Nick Hanauer is a rich guy, an unrepentant capitalist — and he has something to say to his fellow plutocrats: Wake up! Growing inequality is about to push our societies into conditions resembling pre-revolutionary France. Hear his argument about why a dramatic increase in minimum wage could grow the middle class, deliver economic prosperity ... and prevent a revolution.
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Video Rating: 4 / 5
NoName NoFame says
Nick Hanauer doesn’t seem to actually understand capitalism/ free market –
the reason why we are in the mess we are in now is because of central banks
artificially controlling interest rates – price control has never worked,
and artificially keepign interest rates low is one form of most pernicious
“price control” as it seeks to control the price of money itself – it
always ends up blowing dangerous bubbles (tech bubble, housing bubble) and
when it explodes, it’s always the middle class that gets destroyed.
For remedy is NOT to introduce even more price control – that of wages –
this will simply hasten the onset of hyper inflation which is inevitable
with all the money printing going on around the world by the central banks
already
Jack L. Foole says
Kill the Federal Reserve. Kill the IRS. Kill the NSA. Theres a start.
88CrazyLegs88 says
There won’t be pitchforks. There will be a police state. We already have
one if you’ve payed attention to how many police brutality incidents happen
daily. Things will get worse, but not for the mega-rich.
The police see all citizens as potential threats. They have a militaristic
mindset that every person out there is a criminal in some way. They can’t
be reasoned with. The rich? Well, they are obviously unreasonable as you
can see with the collapse of America happening right before your eyes.
Education sucks. Infrastructure sucks. Our incarceration rate is the
highest in human history (including Stalinist Russia and the Gulags). This
is a recipe not for pitchforks, but for a totalitarian state.
Americans don’t have the thinking capabilities to solve these problems (the
rich Americans included). The Pentagon is preparing for the worst and
climate change is an inevitability. Survival might just be put to the
limits in the next 100 years.
The human race needs something drastic to happen. Something huge.
Daryl Christensen says
“plutocrat
NOUN
a person whose power derives from their wealth.”
#fordism #basicincome : If #incomeinequality not fixed, the outcome is
either a #policestate or an #uprising
Joshua Miller says
He’s warning against pitchforks, goes for 20 minutes, and repeats a bit,
but he makes some very solid logical points for a different capitalist
system.
Benjamin Yang says
*A novel idea (5)*
The subject matter is very contentious and have elicited quite a fierce
debate in the comments section of the video but looking at it from the
bigger picture the underlying message does have a pertinent point. That
inequality is not necessary a good thing for the well-off. What do you
think?
—
*Shared for free via **+Do Share*
commrade alex jones says
the rich are looking at each other saying “who’s going first?”
Roxidius says
What a pile of steaming crap!
Capitalism does Not beat the alternative!
The most socialistic region of the world is Scandinavia and North West
Europe. They “just happen to be the most prosperous in the world as well”!
The most capitalistic countries in the world, the capitalists paradises,
are India, Indonesia, Brazil, Bangladesh, Nigeria, South Africa etc. And
they “just happen to” have the most poor, and the biggest gap between the
rich and poor. Also, in these countries, the wealth “just happens to” have
concentrated at the hands of the fewest number of people.
Capitalism IS the problem!
How did they ever convince you that “a system where greed is good, where
inhuman and unempathetic behavior is rewarded, where the winner takes it
all, is good for us all”?!
“Capitalists” like this are sitting at their desks and writing codes to
hyper trade at the stock marked and steal Billions from us! This is legal
theft under capitalism. Capitalism IS the problem!
michaelnew1962 says
While I love his presentation, He neglects to point out or focus on the
real problem with capitalism. Which is, very often profits are put before
that which benefits humanity and this planet. Capitalism can only truly
work in the long term if Humanity the nature of this planet are a placed at
the top of the decision making process. To do otherwise MUST result in the
harshed of penalties.
Debunking Economics Series says
If inequality is rising, then what convinces Nick Hanauer and others that
it is the lower marginal tax rates?
-Government has increased in size dramatically.
-The rich pay an INCREASINGLY larger share of total federal taxes.
-Welfare programs have increased by 16x in real terms in 40 years.
At what point does one consider other alternative explanations?
P.S. Taxes do NOT fund the federal government. Liberals with brains know
this and they advocate LOWER tax rates. I.E. people that understand
accounting and monetary operations with a liberal bias….
D.E.S.
Gilberto Sepúlveda Bradford says
TheScorpioTechno says
+Aaron Kraaymaat watch this trust me!
Bry NIN says
The tremendous and still accelerating development of science and technology
has not been accompanied by an equal development in social, economic, and
political patterns…We are now…only beginning to explore the
potentialities which it offers for developments in our culture outside
technology, particularly in the social, political and economic fields. It
is safe to predict that…such social inventions as modern-type Capitalism,
Fascism, and Communism will be regarded as primitive experiments directed
toward the adjustment of modern society to modern technology
– Dr. Ralph Linton
Corn Fed says
Every politician and business owner needs to see this.
