Here are some excepts from a New York Times review of probably, from what academics in the field are saying, is the most groundbreaking work in economic theory that has come out in DECADES. Here are some quotes from the editorial. Pikettys main point is that capitalism and Democracy do not mix since it inevitably leads to further inequality. The more unequal a society is, the more unstable, as history has shown. His main point is that the shrinkage of inequality in the middle 20th century was an anomaly due to historical circumstances. The six decades between 1914 and 1973 stand out from the past and future, according to Piketty, because the rate of economic growth exceeded the after-tax rate of return on capital. Since then, the rate of growth of the economy has declined, while the return on capital is rising to its pre-World War I levels. The only way to halt this process, he argues, is to impose a GLOBAL (emphasis mine) progressive tax on wealth – global in order to prevent (among other things) the transfer of assets to countries without such levies. A global tax, in this scheme, would restrict the concentration of wealth and limit the income flowing to capital. Freeman and two colleagues, Joseph Blasi and Douglas Kruse, professors at the School of Labor and Management Relations at Rutgers, contend in their 2013 book, “The Citizen’s Share: Putting Ownership Back into Democracy,” that they have an alternative to a global wealth tax. They argue that: “The way forward is to reform the structure of American business so that workers can supplement their wages with significant capital ownership stakes and meaningful capital income and profit shares.” In other words, let’s turn everyone into a capitalist. Piketty does not treat worker ownership as a solution, and he is generally dismissive of small-bore reforms, arguing that they will have only modest effects on economic growth worldwide, which he believes is very likely to be stuck at 1 to 1.5 percent through the rest of this century. Small bore maybe, but worked owner cooperatives are a stable business model. His prognosis is extremely bleak. Without what he acknowledges is a politically unrealistic global wealth tax, he sees the United States and the developed world on a path toward a degree of inequality that will reach levels likely to cause severe social disruption. Yes, social disruption. The translation will not be out until next March. Economic meta-theory is not something I have delved into since the 1990ss but if I ever get time to plunge back into social theory this would be one of the highest books on my list. In Marxist economic theory, it is human labor versus the owner of the means of production. Marx argued that until the workers organized and over throw the owners of the means of production there would not be a chance to over through the state and create a worker controlled government. Contemporary social theorists and politicals have been saying, and acting, like the age of socialism is over and that the collapse of the Soviet State and the capitalist conversion of Red China proves that Marist theory is wrong. I have argued since the 1990s, and it has been extensively written and discussed, that Marxist political and economic theory for state developmental needs a capitalist stage where the majority of the actors in the economy sell their own labor to survive. This has not happened yet completely since we are in a GLOBAL market. The United states did not move pasty 50% agrarian economy until 1930 or so. The developing world is doing this right now. We are very quickly now creating a GLOBAL capitalist system. One that this author argues is creating further inequality by allowing capital to move freely to emerging markets. Hence the economic stagnation and the furthering of inequality in capitalist democracies. He posits that we either have to implement a GLOBAL taxation system to stem inequality or there will be massive social disruption. This disruption would be the vast majority of the have nots overthrowing the haves. It looks like that he agrees with Marx and Engles in Das Capital. He just may not say it.....we will have to read it to find out. I wonder if he takes climate change into account? This will most likely create as much disruption by the middle to end of the century as the world wars and depression did. It is already going on in the Sahel in Africa and the middle east as water supplies dry up and farmers relocate. nytimes/2014/01/29/opinion/capitalism-vs-democracy.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 17:17:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015