Connect with us

News & Politics

A Socialist Perspective on the Pursuit of Happiness | Aaron Bastani | TED

Several crises are set to define the next century — but journalist Aaron Bastani believes we have the technological ability to meet our biggest challenges and create unprecedented levels of prosperity for all. He shows how we could get there by ditching capitalism as the world’s economic operating system and adopting “universal basic services,” where…

Published

on

Several crises are set to define the next century — but journalist Aaron Bastani believes we have the technological ability to meet our biggest challenges and create unprecedented levels of prosperity for all. He shows how we could get there by ditching capitalism as the world’s economic operating system and adopting “universal basic services,” where governments would freely provide life essentials like housing, health care, education and transport. (Followed by Q&A with head of TED Chris Anderson and public finance expert Maja Bosnic)

If you love watching TED Talks like this one, become a TED Member to support our mission of spreading ideas:

Follow TED!
Twitter:
Instagram:
Facebook:
LinkedIn:
TikTok:

The TED Talks channel features talks, performances and original series from the world’s leading thinkers and doers. Subscribe to our channel for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.

Watch more:

TED’s videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at

#TED #TEDTalks #capitalism

Continue Reading
Advertisement
100 Comments

100 Comments

  1. Idontknow

    January 26, 2023 at 3:15 pm

    Socialism does not work, and whenever attempted quite literally millions of people die. Why we repeat this cycle of thinking socialism is bad to good is beyond me.

    • Elektric Skeptic

      January 26, 2023 at 5:30 pm

      It works in Sweden, Finland, Canada & the UK. Its why the roads are paved & kids are educated. That’s socialism.
      Under the latest model of USA‐Style end‐stage capitalism however ‐ spread via colonialism ‐ 10mil. children/year die of starvation & starvation related conditions.
      Overcome the knee‐jerk reaction with some earnest reading of other nations who utilize social democracy ‐ it literally saves lives.
      Peacefully yours, Me XO

  2. J. Vicente Santos Aguilar

    January 26, 2023 at 3:26 pm

    You lost me at comunism.

    • Elektric Skeptic

      January 26, 2023 at 5:26 pm

      I think you might need to try to look at democratic socialism through a lens not promoted by a nation which is solely favorable to the latest & proven to be the most toxic yet model of capitalism.
      Many great & thriving nations use socialism, & so does the USA & UK. Just not in ways that you’re aware of cos the messaging has always been pro‐cap. Think of it like this: if you were in charge & loved being exceedingly wealthy & believed you & only a few others were deservedly wealthy & you were also pretty greedy ‐ wouldn’t you ensure your nation’s leaders spoke poorly of any other economic social systems to the exclusion of varieties of the current system of capitalism & even to the very detriment of said nation & even killing the planet in the meantime? Cos thats literally what’s happening. Propaganda is a powerful & awful thing that its created a knee‐jerk hatred of socialist models ‐ despite less spending due to an ever increasing population of extremely poor people will ultimately destroy the economy & nation eventually. Capitalism only appears to work *despite it leaving many homeless & destitute* when people can buy stuff.
      Peacefully yours, Me.
      XO

    • P. B. Foote

      January 26, 2023 at 8:00 pm

      You lost me by misspelling it.

    • P. B. Foote

      January 26, 2023 at 8:02 pm

      @Elektric Skeptic Extremely well said.

  3. MenosProblemos

    January 26, 2023 at 3:32 pm

    UBS is norm here in Sweden (except for free communal traffic). It’s great really is. Anyone gets health care – Fits right into the ‘_basic human needs category’.
    However I would be cautious about this man handling it. If he thinks it’s the only way then he’s rather nearsighted im my mind.

  4. Bhantam

    January 26, 2023 at 3:50 pm

    You would very likely need to nationalize the energy sector as well
    -Otherwise, your free transportation system would be beholden to the whims of fossil fuel giants

  5. Life according to me.

    January 26, 2023 at 4:27 pm

    @15:05 Mr Bastani believes that anyone that thinks different than him is “delusional”. I was along for the ride right up to that point where he negated his entire message by this one comment. And this type of talk is likely why we “as a species” can’t figure this out together. It seems counterproductive why there is “us” and “them” in these discussions.

    • Fergus Mac Liam

      January 26, 2023 at 5:11 pm

      How might you describe the situation of the wealthiest in society garnering such an large amount of wealth to the point where they they can basically use a fraction of their oligarchic wealth to influence political systems at the detriment of the rest of the population around the world?

