Nick Hanauer
Nick Hanauer
Nick Hanaueris an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist living in Shoreline, Washington...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
CountryUnited States of America
money monopoly quite
The thing about a real economy is that it actually is like the game of Monopoly in the sense that when one person has all the money, the game is over. And in a game of Monopoly, of course, that's quite charming, but in a real economy, it's much more problematic.
accept apartment decent expensive hard learned pay rent state super
The thing I've learned most about poverty is how expensive it is to be poor. It's super easy to pay rent every month if you earn enough to pay rent and have a decent job. It's super hard to pay rent if you need a coupon from the state and then need to go find an apartment that will accept that coupon and only that coupon.
people pursue socially societies tech
Tech innovation is something societies have to pursue as vigorously as they can. We have to innovate civically and socially at the same rate; otherwise, you create unfortunate disruptions, and that's where you have people opposing technological innovations.
amount change degree economics evidence forces numbers others poorer prefer prejudices richer themselves
The most powerful forces in economics are not numbers or facts. They are prejudices and preferences. No amount of evidence will ever change the degree to which many of the rich and powerful prefer themselves to be richer and more powerful and others poorer and weaker.
campaign good hour man minimum nobody opponents proposing roll straw
During Seattle's successful campaign for a $15 an hour minimum wage, our opponents would sometimes roll their eyes and snort, 'If $15 is so good, why not $50?' It was a straw man argument: Nobody was proposing a $50 minimum wage; it would have been too high, and we said so.
ask clear hand job reasonably time track trust twice work
You see, we capitalists will never actually ask you to work overtime. I don't even track your hours. I just make it clear that I trust you to get your job done in the time allotted. And then I hand you twice as much work as you can reasonably do in a 40-hour week.
higher keeps leverage pushing tricks wages work
The higher the unemployment rate, the more leverage I have to 'encourage' you to 'do what it takes' to keep your job. And so you work even more hours, pushing unemployment up and wages down. And that, my friends, is one of the little tricks that keeps you poor and me rich.
country thinking conservative
I was more conservative when I was younger. But I don't think that I've moved left - I think the country has moved right.
jobs thinking two
Now one person doing the job of one and a half. So as an employer I can get two people to do the work of three, and think about what that does for profits.
class minimum-wage lows
The overtime threshold is to the middle class as the minimum wage is to low-wage workers.
simple fields administration
Raising the minimum wage is very efficient. Everybody's on the same playing field, it's a very simple rule, it doesn't require a lot of administration, you don't have to negotiate anything. It just is what it is.
class people helping
The most pro-business thing you can do is to help middle-class people thrive.
differences minimum-wage boards
Raising the minimum wage a lot across the board would make a big difference. It's not the only thing, but it's an indispensable part of solving the problem.
people threshold happens
Raising the overtime threshold - something that is about to happen. This is more complex so not as many people understand it, but it's equally consequential.