This series explores the widening Wealth Gap and its impact on class and race relations, excerpting heavily from Thomas Piketty, professor at the Paris School of Economics, depicting the structural cause of the wealth gap in his book Capital in the Twenty-First Century published in 2014. The book created quite a stir at the time, getting both rave reviews and harsh critiques, and remains relevant. Essentially, he provides a historical basis that a widening wealth gap eventually spawns war and unrest. And since 2014, the gap has grown to unimagined extremes, heading exponentially to a resolution.
Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
2014, Excerpts
The central thesis of this book is that a small gap between the return on capital and the rate of income growth can in the long run have powerful and destabilizing effects on the structure and dynamics of social inequality.
The concentration of wealth and prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. The main driver of inequality – the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the rate of income growth – generates extreme inequalities that stir discontent and undermine democratic values.
There is no fundamental reason why we should believe that growth is automatically balanced. We should put the question of inequality back at the center of economic analysis and begin asking questions first raised in the nineteenth century. For far too long, economists have neglected the distribution of wealth.
The latest book by the French economist Thomas Piketty appears unlikely to be sold in mainland China after he refused requests to censor it. The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has expressed admiration for Piketty’s work, but Capital and Ideology, which was published last year, has not made it to the mainland China market due to sections on inequality in the country.
Obama’s Farewell Address, Excerpts
10 Jan
2017
Stark inequality is corrosive to our democratic idea. While the top 1 percent has amassed a bigger share of wealth and income, too many of our families in inner cities and in rural counties have been left behind. Convinced that the game is fixed against them. That their government only serves the interest of the powerful. That’s a recipe for more cynicism and polarization in our politics. Workers of all shades are going to be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves.
Wealth Over Work
23 Mar
2014
It seems safe to say that “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” the magnum opus of the French economist Thomas Piketty, will be the most important economics book of the year — and maybe of the decade. Mr. Piketty, arguably the world’s leading expert on income and wealth inequality, does more than document the growing concentration of income in the hands of a small economic elite. He also makes a powerful case that we’re on the way back to “patrimonial capitalism,” in which the commanding heights of the economy are dominated not just by wealth, but also by inherited wealth, in which birth matters more than effort and talent.
Wikipedia: Wealth inequality in the United
States
The distributive nature of tax policy has been suggested by some economists and politicians such as Emmanuel Saez, Thomas Piketty, and Barack Obama to perpetuate economic inequality in America by steering large sums of wealth into the hands of the wealthiest Americans. This claim has created much controversy and debate within the academic and political spheres.
In Capital in the Twenty-First Century, French economist Thomas Piketty argues that "extremely high levels" of wealth inequality are "incompatible with the meritocratic values and principles of social justice fundamental to modern democratic societies" and that "the risk of a drift towards oligarchy is real and gives little reason for optimism about where the United States is headed".
