Checking Out Piketty
My reserve copy of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century finally arrived at the library, and I've spent hours browsing this huge, powerful work. No, like most readers (skimmers?), I haven't read the entire 685 pages. (The five most highlighted passages on the Kindle version are all in the first 26 pages.) But I've read more than the first 26 pages.
It's well-written and quotable -- and what other economics book references Jane Austen several times? What's most compelling is the book's vast historical sweep, a powerful reminder that for most of human history since the invention of agriculture, virtually all assets belonged to a small elite, while most of humanity owned nothing and simply struggled to survive
One of America's greatest accomplishments in the 20th century was to reverse this trend and create a strong middle class, as did European countries to various degrees. And then, with the Reagan and Thatcher revolutions, we seemed to throw away everything our history had taught us. Income, capital gains and inheritance tax cuts allowed the rich to become much richer, devastating the middle class and crushing the poor.
Now we seem to be heading toward the kind of society dominated by inherited wealth that the American colonies rebelled against in the first place. Inequality is turning the American Dream into an American Fantasy, out of reach for more and more people.
Checking Out Piketty
My reserve copy of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century finally arrived at the library, and I've spent hours browsing this huge, powerful work. No, like most readers (skimmers?), I haven't read the entire 685 pages. (The five most highlighted passages on the Kindle version are all in the first 26 pages.) But I've read more than the first 26 pages.
It's well-written and quotable -- and what other economics book references Jane Austen several times? What's most compelling is the book's vast historical sweep, a powerful reminder that for most of human history since the invention of agriculture, virtually all assets belonged to a small elite, while most of humanity owned nothing and simply struggled to survive
One of America's greatest accomplishments in the 20th century was to reverse this trend and create a strong middle class, as did European countries to various degrees. And then, with the Reagan and Thatcher revolutions, we seemed to throw away everything our history had taught us. Income, capital gains and inheritance tax cuts allowed the rich to become much richer, devastating the middle class and crushing the poor.
Now we seem to be heading toward the kind of society dominated by inherited wealth that the American colonies rebelled against in the first place. Inequality is turning the American Dream into an American Fantasy, out of reach for more and more people.