The Bar Stool Economics Video
In case you haven’t seen this or haven’t read the viral story about the 10 guys sharing their tab at a bar, this is well worth five minutes of your time…
The Writer
This post was written by Oscar on Tuesday, May 17, 2011, 11:03. Oscar has written 722 posts on this blog.
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Quote of the day
Quote Of The Day, May 25, 2012
“What happened here was the accumulated karmic backlash of forty years’ worth of Establishment Democrats telling the Activist Left that they were the vanguard of, and spokesmen for, a broad American populist movement. For the longest time, such lies were simply an accepted part of the public policy debate; mostly because the country had no yardstick by which to judge the Left’s turnout and activities.“But then came the Tea Parties — which showed people what a real American populist movement looks like, and what it can do — and its success stung the Activist Left at the exact moment that Scott Walker came along and not unreasonably decided that if he was elected on a platform of doing certain things, he had best start doing them. This infuriated the Left, but not as much as the refusal of Walker and the WI GOP to go weak-kneed at the first sign of push-back. So… the recall movement was born!
“And… fizzled. The Left should have cut their losses when Prosser demonstrated that drum circles and illegal indoor camping in the Rotunda didn’t translate into votes… and they definitely should have cut their losses when the first wave of recalls didn’t live up to the hype. But they didn’t, and now the people of Wisconsin are increasingly demonstrating that they’re tired of all of this – and they’re not blaming the Republicans, either. Such a shame, but that’s what you get whe- hey! The bacon’s fully cooked.”
- Moe Lane
[...] The Bar Stool Economics Video. [...]
very good indeed show the ball of parabens ta
We need Buckwheat in the White House about like I need a hemorrhoid transplant !
Racist moron. No wonder President Obama will be re-elected by a landslide. Get a life.
Simple!
This should be on national TV. What a simple and elegant illustration. This video should be shown to high school students in their Civics/Government classes. Whoops…do they still teach Civics or Government in school?
This should be on national TV. What a simple and elegant illustration. This video should be shown to high school students in their Civics/Government classes. Whoops…do they still teach Civics or Government in school?
You forgot to mention that the guy who only got ten bucks savings owned the bar.
the only thing i think is wrong with this is it over simplifies our tax system anyone who has ever attempted to do there own taxes should know that much. I just got my BA in economics and we did a whole year = 2 semester classes on taxes and it was never explained like this and my school is very conservative. It fails to take into account the reality of deductions and donations to things that really only effect the rich
Oh, brother. This is almost too stupid for words, but I am going to offer my two cents worth anyway. Talk about a straw man, or several straw men. Firstly, the numbers are just entirely made up and have nothing to do with our tax structure. Secondly, income taxes are progressive by design, and those with higher incomes pay higher MARGINAL rates. However, once all their deductions are accounted for, they often pay a lower AVERAGE rate (do the math: what percentage of your income did you pay in taxes once you figured it all out. Most people pay less than 20 percent, even, or especially, the rich).
Wealthier people, by definition, have benefited the most from the economic system that we have. They should pay a higher rate than others. The idea that all have gotten the same deal, but that the richer customer pays more is just ludicrous. Consider this: in the absence of a tax-funded police force, what would be the cost of private police protection. Clearly, those with more to protect would pay a higher rate because they hold a higher share of the property and other wealth — they have more to protect. Yet this example assumes that everyone just gets the same private good — a beer. That is a horrible analogy to the real world.
As for the nonsense about moving overseas, good riddance. We pay lower taxes than any other industrialized country, especially the rich. Go ahead and move overseas so that you can finally pay your fair share.
And that, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and Eric Cantor, is how taxes really work.
Disqus generic email templateSpike, you don’t sound like you know too much about taxes – or anything else.
You start with oh brother yet the main point you make is that someone who has more to protect should pay more? Seriously? Translate that to the one who works harder, lives in a conservative manner in essence has to pay more, that is how that translates to me.
Your an idiot. You mask statements of fact in self interested judgements that allow you and those like you to take from the hardest working among us. You should be ashamed for the embarrassment you bring to your family
Spoken like a true socialist. A dollar is worth a dollar is worth a dollar. No matter how you slice it, dice it or cut it up. Your reasoning above infers that because a wealthy person (no matter how they became wealthy) has more dollars that it dilutes the value of his dollar and therefore he/she should be more willing to part with their dollars. Just because I make $500k per year doesnt mean that the value of every dollar I pay in taxes is less thatn the value of a dollar paid (or retained) by someone making $30k per year. The wealthy people you speak of above understand this concept. Your concept is nothing but a smokescreen.
My husband and I make approx $180,000 together. We pay about 35% tax. Where do you get this 20% ??? That’s not true in my case.
Nice .you do not have a clue.
simple explanation we know who we are!!!
Spike, you doofus. This isn’t meant to be an analogy to the real world. It is just a way to illustrate how something works. It’s main shortcoming is that it didn’t show how our real system has gone beyond having some people not pay in… in reality, we have a lot here in the US who take out without ever paying in [citizens and illegals.] You also missed the point with your example of police protection… the wealthy not only pay for the existing police protection, they find it inadequate, so have to pay more privately for aequate protection. As for the wealthy benefiting most from the economic system we have, you forget to mention that they created it and keep it running… they are the ones who work and pay in, who take the risks and create organizations that produce wealth, as opposed to the parasites who put nothing in but expect and feel entitled to take something out. Remember, the government doesn’t create wealth… it just prints money. And the jobs it creates are usually not productive, or even necessary – they are more often focused on hindering productivity and wealth-creation and redistributing wealth that is created by non-government.
Sufis is such a descriptive word. Max is a genius, Spike is clearly a dufus!
