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STOSSEL - [Equality vs. Liberty] - Fox Business Network
2014, January 9, Thursday

Xvid/MP3 AVI - encoded from medium quality ReplayTV stream

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[excerpted from John Stossel's blog:]


WAR ON INEQUALITY: Today, the richest 1 percent of Americans own 1/3 of America's wealth. This video, which highlights that, has been viewed more than a million times. Bob Beckel, co-host of "The Five," will try to help me understand why inequality is just wrong.

LESSONS FROM COMMUNISM: Philosophy professor Tibor Machan grew up in Soviet-controlled Hungary. He says Beckel and the left talk a good game, but they don't help the little guy.

WEALTH HYPOCRISY: Many people I talked to in Time Square said it was unfair that CEOs make millions. But they didn't hate celebrities and sports stars who are even richer. J.C. Bradbury, author of The Baseball Economist, explains why.

WELFARE FOR THE RICH: Stephen Moore of The Wall Street Journal proposes something called the "Millionaire Subsidy Elimination Act." He says government should cut handouts to people who make more than $1 million. I agree. Actually, government should cut all handouts, but simply stopping giving stuff to millionaires would be a good start.

MINIMUM WAGE: Carrie Sheffield from Forbes and Rich Benjamin from Demos debate the minimum wage. Sheffield says we need to let the market decide what wage is correct, while Benjamin says government must intervene.

WHAT'S RICH?: Radio host Dave Ramsey says if your household income is $34,000 a year or more, you're in the top 1 percent of income earners in the world. So in America, even "the poor" are rich.

LIFE ISN'T FAIR: What is fair? Why just talk about money? Is it fair that Jennifer Lawrence is good looking? Is it fair that LeBron James is 6' 8"? It didn't seem fair to me that I was the shortest kid in middle school.

Inequality may seem unfair, but the alternative is government force, and that leaves everyone poor. The truth is that the fate of most of the poor does not depend on government. The world's best poverty fighter is a free market.