Jesus. This is trending on Youtube. A MoveOn video with Robert Reich explaining econ?

[BamaFanNKy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTzMqm2TwgE

[Tiger35]

I saw the same thing on my Facebook via a friend. I responded with this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=661pi6K-8WQ

[William R]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTzMqm2TwgE


The truth about Robert Reich

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXm4j2ORYcg&feature=player_embedded

[Nate-ForLiberty]

Response by Bob Murphy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXm4j2ORYcg&feature=player_embedded

[Wesker1982]

Bob Murphy is awesome

[BamaFanNKy]

Might not be a bad thing to try and get it trending.

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

Bob have my babies! :p

[Anti Federalist]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQnarzmTOc&feature=relmfu

[TheNcredibleEgg]

Response by Bob Murphy



I have a problem with Bob saying Obama, if anyone, is to blame for the drop off in taxes as a % of GDP with his first chart.

I think GWB and the Keynesian housing bubble is to blame mostly. The taxes % from his 2003-2007 recovery was just a short term mirage. And that was the main problem. The gov't under GWB spent as if the mirage was real - then continued further under Obama, of course.

[Vessol]

I love it when Statist hacks pull stuff out of their ass..

[BamaFanNKy]

Seriously, Bob's video needs to trend.

[angelatc]

I love it when Statist hacks pull stuff out of their ass..

I get MoveOn.orgs emails, and the video came though there yesterday. It's really sad that so many people believe what is is saying equates to an economic education.

[angelatc]

Seriously, Bob's video needs to trend.

THen Freedomworks and/or the C4L need to send it out.

[angelatc]

People, email the Murhpy video to pundit@instapundit.com. http://consultingbyrpm.com/blog/2011/06/the-truth-about-robert-reich.html is an easy copy link to Murphy's blog post on the topic. Ya'll might want to give him the backstory about MoveOn sending out the Reich video and seeing it start to trend on YouTube.

[Teaser Rate]

In my experience, the best 5 second response to videos such as these is to invoke Hauser's law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauser%27s_Law).

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/9243/399170128388458500322sp.jpg

[BrendenR]

I have a problem with Bob saying Obama, if anyone, is to blame for the drop off in taxes as a % of GDP with his first chart.

He was only doing it in the context of what someone might say about the chart: IE, at this point, "Reagan was president, so he gets credit here on the chart. Clinton was president, so he gets credit here on the chart. And it would follow that Obama would get credit here on the chart, the collapse of revenue."

He wasn't proposing that as his position, but as a way of showing that if you claim Clinton gets credit for the boom, then Obama gets credit for the collapse, putting the progressive in a no-win situation.

[Zippyjuan]

The recent collapse in revenues occured in 2008- the first year of the economic crisis. If you want to assign a president, that would be under Bush.

Taxes are more complicated than simply indicating what the top tax rate is. What percent of people qualify for those brackets? What about exclusions and deductions?

How about a chart of effective tax rates which takes this into consideration? Effective tax rates for the highest incomes has been declining since 1995 at the same time that their incomes were rising faster than any other income level.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/04/08/business/economy/effectivetaxrates.jpg

http://www.cbo.gov/publications/collections/tax/2009/tax2006_4.gif
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/how-much-americans-actually-pay-in-taxes/

[silverhandorder]

@zippy

His real rebuttal was his point that the rich and poor constantly change.

I would certainly assign fault to Obama for collapsing revenue. He could have easily corrected it by not continuing to do what Bush did and actually use sound economics.

edit: About effective tax rates they seem to fall during bad times since it is easy to write off loses into tax credits.

[ItsTime]

When he says "give you some pause" the youtube video pauses. around 440-450

[angelatc]

I love this ...one of my high school classmates is a huge liberal, and he posted this. So I posted the rebuttal, and he said he's pretty sure none of it is true. :)

Did you get that? Reich doesn't give us a source for his numbers, but they're unquestionably accurate. Murphy uses the Treasury and the Federal Reserve numbers, and they're not true.

[Sentient Void]

<3 Bob Murphy.

And <3 Hauser's Law.

[TIMB0B]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihwg5lbnEww&feature=feedu

[unconsious767]

Response by Bob Murphy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXm4j2ORYcg&feature=player_embedded

That's the same room where Tom Woods filmed a video.

[libertybrewcity]

Bob Murphy is the man!