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Thursday 17 May 2012
Too Hot for TED: Income Inequality

TED organizers invited a multimillionaire Seattle venture capitalist named Nick Hanauer – the first nonfamily investor in Amazon.com – to give a speech on March 1 at their TED University conference. Inequality was the topic – specifically, Hanauer’s contention that the middle class, and not wealthy innovators like himself, are America’s true “job creators.”

“We’ve had it backward for the last 30 years,” he said. “Rich businesspeople like me don’t create jobs. Rather they are a consequence of an ecosystemic 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.”

You can’t find that speech online. TED officials told Hanauer initially they were eager to distribute it. “I want to put this talk out into the world!” one of them wrote him in an e-mail in late April. But early this month they changed course, telling Hanauer that his remarks were too “political” and too controversial for posting.

25 notes

  1. homesicckalien reblogged this from azspot
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  5. andrewbaggott reblogged this from azspot and added:
    Everything is politics. Get used to it and get with the program. We all know TED conferences cost a buttload to attend,...
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  7. welcometothepoopfactory reblogged this from azspot and added:
    This disappoints me about TED.
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