled both by the paycheck Protection

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Program and actions by the FED.

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Again, the FED lowers short-term interest rates for banks to near

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0% And as before they have promised to hold those rates low until

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the economy is on track.

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This is a cycle that has happened time and time again during

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the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 only 2.5% of 195 million

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of relief funds went to Haitian companies much of the rest was

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awarded to dc-based construction companies.

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When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005 real estate

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developer Joseph cannizzaro said the clearing out caused by Katrina

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represented some very big opportunities cannizzaro was selected

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as part of a panel to develop to bring New Orleans back plan

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part of which put a stop on reconstruction of low-income

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neighborhoods until the residents return of course residence

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couldn't return to their destroyed homes and many were foreclosed

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on Paving the way for others to buy those properties and develop

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them when the time did come to rebuild New Orleans the engineering

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and construction company KBR received no-bid contracts

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from the federal government for tens of millions of dollars.

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KBR received 31 billion dollars in contracts from the government

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between 2001 and 2010.

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Vice President Dick Cheney served as CEO of KBR parent company

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Halliburton for the five years leading up to his two terms

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in office.

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Combined with their immense investing in purchasing power billionaires

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have had government resources in addition to their own resources

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to profit from during economic upheavals and well friendly

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tax laws and loopholes then keep those billionaires

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at the top legal structures such as limited liability companies

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protect personal assets from being repossessed to pay the debts

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from business downturns.

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Has it set up today IRS rules allowed Amazon to pay $0 in taxes

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two years in a row when it's Bill finally came do in 2019.

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It paid just 162 million dollars a measly 1.2% of the company's

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income that year.

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And it's not just Amazon taxes paid by billionaires

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have decreased 79% since 1980.

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And those are just the legal avenues that the wealthy take to

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avoid paying taxes in 2017 researchers estimated that about

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10% of the world's GDP was stashed in offshore tax Havens.

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A study in 2012 found that as much as 32 trillion was being

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held offshore by the world's wealthiest people.

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So after reviewing all this what can be done to help level the

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playing field a recent report by The Institute for policy

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studies lays out several action items.

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It suggests forming a pandemic profiteering oversight committee.

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That would go beyond the oversight of federal stimulus money.

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It also supports the corporate transparency act which we create

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stronger regulations to prevent us billionaires from using

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shell Corporation to hide their income after the house passed

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the bill in 2019.

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It was introduced in the Senate but has not been brought

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to a vote other suggestions include an emergency 10% millionaire

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income tax a stimulus package and its funding Charities

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instituting a wealth tax and reducing the amount Allowed

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by the gift and estate tax last and perhaps most importantly

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the report underscores the need to shut down the global hidden

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wealth economy. The us alone is estimated to lose nearly 200

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billion dollars in tax revenues to Offshore Havens each year.

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That's roughly three times the amount of all money budgeted

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for the Department of Education in 2021

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changes like the ideas above our Global in scale and require

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political cooperation to become reality if the relationship

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between wealth and income inequality or ever going to change

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that's going to require all of us.