This morning, the big news in the blogosphere was of Nick Hanauer, the man who gave a TED speech about the myth of the wealthiest individuals being the job-creators of society. He gave a very different view of how the economy grows, and how jobs are created. And TED refused to run it, calling it to political and partisan.
When Hanauer spoke out about TED’s refusal to share his speech, TED’s John Anderson responded by making the video public so that we could decide for ourselves.
According to The Washington Post, Anderson had this to say about Hanauer’s video:
[TED}tries “to steer clear of talks that are bound to descend into the same dismal partisan head-butting people” and that Hanauer “framed the issue in a way that was explicitly partisan.”
What do you think? Is Hanauer’s speech too partisan? Does he have a political agenda?
How about TED’s decision to release the video so the viewers themselves could decide?
Update: For more on Nick Hanauer and TED,read about TED exec Chris Anderson’s blog regarding the way in which Nick Hanauer created the TED/Hanauer scandal.
It is partisan…no doubt. But it is also terribly true.
Mr. Hanauer’s talk is partisan but unfortunately the topic is partisan. Robert Reich describes the very same thing in his book Aftershock and citing the theory of Marriner Eccles who served under FDR. Henry Ford stated when he paid his employees a wage of $5.00 per week, that he wanted them to afford to purchase his product. I think TED was correct in allowing us to make up our own minds and was a way for TED to have it both ways. Full access to information and obtaining it are paramount for a person to make an intelligent decision. In… Read more »
Well, his presentation certainly takes a position and the economy is a political hot topic at the moment. However, many of the presenter’s take a position based on their research findings. It just so happens that rather than it being a TED Talk about experiencing a temporal lobe stroke, or mental health in a third world country, it’s about the wealthy and job creation. I applaud TED for letting the viewers decide.
I agree very much with his sentiment and somewhat with his economic theory, though I think he’s oversimplified some things and overstated some others. I disagree with some parts of his presentation, but I don’t think he’s being overly partisan. I think TED is being way too sensitive here, which is all the more remarkable because the TED talks are supposed to be mindblowing presentations that are not afraid to approach controversial subjects. If you’re afraid of provoking the hotheaded political trolls out there, then you’ll never be able to talk about anything of any real substance. I’m sure TED… Read more »
This is hard, his core message is correct: consumers are the primary drivers of job creation. Back in the 1980s, the Republican party used to listen to economists. Ronald Reagan’s policies were shaped by people like Paul Volcker, and whether progressives like to admit it or not, they were the right ideas at the time (the stagflation of the 1970s went away). At some point the Republican party stopped listening to economists and started to find other justifications for their policies. The Bush tax cuts were poorly designed and executed, mostly because they were no longer based in real-world economic… Read more »
It’s not about middle class consumers. It’s not about debt or income disparity or tax rates. It’s about human capital: http://bit.ly/JWvmPO