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smirkymonkey

(63,221 posts)

114. Great video. I also like what Nick Hanauer has to say about income inequality which

Sat Oct 31, 2015, 11:03 AM

Oct 2015

has increased over the last few decades primarily due to this idea that giving more wealth to the 1% - the "job creators" - creates more wealth/jobs for all. It doesn't. From his article "The Pitchforks are Coming"...

"If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn’t eventually come out. You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state. Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None. It’s not if, it’s when."

Many of us think we’re special because “this is America.” We think we’re immune to the same forces that started the Arab Spring—or the French and Russian revolutions, for that matter. I know you fellow .01%ers tend to dismiss this kind of argument; I’ve had many of you tell me to my face I’m completely bonkers. And yes, I know there are many of you who are convinced that because you saw a poor kid with an iPhone that one time, inequality is a fiction.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014#ixzz3q9qc3hnT

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Businessmen don't "create jobs"... [View all] annabanana Oct 2015 OP

So the "infrastructure" necessary to accommodate customers Facility Inspector Oct 2015 #1

the infrastructure annabanana Oct 2015 #2

You do realize that someone or a even a group of people Facility Inspector Oct 2015 #3

During startup, the entrepreneur is a customer lumberjack_jeff Oct 2015 #9

Yes, it takes a village. But OP is right. Jobs start with DEMAND. Hortensis Oct 2015 #22

Reagan could not have done any of this without congress yeoman6987 Oct 2015 #62

Maybe read about it, Yeoman? It's a long story, but there are short versions. Hortensis Oct 2015 #65

The "infrastructure" that's created and maintained.... daleanime Oct 2015 #28

Much of the infrastructure for commerce is The Public Commons Trajan Oct 2015 #52

Those taxes were paid by people with jobs and the businesses that employ them. Throd Oct 2015 #56

Good ... Trajan Oct 2015 #60

All capitalist do is capitalise on the DEMAND. I agree B Calm Oct 2015 #4

thank you . .n/t annabanana Oct 2015 #5

And more often than not an artificial demand hifiguy Oct 2015 #69

SO TRUE, lol. B Calm Oct 2015 #70

Yes, on the theoretical level, demand is the thing business must hook into HereSince1628 Oct 2015 #6

Thank YOU! smirkymonkey Oct 2015 #7

+1*10^6 lumberjack_jeff Oct 2015 #8

This is an over simplification. Snobblevitch Oct 2015 #10

Care to explain why you say that? B Calm Oct 2015 #11

In a startup, Snobblevitch Oct 2015 #12

but, the whole reason to start up a business is that there is demand for the B Calm Oct 2015 #13

Yep. Snobblevitch Oct 2015 #14

No 1939 Oct 2015 #23

I think it's reasonable to say all start up businesses do so because they expect to make a profit. B Calm Oct 2015 #24

You're Saying the Same Thing As The Person With Whom You're Arguing ProfessorGAC Oct 2015 #54

Exactly Facility Inspector Oct 2015 #101

But the people advocating tax cuts aren't targeting startups starroute Oct 2015 #19

that is another bs republican meme lancer78 Oct 2015 #89

Employers don't hire employees to do nothing Major Nikon Oct 2015 #105

It's a complex issue Snobblevitch Oct 2015 #106

It is complex, but can be broken down in simple terms Major Nikon Oct 2015 #107

I can simplify the issue. Snobblevitch Oct 2015 #108

The barter system existed centuries before money Major Nikon Oct 2015 #111

I am not suggesting anything like your last point. Snobblevitch Oct 2015 #112

That was the whole point of the OP Major Nikon Oct 2015 #113

A hundred recs, and a kick Populist_Prole Oct 2015 #15

Customers create the need for a job. The business provides the job. Throd Oct 2015 #16

Correct. And by the same token; government doesn't create demand. cherokeeprogressive Oct 2015 #17

But government policies can create redistribution starroute Oct 2015 #20

You are correct philosslayer Oct 2015 #18

So there were customers for the iPhone before the iPhone was invented? StrongBad Oct 2015 #21

Of course not. The company advertised their new product and DEMAND B Calm Oct 2015 #26

There were jobs in place before there was a product to sell upaloopa Oct 2015 #31

You always have capitalists gambling, but if the demand for B Calm Oct 2015 #32

That's what I was pointing out I agree upaloopa Oct 2015 #38

and in the days of barter?. . .n/t annabanana Oct 2015 #51

We're bartering even today. lumberjack_jeff Oct 2015 #59

So the company created the product, thus creating the demand and jobs. StrongBad Oct 2015 #33

What happens when DEMAND for the product ends? B Calm Oct 2015 #34

Then the company pivots to a new product/service or goes out of business. StrongBad Oct 2015 #35

