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The work of Piketty [0] and others shows that wealth inequality has surpassed pre-WWI historical maximums. The postwar "golden age of capitalism" has given way,

The work of Piketty [0] and others shows that wealth inequality has surpassed pre-WWI historical maximums. The postwar "golden age of capitalism" has given way, from the 70s until today, to a neoliberal system that simply doesn't serve most people on the planet. It's an unfortunate fact that significant change happens rarely without large convulsions, e.g. after a major war, because I don't see this being sustainable even medium-term. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Ce... and subsequent

findthewords 1y ago
Everything in economics always boils down to 1. supply and demand and 2. taxation. One can simply look at historical income taxes in the USA and their progressiveness and conclude that over time taxes tend to regress until some economic calamity or war happens, after which taxes become extremely progressive again for a short while (top income tax rate bracket of 75% to 90%). See for yourself, it's all there: https://files.taxfoundation.org/legacy/docs/fed_individual_rate_history_nominal.pdf https://files.taxfoundation.org/legacy/docs/fed_individual_r...
u_sama 1y ago
I would not cite Piketty, Zucman or Saez who are the hardest fighters of the wealth inequality thesis as they usually mix political advocacy and have been criticized in their methodology and have been under a fair share of controversies. Btw I have grouped them because this is how they are usually treated, both by the fact they are all French economists but also on the fact they all push for the same inequality thesis 1: https://www.davidsplinter.com/AutenSplinter-2024-ReplyToPSZ.pdf https://www.davidsplinter.com/AutenSplinter-2024-ReplyToPSZ.... 2: https://philmagness.com/2014/12/an-empirical-critique-of-thomas-pikettys-capital-in-the-21st-century/ https://philmagness.com/2014/12/an-empirical-critique-of-tho... 3: https://qz.com/1725562/elizabeth-warrens-economic-advisers-are-in-a-controversy-over-wealth-and-taxes https://qz.com/1725562/elizabeth-warrens-economic-advisers-a... EDIT: Here is the rebuttal for 2 by Piketty himself: http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014TechnicalAppendixResponsetoFT.pdf http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014Tec... courtesy of andrepd
- rcMgD2BwE72F 1y ago
  So you ask not to cite someone only because they believe in what they discovered and suggest to take action based on that? Who has not been criticize in their methodology? Who do you expect to avoid any amount of "controversies" for such a political subject? Your comment seems to be pure ad hominem. Also, discarding authors because they're French is kinda stupid: historically, quick advances in a field most often start at one time and place.
  - u_sama 1y ago
    I never said to discard them because they are French, but the political ideas they advance are the centric positions of French culture which for every problem the solution is more taxes, taxes on the rich etc It would be like expecting American economists to be very libertarian, or Chinese economists very interventionists. The culture of their countries reflects their ideas. NB: J'habite en France
- MangoToupe 1y ago
  The entire concept of economics without politics is nonsensical. They are one and the same.
  - u_sama 1y ago
    I completely agree, thus no article should say "economists" but libertarian economist, social-democratic economist etc Because the politics precede the findings
    - MangoToupe 1y ago
      Eh, you're either honest with yourself or you're not. There's no need to add ideology.
- andrepd 1y ago
  Economics is political, so it should come as no surprise that economists have political opinions about what should be done at the level of the economy. Or is only that which is vaguely left-wing that is "political" or "ideological", and mainstream neoliberal politics and economics are simply "objective" and "technocratic"? I think it's important to separate the empirical and analytic part, to which you can apply objective criticisms, to the political part, with which you can agree or not but which should have no bearing on the former part. Anyway if you want to be honest you can also link to Piketty's rebuttal to the criticism, e.g. http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014TechnicalAppendixResponsetoFT.pdf http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014Tec...

findthewords 1y ago

Everything in economics always boils down to 1. supply and demand and 2. taxation. One can simply look at historical income taxes in the USA and their progressiveness and conclude that over time taxes tend to regress until some economic calamity or war happens, after which taxes become extremely progressive again for a short while (top income tax rate bracket of 75% to 90%). See for yourself, it's all there: https://files.taxfoundation.org/legacy/docs/fed_individual_rate_history_nominal.pdf https://files.taxfoundation.org/legacy/docs/fed_individual_r...

u_sama 1y ago

I would not cite Piketty, Zucman or Saez who are the hardest fighters of the wealth inequality thesis as they usually mix political advocacy and have been criticized in their methodology and have been under a fair share of controversies. Btw I have grouped them because this is how they are usually treated, both by the fact they are all French economists but also on the fact they all push for the same inequality thesis 1: https://www.davidsplinter.com/AutenSplinter-2024-ReplyToPSZ.pdf https://www.davidsplinter.com/AutenSplinter-2024-ReplyToPSZ.... 2: https://philmagness.com/2014/12/an-empirical-critique-of-thomas-pikettys-capital-in-the-21st-century/ https://philmagness.com/2014/12/an-empirical-critique-of-tho... 3: https://qz.com/1725562/elizabeth-warrens-economic-advisers-are-in-a-controversy-over-wealth-and-taxes https://qz.com/1725562/elizabeth-warrens-economic-advisers-a... EDIT: Here is the rebuttal for 2 by Piketty himself: http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014TechnicalAppendixResponsetoFT.pdf http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014Tec... courtesy of andrepd

rcMgD2BwE72F 1y ago
So you ask not to cite someone only because they believe in what they discovered and suggest to take action based on that? Who has not been criticize in their methodology? Who do you expect to avoid any amount of "controversies" for such a political subject? Your comment seems to be pure ad hominem. Also, discarding authors because they're French is kinda stupid: historically, quick advances in a field most often start at one time and place.
- u_sama 1y ago
  I never said to discard them because they are French, but the political ideas they advance are the centric positions of French culture which for every problem the solution is more taxes, taxes on the rich etc It would be like expecting American economists to be very libertarian, or Chinese economists very interventionists. The culture of their countries reflects their ideas. NB: J'habite en France
MangoToupe 1y ago
The entire concept of economics without politics is nonsensical. They are one and the same.
- u_sama 1y ago
  I completely agree, thus no article should say "economists" but libertarian economist, social-democratic economist etc Because the politics precede the findings
  - MangoToupe 1y ago
    Eh, you're either honest with yourself or you're not. There's no need to add ideology.
andrepd 1y ago
Economics is political, so it should come as no surprise that economists have political opinions about what should be done at the level of the economy. Or is only that which is vaguely left-wing that is "political" or "ideological", and mainstream neoliberal politics and economics are simply "objective" and "technocratic"? I think it's important to separate the empirical and analytic part, to which you can apply objective criticisms, to the political part, with which you can agree or not but which should have no bearing on the former part. Anyway if you want to be honest you can also link to Piketty's rebuttal to the criticism, e.g. http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014TechnicalAppendixResponsetoFT.pdf http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014Tec...