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2012/05/17 22:58:34
Subject: You can't find the talk online, because TED officials have declared it too politically controversial
Prepare to meet Nick Hanauer. He's a venture capitalist from Seattle who was the first non-family investor in Amazon.com. Today he's a very rich man. And, somewhat jarringly, he's screaming to anyone who will listen that he, and other wealthy innovators like him, doesn't create jobs. The middle class does - and its decline threatens everyone in America, from the innovators on down.
It is astounding how significantly one idea can shape a society and its policies. Consider this one.
If taxes on the rich go up, job creation will go down.
This idea is an article of faith for republicans and seldom challenged by democrats and has shaped much of today's economic landscape.
But sometimes the ideas that we know to be true are dead wrong. For thousands of years people were sure that earth was at the center of the universe. It's not, and an astronomer who still believed
that it was, would do some lousy astronomy.
In the same way, a policy maker who believed that the rich and businesses are "job creators" and therefore should not be taxed, would make equally bad policy.
I have started or helped start, dozens of businesses and initially hired lots of people. But if no one could have afforded to buy what we had to sell, my businesses would all have failed and all those
jobs would have evaporated.
That's why I can say with confidence that rich 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. In this sense, an ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator
than a capitalist like me.
So when 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.
Anyone who's ever run a business knows that hiring more people is a capitalists course of last resort, something we do only when increasing customer demand requires it. In this sense, calling
ourselves job creators isn't just inaccurate, it's disingenuous.
That's why our current policies are so upside down. When you have a tax system in which most of the exemptions and the lowest rates benefit the richest, all in the name of job creation, all that
happens is that the rich get richer.
Since 1980 the share of income for the richest Americans has more than tripled while effective tax rates have declined by close to 50%.
If it were true that lower tax rates and more wealth for the wealthy would lead to more job creation, then today we would be drowning in jobs. And yet unemployment and under-employment is at
record highs.
Another reason this idea is so wrong-headed is that there can never be enough superrich Americans to power a great economy. 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. My family owns three cars, not 3,000. I buy a few pairs of pants and a few
shirts a year, just like most American men. Like everyone else, we go out to eat with friends and family only occasionally.
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. Or to make up for the
decreasing consumption of the vast majority of American families that are barely squeaking by, buried by spiraling costs and trapped by stagnant or declining wages.
Here's an incredible fact. If the typical American family still got today the same share of income they earned in 1980, they would earn about 25% more and have an astounding $13,000 more a year.
Where would the economy be if that were the case?
Significant privileges have come to capitalists like me for being perceived as "job creators" at the center of the economic universe, and the language and metaphors we use to defend the fairness of
the current social and economic arrangements is telling. For instance, it is a small step from "job creator" to "The Creator". We did not accidentally choose this language. It is only honest to admit that
calling oneself a "job creator" is both an assertion about how economics works and the a claim on status and privileges.
The extraordinary differential between a 15% tax rate on capital gains, dividends, and carried interest for capitalists, and the 35% top marginal rate on work for ordinary Americans is a privilege that is
hard to justify without just a touch of deification
We've had it backward for the last 30 years. Rich businesspeople like me don't create jobs. Rather they are a consequence of an eco-systemic feedback loop animated by middle-class consumers,
and when they thrive, businesses grow and hire, and owners profit. That's why taxing the rich to pay for investments that benefit all is a great deal for both the middle class and the rich.
So here's an idea worth spreading.
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.
Thank You.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2012/05/17 23:05:32
4000pts Vior'la
2012/05/17 23:10:16
Subject: You can't find the talk online, because TED officials have declared it too politically controversial
Also, Naomi Klein's No Logo outlines how in the past two decades big business has moved away from job creation to job migration, generally to free economic zones that have zero tax and zero employee and human rights. And that companies themselves no longer manufacture goods, but subcontract all they can and their ideal state would be one of an empty, branded vessel.
2012/05/18 01:49:29
Subject: You can't find the talk online, because TED officials have declared it too politically controversial
1) Does TED always post every single talk online, or do they usually pick only certain ones?
2) If they do pick only certain ones, was this one just controversial or was it just a bad talk?
No.
and
I can't give my opionion on something I cant watch.
Tun_Tau wrote:Two Questions:
1) Have you heard this about any of the other TED talks not posted?
2) And having read the text, did you find it controversial?
1) I haven't really heard this about any of the other talks not posted, but I have to admit I really don't follow TED that closely.
2) It is a controversial speech, but I don't really think that TED usually has a problem with controversial subject matter. I will also admit that I have not watched the actual video, but from comments on the video, the number of dislikes already, and other commentary he might have had a good topic. But it appears he simply was not that good a speaker. This is pretty much hearsay though since I didn't watch that video.
2012/05/18 03:15:37
Subject: Re:You can't find the talk online, because TED officials have declared it too politically controversial
Like I said, I honestly didn't watch him or anybody else. So I can honestly say that I don't know if he was censored or if the other speakers that did get posted were simply better than him.
2012/05/18 06:26:01
Subject: Re:You can't find the talk online, because TED officials have declared it too politically controversial
Excellent talk, already knew what he was talking about, and am glad to have it summerized so well. Now if only that talk can make it to fox news in a good way...
Desert Hunters of Vior'la The Purge Iron Hands Adepts of Pestilence Tallaran Desert Raiders Grey Knight Teleport Assault Force
Lt. Coldfire wrote:Seems to me that you should be refereeing and handing out red cards--like a boss.
juraigamer wrote:Excellent talk, already knew what he was talking about, and am glad to have it summerized so well. Now if only that talk can make it to fox news in a good way...
Yeah I know. If only could catch leprechaun too, I could use that pot of gold.
2012/05/21 22:22:46
Subject: You can't find the talk online, because TED officials have declared it too politically controversial
What exactly is TED? I hesitate to click on those links...
The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
2012/05/21 22:24:45
Subject: You can't find the talk online, because TED officials have declared it too politically controversial
Same story in the UK. The rich get taxed less and less while the poor get taxed more, demand has dried up and the economy is stagnating. But we mustn't harm our masters in The City...
Ever thought 40k would be a lot better with bears?
Codex: Bears.
NOW WITH MR BIGGLES AND HIS AMAZING FLYING CONTRAPTION
2012/05/21 22:30:27
Subject: You can't find the talk online, because TED officials have declared it too politically controversial
Also yes, raising demand is far more important than raising supply. We have far too much supply, not enough demand, right now.
The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
2012/05/21 22:39:22
Subject: You can't find the talk online, because TED officials have declared it too politically controversial
Clthomps wrote:I love TED talks! Although this is just a re-hash of common sense. I am not sure why people think its controversial.
Although it is pretty much common sense it calls into question every bit of taxation reform from Reagan/Thatcher onwards. In Britain our top rate of income tax was once more than 80%, then Thatcher happened.
2012/05/21 23:18:11
Subject: You can't find the talk online, because TED officials have declared it too politically controversial
In the US, some of our most prosperous times were when we had high taxes on the upper echelons of society.
The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
4000pts Vior'la
The Purge 
Iron Hands 
Adepts of Pestilence 
Tallaran Desert Raiders 
Grey Knight Teleport Assault Force
