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In Season One of The Story of Stuff,[br]we looked at a system that creates way

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too much stuff, and way too little of [br]what we really want. Now we're going to

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start looking at the stories[br]behind the Story of Stuff.

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That's where we'll find ways to turn[br]this situation around.

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Welcome to Season Two!

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These last few years, I've had to get[br]a lot more careful about how I spend

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my paycheck. Everyone has.

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Like I'm eating out less often,

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holding back on expenses I don't really[br]need, saving for my kid's college.

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I'm getting more responsible,[br]taking control of how I spend.

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But one thing I can't control is that[br]every month a big chunk of my paycheck

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goes off to the government.

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It's not the most fun part of my budget,[br]but I believe in paying taxes.

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Not just because it's the law

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but because that's how I invest in a[br]better future that I can't afford

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to build on my own.

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You know that future we all want and[br]nearly every candidate promises us —

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great schools,

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a healthy environment,

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clean energy, good jobs. But a funny[br]thing happens to our money on its way

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to that better future.

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It seems to disappear.

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And by the time we get around to[br]investing in it, all we hear is,

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"sorry, not this year, we're broke."

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In fact, we're so broke, they say,

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that we have no choice but to slide[br]backwards,

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cutting things that made this country[br]great — like schools and the EPA,

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maybe even Social Security and Medicare.

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Wait a minute. Broke?

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I'm sending in my share of[br]hard-earned cash every month and so are

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you!

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If everyone did, we'd have[br]plenty of money.

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Now, what we've got to work with shrinks[br]a lot thanks to corporate tax loopholes

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and unprecedented tax breaks for the[br]richest 1%.

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But even after those, we've

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still got over a trillion dollars.

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So if we're broke,

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what's happening to all that money?

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I decided to look into it and it turns[br]out this whole "broke" story hides

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a much bigger story

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— a story of some really dumb choices[br]being made for us —

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but that actually work against us.

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The good news is that these are choices,

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and we can make different ones.

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So, where is all that money going?[br]Well first the military takes a big

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chunk --

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$726 billion in 2011.

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Wow! We could build a lot of better[br]future with that kind of money.

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Spending billions on fighter planes[br]we don't need or wars with no end, and

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then saying we're broke,[br]just isn't honest.

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It's like calling your kid from your[br]billion-dollar yacht to say you can't

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afford her lunch money.

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Then hundreds of billions more go to[br]propping up the dinosaur economy.

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You know, the obsolete system we talked[br]about in The Story of Stuff —

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the one that produces more pollution,[br]greenhouse gasses and garbage than any

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other on Earth —[br]and doesn't even make us happy.

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In so many ways, it's just not working,

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but we're keeping it in on life support[br]instead of building something better.

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A lot of that life support comes in the[br]form of subsidies.

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A subsidy is a giveaway that gives some[br]companies a lift over others.

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That's not necessarily a bad thing —[br]we should help companies that are

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building a better future.

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The problem is the government keeps[br]lifting up companies that are actually

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dragging us down.

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Everywhere you look along the dinosaur[br]economy, you'll find these subsidies.

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There's spending subsidies: where the[br]government just gives our money away —

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like payments that benefit big[br]agribusiness, while helping drive family

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farms off a cliff.

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Or the less obvious version where the[br]government foots the bill for things

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corporations should pay for themselves

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like cleaning up toxic chemical spills[br]or giant livestock manure ponds.

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Or building roads that go to only[br]one place — a new Walmart.

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Or paying for polluting and wasteful[br]garbage incinerators that would never

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make financial sense to build on their[br]own.

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Then there's tax subsidies:

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which excuse big corporations from[br]contributing their fair share —

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like the enormous tax breaks granted[br]to oil and gas companies

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even in times of record profits.

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These subsidies amount to billions of[br]dollars we should be collecting

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and putting to good use.

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And there's risk transfer subsidies:[br]where the government acts as an

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investment bank and even an insurance[br]company for corporations doing risky

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things, like building nuclear reactors.

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If anything goes wrong,[br]we have to cover for them.

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There's freebie subsidies:

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where the government gives stuff that[br]belongs to all of us to corporations

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for cheap or even free.

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That's billions more we should be[br]collecting but never see!

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Like permits to mine public lands,[br]granted at prices set in the Mining

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Law of 1872.

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Really. 1872.

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President Grant signed this law to[br]encourage settlement of the West.

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News flash:

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it's settled.

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And all this doesn't even count[br]externalized costs. They

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don't show up on any spreadsheet and[br]could amount to trillions of dollars —

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they include the damage to the[br]environment,

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public health and the climate that this[br]dinosaur economy causes.

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Without laws that make the polluters[br]pay, we all pay with the loss of clean

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water and air,

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or increased asthma and cancer.

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By the time we've handed out all these[br]subsidies, there isn't even enough money

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to pay our bills —

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forget about building the better future.

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So why is there always enough money for[br]the dinosaur economy, from big oil to

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bailouts for big banks, but when it

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comes to building a better future we're[br]supposedly broke? Maybe it's because

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these guys know how to ask for it.

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Their lobbyists and giant campaign[br]contributions let the government know

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what they want,

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and what they'll do if they don't get it.

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And it works.

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US Senators who voted to keep big oil[br]subsidies in 2011 had

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received 5 times more in Big Oil[br]campaign cash than those who voted to

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end them. So, while subsidies should [br]be a tool for government to help

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companies that are helping all of us,[br]instead, they've become a prize for

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those with the most power[br]to get on the handout list.

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But you know who has the real power?

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We do! What if we got as protective of[br]our tax dollars as we are with

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the rest of our money?

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What if we told the government[br]what we want and what we'll do if we

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don't get it -- starting with[br]voting them out!

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We could re-direct these dinosaur[br]subsidies,

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freeing up hundreds of billions of[br]dollars. Forget broke, we could

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build a better future right now!

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We could start by reinvesting the[br]$10 billion in oil and

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gas subsidies to renewable energy and[br]energy efficiency projects.

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With just half of that amount, we could[br]put solar systems on over two

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million rooftops. Then use the[br]rest to retrofit half a million homes,

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creating jobs and saving energy[br]year after year.

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The average cost of cleaning up a[br]toxic site on the Superfund list is

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$140 million.

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Let's make the polluters pay and instead[br]invest our money in developing safer

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materials so we don't have to worry[br]about them spilling in the first place.

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Most chemicals today are made from oil —[br]that's why they are called

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petro-chemicals.[br]Switching just 20% of them

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to bio- based materials would create[br]over 100,000 new jobs.

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Instead of subsidizing garbage[br]incinerators, let's subsidize

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real solutions, like zero waste.

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Raising the US recycling rate to 75%[br]would create one and a half million

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new jobs — with less pollution,[br]less waste,

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less pressure to harvest and mine new[br]stuff. What's not to like?

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That would still leave hundreds of[br]billions of dollars

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for improving education — the best[br]investment for a healthy economy.

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With $100 billion, we could increase[br]the number of elementary school

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teachers by over 40%

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and give college scholarships[br]to over 6 million students.

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See, we can rebuild the American Dream;[br]we can afford to

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have a healthy environment, good jobs,[br]and top-notch public education.

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But not if we continue subsidizing the[br]dinosaur economy.

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So next time you have an idea for a[br]better future and someone tells you,

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"that's nice, but there's no money for[br]that,"

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you tell them we're not broke.

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There is money, it's ours,[br]and it's time to invest it right.