  6. NeferKaMichael

    January 26, 2023 at 4:40 pm

    Rubis

  7. Thariqul Abrar

    January 26, 2023 at 4:50 pm

    Social democracy (welfare system) is different from socialism.

  8. Baraz

    January 26, 2023 at 5:03 pm

    So I see here we have to re-teach ourselves the basics, after our universities have systematically promoted neoliberalism is their teaching, to an extent that is undignified of what should be university studies and sciences. And I live in Canada, where our system still maintains public services, although they are actively being eroded, privatized, and weakened.

    • Elektric Skeptic

      January 26, 2023 at 5:15 pm

      TY for acknowledging what many neolibs up here refuse to accept. XO

    • Austin Denotter

      January 26, 2023 at 6:48 pm

      And also very unaffordable

    • Guilherme Resende

      January 26, 2023 at 9:28 pm

      Promotes neoliberalism? What is it actually? I know many authors from the XX century who defined themselves as classical liberals. Hayek, Friedman, Mises, Röpke, Hazlitt, Sowell, Jouvenel. And are they teached in school? Actually not. But Marx, Foucault and so on is always there.

    • Baraz

      January 26, 2023 at 10:42 pm

      @Guilherme Resende You have not suffered through the basic economic classes in universities, that all teach neo-classic economic theory, often as if it was the inevitable laws of nature? The book we had for international economics was filled with ideology, claiming that any criticism of their models was ideology from unions (really, it said that, non stop throughout the book, in a university in Canada). Marx and Foucault are taught in sociology and philosophy, notably, but probably not in other domains.

    • Guilherme Resende

      January 26, 2023 at 11:05 pm

      @Baraz I agree that maybe universities should teach more views. And that doesn’t mean that these are necessarily supportive of state regulation in opposition to free markets. It’s contrary to that in many cases, actually. For instance, Mises and Hayek, cited above, aren’t neoclassical economists. They deffend a dynamic view of market (as a complex system). And they are staunch defenders of the free market.

  9. Bruno Schroder

    January 26, 2023 at 5:08 pm

    This guy is completely out of reality! Do he think that government will provide you the UBS without any corruption? Politicians will favor friendly businessmen to get rich and, of course, Justice will not be done as always. This guy should work in a public office to see how companies that provide services to the government are actually selected

    • Austin Denotter

      January 26, 2023 at 6:52 pm

      Or get a job and pay for the freebies himself.

  10. Jorge Rodriguez

    January 26, 2023 at 5:09 pm

    What the average person doesn’t realize is that the system, especially in the US and Britain, have learned from communism that so long as you keep a large portion of the population struggling, and a larger portion (the middle class) living pay check to pay check, there will be no revolt or attempt to overthrow the government. I agreed with everything he said, but it’s a pipe dream.

  11. Titus

    January 26, 2023 at 6:07 pm

    Most countries in Europe have a kind of UBS already. In my country, Portugal, health and education is free, public transport is very cheap and if you live in Lisbon it’s free for students and elderly. For housing it’s a little trickier, but there’s social housing for the poorest, but housing is something that needs to be improved.

    • Tomás Gomes

      January 26, 2023 at 8:55 pm

      “Free” is a nice way to put it. Not everything is exactly free, nor does it work that well. It’s still better than most of the world, so I’m not complaining too much, but if you go to Norway, for example, you’ll see a very different reality (a better one).

  12. HP C

    January 26, 2023 at 6:23 pm

    “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted, it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in which instinct has learned nothing from experience.”
    George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905
    US (Spanish-born) philosopher (1863 – 1952)

  13. Austin Denotter

    January 26, 2023 at 6:50 pm

    So just another guy talking. Never worked a day in his life yet wanting me to pay for everything. No thanks.

    • Ted Thomas

      January 26, 2023 at 6:57 pm

      turn your brain on Austin

  14. Home Wall

    January 26, 2023 at 7:05 pm

    Life should be easy for all without effort, risk or innovation. – Socialism

    • P. B. Foote

      January 26, 2023 at 7:19 pm

      Humanity would flourish without greed, corruption, and inequity.
      Socialism

  15. Home Wall

    January 26, 2023 at 7:07 pm

    Poverty is lower than ever in history.
    Illiteracy is lower than ever in history.
    Jobs are more numerous and various than ever in history.
    Opportunities are greater than ever in history.
    Diversity is greater than ever in history.

    All this free people in free markets with free association is a death sentence to a socialist who thinks only power knows how best to spend your money and how best to keep losers from being an example of being a loser.