Thus proving my point. B Calm Oct 2015 #41

That the satisfying of demand is done by a business who employs people to satisfy it? StrongBad Oct 2015 #43

No, demand determines if a business runs or fails. If there is no demand, B Calm Oct 2015 #67

Absolutely. Demand for portable computers, phones, pagers and GPS systems... lumberjack_jeff Oct 2015 #37

And without that business there would be no jobs to satisfy that demand. StrongBad Oct 2015 #39

Bullshit. lumberjack_jeff Oct 2015 #40

Nope. If labor was sufficient then concepts of capital and investment wouldn't exist. StrongBad Oct 2015 #42

Capital was invented to coordinate labor; "a store of value" lumberjack_jeff Oct 2015 #45

If capital without labor is useless, explain the stock market and associated financial instruments. StrongBad Oct 2015 #46

Ephemera. lumberjack_jeff Oct 2015 #47

So you agree that it's possible to create a return on investment without labor? Thank you. StrongBad Oct 2015 #49

Snake oil salesmen have done it for centuries. n/t lumberjack_jeff Oct 2015 #55

The demand for a device that could do all the things an iphone does existed before the iphone itself Erose999 Oct 2015 #50

I agree with that. But the process of tapping into that demand... StrongBad Oct 2015 #53

But without demand there are no jobs. You can't create jobs by just dumping capital on business Erose999 Oct 2015 #57

No, but it is true that capital is required to create jobs. StrongBad Oct 2015 #58

and it takes DEMAND to get the capitalists attention to gamble.. B Calm Oct 2015 #68

something that supply-siders really just don't "get" annabanana Oct 2015 #64

It's a feature, not a bug. hifiguy Oct 2015 #71

Precisely Facility Inspector Oct 2015 #102

Nope. Hissyspit Oct 2015 #110

Yes, there were. Hissyspit Oct 2015 #109

there is big buiness in ending jobs olddots Oct 2015 #25

Well, I don't know about 'no one', but it's got to be pretty damn rare. Erich Bloodaxe BSN Oct 2015 #27

I would say that demand creates the need for jobs upaloopa Oct 2015 #29

Demand creates jobs. WDIM Oct 2015 #30

Giving the rich more money just creates wealth hoarding? 1939 Oct 2015 #66

You're very mistaken. hifiguy Oct 2015 #73

What is that wealth doing? 1939 Oct 2015 #74

Sitting there, hifiguy Oct 2015 #75

Define "invest in" lumberjack_jeff Oct 2015 #78

Yep. In China, these days. hifiguy Oct 2015 #72

There may already be potential customers out there for a product, Nye Bevan Oct 2015 #36

Bravo! Kilgore Oct 2015 #80

Honest question, have you ever started a business? taught_me_patience Oct 2015 #44

I have, and I KNOW that she's right. lumberjack_jeff Oct 2015 #48

Great video. I also like what Nick Hanauer has to say about income inequality which smirkymonkey Oct 2015 #114

Sounds like Trump is your man Trajan Oct 2015 #61

What does that even mean? Throd Oct 2015 #63

There's an important point getting lost here. hifiguy Oct 2015 #76

So should the Spanx company be "broken up or nationalized"? Nye Bevan Oct 2015 #81

You're just a shill in the pocket of Big Leotard. Throd Oct 2015 #84

Doubtful. hifiguy Oct 2015 #95

Spanx will never provide a good or service ibegurpard Oct 2015 #97

Not an "analogy". Nye Bevan Oct 2015 #98

How is this a controversial statement on a Democratic message board? portlander23 Oct 2015 #77

I heartily disagree Kilgore Oct 2015 #79

So who created the jobs? The consumer! B Calm Oct 2015 #82

Sayiing so implies Kilgore Oct 2015 #83

Without the consumer the product sits on the shelf. B Calm Oct 2015 #86

Nope Kilgore Oct 2015 #87

Exactly! It takes demand to create the product. B Calm Oct 2015 #88

But there was no demand until she had the idea Kilgore Oct 2015 #90

But without the demand for her idea, it's still B Calm Oct 2015 #91

And that's why it's called a circular argument Kilgore Oct 2015 #92

The demand for her gadget of course. . .n/t annabanana Oct 2015 #96

And without the idea that resulted in the gadget there would be none Kilgore Oct 2015 #103

Technically they both do LittleBlue Oct 2015 #85

DU: Libertarians are Now Welcome. HughBeaumont Oct 2015 #93

the Austrian School sabotaged Vienna in 1905, bureaucrats strangling any public works as Budapest MisterP Oct 2015 #94

Did you alert on the posts in this thread that you found offensively "libertarian"? Nye Bevan Oct 2015 #99

I didn't really have to. HughBeaumont Oct 2015 #100

+1 B Calm Oct 2015 #104