1.6M views · Aug 12, 2014 · 20:27 · 1 HN recommender · 5 mentions · discussed 2018–2026
Billionaire Nick Hanauer warns fellow wealthy people in a TED talk that growing inequality could lead to social upheaval like pre-revolutionary France. He argues a higher minimum wage would grow the middle class and prosperity.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN brings it up in inequality, UBI and backlash threads as an early warning from a rich insider.
“Nick Hanauer understood this fourteen years ago.”HN comment, 2026
“Otherwise, pitchforks will be coming for the 1%.”
Argues pitchforks will come for the wealthy without redistribution
The big thing UBI can do is help people whom want and desire to get out of suffering and miserable circumstances to higher level of productivity, lifestyle and tax generation. It's a no-brainer. Otherwise, pitchforks will be coming for the 1%. this video
Example of wealthy people open to contributing
Interesting! Government(-backed) UBI is the ultimate goal. But how to make it happen? First, why has it not happened already? All the data indicate that it's good. A no-brainer, then? Well, - It's expensive - Governments vest financial power in businesses, not in themselves. End results? 1) A very oiled mechanism for income concentration, no questions asked 2) No mechanism for income distribution (!) 3) Blaming the government for not providing UBI already 4) No UBI, be it voluntary or government 5) Many people, who in fact want to contribute towards it, cannot. Why not start by creating that mechanism for income distribution, then? A quote about Sam Altman[1]: «Altman suggests researching Universal Basic Income. (Y Combinator has already begun work on a UBI project in Oakland.) “We should set a goal of eliminating poverty in the country,” Altman writes on his website. “I’m not yet sure what a reasonable timeframe for this goal is, but I do feel a moral obligation to figure out how to do it.” Unions aren’t working, Altman says, and wages are stagnant, so we need something better, even though he isn’t sure what that is yet.» Some examples of people who would like to contribute, yet cannot: - Nick Hanauer[2,3] - Letter for a wealth tax[4], not exactly on income but on wealth, yet indicative of the supply - The Giving Pledge[5] - Yusaku Maezawa[6] - Andrew Yang[7,8] has just brought together donors who are pledging millions for UBI - Patriotic Millionaires[9] - The World Economic
“They have been well aware of it. See Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming”
Wealthy have long been warned of backlash
> The hyper-wealthy seem oblivious to the fact that you can't both be a trillionaire that's causing societal economic desperation and live in a society where people politely do their business and leave you in peace. They have been well aware of it. See Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming this video We seem to be in the bread and circus phase for the time
“Nick Hanauer has been talking about this for over ten years”
Hanauer warning about widening inequality
It's due to the widening inequality. Nick Hanauer has been talking about this for over ten years: this video
“Nick Hanauer understood this fourteen years ago.”
Hanauer's early warning about social unrest
...and in America there are more guns than humans, and more potentially unemployed white collar workers than the police, military, and national guard combined. Nick Hanauer understood this fourteen years ago. Very few others did. And despite him spending his own time and money to explain it in simple English, nobody in his peer group wanted to hear it -- his TED talk on the subject ... took several years before it was published. Just a coincidence, I'm sure. FA (for a decade or so) FO, I guess? link link this video than humans, and more potentially unemployed white collar workers than the police, military and national guard combined.