    • Akira Kamejima

      January 26, 2023 at 8:15 pm

      When you have time, I highly recommend watching the Zeitgeist Addendum documentary by Peter Joseph. He gave a Ted talk years ago. Eye-opening stuff.

  16. Home Wall

    January 26, 2023 at 7:11 pm

    Why can’t socialists like this guy ever band together and be socialist together. You are 100% free to be a socialist, outside of all the government taxes and services they already provide “for free” (to the economically challenged). You can prove this works with like-minded people who voluntarily enjoy your basic services over what free people will produce instead. I don’t want your leech medicine, or your Christianity-first to read the bible schooling, or you one size fits all transit and jobs. Just make those for yourselves since you enjoy them, and let us who prefer liberty and free people in free markets to ourselves. Live and let live. Stop forcing others to suffer your views. Even if they worked, I hate your notions because I know they will fail in short order because that’s what happens when you standardize lives and restrict freedom.

  17. Home Wall

    January 26, 2023 at 7:13 pm

    So his good socialist ideas only work if government forces it upon all. Oddly, socialists can’t socialize and work together voluntarily. They just promote the use of government to take from those who don’t want it, to give to those who aren’t productive or produce poorly.

    • Shawn Crawford

      January 26, 2023 at 9:15 pm

      What good does private health insurance do for anyone? Why should my employer be responsible for 75% of my health insurance cost? Don’t you see how that drags the entire free market down. If we all paid into the healthcare system together, our employers would make more money, some of which would go to increased wages which would offset the costs of universal healthcare. That’s not the government forcing anything. It’s simply a matter of everyone paying into a system that benefits everyone and denies no one a basic human right.

  18. Home Wall

    January 26, 2023 at 7:14 pm

    Funny that his fixes are for health care, food, housing, education and transit, all those which government already regulates and monopolizes and everyone agrees is poor in quality and not innovative whatsoever. We support our veterans and I’d never suffer the VA “health” system.

  19. Kenneth Animates

    January 26, 2023 at 7:19 pm

    For starters we need to tax the rich, which means resurrecting the IRS to what it can be: A tool by the people to hold the rich accountable. The upper class will not allow this so this plan is under the assumption that corruption is purged from the government. (Yes I sound like a radicalistic communist now don’t I?) So assuming that we were free to choose our laws by the people and for the people we would need to increase taxes on the rich overtime and close their loopholes out, we can give them tax breaks occasionally but it will require them to treat their workers better, this can be done by having an anonymous poll system throughout their workplace giving feedback on their business, companies will be given tax breaks if they have high ratings from their employees. As we siphon money from the rich we can invest it in housing and education to make the workforce more learned and productive, while fixing the education that we have ruined for over 200 years. We can slowly fix the housing crisis giving people less time to worry about bills and more time to pursue their interests and make a name for themselves. As they become more productive and the economy grows, this gives people the ability to research more in transportation and infrastructure, essentially lowering the cost of transport. They can also work on curing diseases and killing cancer. Many years later after we finally fix healthcare we will have gained all 4 of the UBS’s and given the entire United States to the people. We will have finally fixed some of our biggest issues, giving us the power to address climate change, fix poverty for good, and end our corruption for good. This is all achievable, but it comes under the assumption that we have real control of our government. Sadly in the U.S. we don’t, at least you almost always have to be rich. We can start a trend towards the end of our corruption by unionizing as many areas of business as we can, this can damage the economy in the short term but if they lay off employees they will only spark more anger, so we can start a feedback loop forcing businesses to listen to our demands. Most would probably say that unions are just another business but this “business” is much more controllable by the people and can be democratically elected instead of being kept by the founder.

  20. Gage

    January 26, 2023 at 8:18 pm

    Why is this guy repeating what all of us said in the 1970’s and on?

    • Rafal Kaminski

      January 27, 2023 at 11:18 am

      Probably because of what happens in the 1970’s and on?

  21. John

    January 26, 2023 at 8:55 pm

    None of these models work because they all interact and depend on each other because they presently exist. The real solution is to make war unprofitable. Communism never works. Ask the millions who have died under it. In the same breath, millions have died under Democracy. Remove the ability for companies and people to make money off war/killing others, and you will solve a lot of problems. Stop allowing politicians and government officials to profit from the policies they push.

    This conversation is not something you can argue or sum up in 20 minutes, the world is too complex, and so are those controlling your ideals. You stay on your side, run things the way you want, and don’t “Force” others to adhere to your ideology. Human beings will always rebel against authority! We will find a way to break free. It’s been happening for thousands of years.

