Tell Us Something We Don't Know

Under pressure from websites like National Journal and The Raw Story, TED Talks published [multimillionaire Seattle venture capitalist Nick] Hanauer’s allegedly “controversial” speech on Thursday.

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TED Talks curator Chris Anderson said a talk given in March by [...] Hanauer was “one of the most politically controversial talks we’ve ever run.”

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Hanauer explained where the true wealth of market societies lies, saying that he’s confident rich people do not create jobs, and neither do businesses.

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Hanauer went on to explain that this feedback loop between capitalists like him and middle class consumers is what’s truly creating jobs, and that growth happens only when tax policies are designed to aid the consumer by taking more from the ultra-rich — and that it all, ultimately, benefits both classes.

“That’s why our current policies are so upside down,” he said. “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,” he said.

“Since 1980 the share of income for the richest Americans has more than tripled while effective tax rates have declined by close to 50 percent.

“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.”

  Raw Story

Video of the talk is at the link.