Answer the following questions after watching the following video. Answers may be short and to the point, no long paragraphs necessary for this assignment
1) How does Nick Hanauer categorize himself within our modern economic system?
2) In today’s neoliberal economic models, who ultimately benefits from the current systems? The rich or the middle class?
3) In reference to intellectuals, scholars, and economic theorists, what is the result of today’s rising inequality and political divisiveness?
4) Instead of capital being the backbone of economic growth, what factor does Hanauer say truly grows modern economies?
5) In his discussions of equilibrium systems with wages vs. jobs, what is his assessment of the teetering “myth” between the two?
6) Using an example of Seattle passing a $15 minimum wage, what was the outcome for local businesses? Did the economy struggle under this new measure, or grow?
7) What are the three assumptions currently made in modern economics?
8) How does Hanauer describe the two competing ideas of greed vs. reciprocity?
9) Toward the end of his Ted Talk, Hanauer describes five “rules of thumb” for how to evolve modern economies to become more equitable and fair. What is the summarization of these?
10) Personal Commentary Question: Using our conversations with the Gilded Age, this Ted Talk of neoliberal market economies, and modern-day understandings of growing income inequality within the United States, what are your thoughts on the current situation of income inequality in America? If you were a head economic advisor, do you have any solutions to begin tackling this rising and pressing issue? Discuss freely.