  22. Gavin

    January 26, 2023 at 9:22 pm

    Also from books..

  23. Commie D

    January 26, 2023 at 10:02 pm

    Fantastic job giving socialism a great explanation in such a short time. Well done!
    👏👏👏👏👏

  24. Adalberto Estevez

    January 26, 2023 at 10:16 pm

    Smart and refreshing

  25. DragonTailSB

    January 26, 2023 at 11:57 pm

    I understand what he’s saying, but I don’t agree. I think we should unautomate things, reduce the government to be as small as possible, lower taxes into the ground, and let people have to make their own financial decisions. My Argument is simple: If we make a paradise where nobody has to work and everyone can just sit around and have fun, why live? Humans must have problems to solve and the freedom to solve them. (I have more reasons but this one is the one ill use for simplicities sake)

    • NotMe Us

      January 27, 2023 at 1:12 am

      America was like that 100 years ago when our life expectancy was half what it is now because children did the most dangerous work and had no education making the average American functionally retarded compared to today’s American. But hey freedumb right?

    • DragonTailSB

      January 27, 2023 at 1:26 am

      @NotMe Us Could you clarify your argument? There are many reasons America wasn’t doing to good back then such as WW1, or The hyperinflation crisis.

    • DragonTailSB

      January 27, 2023 at 10:11 pm

      @NotMe Us we can vote, but does that really stop the problem of curroption? They can just change things slowly, and get into the school system. If they pay for school for children, they can manipulate what is taught, the people would then be manipulated by the politicians to think certain things are actually not that bad or that certain things actually aren’t even happening. Just to be clear, I am not a communist and I’m actually fairly radical capitalist, I think giving to much power to governments will let them unrestrict themselves, and lead to a curropt country.

    • NotMe Us

      January 27, 2023 at 10:45 pm

      @DragonTailSB without government who would stop corruption of the people and corporations? Yes voting does stop corruption, we just voted out the most corrupt president in history. The government already controls public schools and the intelligent government let’s the education professionals decide what to teach, while the fools let culture war bs decide what is taught and we have the Court of law to decide what is right. I don’t have no hope with the current Supreme Court but I’m not willing to get rid of law and order because of it. Radical capitalism is why we have skyrocketing inflation from companies that are seeing record profits, a more socially democratic government would fine, tariff and tax such greed. Radical capitalism would end minimum wage and the 40 hour work week and would shift all the power to the corporations who have always been more corrupt than the government, one could argue without corporations there would be no one to corrupt the government.

    • DragonTailSB

      January 27, 2023 at 11:40 pm

      @NotMe Us your government seems like an entity in and of itself that only gets curropted from outside sources, but the government is made of humans, those humans at the end of the day have their own ideas and wants, and eventually a powerful government will become curropt, not because of rich people, not because of outer sources, but from the inside out. The law might tell them they can’t, but they fund the law, they’ll just change it. I think the reason there’s skyrocketing inflation is from higher minimum wages and constant money printing from the government. Also you keep saying there wouldn’t be law and order, but I’m not talking about total anarchy, just reducing it to be as small as possible.
      Edit: this message sounds kinda harsh, but I don’t mean it to be that way, I really do see the possibilities of a good big government helping all

    • NotMe Us

      January 28, 2023 at 12:39 am

      @DragonTailSB my government is for the people by the people and We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. None of these ideals is possible with a small government. There is inflation in every country yet most have not raised minimum wage or constantly print money, but they all have corporations making record profits with the majority of that profit going to the top. A well regulated capitalist society that puts the needs of the people over corporations would bring about these ideals.

    • DragonTailSB

      January 28, 2023 at 1:23 am

      @NotMe Us With your point on inflation, it’s actually good to have small ammounts of it like 1-2% per year, as this actually causes people to want to spend a little more or invest in things (which improves the econemy), but when you start having 7% inflation and things get unaffordable, I think you really have to ask if your government is helping or hurting this problem.

    • NotMe Us

      January 28, 2023 at 1:37 am

      @DragonTailSB my government is not doing enough to stop the inflation by penalizing windfall profits, though I’ve seen nothing that would lead to believe they’re making it worse in any meaningful way. There printing money would not cause companies to raise the price and there raise in pay would account for less than 1% of inflation. Without government Interference we would be in a depression instead of 3 straight quarters of GDP growth and the lowest unemployment in 50 years for nearly 2 years straight

    • NotMe Us

      January 28, 2023 at 1:50 am

      @DragonTailSB OK so we have a small government. Do we still have social security or are the disabled and old left to fend for themselves? Do we still have the EPA or are corporations free to polute. Do we still have the IRS or do we lose funding for our roads and parks? The #1 employer in America is the federal government, how many millions of jobs would be lost to a small government?