MrJustonemorevoice says
So, who wants to bet when and how he will be discredited?
Or he’s just a distraction to give people false hope that the rich care
about them at all.
Trent England says
It would seem part of our modern reality, however, is that we can scale
“problem solving” (Hanauer’s definition of capitalism). That is, we do not
need as many problem solvers as we did 100 years ago to solve the same
number of people’s problems. Thus we create incredible wealth using fewer
people and thus the benefits of those solutions are more concentrated. I
think Hanauer also neglects to reflect on the fact that Ford was not paying
his employees more than the value those employees were creating. Ford’s
story means nothing for a business with a 1% margin where wages and
benefits are the biggest expense.
aFreeman0409 says
Maybe an analogy would help people?
If everyone sits down to a game of poker, doesn’t everyone have the same
chance to win the pot? Everyone’s stake can be different but the risks
taken increase the reward for the winners. The bets can be bigger each time
if you have an increased income during the game. There will be loses, and
it may take time, but you have the same chances. But the chances of getting
rich get much better when the big betters keep betting big. So what happens
when the big betters are NOT allowed to bet small anymore?
Now compare this to Vegas:
Who wins?
The house, everytime, because the game is designed to make everyone poor,
except one. Doesn’t matter how much is bet or how many bet, the house wins
most all the time.
Jon Snow says
That won’t happen because the typical Joe was conditioned to never question
his country, its called “patriotism” and if he breaks this sacred bond he
will be labelled as traitor or mocked for being UN-american.
DerMacDuff says
This man is a real hero !!
123abcbruce says
The solutions are easy.
There just has to be the will power and foresight to legislate the
necessary changes.
—–
Tax the rich more, so it is more fair tax system, and invest more in small
and medium sized, local businesses.
—–
Invest in permaculture methods and local sustainable agriculture and
livestock, which will create more jobs, and provide healthier, tastier,
more local and more nutritious fruits, vegetables, nuts and meats, and
create more jobs.
As well, it will conserve water, replenish water sheds, increase
bio-diversity, replenish soils and create communities.
More local economies means less destruction of natural resources and true
environmental consideration. It is obvious that global companies don’t have
any consideration for the land, resources or people.
—–
The industrial machine has gone to far with mechanization. Now there
aren’t enough farmers and the average age of the ones there are is getting
higher, so there won’t be enough people to replace them.
—–
Invest in green technologies, solar, wind, higher yielding oil plants for
biodiesel, more efficient housing (low or no energy use housing relying on
thermal mass, not just just short site industries focussing blindly on
insulation and furnace efficiencies).
—–
Prioritize local businesses over large multinational companies, which don’t
have any consideration or respect for local resources, municipalities or
its people.
—–
Reverse the use of migrant workers, insist on a better wage and grow a
local working class for farms and factories.
—–
It’s a matter of looking at the big picture and using more efficient and
more all encompassing solutions to, first grow community, increase profits
and increase jobs.
John FitzPatrick Leisen says
Nick Hanauer: Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming:
http://youtu.be/q2gO4DKVpa8 via REALITY,!
laughs says
Interesting presentation though ‘plutocrats’ to me mean those who are
consciously using their wealth to control governments and economics for
their ongoing wealth but I think he’s right in that at some point even
those wealthy who don’t want overt control will be lumped together as ‘evil
plutocracy’, unless there is a change in our governmental/economic system.
I wish that his description of capitalism was true: “people solving other
people’s problems”, it tends to be more like people making money off of
managing other people and convincing them to buy things they don’t really
need and gaining private management with obscene income production of
things they do need. Glad to hear his views on min wage and top
administration. I think CEO’s and top salaries should be restricted with
the only chance of going beyond the caps proportionate to the increase of
the wages of the lower salaried positions.
Dorothy SavedByGrace says
Banned TED talk full version!
Linda Klase says
Henry Kissinger: “If You Can’t Hear the Drums of War You Must Be Deaf”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/accurate-satire-henry-kissinger-if-you-can-t-hear-the-drums-of-war-you-must-be-deaf/28610
Izzy Batty says
i have an idea… don’t wait for the pitchforks. sell your yacht and your
fancy house, give your money to the homeless or others who have been
completely ditched and forgotten by your so called “revolutionary
capitalism” and go live somewhere like the rest of us do, if the worst that
could happen to you is selling fruit on the side of the road barefoot then
i don’t think a normal mortgage would be that bad.
and if that seems a bit drastic, you could at least pull some strings at
amazon and the other companies you own and actually pay your taxes IN FULL
without pushing most of your profits off shore.
and build a few school, and fund free education and health care.
sincerely,
most of us.