inequality speech banned by TED

Jim Tankersley in a recent NationalJournal article reported that TED has refused to air a speech given about income inequality, claiming it to be too controversial. Delivered on March 1, 2012 by venture capitalist, Nick Hanauer, the speech argued that the middle class is the true engine of job creation and economic growth, not rich people, and therefore, the rich should not be given special tax breaks by government. While TED has not released the talk on its home website nor its YouTube channel, the video is available elsewhere on YouTube.

squatting

Establishing residence without owner permission is not only common in circumstances of mass poverty (view top video), but as well in affluent societies experiencing housing crisis. As discussed in this recent In These Times article by Rebecca Burns, squatter organizations, such as Chicago's Liberate the Southside, have developed in the U.S., the U.K., and various European nations to both facilitate the redistribution of unoccupied housing to the poor, while dealing with the problem of abandoned and neglected property in the city (view bottom video). In light of preventing urban blight and thereby maintaining property values, Herbert Gan's discussion on the economic functionality of the poor should be amended in his classic piece, The Uses of Poverty.

all things "Occupy" video playlist

The REAL news network has provided a large aggregate of videos relevant to the OWS movement and related activity, ranging from Occupy the Primaries to a collection from Occupy the Media.