    • DragonTailSB

      January 28, 2023 at 3:34 am

      @NotMe Us yes, these are all good questions. I think one solution to these problems are regular taxes, but I have 2 other options: 1. Religion or Charities. You would have a culture that values helping others, and money and resources would be given to people who need it (in the case of religion it would also give it to atheists). 2. Choosing to pay taxes, in this system the government is forced to give the people what they want, if they don’t get it, then they don’t pay.
      I think Healthcare isn’t something that is the governments responsibility, the real problem I think with stuff like that is bureaucracies overpricing surgeries and the like. Obviously I don’t think people in need should just die if they get a serious illness or injury, I just don’t think the government needs to get involved.

    • NotMe Us

      January 28, 2023 at 4:15 am

      @DragonTailSB 20 million Americans got Healthcare for the 1st time because of Obamacare and none of them were helped before that from charities or churches. Every developed country has government funded Healthcare and America is the only one that is only partially funded. Who in there right mind would give up guaranteed Healthcare over maybe charity helping? Volunteer taxes would be insane and would bankrupt the country or the amenities it pays for. While higher taxes for the rich would make them all solvent.
      It’s not the government that makes Healthcare so expensive it’s the insurance company’s. It was the government that just put a price cap on some drugs and gave Medicare the ability to negotiate prescription drug costs. A 5% employee tax and 7% employer tax with the ability to negotiate all medical bills would fully fund Medicare for all and is far less than most people pay already. A minimal Wallstreet tax that puts a fraction of a % tax on every stock trade would be enough to fund higher education for all. A rent price cap would cut homelessness in half and funding for mental Healthcare housing would get most of the rest off the streets. Hiring hundreds of immigration judges would help end the years long backlog of immigration cases, so we can keep those who truly meet the asylum requirements and deport the rest and since 90% of migrants who are given a court date show up for court there’s no reason to think that wouldn’t work. The recent Hiring of 87k people at the IRS over the next 10 years is expected to bring in several billion because so many rich people get away with not paying taxes because there hasn’t been enough people at the IRS. Yes 87k sounds like a lot but they expect 50k to retire over the next 10 years and are already short 30k employees now. The CHIPS act is bringing thousands of jobs back to America because of federal funding, the First responders bill and the Burn pit bill got much needed Healthcare for our nation’s heros. The infrastructure bill will create hundreds of thousands of jobs for years and will rebuild our infrastructure. All of this is only possible because of big government and all examples of how the government can make America better.
      I assume regular taxes are sales tax, which would make the poor who have to spend every cent they have bare the brunt of the taxes, would make many of the things upper middle class buy unattainable for them and would cut the taxes for the rich to a small fraction of what it is now.

    • A son

      January 28, 2023 at 9:48 pm

      @NotMe Us  Yep, instead of letting infants fall in the pursuit of learning to walk. Let’s give them all wheel chairs

      Oh, how about we give every 4+ years in the US a cell phone with Alexa, so they don’t have to learn to read and write as long as they can speak.
      Oh, learning to speak. How do we solve that? Cause, you know, we wouldn’t want those little guys to struggle, would we?

      Does all that sound insane? That’s because it is, but here you are actively pushing that same load of BS for grown adults.

      Hand outs hurt those who received them. You are not helping. You’re hurting them, and worse, you’re trying to using other peoples money to do so.

      Grow up.

  26. George Franklin

    January 27, 2023 at 2:27 am

    Falsehood after, falsehood after. Socialism has never succeeded and it is impossible that it ever will. It is a flawed concept. Yes, we certainly have socialist institution within our society but not socialist government. There is no amount of technology that can make socialism succeed. The major flaw of all collectivism in general is that the leadership can never be trusted to be altruistic. Socialist leaders have too much power. Power inevitably leads to corruption.
    “We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.”
    Favorite quote of Socialists was popularized by Karl Marx “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” Wants and dreams are apparently irrelevant to Socialists. If the government gets to decide what abilities are applicable to the above equation then lots of people are going to be unhappy. In many cases that imposed choice would be tantamount to slavery. And if each individual gets to decide what abilities they would like to apply for the benefit of society, without any sort of scrutiny or accountability, that ain’t gonna work either, because in general people are indolent and selfish. If you allow each person to choose what they want to do unfettered by responsibility and accountability, there will be far to many that will take the easy way out and choose to do essentially nothing productive.
    And if the government gets to decide what needs apply to that equation, there are going to be lots of people unhappy. On the other hand if people get to decide what their own needs are, nobody is going to be satisfied there either.
    I was just getting started. All for now.

