A review by ashcomb
Capital and Ideology by Thomas Piketty

4.0

Long book but worth it. Piketty delivers what he set up to do and that is to show politics, laws, and financial matters are tied to ideology and history. There is seldom a rational solution empty of ideological package. A fallacy people seem to believe in. Piketty takes the reader through history of the world and how countries like Sweden has changed with their property policies and more. There are issues with the book like the scope of his proof of inequality change to prove his point is often obscured with a comparison to other countries, leaving a hollow introspection into single country's changes. If Piketty had done the wider scope, the book would be thicker and more tiresome. Still, sometimes I feel he was picking his history references to prove his point. I would have welcomed counter arguments to what he presented. The ending is more controversial, he presents his ideas how we could achieve more equal distribution of wealth, showing once again that such things are not value free. But he doesn't propose he is right and his ideas will be out of fault. What Piketty proposes is that there needs to be a conversation about the unequal distribution of wealth and power. Also, that more of us should be aware of history of our laws and how our economical decisions are made and why. I agree wholeheartedly. Deciding over where our money goes and why shouldn't be left to some distant elite.