00:00This is not rocket science.
00:01I mean, we can talk for a very long time about all these stupid philanthropy schemes.
00:05We can invite Bono once more.
00:07Come on, we got to be talking about taxes.
00:09That's it.
00:10Taxes, taxes, taxes.
00:11All the rest is b**** in my opinion.
00:16They obviously didn't really like what I was saying and were like,
00:19how did this guy get through?
00:21And then there were some younger journalists who were like,
00:24yeah, we like this.
00:30So this is my first time at Davos and I find it quite a bewildering experience, to be honest.
00:45I mean, 1500 private jets have flown in here to hear Sir David Attenborough speak about,
00:51you know, how we're wrecking the planet.
00:52And I mean, I hear people talk in the language of participation and justice
00:57and equality and transparency.
00:59But then, I mean, almost no one raises the real issue of tax avoidance, right?
01:02And of the rich just not paying their fair share.
01:05I mean, it feels like I'm at a firefighters conference and no one's allowed to speak about water.
01:10I was at the conference.
01:12I arrived on Monday.
01:13I was supposed to participate in this panel on Friday.
01:17And as the days went by, I became more and more uncomfortable.
01:20They never talk about their own corrupt and broken business models,
01:24where they're actually exploiting other people, not paying them a living wage and you name it.
01:29That's never that's not really mentioned.
01:32They also don't talk about their own tax evasion and their own tax avoidance.
01:36So I think on Thursday, I locked myself up in my hotel room and I was talking about this with my
01:42wife and I said, you know, just one more day to go.
01:45I just give my short talk about basic income and then finally can get away.
01:49And she said, come on, you've got to talk about the elephant in the room.
01:52Just two days ago, there was a billionaire in here.
01:54What's his name?
01:55Michael Dell.
01:56And he asked the question, like, name me one country where a top marginal tax rate of 70%
02:02has actually worked.
02:04And, you know, I'm a historian.
02:06The United States, that's where it has actually worked.
02:08In the 1950s, during Republican President Eisenhower, you know, the war veteran,
02:13the top marginal tax rate in the US was 91% for people like Michael Dell.
02:18To me, it felt like we got to be talking about taxes.
02:21It's very simple.
02:22I mean, how can you ever have a civilized society if those at the top, the very rich,
02:28don't pay their fair share in taxes?
02:30I mean, that's the very first thing you should be talking about.
02:33And then after that, you can have a discussion about climate change,
02:36epidemic and all these important things.
02:39But if you don't have the actual money to solve the problems, I mean, what's the point, right?
02:45And they don't talk about that.
02:46They don't want to talk about it.
02:48It's very uncomfortable for them.
02:50I was just saying what everyone was thinking.
02:53That's simple.
02:54So, I mean, you don't need a PhD to make these observations.
02:58I mean, everyone understands that.
03:00But I guess what was so funny and also very satisfying to many people, including myself,
03:07is that I said it in Davos.
03:10I mean, these things are being said in the streets around the globe every day,
03:14but they're not being said in Davos.
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