Thomas Pikketty's Capital

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 10:15pm

Jeez, you can't swing a dead cat this week without hitting a discussion of Thomas Pikketty's Capital in the 21st Century! A 700-page economic treatise that's sold out on Amazon. I heard one commentator compare it to Hawking's A Brief History of Time, a giant book that "felt important" that everybody bought but nobody read.







The Guardian offers you everything you need to know about the surprise bestseller

Updated On: 5/1/14 at 10:15 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 10:20pm

Thomas Pikketty, Radical Economist Matinee Idol

Updated On: 5/1/14 at 10:20 PM

[tazber]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 5:52am

I'm actually reading it now.

It's very Keynesian in it's overall thesis, which while not a bad thing does tend to ignore some of the realities of the Friedman theory.

But as I said I'm still reading it (it is very readable for an economic tome) so maybe he'll address those issues.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 6:42am

I found a handy-dandy online guide so that I could sound smart about it without having to wade through the whole thing.

But I have always had a severe allergy to economic theory. Back when I was in college, I had to enroll in Econ 101 three times before making it through the first lecture. Which meant I had to purchase Samuelson three times. (Samuelson was probably way before your time, Taz. He was contemporary of Adam Smith's. I think I was too.)

The French are amused that Piketty has become such a rock star here--[pretty much the way we're amused that Jerry Lewis is respected over there, except Piketty never says "Heyyyyyy, La-deeee!" in his book. The French call him "l'etoile Americaine," which makes him sound cute, like Meryl Streep.

But questions of income inequality have been part of the French discourse since the First Peasant Revolt of 1313. (Or was it 1414?) Here, in America, we have our Horatio Alger mythology, which says that any income inequality will always be equalized in the next generation by hard work and a positive attitude.

Picketty is important here because that myth is probably no longer true, if indeed it really ever was.

At any rate, here is a very clever article from the conservative British journal, The Spectator, with Ten handy phrases for bluffing on Thomas Piketty’s "Capital in the Twenty-First Century." (I think I just bluffed with a version of #3.)






Ten handy phrases for bluffing on Thomas Piketty’s ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’

Updated On: 5/2/14 at 06:42 AM

[Addison D.]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 7:55am

Swinging dead cats?

That's just creepy and weird.

[madbrian]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 8:14am

America is a plutocracy, but that fact is probably lost on those who think our current president is a socialist. The only notable person in government who is REALLY pushing back against this is Elizabeth Warren.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 8:36am

I hope Elizabeth Warren gives back those millions of dollars she received in campaign funding from the super wealthy and wall street bankers, then...

[tazber]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 8:42am

It's interesting to see how a "free market" has led us towards becoming a plutocracy.

But we are still a democracy.

The recent decision on political donations by the Supreme Court however is a massive step in the wrong direction.

Updated On: 5/2/14 at 08:42 AM

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 9:04am

^ YES. We can definitely agree on that, Taz.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 9:44am

Oh look, here comes Liza's Headband stanking up my thread with the old "Elizabeth Warren is EXACTLY the same as Mitt Romney and Dick Cheney" line of non-thinking.

Oh and LH, before you pollute my inbox with another of your PMs that I delete without reading, if you feel you absolutely MUST get a message to me, state it where there are witnesses. KthanxSTFUMF.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:02am

Oh, okay then.

"Hi Chris from Jamaica Plain. We actually know each other and are Facebook friends."

That is a summation of what I sent. I also sent you this link of your website as confirmation: http://ccaggiano.typepad.com/

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:09am

Did you send it for vaguely threatening reasons?

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:09am

Um . . .

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:10am

Was it to silence me when you post your sloppy libertarian thinking?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:18am

If we actually "know each other" are you actually this much of an insufferable douchebag when interacting in real life?

[SNAFU]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:27am

Wow. That was so uncool LH! I was holding out on judgement of you but you totally lost any shred of respect I had for you.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:30am

^^^^ And that LizasHeadband, is why I wanted your behavior to have witnesses.

[tazber]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:33am

That's insanely uncool.

Yikes.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:37am

I guess a person doesn't have a blog without expecting it to be seen.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:38am

It's not uncool if I know the person but they won't accept my PMs... I tried. Sorry, Chris.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:40am

You're not sorry at all. You're trying to intimidate me into not calling you on your BS. You're too dense to realize you have exposed much more about yourself than you have of me.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:48am

Eep.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:48am

Liza, no dear that was TOTALLY uncool! Who cares if someone will not accept your private PMs? You are selfish, entitled and quite douchey. You may add me now to your list of detractors, which dear is growing quite large.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:49am

I guess from a Libertarian point of view, Namo, you are responsible for this.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 10:51am

I think LizaH was trying to be "the invisible hand" of the market that is BWW.

[Even though some of us are angry we STILL manage to drag this thread back on topic!]

Updated On: 5/2/14 at 10:51 AM