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Here's The TED Presentation About Rich People That TED Doesn't Want You To See
http://www.businessinsider.com/nick-hanauer-ted-presentation-about-why-rich-people-arent-job-creators-2012-5#ixzz1v4fvI7MlGrace Wyler
The National Journal reports today that TED is refusing to publish a recent talk from megarich venture capitalist Nick Hanauer, which argued that rich people actually don't create jobs, and that cutting their taxes is harmful to the middle class.
Obviously, Hanauer's position is anathema to most of his fellow billionaires. Although his talk was well-received, TED officials eventually decided that it was too "politically controversial" to post the presentation on the TED website.
In an email to Business Insider this afternoon, Hanauer said that he accepts TED's right not to post his presentation, but that he disagrees with their reasoning:
"I got a sensational reaction to the talk at the conference itself, including a big standing ovation. Even the people who I spoke to who disagreed were intrigued and moved by the eco-systemic argument," Hanauer said in the email. "And many of the talks at the conference and on the TED website are similarly controversial. That's what makes them interesting."
He added: "Further, if it was too political, why have me do it in the first place? They knew months in advance what I would speak about and I gave the talk word for word. My arguments threaten an economic orthodoxy and political structure that many powerful people have a huge stake in defending. They will not go easily."
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nick-hanauer-ted-presentation-about-why-rich-people-arent-job-creators-2012-5#ixzz1v4gZnzvU
16 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
The annual earnings of people like me are hundreds, if not thousands, of times greater than those of the median American, but we don't buy hundreds or thousands of times more stuff...(A)n ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator than a capitalist...
...(R)ich people don't create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is a "circle of life" like feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion this virtuous cycle of increasing demand and hiring...
...(W)hen businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it's a little like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it's the other way around...I can't buy enough of anything to make up for the fact that millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans can't buy any new clothes or cars or enjoy any meals out...
We've had it backward for the last 30 years. Rich businesspeople like me don't create jobs...In a capitalist economy, the true job creators are consumers, the middle class. And taxing the rich to make investments that grow the middle class is the single smartest thing we can do for the middle class, the poor and the rich.
Text: http://roundtable.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/the-inequality-speech-that-ted-wont-show-you.php
Slides: http://roundtable.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/the-powerpoint-slides-that-wer.php
rocktivity
...(R)ich people don't create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is a "circle of life" like feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion this virtuous cycle of increasing demand and hiring...
...(W)hen businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it's a little like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it's the other way around...I can't buy enough of anything to make up for the fact that millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans can't buy any new clothes or cars or enjoy any meals out...
We've had it backward for the last 30 years. Rich businesspeople like me don't create jobs...In a capitalist economy, the true job creators are consumers, the middle class. And taxing the rich to make investments that grow the middle class is the single smartest thing we can do for the middle class, the poor and the rich.
Text: http://roundtable.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/the-inequality-speech-that-ted-wont-show-you.php
Slides: http://roundtable.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/the-powerpoint-slides-that-wer.php
rocktivity
Last edited Mon May 6, 2013, 02:00 PM - Edit history (1)
...He added (in an email): 'I got a sensational reaction to the talk at the conference itself, including a big standing ovation...(I)f it was too political, why have me do it in the first place? They knew months in advance what I would speak about, and I gave the talk word for word......'"Exhibit A: Here's a "word for word"-type article (complete with comments) that Hanauer wrote for Bloomberg.com nearly six months earlier:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-01/raise-taxes-on-the-rich-to-reward-job-creators-commentary-by-nick-hanauer.html
I used to rely on TED to introduce me to box-busting ideas whether I agreed with them or not. I feel downright betrayed by an old friend.
rocktivity
and I certainly don't blame TED for wanting to protect their corporate partners from any kind of criticism. But for TED to be censorious, hypocritical and cowardly about it -- and NOT expect be called on it -- IS inherently evil.
rockivity
Thank you for pointing that out.
Those talks by Al Gore and others on climate change - pure evil.
The talks by those Buddhist monks about being peaceful - incredibly evil.
That talk by Stephen Hawking about the origin of the universe- more evil than you can imagine.
The talk by Julian Assange about Wikileaks - evil, evil, evil...
I'll never watch a TED talk again.
None of those speakers "scared" TED -- why did this one?
rocktivity
Last edited Mon May 6, 2013, 04:50 PM - Edit history (5)
...There are some great points you make in it, as well as several statements that a lot of economists could challenge as not true or not literally true. For example: "Only consumers can set in motion this virtuous cycle." ...except when a company is thinking ahead of what the market wants; exhibit A: Apple...
...I launched numerous magazines for each of which, at time of their launch, there was zero consumer demand. In each of those cases I hired teams before launching and before knowing whether anyone would buy. Businesses do this all the time. They imagine a product, and take a risk. You might say there must have been latent demand, and that in the short time period you had, you didn't have time to fully flesh out the argument.. sure. But I think a lot of business managers and entrepreneurs would feel insulted by that statement as given.
...I launched numerous magazines for each of which, at time of their launch, there was zero consumer demand. In each of those cases I hired teams before launching and before knowing whether anyone would buy. Businesses do this all the time. They imagine a product, and take a risk. You might say there must have been latent demand, and that in the short time period you had, you didn't have time to fully flesh out the argument.. sure. But I think a lot of business managers and entrepreneurs would feel insulted by that statement as given.
The smartest businesses don't develop and market products until they've established that there is GOING TO BE a sustained consumer demand. And if those consumers don't have the money to consume your products WITH, you've accomplished nothing -- as the very fact that you are no longer running those "numerous" magazines illustrates. P.S. The new Coca Cola and the DeLorean.
...But even if the talk was rated a home run, we couldn't release it, because it would be unquestionably regarded as out and out political. We're in the middle of an election year in the US. Your argument comes down firmly on the side of one party. And you even reference that at the start of the talk. TED is nonpartisan and is fighting a constant battle with TEDx organizers to respect that principle...
...I personally share your disgust at the growth in inequality in the US, and would love to have found a way to give people a clearer mindset on the issue, without stoking a tedious partisan rehash of all the arguments we hear every day in the mainstream media...
...I personally share your disgust at the growth in inequality in the US, and would love to have found a way to give people a clearer mindset on the issue, without stoking a tedious partisan rehash of all the arguments we hear every day in the mainstream media...
TRANSLATION: "I've love to find a way to give people a more blissfully ignorant mindset on this issue that avoids the fact that not properly taxing corporate profts -- such as those of TED's own corporate partners -- is the root cause of the problem."
link
rocktivity
There's the fly in the ointment, it will hurt some rich people's feelings...
These rich people, specifically:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1016&pid=28607
rocktivity
These rich people, specifically:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1016&pid=28607
rocktivity
