Nick Hanauer: The dirty secret of capitalism -- and a new way forward
Nick Hanauer: El oscuro secreto del capitalismo... y una nueva solución
Nick Hanauer has become an important voice in the raging debate on inequality — and his provocative argument is aimed at his fellow plutocrats. Full bio
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de 30 años en el capitalismo
of dollars in market value,
de dólares en valor de mercado,
I'm in the top .01 percent of all earners.
en el 0,01 % de los que más ganan.
to share the secrets of our success,
los secretos de nuestro éxito,
have never been richer.
nunca antes habían sido más ricos.
of the economic pie every year?
than we were 30 years ago?
que hace 30 años?
than we once did?
la profesión económica
in which the economics profession
a little bit of a problem.
políticas económicas
or raise wages for workers.
aumentar los salarios de los trabajadores.
neoliberales advertirían
would be a terrible mistake,
serían un terrible error
always kills economic growth,
siempre mata el crecimiento económico,
regulación gubernamental
siempre mata empleos.
de ese pensamiento,
21 trillion dollars richer
se hizo 21 billones de dólares más ricos
have grown 900 billion dollars poorer,
de los de menores ingresos
de dólares más pobres,
that has largely repeated itself
que se ha repetido en gran medida
struggle to get by
de clase media luchan para sobrevivir
in about 40 years,
no han aumentado en unos 40 años,
that the only reasonable response
siguen advirtiendo
of austerity and globalization
de la austeridad y la globalización
what we need to do.
lo que hay que hacer.
as the dismal science,
como una ciencia triste
because as much as it is taught today,
por mucho que se enseñe hoy,
of the dazzling mathematics.
of academics and practitioners
de académicos y practicantes
economic theory is dangerously wrong
neoliberal está terriblemente equivocada
of rising inequality
de creciente desigualdad
of decades of bad economic theory.
décadas de mala teoría económica.
that made me so rich isn't just wrong,
que me hizo tan rico no solo está mal
that creates economic growth,
genera el crecimiento económico,
that promotes the public good,
promueve el bienestar público,
that produces our prosperity,
la que genera prosperidad,
that is neither just nor inclusive
que no es ni justa ni inclusiva,
of social cooperation
de cooperación social
a una sociedad moderna.
a modern society to thrive.
that it's become painfully obvious
se ha vuelto dolorosamente obvio
that undergird neoliberal economic theory
la teoría de la economía neoliberal
through some of those mistaken assumptions
de estos supuestos equivocados
suggests prosperity actually comes from.
sugiere que proviene la prosperidad.
assumption number one is
económica número uno
an efficient equilibrium system,
de equilibrio eficiente,
in the economy, like wages, goes up,
como los salarios, sube,
like jobs, must go down.
como los trabajos, debe bajar.
our nation's first 15 dollar minimum wage,
salario mínimo de USD 15 en el país,
over their precious equilibrium.
las vestiduras por su precioso equilibrio.
advirtieron,
of labor," they warned,
will lose their jobs.
bajos salarios perderán sus trabajos.
en Seattle floreció.
doesn't kill jobs, it creates them;
no mata trabajos, los crea;
required to pay restaurant workers enough
fueron repentinamente obligados
del restaurante lo suficiente
can afford to eat in restaurants,
darse el lujo de comer en restaurantes,
sino que obviamente lo ayudó a crecer.
is always equal to its value,
siempre es igual a su valor,
that if you earn 50,000 dollars a year
que si Uds. ganan USD 50 000 al año
a thousand times as much value as you.
mil veces más valor que Uds.
muy reconfortante
50 million dollars a year
que gana USD 50 millones al año
salarios de pobreza.
who has run dozens of businesses:
que ha dirigido decenas de negocios:
no se les paga lo que valen.
the power to negotiate,
have become less productive
se han vuelto menos productivos
have become more powerful.
se han vuelto más poderosos.
in power between capital and labor
gigante de poder
became essentially
se convirtió esencialmente
y hasta ahora la más perniciosa,
and by far the most pernicious,
as something called "homo economicus,"
como algo llamado "Homo economicus",
that we are all perfectly selfish,
todos somos perfectamente egoístas,
and relentlessly self-maximizing.
e implacablemente auto-maximizadores.
for your entire life,
para otra persona
nice for somebody else,
was maximizing your own utility?
maximizando la propia utilidad?
salta sobre una granada
on a grenade to defend fellow soldiers,
their narrow self-interest?
solo por interés propio?
moral intuition,
intuición moral razonable,
of neoliberal economics,
de la economía neoliberal,
fundamentalmente egoístas,
prosperity in it,
acts of selfishness
de millones de individuos
into prosperity and the common good.
en prosperidad y bienestar común.
