ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Nick Hanauer - Venture capitalist, author
Nick 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.

More profile about the speaker
Nick Hanauer | Speaker | TED.com
TEDSalon NY2014

Nick Hanauer: Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming

Filmed:
2,414,590 views

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.
- Venture capitalist, author
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

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:13
You probably don't know me,
0
1391
2279
00:15
but I am one of those .01 percenters
1
3670
3344
00:19
that you hear about and read about,
2
7014
1943
00:20
and I am by any reasonable definition a plutocrat.
3
8957
4065
00:25
And tonight, what I would like to do is speak directly
4
13022
3090
00:28
to other plutocrats, to my people,
5
16112
2306
00:30
because it feels like it's time for us all
6
18418
2811
00:33
to have a chat.
7
21229
2076
00:35
Like most plutocrats, I too am a proud
8
23305
2578
00:37
and unapologetic capitalist.
9
25883
2343
00:40
I have founded, cofounded or funded
10
28226
3537
00:43
over 30 companies across a range of industries.
11
31763
3530
00:47
I was the first non-family investor in Amazon.com.
12
35293
3595
00:50
I cofounded a company called aQuantive
13
38888
2721
00:53
that we sold to Microsoft for 6.4 billion dollars.
14
41609
3870
00:57
My friends and I, we own a bank.
15
45479
2548
01:00
I tell you this — (Laughter) —
16
48027
2896
01:02
unbelievable, right?
17
50923
1247
01:04
I tell you this to show
18
52170
3210
01:07
that my life is like most plutocrats.
19
55380
2763
01:10
I have a broad perspective on capitalism
20
58143
3307
01:13
and business,
21
61450
1800
01:15
and I have been rewarded obscenely for that
22
63250
3790
01:19
with a life that most of you all
23
67040
2157
01:21
can't even imagine:
24
69197
2259
01:23
multiple homes, a yacht, my own plane,
25
71456
2701
01:26
etc., etc., etc.
26
74157
4127
01:30
But let's be honest: I am not the
smartest person you've ever met.
27
78284
3262
01:33
I am certainly not the hardest working.
28
81546
2404
01:35
I was a mediocre student.
29
83950
1973
01:37
I'm not technical at all.
30
85923
1218
01:39
I can't write a word of code.
31
87141
2498
01:41
Truly, my success is the consequence
32
89639
3133
01:44
of spectacular luck,
33
92772
2448
01:47
of birth, of circumstance and of timing.
34
95220
4904
01:52
But I am actually pretty good at a couple of things.
35
100124
4495
01:56
One, I have an unusually high tolerance for risk,
36
104619
4644
02:01
and the other is I have a good sense,
37
109263
2415
02:03
a good intuition about what will happen in the future,
38
111678
2625
02:06
and I think that that intuition about the future
39
114303
3283
02:09
is the essence of good entrepreneurship.
40
117586
3570
02:13
So what do I see in our future today,
41
121156
2518
02:15
you ask?
42
123674
2002
02:17
I see pitchforks,
43
125676
1655
02:19
as in angry mobs with pitchforks,
44
127331
4790
02:24
because while people like us plutocrats
45
132121
5214
02:29
are living beyond the dreams of avarice,
46
137335
3531
02:32
the other 99 percent of our fellow citizens
47
140866
2913
02:35
are falling farther and farther behind.
48
143779
2813
02:38
In 1980, the top one percent of Americans
49
146592
2488
02:41
shared about eight percent of national [income],
50
149080
2478
02:43
while the bottom 50 percent of Americans
51
151558
2674
02:46
shared 18 percent.
52
154232
2543
02:48
Thirty years later, today, the top one percent
53
156775
3352
02:52
shares over 20 percent of national [income],
54
160127
3622
02:55
while the bottom 50 percent of Americans
55
163749
1901
02:57
share 12 or 13.
56
165650
2914
03:00
If the trend continues,
57
168564
2446
03:03
the top one percent will share
58
171010
1480
03:04
over 30 percent of national [income]
59
172490
2306
03:06
in another 30 years,
60
174796
1792
03:08
while the bottom 50 percent of Americans
61
176588
2280
03:10
will share just six.
62
178868
1739
03:12
You see, the problem isn't that we have
63
180607
1996
03:14
some inequality.
64
182603
2081
03:16
Some inequality is necessary
65
184684
2452
03:19
for a high-functioning capitalist democracy.