All Americans, rich and poor alike, need to appreciate the cost of the services we receive from “we the people” (i.e. government). So let’s apply this to the beer example. To get to the bar, you either take public transportation (a bus, a subway, light rail) or you drive your own car on publicly funded roads. (Note that your car was also manufactured under strict safety rules.) The water that was used to make the American beer can be considered clean, thanks to our collective laws protecting the health of our water. The air you breathe in the bar should be clean of industrial pollutants, and even free of cigarette smoke, thanks to our collective wisdom about protecting air quality. The ingredients of the food you order can be considered very safe, and the kitchen its cooked in has been inspected. The TV, cell phone, and other products are all the result of hard-working inventors and manufacturers, and the patents for them are protected by the laws we make and the courts we collectively rely on. If there is a fire, or a brawl, or a natural or national disaster while you enjoy your beer, we the people will provide the fire department, the local police, or a government agency to lend a hand in the best way they can (not always perfect, but for the most part awesome). And when you drink your beer, you are not under attack by another country or a terrorist group.
All these services from “we the people” — your friends and neighbors who work for our city, state, and federal government — are not free. So go enjoy your beer, but be thankful. Be willing to pay not just for your beer, but more importantly, for your fair share of the taxes that cover all those things we take for granted that allow you to enjoy that beer. “To whom much is given, much is expected.”
It’s nice to know that thanks to our government we’re not all going to die today. However did we survive before the Progressives came along to restrict freedom for our own good?
Right up there with the Abbot and Costello bit where they prove that you only work on day a year. Or maybe who’s on first.
THE PROBLEM HERE IS THE PEOPLE THAT PUT NOTHING INTO OUR SYSTEM, GET THE MOST BENEFITS!!! AND THE PEOPLE THAT PAY THE MOST GET THE LEAST BENEFITS!!!
This presentation definitely oversimplifies the reality of taxes! If you only look at the amount of taxes paid, the presentation might be accurate, but the fact is that the guy paying the most is not necessarily the richest, or even the guy that is working the hardest. Capital gains (the result of selling stocks, bonds, property, etc.) is only 28% but the top tax on wages is 35% so if all of your income is from interest, dividends and capital gains, you will pay less as a percentage that the same amount of income that results from wages. And the total tax paid is also affected by whether you are single or married or have dependents: $373,650 for a single taxpayer is $108,421 in federal tax but for a married person it is $101,086. And the picture is also affected by where you live: $100,000 in Iowa is a completely different situation than $100,000 in Los Angeles but would be taxed the same for Federal purposes. And I think the reality is that the $59 guy left the bar back in the 80s when his company moved all of the jobs overseas so that not only did he stop paying his $59 part of the tab, he eliminated the jobs that allowed the other guys to be able to pay THEIR tabs. The problem isn’t that the Left is demanding that the Rich pay more, it is that the Rich have more options in deciding how much to pay as well as controlling the government through campaign contributions and controlling the economy by moving their business operations out of taxable range. We are living in an economy that is proof that the trickle-down theory isn’t working, if it ever did.
Disqus generic email templateEven if that’s true, your presentation badly overcomplicates things. Worse, you go from a relatively benign, if a little boring, regurgitation of numbers to a spew of leftist propaganda about moving jobs offshore and “trickle-down” economics. We’d all be better off if those lies could be put to bed once and for all; the Soviet Union, Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea proved more about your favorite economic theory than an increase in international free-market competition ever did about supply-side theory.
BUT IF THE RICH WERE TAXED MORE IT WOULD BE LESS THEY WOULD DONATE TO COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES,CHURCHES, CHARITIES AND HOSPITALS…WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT THEM… THEY ALSO PAY MORE FOR THE ROADS WE DRIVE ON… DON’T KILL THE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGG!!!!!
PAUL ISENBERG
THE RICH PROVIDES JOBS…THE GOVERNMENT SPENDS MORE MONEY THAN IT TAKES IN….IF YOU HAD A SON OR DAUGHTER THAT WAS SPENDING MORE THAN HE OR SHE MADE, WOULD YOU KEEP SENDING THEM MORE MONEY??? DO NOT THROW THE SEED ON THE HARDEN PATH, OR THE ROCK …..ONLY ON THE FERTILE SOIL WILL IT GROW!!!!!
You appear to be an articulate person, however there are serious flaws in your comments. First, there is no question that our tax code is complicated, but what the video tries to do is ilustrate in a simple manner how things work. Sure the numbers are not exact, but there are hundreds (if not thousands) of situations that can not be introduced here, and still keep it simple. Secondly, what do you mean by the guy paying the most is not necessarily the guy that is working the hardest?? since when actual work has anything to do with taxes? It is about what you make, regardless of whether you came up with a great idea and became a multimillioner without lifting a finger, or you keep working your tail off cleaning streets, but you keep making minimum wage all your life. It’s called capitalism, it’s not perfect, but it’s the best system, no question. Same goes for your comments about marriage and geographic location. You don’t like beign taxed as a single person? go ahead and get married!! (there are a million reasons why married people get some tax breaks, and they all make sense) You find Iowa’s taxes more appealing than LA’s? Then go ahead and move to Iowa!! what’s stoping you? (I would bet the answer is because salaries in Iowa are not nearly what they are in LA). Finally, I don’t know how many $59 guys have left the bar, but there are plenty more still here. Not only that, eventually the ninth guy steps up and takes his place, and sooner rather than later becomes the next bad guy. So the question is…. how much longer are we going to allow ignorance and shortsightedness (not even sure that is a word) to drive the job creators out of the country? Should the guy that was paying $3 and now is paying $2, complain because the guy who was paying $59 is now paying $49, REALLY ????????
This explanation will hit home with my unemployed, beer drinking, liberal, tax the rich, brother-in-law.