The column opens: >> "A Relentless Rise in Unequal Wealth >> >> What if inequality were to continue growing years or decades into the >> future? Say the richest 1 percent of the population amassed a quarter of the >> nation’s income, up from about a fifth today. What about half? >> >> To believe Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics, this future is >> not just possible. It is likely. >> >> In his bracing “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” which hit bookstores >> on Monday, Professor Piketty provides a fresh and sweeping analysis of the >> world’s economic history that puts into question many of our core beliefs >> about the organization of market economies. >> >> His most startling news is that the belief that inequality will eventually >> stabilize and subside on its own, a long-held tenet of free market >> capitalism, is wrong. Rather, the economic forces concentrating more and >> more wealth into the hands of the fortunate few are almost sure to prevail >> for a very long time."
full at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/12/business/economy/a-relentless-rise-in-unequal-wealth.html?emc=edit_tnt_20140311&nlid=9633259&tntemail0=y Coyle: IMO taxes and other fiscal/monetary measures cannot fix this. That appears to be Piketty's conclusion as well. But IMO a movement to cut the work week can prevail. Shorter hours for all will address a lot of things, including reducing profits and thus shareholder wealth. The impact on consumption by the rich could be enourmous. And the policy is scalable -- cutting hours can be repeated. The quote from the column ends as follows: >> "Is there a politically feasible antidote? Professor Piketty notes that the >> standard recipe — education for all — is no match against the powerful >> forces driving inherited wealth ever higher. >> >> Taxes are, of course, the most feasible counterweight. Progressive wealth >> taxes could reduce the after-tax return to capital so that it equaled the >> rate of economic growth. >> >> But politically, “the fiscal institutions to redistribute incomes in a >> balanced and equitable way have been badly damaged,” Professor Piketty told >> me. >> >> The holders of wealth, hardly a powerless bunch, will oppose any such move, >> even if that’s what is needed to preserve capitalism against the populist >> impulses of those left behind. >> >> Professor Piketty offers early-20th-century France as an example. “France >> was a democracy and yet the system did not respond to an incredible >> concentration of wealth and an incredible level of inequality,” he said. >> “The elites just refused to see it. They kept claiming that the free market >> was going to solve everything.” >> >> It didn’t." _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
