Why was millionaire investor Nick Hanauer’s 2012 TED Talk held back from the public?

TED Founder Chris Anderson said that it was “explicitly partisan.” Others think that Hanauer’s attack on the big lie “If taxes on the rich go up, job creation will go down” was so clear and devastating that TED didn’t think it was an “idea worth spreading.”

There’s no doubt that income inequality is the economic issue of our time.

This chart from the Congressional Budget Office became famous during the Occupy Wall Street movement for demonstrating how much wealth has been transferred to the richest Americans since 1979:

“In 2010, the first year of economic recovery after the 2009-2010 recession, 93 percent of all pre-tax income gains went to the top 1 percent, which in that year meant any household making more than about $358,000,” according to Timothy Noah.

A recent Brookings study shows that this inequality may be permanent and our progressive tax system has done little to improve the situation.

So watch the speech (above), read the transcript and decide for yourself why TED didn’t want you to see it.