Uber-Wealthy Venture Capitalist Gave A TED Talk Saying Rich People Don't Create Jobs

[IIIII]

This Uber-Wealthy Venture Capitalist Gave A TED Talk Saying Rich People Don't Create Jobs — And TED Is Refusing To Post It


As the war over income inequality wages on, super-rich Seattle entrepreneur Nick Hanauer has been raising the hackles of his fellow 1-percenters, espousing the contrarian argument that rich people don't actually create jobs. The position is controversial — so much so that TED is refusing to post a talk that Hanauer gave on the subject.



In an email obtained by the National Journal, TED curator Chris Anderson told his colleagues that Hanauer's speech “probably ranks as one of the most politically controversial talks we've ever run, and we need to be really careful when” to post it. He added: “Next week ain't right. Confidentially, we already have Melinda Gates on contraception going out. Sorry for the mixed messages on this.”

TED regularly posts speeches about sensitive political issues, including global warming and contraception, so it's not clear why Hanauer's talk would be singled out for censorship.

We've emailed Hanauer to see what he thinks, but in the meantime, here's an excerpt for you to judge for yourself:

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.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-...#ixzz1v8r46Xx2




TED website: http://www.ted.com/

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.

[Struwwelpeter]

Nick Hanauer is not an "uber-wealthy venture capitalist." He is a small-business owner and investor who is personally worth a grand total of about $3,000,000, which isn't hard at all to obtain in American society so as long as you a.) play by the rules and b.) have a little initiative. Additionally, he is an affirmative-action beneficiary. Small-time millionaires like Hanauer are the high-end of the Fisher-Price social and economic class unit.

An "uber-wealthy" person is someone like a Rockefeller or Sam Robson Watlon -- someone who is worth several billions of modern USD.

Nice try, Communist, but you will never convince a rational human being that your political agenda is anything but death squeal of a bunch of perverts and titty babies.

[TheSexyBeast821]

Like I said in another thread, no one ever got rich without other people with enough money to buy their goods or services. Our society and economy is consumer driven, and if you cripple the middle and lower classes ability to consume, things are going to start to fall apart. Fast.

[Tachosomoza]

Originally Posted by TheSexyBeast821

Like I said in another thread, no one ever got rich without other people with enough money to buy their goods or services. Our society and economy is consumer driven, and if you cripple the middle and lower classes ability to consume, things are going to start to fall apart. Fast.

Don't forget exploitation of others' labor.

[ratfrink]

^ Yep, you can only take a profit by under-paying your workers.

Co-operative companies ftw.

[Malice]

Originally Posted by TheSexyBeast821

Like I said in another thread, no one ever got rich without other people with enough money to buy their goods or services. Our society and economy is consumer driven, and if you cripple the middle and lower classes ability to consume, things are going to start to fall apart. Fast.

This is fucking stupid Keynesianism. You guys need to shut the fuck up about things you don't understand and stop parroting childish left wind memes.

Originally Posted by Tachosomoza

Don't forget exploitation of others' labor.

Marx was wrong.

Why Marx's Exploitation Theory Is Wrong (Joseph Salerno explains Böhm-Bawerk) - YouTube

Why Marx's Exploitation Theory Is Wrong (Joseph Salerno explains Böhm-Bawerk) - YouTube
Video: click to display

[TheSexyBeast821]

Originally Posted by Malice

This is fucking stupid Keynesianism. You guys need to shut the fuck up about things you don't understand and stop parroting childish left wind memes.

Right, because someone can get rich just by trying to sell goods or services regardless of if anyone actually buys them.

Without consumers, no one is rich. It's a simple fact.

[Malice]

Sorry, I was blinded by emotion. Yes, of course you shouldn't cripple the poor and middle class, but this view of a consumer society is highly misleading.

[Tachosomoza]

Originally Posted by Malice

Sorry, I was blinded by emotion. Yes, of course you shouldn't cripple the poor and middle class, but this view of a consumer society is highly misleading.

Blinded by trolling and stupidity. Give it up, anchor baby.

[IIIII]

Here's the video:

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
Video: click to display

[Rust]

Originally Posted by Malice

Marx was wrong.

...

Except, of course, that his point only refutes that as an exploitative processes if and only if the surplus value matches perfectly with the "interest" (i.e. the difference in value today compared to the future). It doesn't.

