September 25, 2024

Bunk From a Cabinet Secretary

Robert Reich does almost exactly what I do, except … Reich is repeatedly wrong.

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich now makes videos, like I do.

In fact, his channel, Inequality Media, is very much like Stossel TV. He also reaches people via social media platforms, gets millions of views and covers economic topics.

Reich does almost exactly what I do, except … Reich is repeatedly wrong.

It’s understandable. Despite being frequently introduced as “economist Robert Reich,” Reich has no economics degree. He’s another liberal lawyer. His videos reflect that.

“Inequality Media” is a catchy name. Americans dislike inequality.

But my new video points out that inequality isn’t a conspiracy. It’s simply what happens when people are free.

Taylor Swift’s a billionaire. Should government force you to listen to me sing to make life more fair?

Reich wants to “ban billionaires” like Jeff Bezos. I don’t much like Bezos, but his creation, Amazon, is wonderful. It’s lowered prices so much that it cut America’s core inflation.

Reich claims Amazon is a monopoly. But Amazon is far from a monopoly. It has to compete with Walmart, Target, eBay, Alibaba, etc. Where there are free markets, we have choices. If we buy from Amazon, it’s only because we think it’s cheaper or better.

Reich says it is bad that billionaires “get money from rich relatives.”

But the biggest study of millionaires found few do.

Bezos got some money from his parents, but most of what he needed to grow Amazon he got from investors. Media “experts” sneered at them for years, because at first, Amazon lost so much money.

Capitalism rewards such risk-taking.

Progressives and liberal lawyers like Reich believe rich people take most of America’s wealth and leave little for the poor. Like the Hollywood writers for the movie “Wall Street,” they call our economy “a zero-sum game — somebody wins, somebody loses.”

But that’s just dumb.

Capitalists create new wealth. They don’t take a big slice of the pie and leave us a sliver. If they get rich, it’s because they find ways to bake lots of new pies.

That’s what’s happened in America. Its why today, even poor Americans have access to things European kings only dreamed about.

Capitalists can get rich only by making all of us better off.

Actual economist Dan Mitchell explains, “Billionaires only kept 2.2% of the additional wealth they generated … the rest of us captured almost 98% of the benefits.”

Reich also mocks trade. In one video, he sneers, “Global trade is good for everyone. That’s bunk!”

Of course it’s bunk. Few things are good for everyone.

But trade makes almost everyone richer by allowing us to specialize in what we do best. It’s called comparative advantage.

Reich complains, “What if a country’s comparative advantage comes from people working under … exploitative conditions?”

“Exploitation” would be bad, but people in poor countries aren’t forced to work in factories. They took those jobs because their alternatives were worse. Trade allowed a billion people to lift themselves out of poverty.

Still, trade does take away some Americans’ jobs. Donald Trump complains about other countries “ripping us off and taking our jobs.”

He and Reich don’t understand that trade creates more jobs. It’s why unemployment is low. Companies engaged in global trade created 60% of America’s new jobs.

Finally, Reich says it’s “rubbish” that President Joe Biden’s huge spending increases caused Inflation. He claims it’s “corporate greed … Mega corporations raise prices to increase their profits.”

That’s just silly. When prices fall, did companies suddenly get less greedy?

My video cites actual economists like Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, who explains, “Inflation is made in Washington because only Washington can create money. Any other attribution of other groups to inflation is wrong.”

Robert Reich’s videos are wrong about almost everything. It’s sad that colleges pay this fake economist to deliver foolish propaganda to students.

His “progressive” ideas would leave all of us poorer. And less free.

COPYRIGHT 2024 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.

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