66
187136
3294
03:22
The problem is that inequality
67
190430
1710
03:24
is at historic highs today
68
192140
3362
03:27
and it's getting worse every day.
69
195502
3419
03:30
And if wealth, power, and income
70
198921
2624
03:33
continue to concentrate
71
201545
1835
03:35
at the very tippy top,
72
203380
2301
03:37
our society will change
73
205681
1848
03:39
from a capitalist democracy
74
207529
1733
03:41
to a neo-feudalist rentier society
75
209262
3772
03:45
like 18th-century France.
76
213034
1985
03:47
That was France
77
215019
3194
03:50
before the revolution
78
218213
1747
03:51
and the mobs with the pitchforks.
79
219960
2024
03:53
So I have a message for my fellow plutocrats
80
221984
2554
03:56
and zillionaires
81
224538
1822
03:58
and for anyone who lives
82
226360
1474
03:59
in a gated bubble world:
83
227834
2236
04:02
Wake up.
84
230070
1351
04:03
Wake up. It cannot last.
85
231421
3720
04:07
Because if we do not do something
86
235141
2019
04:09
to fix the glaring economic inequities in our society,
87
237160
4331
04:13
the pitchforks will come for us,
88
241491
2745
04:16
for no free and open society can long sustain
89
244236
3948
04:20
this kind of rising economic inequality.
90
248184
3004
04:23
It has never happened. There are no examples.
91
251188
2922
04:26
You show me a highly unequal society,
92
254110
1859
04:27
and I will show you a police state
93
255969
1479
04:29
or an uprising.
94
257448
1767
04:31
The pitchforks will come for us
95
259215
2143
04:33
if we do not address this.
96
261358
1911
04:35
It's not a matter of if, it's when.
97
263269
3848
04:39
And it will be terrible when they come
98
267117
3633
04:42
for everyone,
99
270750
1451
04:44
but particularly for people like us plutocrats.
100
272201
4984
04:49
I know I must sound like some liberal do-gooder.
101
277185
3420
04:52
I'm not. I'm not making a moral argument
102
280605
2250
04:54
that economic inequality is wrong.
103
282855
3262
04:58
What I am arguing is that rising economic inequality
104
286117
4286
05:02
is stupid and ultimately self-defeating.
105
290403
3521
05:05
Rising inequality doesn't just increase our risks
106
293924
3228
05:09
from pitchforks,
107
297152
1868
05:11
but it's also terrible for business too.
108
299020
4567
05:15
So the model for us rich guys should be Henry Ford.
109
303587
3870
05:19
When Ford famously introduced the $5 day,
110
307457
3813
05:23
which was twice the prevailing wage at the time,
111
311270
2947
05:26
he didn't just increase the productivity
112
314217
2070
05:28
of his factories,
113
316287
1969
05:30
he converted exploited autoworkers who were poor
114
318256
3397
05:33
into a thriving middle class who could now afford
115
321653
2700
05:36
to buy the products that they made.
116
324353
3217
05:39
Ford intuited what we now know is true,
117
327570
4290
05:43
that an economy is best understood as an ecosystem
118
331860
4001
05:47
and characterized by the same kinds
119
335861
1919
05:49
of feedback loops you find
120
337780
2560
05:52
in a natural ecosystem,
121
340340
1740
05:54
a feedback loop between customers and businesses.
122
342080
3938
05:58
Raising wages increases demand,
123
346018
3106
06:01
which increases hiring,
124
349124
2081
06:03
which in turn increases wages
125
351205
2081
06:05
and demand and profits,
126
353286
2630
06:07
and that virtuous cycle of increasing prosperity
127
355916
4844
06:12
is precisely what is missing
128
360760
2149
06:14
from today's economic recovery.
129
362909
4995
06:19
And this is why we need to put behind us
130
367904
4618
06:24
the trickle-down policies that so dominate
131
372522
3708
06:28
both political parties
132
376230
1797
06:30
and embrace something I call middle-out economics.
133
378027
3405
06:33
Middle-out economics rejects
134
381432
2535
06:35
the neoclassical economic idea
135
383967
2317
06:38
that economies are efficient, linear, mechanistic,
136
386284
4197
06:42
that they tend towards equilibrium and fairness,
137
390481
3127
06:45
and instead embraces the 21st-century idea
138
393608
3438
06:49
that economies are complex, adaptive,
139
397046
3774
06:52
ecosystemic,
140
400820
2002
06:54
that they tend away from
equilibrium and toward inequality,
141
402822
3348
06:58
that they're not efficient at all
142
406170
1750
06:59
but are effective if well managed.