selfish maximizers,
maximizadores egoístas,
is the cause of our prosperity.
de nuestra prosperidad.
would be to slow economic growth
sería frenar el crecimiento económico
of neoliberal economics,
de la economía neoliberal,
which has produced economic policies
ha producido políticas económicas
in the top one percent
y a mis amigos ricos
of growth over the last 40 years.
de crecimiento en los últimos 40 años.
investigación empírica,
describes human beings
describe a los seres humanos
de esta nueva economía
permission to be our best selves,
para ser nuestro mejor yo
that this new economics
que esta nueva economía
imagined or invented.
imaginado o inventado.
are being developed and refined
sus teorías y modelos
new research in economics,
en la investigación económica,
la teoría evolutiva,
and other disciplines.
y otras disciplinas.
does not yet have its own textbook
aún no tiene su propio libro de texto
comes from goes something like this.
la prosperidad.
is an evolutionary system
es un sistema evolutivo
retroalimentación positiva
and increasing amounts of consumer demand.
de demanda del consumidor.
by which we solve human problems,
resolvemos problemas humanos,
con el que el mercado selecciona
through which the market selects
we become more prosperous.
nos volvemos más prósperos.
of social and economic cooperation
de cooperación social y económica
the more highly specialized products
altamente especializados
is correct, of course,
es correcta, por supuesto,
juega un papel crucial
in how markets work,
between highly cooperative groups --
entre grupos altamente cooperativos...
competition between networks of firms,
competencia entre redes de empresas,
a successful business knows
alguna vez un negocio exitoso sabe
by including the talents of everyone
que incluya los talentos de todos
than just a bunch of selfish jerks.
que solo un montón de idiotas egoístas.
el neoliberalismo
more prosperous
más sostenible, más próspera
just five rules of thumb.
solo cinco reglas generales.
are not jungles, they're gardens,
no son selvas sino jardines,
social technology ever invented
tecnología social que se haya inventado
or democratic regulation,
de las normas sociales
more problems than they solve.
más problemas de los que resuelven.
crea crecimiento económico.
is both wrong and backwards.
es incorrecta y está al revés.
in market economies.
en las economías de mercado.
is not merely to enrich shareholders.
no es solo enriquecer a los accionistas.
in contemporary economic life
económica contemporánea
the only purpose of the corporation
el único propósito de la corporación
de los ejecutivos
y a los accionistas.
of all stakeholders:
de todos los interesados:
doesn't make you a capitalist,
upon cooperation at scale as ours,
la cooperación a escala como la nuestra,
as it is for society.
para los negocios
as unchangeable natural law,
una ley natural inmutable
and constructed narratives
y narraciones construidas
una economía más equitativa,
and more sustainable economy,
y sociedades civiles
de que te hacen mucho esta pregunta.
I'm sure you get this question a lot.
with the economic system,
el sistema económico,
and join the 99 percent?
y te unes al 99 %?
why don't you pay more,
¿por qué no pagas más?
why don't you pay more?"
¿por qué no pagas más?"
a hundred thousand times better --
cien mil veces mejor...
to build narratives and to pass laws
construir narrativas y aprobar leyes
all the other rich people
todas las otras personas ricas
y mejor a sus trabajadores.
that we cooked up
de trabajadores.
we'll find some takers for you.
algunos interesados.
Moderator: Thank you very much.
Moderadora: Muchas gracias.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Nick Hanauer - Venture capitalist, authorNick Hanauer has become an important voice in the raging debate on inequality — and his provocative argument is aimed at his fellow plutocrats.
Why you should listen
Nick Hanauer has founded, co-founded and funded more than 30 companies across a range of industries, with a pretty notable record of success. As a few highlights, he cofounded a company called aQuantive that sold to Microsoft for $6.4 billion, and was the first non-family investor in Amazon.
Meanwhile Hanauer, a “proud and unapologetic capitalist,” has also been looking closely at society’s growing inequality gap, and the consequences it holds for our shared destiny — and the ultimate fate of our democracies. In 2007, he and civic activist Eric Liu co-wrote the book The True Patriot, an examination of progressive patriotism. This was followed by 2011’s The Gardens of Democracy, also with Liu, a vision for “growing” good citizens.
In 2013, Hanauer published a commentary in Bloomberg BusinessWeek proposing a $15 minimum wage (a suggestion that Seattle acted on this year). Early in 2014, he and Eric Beinhocker published "Capitalism, Redefined." In the summer of 2014, Hanauer published a much-shared essay in Politico that suggests, if societal inequality is allowed to grow unchecked, modern societies could start looking an awful lot like pre-Revolutionary France.
He is working on a new book, due out in 2015.
Nick Hanauer | Speaker | TED.com