People & Blogs
Why Economic Inequality Is the Biggest Threat to Democracy | Sally Kohn | TED
Is authoritarianism winning, or is democracy just failing to deliver? Communications strategist Sally Kohn lays out how democracy has evolved before and why it must evolve again, into what she calls “Democracy 3.0” — a version that finally shares power and opportunity equally. “We the people demand that our politics and our economy work way…
People & Blogs
Bad days aren’t a detour— they mean you’re right on track #TEDTalks
One month before the Rio Olympics, runner Alexi Pappas couldn’t hit her splits in practice. She was begging her watch to change its mind. Then her coach told her to take it off — and shared the best advice she’s ever received. That single piece of wisdom led her to break a national record and…
People & Blogs
No culture or country is only one thing #TEDTalks
Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
People & Blogs
How Play Boosts Your Creativity and Resilience | Katina Bajaj | TED
When was the last time you just … played? Creative health scientist Katina Bajaj thinks adults are in a “play deprivation crisis,” where we’ve replaced our fun-loving human nature with optimization and efficiency. She makes the case that play isn’t a reward for productivity but rather a survival skill — and invites you to rediscover…
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@harrypearle9781
August 17, 2026 at 12:52 pm
WE flips to ME (and vice versa) Democratic MESSAGING SUX!
====================================================
Great, talk, but we need MESSAGING REPEATED over and over to reach average VOTERS NOW
(Sally, let me suggest MESSAGING CONTESTS, open to all, to find what really WAKES UP VOTERS, NOW)
@naetuir
August 17, 2026 at 1:11 pm
Discredited at “far-right extremists”.
@tbur8901
August 17, 2026 at 1:11 pm
One of the problems is that democracy does not guarantee the best decisions but more often sour compromises, I think what’s also needed is a better mechanism to come to agreements and workable solutions within a reasonable timetable and a solid financial frame against overspending. *
But first of all agreement on what a best decision actually is, socially, economically, relatively .. desired outcome ?
Realistically the US could – for instance – completely scrap healthcare from the budget to delete the deficit, but something would have to take it’s place like a 100% solidarity based care system with the wealthy paying their share instead of buying planes, yachts and toy cars ( just rent them while using it right ? Makes much more sense 🙂
Or a system of dividends like trust funds to cover healthcare costs per individual, tax-free but untouchable so money could never be spent on anything other than non-insurable & high cost care. Corporations would once profitable allocate a certain amount of stock for this purpose.
Don’t know if the numbers work but wouldn’t that make America great again ?
Just thinking aloud 🙂
* ( like a 3% GDP max deficit, and a 3% interest on government bonds, which would give clarity in future expenses, make government more trustworthy and any deviations would only open the way to excesses, so no ).
@harrypearle9781
August 17, 2026 at 1:24 pm
Again, MESSAGING, MESSAGING with WARNINGS.
=========================================
Endless RAMBLING by Democrats can’t compete with REPEATED MESSAGING by Trump and the Right
(Again, I suggest some form of MESSAGING Competition, tested on sample voters, now, before elections)
@Robert-u7y6f
August 17, 2026 at 1:25 pm
@Robert-u7y6f
Hmmh … i don’t know if democracy had / has really a priority in the US … i guess greed for money was and is the whole vision of this country … just think back on the Gilded Age with the Robber Barons in the Senate and bribing everybody else needed … i can not see a moral from 1900 until now 🙁i think the vision of France … liberte, egalite and fraternite is more honest than the USA.
@I_am_romeants
August 17, 2026 at 1:30 pm
Imagine working for what you earn… terrible philosophy. We should do it the way Cuba does it, I can’t wait to live off a bag of rice and some chicken for the month!
Maybe try not burning every bridge you come across, honoring your father and mother, treating others as you would like to be treated, working hard even if you don’t like what you do, telling the truth, not committing crimes… its not rocket science. I mean this entire video is patronizing considering the very platform the speaker is speaking on was founded on the ideology of capitalism – you wouldn’t have cameras or speakers or air conditioning or the internet if you didn’t have capitalism because technological advancement is tied to incentive based thinking – you reap what you sow.
I worked in restaurants for years broker than broke working 80-100hr weeks until I had the bravery and heart to commit to something else- now I make 175k a year and have a family and a good life. It all started with taking accountability and believing in myself. Anything is possible in this country, if you want it enough you will find a way. Sounds cliche’ but I’m living proof.
Socialism is good on paper but always turns into a few powerful people taking everything from the people- at least that’s what history has taught us. Governmental dependency also breeds people who don’t want to work, or people who won’t work hard, because if everyone is getting paid the same why would I break a sweat working hard if Jim does half as much all day?
If you don’t create an environment based on incentive, you will end up with mediocre or poor work which snowballs to everything else. Imagine the same level of professionalism as the cashier who’s high forgets to put your order in, getting paid the same as a doctor responsible for keeping people alive. If they were paid the same, you’d end up with mediocrity across the board.
Anyway, that’s my take on it. Work hard and fight against Communistic ideologies!
@KristianDennett
August 17, 2026 at 3:25 pm
@I_am_romeants visit China, then come back and comment lol. America is so blind to how they’re manipulated to be happy about being used and abused and pitted against each other. Communism creates beautiful landscapes where the people flourish and 100% of people succeed not just the top 5%
@I_am_romeants
August 17, 2026 at 4:46 pm
@KristianDennettvisit? Or live? Oh I forgot to mention, slavery is also a great way to build great cities and technologies. Just ask the Chinese. Today.
