4 ms·

> I think economists call it rent-seeking. There was a book published a couple of years ago (before the pandemic) which was "demonstrating" (so to speak) that

> I think economists call it rent-seeking. There was a book published a couple of years ago (before the pandemic) which was "demonstrating" (so to speak) that going back through history real financial/economic levelling at a reasonable scale only happened as a result of violent means (wars, revolutions etc). I think what those violent means do (among other, more nasty things like people getting killed) is that (in some cases) they obliterate the societal/institutional structures on which a specific rent-seeking system is based, which gives the majority of the people a chance to "level up" until a new rent-seeking system takes shape.

jonny_eh 5y ago
> violent means (wars, revolutions etc). Also plagues/disease. Currently relevant.
- jason0597 5y ago
  This would be true if lockdowns didn't happen. As it is most of the wealth-owning class was told to shut themselves inside, isolate, then we got the vaccine and they manage to live on and keep their wealth. So not even plagues can save us anymore.
  - jonny_eh 5y ago
    Plagues don't change society by killing the rich and powerful, similar to how war doesn't upend society by killing those people.
marvin 5y ago
Probably "The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century"
- spiralx 5y ago
  No, it's Piketty's controversial book, one of his points was his analysis of historical data showed that the only time the ratio of wealth between capital and labour R decreased was during wartime, especially the two World Wars when incredible amounts of wealth was destroyed, seized or simply reverted to states because there was nobody left who could claim it.
m0zg 5y ago
You don't need a book on economics to understand this. Just read some real, actual history books to see that after a war or revolution of any kind _nobody_ is better off. Start with the French revolution and just go over all of them in order. A hundred million people who died at the hands of the fascist or communist governments in the past century are, one would hope, a sufficient proof of that.
- paganel 5y ago
  I think that many of us still believe that real, wide-scale economic levelling is still possible in normal times, there aren't that many history books that actively refute that (or at least I haven't read that many), that's why I mentioned that book and its conclusions.
  - m0zg 5y ago
    "Many of us" believe Earth is flat. Doesn't mean it's true. Look at the evidence.

jonny_eh 5y ago

> violent means (wars, revolutions etc). Also plagues/disease. Currently relevant.

jason0597 5y ago
This would be true if lockdowns didn't happen. As it is most of the wealth-owning class was told to shut themselves inside, isolate, then we got the vaccine and they manage to live on and keep their wealth. So not even plagues can save us anymore.
- jonny_eh 5y ago
  Plagues don't change society by killing the rich and powerful, similar to how war doesn't upend society by killing those people.

marvin 5y ago

Probably "The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century"

spiralx 5y ago
No, it's Piketty's controversial book, one of his points was his analysis of historical data showed that the only time the ratio of wealth between capital and labour R decreased was during wartime, especially the two World Wars when incredible amounts of wealth was destroyed, seized or simply reverted to states because there was nobody left who could claim it.

m0zg 5y ago

You don't need a book on economics to understand this. Just read some real, actual history books to see that after a war or revolution of any kind _nobody_ is better off. Start with the French revolution and just go over all of them in order. A hundred million people who died at the hands of the fascist or communist governments in the past century are, one would hope, a sufficient proof of that.

paganel 5y ago
I think that many of us still believe that real, wide-scale economic levelling is still possible in normal times, there aren't that many history books that actively refute that (or at least I haven't read that many), that's why I mentioned that book and its conclusions.
- m0zg 5y ago
  "Many of us" believe Earth is flat. Doesn't mean it's true. Look at the evidence.