143
407920
3285
07:03
This 21st-century perspective
144
411205
3271
07:06
allows you to clearly see that capitalism
145
414476
2664
07:09
does not work by [efficiently] allocating
146
417140
3287
07:12
existing resources.
147
420427
2440
07:14
It works by [efficiently] creating new solutions
148
422867
5998
07:20
to human problems.
149
428865
1255
07:22
The genius of capitalism
150
430120
2209
07:24
is that it is an evolutionary solution-finding system.
151
432329
4882
07:29
It rewards people for solving
other people's problems.
152
437211
5951
07:35
The difference between a poor society
153
443162
2947
07:38
and a rich society, obviously,
154
446109
2317
07:40
is the degree to which that society
155
448426
2938
07:43
has generated solutions in the form
156
451364
1933
07:45
of products for its citizens.
157
453297
2859
07:48
The sum of the solutions
158
456156
1821
07:49
that we have in our society
159
457977
1991
07:51
really is our prosperity, and this explains
160
459968
2374
07:54
why companies like Google and Amazon
161
462342
2283
07:56
and Microsoft and Apple
162
464625
2363
07:58
and the entrepreneurs who created those companies
163
466988
2902
08:01
have contributed so much
164
469890
3560
08:05
to our nation's prosperity.
165
473450
2706
08:08
This 21st-century perspective
166
476156
2800
08:10
also makes clear
167
478956
2589
08:13
that what we think of as economic growth
168
481545
2445
08:15
is best understood as
169
483990
1947
08:17
the rate at which we solve problems.
170
485937
2494
08:20
But that rate is totally dependent upon
171
488431
3418
08:23
how many problem solvers —
172
491849
3577
08:27
diverse, able problem solvers — we have,
173
495426
2486
08:29
and thus how many of our fellow citizens
174
497912
2733
08:32
actively participate,
175
500645
2225
08:34
both as entrepreneurs who can offer solutions,
176
502870
3650
08:38
and as customers who consume them.
177
506520
3642
08:42
But this maximizing participation thing
178
510162
4118
08:46
doesn't happen by accident.
179
514280
1619
08:47
It doesn't happen by itself.
180
515899
1969
08:49
It requires effort and investment,
181
517868
3729
08:53
which is why all
182
521597
2430
08:56
highly prosperous capitalist democracies
183
524027
3231
08:59
are characterized by massive investments
184
527258
2549
09:01
in the middle class and the infrastructure
185
529807
2565
09:04
that they depend on.
186
532372
2868
09:07
We plutocrats need to get this
187
535240
1999
09:09
trickle-down economics thing behind us,
188
537239
3139
09:12
this idea that the better we do,
189
540378
1906
09:14
the better everyone else will do.
190
542284
2667
09:16
It's not true. How could it be?
191
544951
3920
09:20
I earn 1,000 times the median wage,
192
548871
4128
09:24
but I do not buy 1,000 times as much stuff,
193
552999
2925
09:27
do I?
194
555924
1064
09:28
I actually bought two pairs of these pants,
195
556988
3188
09:32
what my partner Mike calls
196
560176
1934
09:34
my manager pants.
197
562110
1515
09:35
I could have bought 2,000 pairs,
198
563625
2936
09:38
but what would I do with them? (Laughter)
199
566561
3066
09:41
How many haircuts can I get?
200
569627
3029
09:44
How often can I go out to dinner?
201
572656
3705
09:48
No matter how wealthy a few plutocrats get,
202
576361
4073
09:52
we can never drive a great national economy.
203
580434
3544
09:55
Only a thriving middle class can do that.
204
583978
5693
10:01
There's nothing to be done,
205
589671
1697
10:03
my plutocrat friends might say.
206
591368
4141
10:07
Henry Ford was in a different time.
207
595509
3204
10:10
Maybe we can't do some things.
208
598713
2274
10:12
Maybe we can do some things.
209
600987
2936
10:15
June 19, 2013,
210
603923
3861
10:19
Bloomberg published an article I wrote called
211
607784
3433
10:23
"The Capitalist’s Case for a $15 Minimum Wage."
212
611217
4933
10:28
The good people at Forbes magazine,
213
616150
2922
10:31
among my biggest admirers,
214
619072
2198
10:33
called it "Nick Hanauer's near-insane proposal."