  27. Temur Normamatov

    January 27, 2023 at 2:37 am

    I was surprised

  28. GOLD'N'SUGAR

    January 27, 2023 at 2:48 am

    Hi

  29. Clive Smith

    January 27, 2023 at 2:54 am

    communism does nothing for individual Happiness.
    Quite the opposite, it sucks the life out of people.
    Social Democracy, on the other hand, is GREAT!

  30. Felicia Zidane

    January 27, 2023 at 7:23 am

    😀l am so happy my financial life has totally changed ever since I ventured into stock investment. Ive been earning over $18,000 dollars every single week.

    • Rahim hossain

      January 27, 2023 at 9:43 am

      Mrs Catalina is obviously the best, I’ve been able to secure a steady inflow of my returns of stock investments.

    • Dave piecknik

      January 27, 2023 at 9:45 am

      Her analysis are so amazing. My first investment with her gave me a profit of over 25,800 dollars as beginner

    • Roberto sam

      January 27, 2023 at 9:47 am

      I was experiencing lapses on stock, not until last month when came across Mrs catalina and my story changed.

    • Binusan

      January 27, 2023 at 9:49 am

      Her strategies is also working for me at the moment. I’m making good proft from stock investments

    • Kelly Edren

      January 27, 2023 at 9:53 am

      Mrs Catalina has an intellectual strategies that cut down losses. It’s been a steady inflow of income for the past few months now

  31. A son

    January 27, 2023 at 9:35 am

    Cause the welfare system and the people usually on these kinds of programs have been nothing but glowing success?
    No successful person will ever be found in their parents’ basement getting their bills paid by them, and yet, how people have convenienced themselves the government equivalent is somehow going to garner a different result is beyond me.
    It’s time people grow up and quit looking for handouts.

  32. Andrew Clara

    January 27, 2023 at 10:50 am

    I’m 54 and Even in the economic fluctuations, I’m so excited I’ve been earning $45,000 from my $10, 000 investment every 10days…

    • Jerry Seinfeld

      January 27, 2023 at 11:09 am

      For over a month , I have been hearing about her , How can someone reach out to Angelia Marie Brown ? !!

    • Bunny Borromeo

      January 27, 2023 at 11:10 am

      She’s available on Whats’Apk messenger

    • Bunny Borromeo

      January 27, 2023 at 11:10 am

      United States

      +𝟭𝟗𝟎𝟗𝟒𝟗𝟒𝟐𝟒𝟐𝟖

      United States👍👎

    • Andrew Cline

      January 27, 2023 at 11:11 am

      Believe me she’s the best when it comes to Cryptocurrency trading , your profit is assured .💯

    • katherandefy

      January 27, 2023 at 6:51 pm

      And yet you have time to comment on YouTube about it because I suppose it is your bread and butter?

  33. Malcolm Pagett

    January 27, 2023 at 11:41 am

    Yet, for some unknown reason, people are against this? I don’t know as to why.

    • Александр Новиченко

      January 27, 2023 at 4:40 pm

      It’s very hard to argue against the idea itself, so many argue against different implementations of it that, as they see it, might bring more harm than good. Many others argue that any implementation of socialism is harmful, since it inhibits some important property of capitalism (the most common example is the notion that socialism stifles innovations as it doesn’t give the innovator a chance to gain incredible wealth on the thing they invented)

      Also, there are some dreamers that sincerely believe they have a chance at becoming billionaires, and as such they don’t want to propel the system that won’t let that happen.

      If I’m allowed my 2 cents here, I’m sick and tired of that “innovative capitalism” thing. I’m a researcher myself, and I worked in the field of commercial research, as well as presented my own revolutionary startup project to VCs – and I can tell you from the inside it’s all BS.
      Honestly it all begins with a notion that there is literally no chance any startup will turn into a big business. If it is successful, big companies will come in and either buy or destroy it. And it’s not that they are as generous as some American films demonstrate – they will pay you crumbs, no matter how profitable the idea is. And that’s considering you’ll actually get investment for your startup (meaning you’ll be in charge and will have a share of profits) and it will not be bought off straight away.
      Despite being a competent researcher with quite solid cases behind my back, I’d be much happier to work in a socialist society, hands down.

