Nick Hanauer, who may or may not be a billionaire, made a splash when he conspicuously dropped out of the Destroy Public Education Movement and the Billionaire Boys Club, which he had supported with donations of millions of dollars.
He loudly declared that his fellow plutocrats were wrong to blame the schools for the dysfunctions of our society, which he pinned on income inequality.
He has given some recent TED talks, which you should listen to and react to.
One is called “Beware, Fellow Plutocrats, the Pitchforks Are Coming.”
Another is “The Dirty Secret of Capitalism–and a New Way Forward.”
Unlike predictable plutocrats like Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Reed Hastings, and Betsy DeVos, Nick Hanauer thinks and reflects on what he is doing and where he is going and how it affects society. This is a sign of intelligence.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
So long as he remains a billionaire (or anywhere close), he remains part of the problem.
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It’s just such an amazing coincidence that as income inequality skyrocketed, the conventional wisdom became all our problems are the fault of public schools.
Really convenient, huh? Remarkable how those two things marched along in tandem.
Let’s the top 1% and all politicians completely off the hook, which is probably why it’s so wildly popular among the top 1% and politicians. Give a couple of speeches “bravely” blaming public schools for every imaginable problem and no one has to actually do anything about income inequality. It’s worked out great for them.
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The really shocking part to me is not the “movement” to privatize public schools- privatization is an ideological position and always has adherents, what’s remarkable to me is the INSANE increase in what students pay for college.
They just very quietly shifted that entire burden to 18 year olds. It’s BILLIONS of dollars. We stuck them with it. The idea that this wouldn’t have profound implications for their lives is just crazy. Of course it does! This massive shift from public (taxpayers) to private (individual students) wasn’t even discussed. We converted a public subsidy into private, individual debt. Has any other country done that?
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The best quote is, “Neoliberalism is pseudo-science.” It is a choice, not a law of nature. Our hyper-capitalism only works for the people at the top. Our continued problem is that so much power and wealth are in the hands of a few. It is difficult to change course when politicians are for sale. Scandinavia has managed to remain capitalist, avoid great income inequality through taxation and provide strong social safety nets for working people. Hanauer is clearly a thinker, but it will take a lot more than just thought to change our entrenched neoliberalism.
By the way Robert Reich has made an interesting five minute video in which he says we need not be defined by right or left. The real battle today is between oligarchs and everyone else. Unfortunately, Our country has become hyper-partisan. It would take a miracle to unite working people against the wealthy. Reich’s video is the political application of what Hanauer is suggesting.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkM_NG6HkqY
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Spot on.
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Hauser has a fondness for disruptive innovation and entrepeneurship that leaves a competitor in the dust, dead.
He has set up “Civic Ventures” as a mini-think tank to promote causes he likes. http://civic-ventures.com/page/2/
The “Skunk-works” blog at this website has not been active for a while.
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https://www.truthdig.com/articles/theres-no-chance-corporate-elites-will-fix-inequality/
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Hanauer has seemed to build his approach to repentance on the 15 per hour wage that proved successful in Seatle and may prove so in other places. Many of the ideas in this latest talk are siren calls to an economy that can be organized for the good of all. The problem I see is that most of the future billionaire boys clubs are located in other countries. Like it or not, we are more global than we used to be. Will Hanaur be correct about economics when the whole world is involved?
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