215
621270
4720
10:37
And yet, just 350 days
216
625990
3229
10:41
after that article was published,
217
629219
2576
10:43
Seattle's Mayor Ed Murray signed into law
218
631795
2949
10:46
an ordinance raising the minimum wage in Seattle
219
634744
3766
10:50
to 15 dollars an hour,
220
638510
1688
10:52
more than double
221
640198
1440
10:53
what the prevailing federal $7.25 rate is.
222
641638
4692
10:58
How did this happen,
223
646330
1780
11:00
reasonable people might ask.
224
648110
2085
11:02
It happened because a group of us
225
650195
1668
11:03
reminded the middle class
226
651863
1364
11:05
that they are the source
227
653227
1651
11:06
of growth and prosperity in capitalist economies.
228
654878
3666
11:10
We reminded them that when
workers have more money,
229
658544
3566
11:14
businesses have more customers,
230
662110
1712
11:15
and need more employees.
231
663822
1982
11:17
We reminded them that when businesses
232
665804
2686
11:20
pay workers a living wage,
233
668490
2720
11:23
taxpayers are relieved of the burden
234
671210
1892
11:25
of funding the poverty programs
235
673102
1710
11:26
like food stamps and medical assistance
236
674812
2902
11:29
and rent assistance
237
677714
1710
11:31
that those workers need.
238
679424
2396
11:33
We reminded them that low-wage workers
239
681820
2964
11:36
make terrible taxpayers,
240
684784
2326
11:39
and that when you raise the minimum wage
241
687110
2018
11:41
for all businesses,
242
689128
2125
11:43
all businesses benefit
243
691253
1667
11:44
yet all can compete.
244
692920
2731
11:47
Now the orthodox reaction, of course,
245
695651
1721
11:49
is raising the minimum wage costs jobs. Right?
246
697372
3803
11:53
Your politician's always echoing
247
701175
2588
11:55
that trickle-down idea by saying things like,
248
703763
3092
11:58
"Well, if you raise the price of employment,
249
706855
2093
12:00
guess what happens? You get less of it."
250
708948
2792
12:03
Are you sure?
251
711740
2430
12:06
Because there's some contravening evidence.
252
714170
3653
12:09
Since 1980, the wages of CEOs in our country
253
717823
4759
12:14
have gone from about 30 times the median wage
254
722582
2268
12:16
to 500 times.
255
724850
2272
12:19
That's raising the price of employment.
256
727122
3168
12:22
And yet, to my knowledge,
257
730290
2972
12:25
I have never seen a company
258
733262
2172
12:27
outsource its CEO's job, automate their job,
259
735434
3746
12:31
export the job to China.
260
739180
2087
12:33
In fact, we appear to be employing
261
741267
2026
12:35
more CEOs and senior managers than ever before.
262
743293
3222
12:38
So too for technology workers
263
746515
4190
12:42
and financial services workers,
264
750705
1826
12:44
who earn multiples of the median wage
265
752531
2618
12:47
and yet we employ more and more of them,
266
755149
2005
12:49
so clearly you can raise the price of employment
267
757154
4896
12:54
and get more of it.
268
762050
2041
12:56
I know that most people
269
764091
2584
12:58
think that the $15 minimum wage
270
766675
1722
13:00
is this insane, risky economic experiment.
271
768397
3915
13:04
We disagree.
272
772312
1898
13:06
We believe that the $15 minimum wage
273
774210
2474
13:08
in Seattle
274
776684
1266
13:09
is actually the continuation
275
777950
1853
13:11
of a logical economic policy.
276
779803
2708
13:14
It is allowing our city
277
782511
1960
13:16
to kick your city's ass.
278
784471
2735
13:19
Because, you see,
279
787206
1759
13:20
Washington state already has
280
788965
1712
13:22
the highest minimum wage
281
790677
1493
13:24
of any state in the nation.
282
792170
1699
13:25
We pay all workers $9.32,
283
793869
2261
13:28
which is almost 30 percent more
284
796130
1843
13:29
than the federal minimum of 7.25,
285
797973
2558
13:32
but crucially, 427 percent more
286
800531
3953
13:36
than the federal tipped minimum of 2.13.
287
804484
3586
13:40
If trickle-down thinkers were right,
288
808070
2616
13:42
then Washington state should
have massive unemployment.
289
810686
3112
13:45
Seattle should be sliding into the ocean.