[Iehovah]

As Tacho is so fond of whining, IIII, a business generally doesn't exist until it has employees, even if those workers are the owners. Someone has to pay those employees, and yeah... that's the owners. Generally out of pocket, or from loans.

So this nonsense about employees coming about through some kind of fucked up evolutionary analogy is retarded. Someone creates a business model, and then hires them based on that model, even if it's just making the kid work the lemonade stand. Fucking basic. Job was created by the owner.

[IIIII]

So where are the jobs?

The money is ther - low interest rates - large labor force available - taxes for the rich have been extended.

So where are the jobs.

400 people control more wealth than the next 150,000,000 people.

Sooooo...

[Iehovah]

Originally Posted by IIIII

So where are the jobs?

The money is ther - low interest rates - large labor force available - taxes for the rich have been extended.

So where are the jobs.

400 people control more wealth than the next 150,000,000 people.

Sooooo...

Different issue, and one I agree with you on. The problem you have is that you are using a failed argument to support a reasonable one. Yeah, jobs come from those with the money to build them in their businesses.... but giving the rich money in the form of tax breaks, low interest rates and other such bullshit doesn't mean they're willing to use it to create more jobs.

They're better served taking that money they've suckered us out of overseas and using it to pay more workers for less money. More jobs created... just not here. Shell game.

[Malice]

Everyone is capable of producing. Look at what's interfering with that.

[Malice]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy

[is all mememememe with me]

haven't read the whole article yet but just wanted to point out that the elite need unemployment, the higher the better. high unemployment creates competition for jobs, meaning there is always gonna be someone more desperate who will do the job for less. this keeps wages down which in turn means more of the spoils from a company go in the owners pockets.

its interesting that the average company director earns on average 39 times what the average wage is in his company. in other words, if you earn $300 a week, then the owners of the company you work for will be earning $11,700 per week. that should make you feel better next time you struggle to pay your rent.

[is all mememememe with me]

Originally Posted by Iehovah

As Tacho is so fond of whining, IIII, a business generally doesn't exist until it has employees, even if those workers are the owners. Someone has to pay those employees, and yeah... that's the owners. Generally out of pocket, or from loans.

So this nonsense about employees coming about through some kind of fucked up evolutionary analogy is retarded. Someone creates a business model, and then hires them based on that model, even if it's just making the kid work the lemonade stand. Fucking basic. Job was created by the owner.

WTF are you talking about??? ..wages get paid out of profits. there have been many many cases where a firm hasn't made profits for some time and so the company doesn't pay the employees. they've done the work that was asked and then payment doesn't come, or it comes after some months, or the company goes bust and they never get paid. it happens all the time.

the thing you'll find with people who start businesses is that very few will admit that the reason they started a business was for money, to get rich. money is almost seen as a dirty word in business, when used in that context. most will use the old 'i started this business to help people/society/community' or 'i want to be my own boss', 'have more freedom' etc etc. but few will admit they just want to be rich, some even convince themselves of the fact.

yet it is the exact reason why everyone starts a business. ok it can be fun to do for many, especially if you can combine an interest/hobby into a working business. but still money is the overwhelming factor. money makes the world go round, as they say. we all need it and can do little without it.

employers only employ people for one thing, because they can't do all the work themselves. to make a company successful and so get rich, the business has to expand. this creates more tasks than one person can manage so paying a small share of your profits to someone else in return for help is the obvious solution. but no one employs people they don't need, not intentionally anyway. the most agile and successful businesses will employ as few people as they can possibly use to get the job done.

i'm not saying there is anything wrong with starting a business and wanting to get rich, but it is not a selfless act which people do to help others benefit. that is just a bi product of their own needs.

[Sober]

in other news, the rich get richer.

[Ghost Buster]

Bullshit.

If someone gave me 100 billion dollars I would hire a 1000 man crew to build me a massive castle in the north of canada. I would then hire an army. Not sure from what country, but I'd get an army, and I would take over canada, and I would declare myself the king in the north. That would create a lot of jobs.

Therefore rich people create jobs.

[Struwwelpeter]

Just about everyone agrees that middle class and working class (and underclass) should be treated well. It's not just about economic viability, it's just a matter of conscience. Most people don't like to see others suffering while they are doing well. It makes you feel guilty. Right now, not everyone is being treated well. There are people in other nations who are living in hellish conditions, having to work long hours for very little pay. And even in the free world people of middle and working class backgrounds don't have it all that great. But, inevitably, goodness prevails.