Their slogan is ideas worth spreading. But the folks at TED the Technology Entertainment and Design nonprofit behind the TED Talks, beloved by geeks and others interested in novel new ideas evidently think that some ideas are better left unspread. At least when the ideas in question challenge the conventional wisdom that rich enterpreneurs are the number one job creators.
This past March, millionaire tech investor and entrepreneur Nick Hanauer one of the early backers of Amazon.com gave a talk at a TED conference in which, among other things, suggested that middle-class consumers, not rich people, are the real job creators and that because of this rich people should be paying more in taxes. Though the talk drew applause from conference attendees at the time, TED Talk curator Chris Anderson decided it wasnt worth sharing with the wider world, and refused to post it on TEDs website.
His explanation? The talk was too political to be posted during an election year, and that a lot of business managers and entrepreneurs would feel insulted by some of Hanauers arguments. This seems more than a tad disingenuous, since TED generally doesnt shy away from controversial ideas, and is sometimes so political that it invites actual politicians to talk at its conferences.
Read more: Was Nick Hanauer’s TED Talk on Income Inequality Too Rich for Rich People? | Business | TIME.com
And here's his talk......................
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIhOXCgSunc]A TED Talk on Income Inequality by Nick Hanauer - YouTube[/ame]
He actually makes a lot of sense, because it's not really the venture capitalists who create jobs, it's the demand set up by the middle class for a product that causes someone else to see the need, THEN go to someone for money to start up a business, and the business will succeed if the demand for the product from the general population is sufficient to generate a profit.
So, if you want to know who the real job creators are, it's us as the middle class consumers, not the venture capitalists, because all they do is sit on their money and draw off the interest.