290
813798
2680
13:48
And yet, Seattle
291
816478
3023
13:51
is the fastest-growing big city in the country.
292
819501
3898
13:55
Washington state is generating small business jobs
293
823399
4117
13:59
at a higher rate than any other major state
294
827516
2621
14:02
in the nation.
295
830137
1856
14:03
The restaurant business in Seattle? Booming.
296
831993
3904
14:07
Why? Because the fundamental law of capitalism is,
297
835897
4388
14:12
when workers have more money,
298
840285
1615
14:13
businesses have more customers
299
841900
1526
14:15
and need more workers.
300
843426
2257
14:17
When restaurants pay restaurant workers enough
301
845683
3151
14:20
so that even they can afford to eat in restaurants,
302
848834
3622
14:24
that's not bad for the restaurant business.
303
852456
2665
14:27
That's good for it,
304
855121
1699
14:28
despite what some restaurateurs may tell you.
305
856820
4579
14:33
Is it more complicated than I'm making out?
306
861399
2058
14:35
Of course it is.
307
863457
997
14:36
There are a lot of dynamics at play.
308
864454
1868
14:38
But can we please stop insisting
309
866322
2242
14:40
that if low-wage workers earn a little bit more,
310
868564
2801
14:43
unemployment will skyrocket
311
871365
1508
14:44
and the economy will collapse?
312
872873
1328
14:46
There is no evidence for it.
313
874201
2609
14:48
The most insidious thing
314
876810
1231
14:50
about trickle-down economics
315
878041
1847
14:51
is not the claim that if the rich get richer,
316
879888
2302
14:54
everyone is better off.
317
882190
1537
14:55
It is the claim made by those who oppose
318
883727
3061
14:58
any increase in the minimum wage
319
886788
1902
15:00
that if the poor get richer,
320
888690
1855
15:02
that will be bad for the economy.
321
890545
2217
15:04
This is nonsense.
322
892762
1980
15:06
So can we please dispense with this rhetoric
323
894742
3865
15:10
that says that rich guys like me
324
898607
2343
15:12
and my plutocrat friends
325
900950
2854
15:15
made our country?
326
903804
2573
15:18
We plutocrats know,
327
906377
2075
15:20
even if we don't like to admit it in public,
328
908452
1624
15:22
that if we had been born somewhere else,
329
910076
2669
15:24
not here in the United States,
330
912745
1897
15:26
we might very well be just some dude standing barefoot
331
914642
2860
15:29
by the side of a dirt road selling fruit.
332
917502
3150
15:32
It's not that they don't have good
entrepreneurs in other places,
333
920652
2531
15:35
even very, very poor places.
334
923183
2025
15:37
It's just that that's all
335
925208
1552
15:38
that those entrepreneurs' customers can afford.
336
926760
4536
15:43
So here's an idea for a new kind of economics,
337
931296
4599
15:47
a new kind of politics
338
935895
1547
15:49
that I call new capitalism.
339
937442
2887
15:52
Let's acknowledge that capitalism
340
940329
2472
15:54
beats the alternatives,
341
942801
1797
15:56
but also that the more people we include,
342
944598
3997
16:00
both as entrepreneurs and as customers,
343
948595
3524
16:04
the better it works.
344
952119
2160
16:06
Let's by all means shrink the size of government,
345
954279
3786
16:10
but not by slashing the poverty programs,
346
958065
2719
16:12
but by ensuring that workers are paid enough
347
960784
2017
16:14
so that they actually don't need those programs.
348
962801
3322
16:18
Let's invest enough in the middle class
349
966123
2917
16:21
to make our economy fairer and more inclusive,
350
969040
3193
16:24
and by fairer, more truly competitive,
351
972233
3934
16:28
and by more truly competitive,
352
976167
1762
16:29
more able to generate the solutions
353
977929
2816
16:32
to human problems
354
980745
1472
16:34
that are the true drivers of growth and prosperity.
355
982217
5630
16:39
Capitalism is the greatest social technology
356
987847
3273
16:43
ever invented
357
991120
1469
16:44
for creating prosperity in human societies,
358
992589
2862
16:47
if it is well managed,
359
995451
1734
16:49
but capitalism, because of the fundamental
360
997185
3171
16:52
multiplicative dynamics of complex systems,
361
1000356
2765
16:55
tends towards, inexorably, inequality,
362
1003121
3528
16:58
concentration and collapse.
