The Real Job Creators are the Middle Class, NOT the Rich

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 wasn't worth sharing with the wider world, and refused to post it on TED's website.