Nick Hanauer

This 6-minute-long TED talk by Nick Hanauer was removed from the TED website.  Was it because Nick, a billionaire, attacked the myth that the rich are the all-important "job creators?"  

We've known the claim was bunk for a long while now, and it's refreshing to see the myth demolished like this.  Unfortunately, many of our politicians still use it to justify breaks for the wealthiest among us.  

This TED talk isn’t posted on the TED website. Why not? Apparently they feel it’s too politically controversial. What that boils down to, essentially, is that the conservative strategy of bold lies to suck in the sheep has worked, and now if the truth doesn’t favor Republicans or isn’t neutral, it’s considered politically controversial. How can proven information be politically controversial?

As you can see, the video isn’t even partisan. Both Democrats and Republicans operate under the assumption that the rich are job creators, and that’s because, as mentioned in another talk, this time by Lawrence Lessig, politicians on the national level have to go through two electoral processes to get into office. Yes, they are voted on by the people. However, before that, they also have to win funding, and that means the rich pick which politicians run for major offices. Until we change campaign finance laws that isn’t going to change. In fact, the myopic vision of Congress is going to get worse, because the rich demand their attention.

And it isn’t a partisan problem. Even a third party, at a congressional level, would be controlled by the same wealthy influences, because without the money to campaign, they wouldn’t get the notoriety necessary to get the votes. The funders vote before the voters do, meaning that, by definition, well-known candidates are heavily influenced by wealthy interests. Once again, we can’t change that without reforming campaign finance laws.

The rich aren’t job creators. Even if we didn’t have people speaking out with evidence, we should be able to look at the last 20 years of income history and see for ourselves — the wealthiest Americans have reached previously unimaginable levels of prosperity, and if the job-creator logic held, we’d have evidence of it by now. It’s time for change.

Original.