Jagsfan82 Posted April 28, 2014 Posted April 28, 2014 Has anyone read this book? Thoughts? Comments?Basic premise being growth of capital in the modern world grows at 5-6%. Economic growth tends to be 2-3%. Therefore the wealth gap is always going to increase and the solution to this is to have huge wealth taxes and raise top rate taxes by huge amounts (as if they aren't already taking enough money...).Being praised by statists and liberals. http://www.mises.org/daily/6736/Thomas-Piketty-on-Inequality-and-Capitalhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/25/piketty-amazon-reviews_n_5212386.htmlSeems to be an important read to understand the other side, as it surely will pop up everywhere now, but I cannot justify the investment right now.
Think Free Posted April 28, 2014 Posted April 28, 2014 Morality? Meh, who cares... I second this response. Cut the Gordian Knot.
NumberSix Posted April 28, 2014 Posted April 28, 2014 I haven’t read it, but it sounds ridiculous. When it says the economy grows at 2-3% I think they are talking about GDP which is a BS government statistic. So, I wouldn’t take any conclusions seriously.
Sal9000 Posted April 28, 2014 Posted April 28, 2014 I have not read the book but I think Piketty misses an obvious point. Basic premise being growth of capital in the modern world grows at 5-6%. Capital or money cannot be created in the current system without creating debt at the same time. As a corollary: When you have debt, somebody else has an asset with the same value. On the monetary side, the economy is a zero sum game.
Jagsfan82 Posted April 28, 2014 Author Posted April 28, 2014 I did a little more research and apparently its not nearly as revolutionary as many are making it out to be. Apparently even economists who are liberal are even calling out some of the blatant poor assumptions that are being made. I haven’t read it, but it sounds ridiculous. When it says the economy grows at 2-3% I think they are talking about GDP which is a BS government statistic. So, I wouldn’t take any conclusions seriously. I believe he is talking about world growth, and not sure how he is measuring it. Regardless of statistic I think this is one huge flaw many are pointing out. I think in order for these numbers to work economic growth in under-developed countries needs to be on par with that of developed nations, which is clearly insane. That being said I find it hard to say that economies are "growing". I guess you can make any case if you make up the correct statistic... I have not read the book but I think Piketty misses an obvious point. Capital or money cannot be created in the current system without creating debt at the same time. As a corollary: When you have debt, somebody else has an asset with the same value. On the monetary side, the economy is a zero sum game. I would say Piketty's argument is that the middle class and poor and/or the governments are creating debt, while the rich get the capital gains. The mises article talks about a couple obvious points. One being capital doesn't just automatically grow by the fact that it exists. It takes on growth after accepting a certain form of risk and that risk proved to be a good decision. This is a good thing for the economy, not a bad thing. Also lumping capital into one blob of money is just not accurate either. Theres all types of forms of capital. I think the overall gist is the same of any liberal argument.. oversimplify the economy and ignore long term cause and effect of actions and the free will of people so that bogus assumptions can be made to come up with statistics that help prove a desired end goal. The end goal doesn't come from the evidence or the logic, the evidence and the logic is fabricated based on the end goal.
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