Inequality for All Page #2

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and, you know, I haven't really

been able to do that

and been kind of holding back

and just trying to make rent

right now.

How much do you make an hour?

Right now,

I think it went up... $21.50.

$21.50 an hour.

Hola, Alberto.

I think I'm being paid fair.

It got to a point

that we were able to afford,

you know, a condo

on Olivera Road,

and we bought it.

We had our own things,

our own place.

It was little,

you know, two-bedroom.

We bought it in 2004.

Around 2006, start of 2007,

the market just dropped

like a rock.

And not that long after,

actually,

I lost my job that I'd been at

for a long time.

Luckily we had

some really good friends,

and one of them said,

"Come over here

and live with me."

So that's where we are now.

Go with Daddy.

- Go with Daddy.

- I'm hungry.

You're hungry?

Child care for Paulina right now

costs me about $400.

I'm, like, undecided whether

I should make her walk home...

buy her a phone and walk home,

making sure she gets home okay,

or keep paying a day care.

- Bye.

- Here, Mom.

Ready?

I have $25 in my

checking account right now

and just thinking about

all the things that we need.

I don't have a way

of communicating

with Robert right now.

He doesn't have a phone,

so we have to wait for that.

I got to figure out...

we have to have enough,

you know,

food on the table for the kids.

$25 in your checking account,

that's got to be...

That's not very much.

No, it's not.

But, I mean,

it's Tues... it's Wednesday.

I'll survive today.

I'll look up in the pantry,

see what else is there to eat.

I have a full tank of gas,

so I'm fine on that part.

I don't need to go anywhere

right now.

When I was laid off,

I decided to go ahead

and pursue my degree

at that point.

Most of the classmates I have

are a lot younger than I am.

It's different

when you're reading about it

or somebody else's issues.

That's different from when

it's your own family's.

So when it hits home,

that's probably

the hardest part.

There is no official

definition of the middle class.

But Alan Krueger,

chairman of the Council

of Economic Advisors,

these are the percentage

of households

with annual incomes within 50%

of the median household.

$50,000, median income,

50% above, 50% below.

If you're in the top %1,

you're earning

at least $380,000 a year.

If you're at the lower end

of this group,

you're probably

at the top levels

of the professional fields,

a top doctor or a top lawyer.

Higher in this group,

earning several million dollars

a year,

are successful entrepreneurs

who start profitable companies.

At the highest levels, earning

$10 million a year or more,

are the CEOs of big companies,

the heads of Wall Street banks,

top entertainers,

and also the top sports stars.

Last year, we made $36,000,

and we're a family of three.

I think I probably make

in between $45,000 and $50,000

a year

working 70 hours a week,

six days a week.

Combined income with the army

and with my personal job,

maybe $55,000 to $60,000 a year.

Probably close to $600,000.

Usually more than $10 million,

less than $30 million

but, you know, a lot,

a ridiculous amount of money.

I am an entrepreneur

and venture capitalist.

My family owns a large

manufacturer of bed pillows

and down comforters called

Pacific Coast Feather Company.

We are, in fact,

one the largest manufacturers

of those things in the world.

The problem

with rising inequality is,

a person like me,

who earns 1,000 times as much

as the typical American,

doesn't buy 1,000 pillows

a year.

Even the richest people only

sleep on one or two pillows.

The pillow business

is quite tough,

as it is

for many, many industries,

because fewer and fewer people

can afford to buy

the products that we make.

And I have the nicest Audi

you can get,

but it's still only one Audi.

I personally hate fancy food.

I would infinitely rather

go have a great bowl

of pho at the local

Vietnamese place

than a five-course $300 dinner

at some fancy place.

You know, we can only

go out to eat

so many times a year.

We can only get

so many haircuts a year.

We can only get...

I can, you know...

Three pairs of jeans

will do you, you know?

Like, you don't need 300 pairs.

The problem isn't that the rich

spend too much

of what they earn.

It's actually, paradoxically,

that they spend too little.

They're not generating

enough economic activity.

Somebody earning

$10 million a year

doesn't spend $10 million.

They save it.

And those savings go

anywhere around the world.

They can make the most money,

get the highest return.

They become part

of the global capital market,

including a lot

of speculative instruments,

having gold and real estate

and anything else

that they're all chasing.

With the exception

of the money I personally invest

to start companies,

I have essentially no idea

what happens to my money.

I invest in funds of funds,

and those hedge funds

do God knows what with it.

But I do believe absolutely

that most of the return

that's being created

isn't creating

any kind of social utility

other than creating

a return for me.

Now, ordinarily we like saving.

I mean, savings are good,

but when we have

so much unemployment,

so much underutilized capacity

here in the United States,

we need spending.

Every single person there has

to process 12 units per hour.

How are we gonna create jobs

if you're taxing

the very successful people

in America

who provide those jobs?

Sometimes we think

that this is a debate

over facts and figures

and data.

To raise taxes on the job

creators in this country...

I think if you believe that,

you're fooling yourself

a little bit.

The people that you call rich,

I call job creators.

When somebody calls themselves

a job creator,

they're not describing

the economy

or how the economy works,

although that's

what it sounds like.

What they're really doing

is making a claim

on status, privileges,

and power.

If a guy like me

is a job creator

at the center

of the economic universe,

the current

economic arrangements

are righteous and justified.

I know how comfortable

this is to believe

because I used to believe it.

You know, I grew up

kind of believing that.

You know, and when people

challenged that idea,

I would say things like,

"Well, you just don't understand

economics."

But of course,

if rich business guys like me

are not job creators...

it's actually our customers

that are the job creators...

we are not the center

of the economic universe.

They are.

We need to replace

trickle-down economics

with middle-out economics.

And, indeed,

every place you look on Earth

where you find prosperity,

you finds massive investments

in the middle class

and the poor,

because at the end of the day,

they are the true job creators.

The most pro-business thing

you can do

is to help middle-class people

thrive.

Okay, I'm gonna get the box.

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