The Labour government refuse to acknowledge and deal with the rising tide of inequality in the UK. Will this doom them to fail, or can we get through to them?
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Funny to see this in the sub just as I dropped in to post this:
Labour has already delivered or making progress towards two-thirds of its manifesto pledges.
Is the government ‘over’ according to vague rhetorical positions or is it… very much on track to achieve its manifesto pledges? Is there a ‘rising tide’ of inequality? Or is it actually the case, as the ONS puts it, in slightly more sober language that, ‘Disposable income inequality in the UK, as measured by the Gini coefficient, did not statistically significantly change’?
Gary Stevenson is a populist grifter, who mainly just wants attention so that he can boast about how he went to the best unis, how he’s a genius at investing and complain about how tired he is. It’s a shame, because some of the problems he brings up are very real, but he’s not the way to solve them. Maybe he should just be sipping on pina coladas and rest a bit as he always keeps saying he could be doing instead.
Obviously not true. Like you say, the problems he brings up are very real yet he has presented one main solution. A wealth tax.
Would love to know how you’re supposed to raise awareness about a really important issue without being “populist”.
I’m all for an increased wealth tax, and raising awareness is good, but saying that it would be the simple, complete solution as he implies is misleading. Gary also refuses to engage with the research, talk about specifics, show graphs and explain how wealth inequality is a complex issue in his videos. He simplifies things to the extreme and defines society in terms of he and his audience as the pure, non-elite people on one side and all economists and the corrupt elite on the other. This, along with the way he presents himself is why I believe that unfortunately his style is somewhat similar to that of populists on the right, even if their aims are very very different. I’ll provide some sources for high quality critique on Gary’s work as a reply to the other comment.
I’m all for an increased wealth tax
There is none now, so any wealth tax would be an increase.
You’re right, apologies, I should have just said a wealth tax, I was also thinking about increased income taxes for high brackets too, so got the two mixed up.
Gonna need some proof on this one.
Some proof, or more accurately some valuable critique of Gary Stevenson’s output:
Fact check video: Economist fact-checks Gary’s Economics
Interview with Gary: Despolariza #89 GARY STEVENSON
Podcast on analysing Gary as a secular guru: Decoding the Gurus: Gary Stevenson: The People’s Economist
Appreciate the sources. I watched the first two and honestly… my opinion hasn’t really changed. It’s people who can’t see the forest for the trees. I think he’s doing a good thing, I agree with his message. I think if wealth was taxed more heavily and billionaires didn’t exist the world would be so much better.
I agree with his message too for the most part, and fully with you on your last statement. I just don’t think watching Gary and subscribing to his patreon and all that is the right step in making a change. Especially because for some people he might be dissuading from actually delving into the topic deeper or seeking other sources of information and ways to better the situation. When he says stuff along the lines of ‘All graphs are bullshit.’, ‘I know how the sausage is made, all economists are incompetent/liars.’, ‘There’s gonna be total collapse unless you listen to me specifically.’ might end up being harmful in the long run unfortunately. I feel like actual research groups, NGOs and activist groups probably have a lot better chance at influencing policies on this issue than an youtube personality. And if getting a ton of subscribers really was equal to political change, we’s already be fucked, because a ton of people who want the opposite or way worse have heaps more followers than Gary ever will.
