LISTEN: Nick Hanauer: Wealth inequality-social unrest in USA

[Oscar]

LISTEN: Aspiration without opportunity leads to violence says venture capitalist Nick Hanauer (24 min.)

[ http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/ht ]

Aspiration without legitimate opportunity creates anger, resentment and violence, the multi-millionaire venture capitalist Nick Hanauer has told BBC HARDtalk.

Wed, 25 Mar 2015

Mr Hanauer added that he believes an increase in wealth inequality could lead to social unrest in the United States.

In this special Hardtalk interview recorded live in front of an audience, Stephen Sackur speaks to Nick Hanauer, the American dotcom billionaire businessman. He believes that the rich in America should pay more taxes and has warned of revolution if wealth inequality is not addressed. Is American capitalism in danger of collapse?

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Ted Talks – Nick Hanauer: Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming

[ http://egbertowillies.com/2014/09/01/te ... lutocrats/ ]

September 1, 2014 By Egberto Willies

Here is another must see by Nick Hanauer, a wise capitalist/plutocrat that understands his survival and the survival of his ilk depend on a viable middle class. He continues to implore both the wealthy and the government to give up on fallacies of trickle-down economics. His first TED Talk debunked the theory that wealthy capitalists are the job creators. [ http://egbertowillies.com/2012/05/17/ni ... lass-does/ ] The talk scared so many that apparently the TED Talk was a bit “hard to find’.

Nick Hanauer has a version of his TED Talk appearing in the July/August edition of Politico Magazine. It is a great read.

Following is his actual TED Talk along with the transcript of what he said. [ http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/ ... RVcC-l0xwE ]

WATCH: Nick Hanauer tries to warn his fellow capitalists one more time (20 min.)

Transcript:

You probably don’t know me, but I am one of those .01 percenters that you hear about and read about, and I am by any reasonable definition a plutocrat. And tonight, what I would like to do is speak directly to other plutocrats, to my people, because it feels like it’s time for us all to have a chat. Like most plutocrats, I too am a proud and unapologetic capitalist. I have founded, cofounded or funded over 30 companies across a range of industries. I was the first non-family investor in Amazon.com. I cofounded a company called aQuantive that we sold to Microsoft for 6.4 billion dollars. My friends and I, we own a bank. I tell you this — (Laughter) — unbelievable, right?

1:03 I tell you this to show that my life is like most plutocrats. I have a broad perspective on capitalism and business, and I have been rewarded obscenely for that with a life that most of you all can’t even imagine: multiple homes, a yacht, my own plane, etc., etc., etc. But let’s be honest: I am not the smartest person you’ve ever met. I am certainly not the hardest working. I was a mediocre student. I’m not technical at all. I can’t write a word of code. Truly, my success is the consequence of spectacular luck, of birth, of circumstance and of timing. But I am actually pretty good at a couple of things. One, I have an unusually high tolerance for risk, and the other is I have a good sense, a good intuition about what will happen in the future, and I think that that intuition about the future is the essence of good entrepreneurship.

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The most ironic thing about rising inequality is how completely unnecessary and self-defeating it is. If we do something about it, if we adjust our policies in the way that, say, Franklin D. Roosevelt did during the Great Depression—so that we help the 99 percent and preempt the revolutionaries and crazies, the ones with the pitchforks—that will be the best thing possible for us rich folks, too. It’s not just that we’ll escape with our lives; it’s that we’ll most certainly get even richer.

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Nick Hanauer is a Seattle-based entrepreneur.