Daniel Ellsberg on Snowden

My concern is that the very existence of this kind of capability chills free speech in a disastrous way. I cannot see how there can be investigative reporting of the national security community, when the identity, the location, the metadata, and really the contents of every communication between a journalist and every source, every journalist, every source, is known to the executive branch, especially one that has been prosecuting twice as many journalist — sources as any president before.

Moreover, my even larger concern is, I don’t see how democracy can survive when one branch, the executive branch, has all the personal communications of every member of Congress, and every judge, every member of the judiciary, as well as the press

Read Full Post »

Banned TED Talk: Nick Hanauer “Rich people don’t create jobs”

Some myths won’t die – take the one about higher taxes retarding employment, investment and economic vitality. The truth is that higher income taxes stimulate employment and re-investment. The proof is historic (our best periods of economic power were highly taxed) and it’s simple math: when income taxes are high, business owners avoid wasting their money on taxation by re-investing money in the business, by hiring, and by internal investment.

How is the average voter so easily duped? It’s easy: Joe Paycheck pays taxes on every dime he earns. He easily buys the myth that if a business pays tax it has less money to hire. Untrue. Businesses avoid paying taxes by hiring more. Joe Paycheck doesn’t realize that businesses pay employees with tax free money – they only pay income taxes if they don’t hire. So the higher the taxes, the stronger the incentive to put that money to good use rather than waste it on paying Uncle Sam.

TED organizers are smarter than that. So why is it they don’t want you to see this video?

Read Full Post »