      As for those wishful thinkers willing to become billionaires…well, I don’t think it needs much explanation, you have better chances winning a national lottery.

    • katherandefy

      January 27, 2023 at 6:50 pm

      Delusions of grandeur are often indistinguishable on the surface from garden variety ambition.

    • P. B. Foote

      January 27, 2023 at 9:13 pm

      An over-washed brain gets no brighter.

  34. appoNo1

    January 27, 2023 at 1:06 pm

    “You have to act as if were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time” – Angela Davis. Change is possible, and necessary, don’t be fooled by the thought that capitalism is the end of history. As Aaron said, if man has ambitions to terraform Mars, surely we can be equally ambitious about earth and the future we want for our species.

  35. circleoflife

    January 27, 2023 at 2:33 pm

    “Socialism” means your government always treats you like a minor. It means after you finish your graduate studies and get a teaching job at a top university, you are assigned a small bedroom with bunk beds and share it with two other people. You are likely to live in this small bedroom for as long as you are single. If you get married you might not be assigned a single room because there could be a long waiting list. How soon you can get a single room for yourself may depend on what connections you have with the people who are in charge of room assignment and to what degree you are willing to sell your soul to bribe those in charge. If you enjoy that kind of life and are good at only saying good things about your government (because you know you might be jailed if you dare to say anything bad about your government), yeah socialism is for you.

    Oh while we are on the benefits of socialism, why don’t we count the number of people that have been murdered in the socialist countries by their governments since Lenin – 60 million. Maybe even more. And just now in China protestors again zero covid policy are disappearing by government force. And you won’t be able to stand on a platform like this promoting capitalism in a socialist country.

    With all the bloody lessons from the most recent history and the present, it is irresponsible and reckless to think socialism is still a feasible idea to be entertained.

    • Maria Geyt

      January 28, 2023 at 12:23 pm

      Finally a real description of socialism! Instead of immature “it’s when everything is good and taken care of”

  36. idiot321321321 idiot

    January 27, 2023 at 3:00 pm

    Socialism, Communism, and welfare are very dirty words in my country. The official ideology prizes hard work, meritocracy and self-reliance. At least that’s the brainwashing they taught us in Social Studies in school.

  37. Александр Новиченко

    January 27, 2023 at 4:37 pm

    Can admit, finally hearing the socialist voice from TED tribunes makes me very happy.
    If you think about it, there had pretty much never been a positive socialist representation on the TED stage.

    • Bhantam

      January 27, 2023 at 9:55 pm

      seriously though

    • Lukas Bosina

      January 29, 2023 at 3:32 pm

      There was a pretty good talk about universal basic income by someone from the Netherlands. Look it up.

  38. Ankur M

    January 27, 2023 at 4:52 pm

    “Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists” a classic from the early 2000s written by a bright-eyed Raghuram Rajan+, who went on to become the Governor of India’s Central Bank – Reserve Bank of India, and then resigned as a mark of protest against the current ruling party in India, has been espousing many of these ideas with evidence from the developing as well as the developed world. I really hope after the dust settles this century, much like in the early 20th century, we’d be able to make a “renewed deal” again.

  39. Melanie Pownall-Harris

    January 27, 2023 at 8:20 pm

    Yanis Varoufakis suggests that as all tech advances developments are paid for by the state, tax payers, then given to private companies to make profits, these companies should pay dividends from profits back to those, tax payers.

    • Александр Новиченко

      January 27, 2023 at 10:30 pm

      Isn’t that the corporate tax?

    • Melanie Pownall-Harris

      January 28, 2023 at 5:05 pm

      @Александр Новиченко as dividends that support universal basic services so that the tax payer benefits not just tax that government takes, similar to a sovereign wealth fund like Norway has from its Fossil Fuel reserves that it sells to other countries.

  40. circleoflife

    January 27, 2023 at 11:58 pm

    If you want to see an example of happiness produced in a socialist country, look at Putin. He grew up in socialist Russia. His country is the largest country in the world. He is said to be super rich. Yet he still wants more land and is murdering tens of thousands of people in Ukraine for land and power. Is that what a happy person looks like? * I know a single example is not a way to argue for a point, but this speaker starts with his own example. So the use of a single example is justified here.

    Socialism is a great way to produce corrupted and rich officials and deprived/powerless/poor public. When all properties become public, who handles the public property? Human beings. Do you expect most of these officials, who are total stranger to you, to act ethically and morally, to be just and fair to you, to care about your welfare always? If you do, you’ll be sorely mistaken. History in socialist countries have shown the overwhelming majority of them only care about their own welfare and greed. Most of these officials get into a power position to satisfy their own needs/wants and greed.