@schmonzo42
August 17, 2026 at 1:57 pm
Economic inequality is a problem of capitalism not democracy
@_soupnazi
August 17, 2026 at 2:26 pm
My thought exactly
@EmilioYero
August 17, 2026 at 2:46 pm
You’re free to leave capitalism and start living in North Korea, and don’t forget before leaving give all your possessions to the community. But remember that that will be your last free choice.
@_soupnazi
August 17, 2026 at 3:28 pm
@EmilioYero because capitalism is all about equality
@Underoverrated
August 17, 2026 at 5:05 pm
You’re right, but I think the speaker means it causes people to doubt all institutions, and people turn towards authoritarianism. If we had no one homeless, and everyone could afford healthy food, we’d be thriving, but capitalism says no no no, we need to suck them marrow out of every struggling person
@JERRY666UNITY
August 17, 2026 at 2:00 pm
Without even watching this video, I’m going to say capitalism is the biggest threat to democracy 🙂↔️
@mandy2tomtube
August 17, 2026 at 2:21 pm
It’s Merica. We’s Pirates now! 🏴☠️🇺🇸🏴☠️
Pirates don’t have friends
@Zerobob26
August 17, 2026 at 2:25 pm
I agree, but didn’t hear any tangible realistic solutions. A Universal Basic Income funded by a Robot Tax would solve a lot of problems. Look into it.
@mandy2tomtube
August 17, 2026 at 2:27 pm
The Top 1% owns 32% of everything in America (land, stocks, housing). The Bottom 50% owns basically nothing (2.5%).
If we split the $38 Trillion debt based on who actually owns the country:
• The Top 1% would owe $12.1 Trillion.
• The Bottom 50% would owe… almost zero.
Wake up People, Vote with your Voice, Vote with your Pocketbook, STAND UP
Elon‘s proportional share of the national debt is $166 billion
@MyNameChange5
August 17, 2026 at 2:35 pm
No offense, I realize your edit to something like “all are created equal” was for the purpose of political correctness.
In my opinion, or how I interpret the document, consider the word man to be synonymous with the word human. No political edit neccessary.
Other than that, I agree that the advancement of democracy is basically as the woman described during her speech.
I don’t think the American public feels quite as poor as some people were in the 1920’s, but that is probably because of the safety nets we already have in place.
Proportionally, financial inequality is probably getting pretty close.
Authoritarian type of rule does have a better chance of forcing its way in when people feel desparate. Equal opportunity helps to prevent people from working in favor of Authoritarian mentalities.
@Boomerangbone
August 17, 2026 at 2:44 pm
Just here to say how disheartening and terrible it is that Ted would platform the Columbine shooters mother Sue and spread her delusions any further than her own mind. Rest in Peace to the souls lost that day.
@SeedsForYourMind
August 17, 2026 at 3:20 pm
Democracy is a terrible system because most people are profoundly ignorant if not outright stupid. Plato called democracy a ship steered by an untrained crew, and Churchill called it the worst system – except for all the others. Handing that power to an uninformed majority leads inevitably to demagoguery and collapse.
Democracy treats equal rights as equal competence, elevating popular ignorance over specialised knowledge. When the average voter lacks the time or interest to understand economics, law, or foreign policy, decisions are dictated by emotion, propaganda, and short-term self-interest rather than reason.
We urgently need a completely new way forward. The last couple of thousand years have proven that this outdated, fundamentally flawed model simply does not work. Furthermore, this new system will have to be grounded in a resource-based economy as opposed to the profit-driven corruption we currently have.
@ShowMeYourFnKey
August 17, 2026 at 8:24 pm
When people have time, money, and education, everything that has been being eroded from the average American, they are able to look towards these things. What we have today is an ugly, perverted concept of what democracy’s real definition is and they have moved that needle under the radar little by little every day for decades now just enough for us not to notice.
@pcstearns21
August 17, 2026 at 3:38 pm
While I am in complete agreement with the sentiment, this had little substance. No actual action plan of how to get where we need to be, or any detail of how and why the things she’s saying matter, which is unhelpful for the people that need to understand the problem with our current systems.
@curtisjasper8684
August 17, 2026 at 4:37 pm
We don’t have a democracy never have. We have a constitutional Republic.
@curtisjasper8684
August 17, 2026 at 4:38 pm
No all men is correct men used like that means people.
@leighcwilson
August 17, 2026 at 4:50 pm
Is it just me or are they confusing democracy for socialism?
@Underoverrated
August 17, 2026 at 5:00 pm
I’ve always thought that if you make sure no one is at the edge of ruin, you’ll have a healthy, robust democracy, but go watch some Bill Hicks or George Carlin if you want to know what neither party does anything about the economy.
@woodennickel4010
August 17, 2026 at 5:20 pm
Flowery words with no real solutions, imagine all you want, as long as some have to do nothing to help, just sit and complain, this, we together must, means nothing
@SovereignDirt
August 17, 2026 at 6:20 pm
We the people is the new and improved golden calf.🐣
@davidhales8799
August 17, 2026 at 9:02 pm
Democracy fails when people who don’t do anything rely on other people to do and provide for them.
@leviefrauim1425
August 17, 2026 at 9:22 pm
Another lefty speaks, another numbskull who thinks they’re smarter, wiser, better read, better informed than the combined mental intellect and virtue of the Founding Fathers. Get outta here. Modern liberalism, the modern political left, progressivism/socialism/communism is not and has never been the answer.
@tatyana4475
August 17, 2026 at 9:29 pm
She is a communist 😡