363
1006649
4421
17:03
The work of democracies
364
1011070
2448
17:05
is to maximize the inclusion of the many
365
1013518
4503
17:10
in order to create prosperity,
366
1018021
2977
17:12
not to enable the few to accumulate money.
367
1020998
3922
17:16
Government does create prosperity and growth,
368
1024920
3100
17:20
by creating the conditions that allow
369
1028020
3226
17:23
both entrepreneurs and their customers
370
1031246
2891
17:26
to thrive.
371
1034137
1845
17:27
Balancing the power of capitalists like me
372
1035982
3184
17:31
and workers isn't bad for capitalism.
373
1039166
3172
17:34
It's essential to it.
374
1042338
1800
17:36
Programs like a reasonable minimum wage,
375
1044138
2666
17:38
affordable healthcare,
376
1046804
2014
17:40
paid sick leave,
377
1048818
1303
17:42
and the progressive taxation necessary
378
1050121
3419
17:45
to pay for the important infrastructure
379
1053540
2196
17:47
necessary for the middle class like education, R and D,
380
1055736
4051
17:51
these are indispensable tools
381
1059787
2566
17:54
shrewd capitalists should embrace
382
1062353
2109
17:56
to drive growth, because no one benefits from it
383
1064462
3986
18:00
like us.
384
1068448
1646
18:02
Many economists would have you believe
385
1070094
2248
18:04
that their field is an objective science.
386
1072342
3080
18:07
I disagree, and I think that it is equally
387
1075422
2847
18:10
a tool that humans use
388
1078269
2069
18:12
to enforce and encode
389
1080338
1889
18:14
our social and moral preferences and prejudices
390
1082227
3576
18:17
about status and power,
391
1085803
3902
18:21
which is why plutocrats like me
392
1089705
2277
18:23
have always needed to find persuasive stories
393
1091982
4006
18:27
to tell everyone else
394
1095988
1674
18:29
about why our relative positions
395
1097662
4114
18:33
are morally righteous and good for everyone:
396
1101776
4132
18:37
like, we are indispensable, the job creators,
397
1105908
4275
18:42
and you are not;
398
1110183
2362
18:44
like, tax cuts for us create growth,
399
1112545
3386
18:47
but investments in you
400
1115931
2014
18:49
will balloon our debt
401
1117945
1676
18:51
and bankrupt our great country;
402
1119621
2508
18:54
that we matter;
403
1122129
1868
18:55
that you don't.
404
1123997
2351
18:58
For thousands of years, these stories were called
405
1126348
2643
19:00
divine right.
406
1128991
1448
19:02
Today, we have trickle-down economics.
407
1130439
4254
19:06
How obviously, transparently self-serving
408
1134693
3883
19:10
all of this is.
409
1138576
1594
19:12
We plutocrats need to see
410
1140170
2782
19:14
that the United States of America made us,
411
1142952
2353
19:17
not the other way around;
412
1145305
1684
19:18
that a thriving middle class is the source
413
1146989
2838
19:21
of prosperity in capitalist economies,
414
1149827
2296
19:24
not a consequence of it.
415
1152123
2639
19:26
And we should never forget
416
1154762
2691
19:29
that even the best of us in
the worst of circumstances
417
1157453
3695
19:33
are barefoot by the side of a dirt road selling fruit.
418
1161148
5734
19:38
Fellow plutocrats, I think it may be time for us
419
1166882
2614
19:41
to recommit to our country,
420
1169496
2203
19:43
to commit to a new kind of capitalism
421
1171699
2562
19:46
which is both more inclusive and more effective,
422
1174261
4354
19:50
a capitalism that will ensure
423
1178615
2058
19:52
that America's economy remains
424
1180673
3161
19:55
the most dynamic and prosperous in the world.
425
1183834
3386
19:59
Let's secure the future for ourselves,
426
1187220
2160
20:01
our children and their children.
427
1189380
2734
20:04
Or alternatively, we could do nothing,
428
1192114
3048
20:07
hide in our gated communities
429
1195162
2081
20:09
and private schools,
430
1197243
2857
20:12
enjoy our planes and yachts
431
1200100
2036
20:14
— they're fun —
432
1202136
2340
20:16
and wait for the pitchforks.
433
1204476
1811
20:18
Thank you.
434
1206287
1523
20:19
(Applause)
435
1207810
1647

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Nick Hanauer - Venture capitalist, author
Nick 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.

More profile about the speaker
Nick Hanauer | Speaker | TED.com