    When you don’t own your house and every aspect of your surviving essentials depend on the government, you basically don’t have any rights, and most likely the courage to speak up against your government for things going wrong in your life because you would fear for losing your livelihood and even your freedom. Basically you don’t have any say about your life. Your whole life is controlled by your government. You are a prison in your own room.

    Britain has produced many great thinkers who had wisely argued for the importance of property being privately owned centuries ago.
    Stay wise Britain.

    • Eoin O' Toole

      January 28, 2023 at 1:13 am

      Everything you mention is also perpetrated in capitalists societies…

  41. Eoin O' Toole

    January 28, 2023 at 1:11 am

    Anyone else noticed the “to not just thrive but to survive” bit?

  42. Charles Gunn

    January 28, 2023 at 1:27 am

    Socialism sucks!

  43. Michael R

    January 28, 2023 at 1:15 pm

    💯❗👍🤙👌

  44. Bigbenji6

    January 28, 2023 at 3:59 pm

    deep

  45. Hillbilly Hippy

    January 28, 2023 at 6:23 pm

    A UBI based on the understanding that a right to life comes with a right to the resources necessary for life. This UBI should be gleaned from renting the sources of all other resources… land. ✌🏼

  46. John BEE

    January 28, 2023 at 10:15 pm

    Good words and something that is a long way from happening in the western society. There are tons of free resources that could be used to help our society- they are the retired professional.

    • NOUM

      January 29, 2023 at 5:11 pm

      It’s funny how people in France are protesting against the rise of retirement age bill yet when you actually ask retired people if they want to return to work if someone is willing to hire them, most of them will say yes

  47. Jacob Galea

    January 29, 2023 at 6:26 am

    This guy rubs me the wrong way and I’m a socialist

  48. refusedone

    January 29, 2023 at 6:17 pm

    In the US we have Republicans, who would not allow Universal Basic Services, and if somehow they were allowed, they would sabotage & underfund them

  49. Supa Marx

    January 29, 2023 at 8:04 pm

    This is a real wake up call as to how far our shared consciousness has shifted to the right, that floating the idea that people have access to the basic necessities of a functional society and taxes are fair is considered mind-blowing. However Aaron does an amazing job of presenting and his book is much more visionary in terms of imaging post-capitalist possibilities.

  50. S B

    January 29, 2023 at 11:09 pm

    Capitalism is sewing its own fate. We just have to be patient as its falls and be willing to build a better society from the pieces left over

  51. cybersekkin

    January 30, 2023 at 12:55 am

    flat value growth on housing in Japan? houses sold here a few years ago at 150-200 thousand dollars, same type housing is now going on the market for 350-400 thousand. in the same neighborhood. I dont know who told you the cost here is flat..

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Bloomberg Technology

Bloomberg Technology 03/27/2024

“Bloomberg Technology” is our daily news program focused exclusively on technology, innovation and the future of business hosted by Caroline Hyde in New York and Ed Ludlow from San Francisco.

Published

on

“Bloomberg Technology” is our daily news program focused exclusively on technology, innovation and the future of business hosted by Caroline Hyde in New York and Ed Ludlow from San Francisco.

Continue Reading

Bloomberg Technology

Databricks Doubles Down on AI Efforts to Take on Rivals

Databricks is launching its own large language model, DBRX, in an effort to help organizations understand and use their own private data to build their own AI systems. CEO and co-founder, Ali Ghodsi, says AI has driven more competition in the industry, including with it’s rival Snowflake. Ghodsi speaks with Ed Ludlow on “Bloomberg Technology.”

Published

on

Databricks is launching its own large language model, DBRX, in an effort to help organizations understand and use their own private data to build their own AI systems. CEO and co-founder, Ali Ghodsi, says AI has driven more competition in the industry, including with it’s rival Snowflake. Ghodsi speaks with Ed Ludlow on “Bloomberg Technology.”

Continue Reading

Bloomberg Technology

Operating Margins Driving Tech Earnings Recovery: Chisholm

Denise Chisholm, director of Quantitative Market Strategy at Fidelity Investments, discusses her outlook for the technology sector. She speaks with Ed Ludlow on “Bloomberg Technology.”

Published

on

Denise Chisholm, director of Quantitative Market Strategy at Fidelity Investments, discusses her outlook for the technology sector. She speaks with Ed Ludlow on “Bloomberg Technology.”

Continue Reading

Trending