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A review by pzorging
Capital and Ideology by Thomas Piketty
4.0
I finally finished Thomas Piketty's Capital and Ideology. This thing was 1000 pages long and it took me six weeks to finish it. It's a very well-researched look at different regimes of inequality, mostly in the so-called West (Europe and the US) but he does go a bit into India and Brazil. One of the criticisms of his previous Capital In the 21st Century was its lack of attention to examples outside the West so the expansion - limited as it is - is appreciated.
Piketty goes into different types of what he calls "tri-functional societies" (composed of warrior elites, clerics, and peasants) in their premodern guises and this history is fascinating but his look at the 20th Century is of course more relevant to today. Roughly, leftist parties that got most of their support from poor working class voters have changed into parties made up of highly educated elites - what he calls the "Brahmin left" (as opposed to the "merchant right). Its former working class base has seen that these parties no longer represent their interests and have gone to the identitarian, nationalist right or have checked out of politics completely.
Piketty shows how this has happened in the US, UK, and France so it likely explains what's going on in Canada too, especially when you look at the social democratic NDP. I guess this is another way of explaining the rise of the Professional Managerial Class. Since people with university degrees only make up about 20 to 30% of the population even in rich countries, this goes a long way towards explaining election results. Piketty speculates that perhaps the Brahmins and merchants will merge to create a party of the elite, which doesn't sound that implausible.
Piketty doesn't have too many solutions except for a progressive tax on capital, wealth, and income and a transnational alliance to regulate the global economy. All of these would be impossible without a fundamental change in the global power structure, which is true, but how do we get there? This only comes up in the last chapter but doesn't detract from what came before.
In addition, Piketty doesn't seem to believe in Modern Monetary Theory, in that he apparently hews to the idea that governments tax them spend and not the other way around. This blindness seems a little strange since he appears to be quite well read otherwise.
TL; DR Great research and analysis, inadequate solutions.
Piketty goes into different types of what he calls "tri-functional societies" (composed of warrior elites, clerics, and peasants) in their premodern guises and this history is fascinating but his look at the 20th Century is of course more relevant to today. Roughly, leftist parties that got most of their support from poor working class voters have changed into parties made up of highly educated elites - what he calls the "Brahmin left" (as opposed to the "merchant right). Its former working class base has seen that these parties no longer represent their interests and have gone to the identitarian, nationalist right or have checked out of politics completely.
Piketty shows how this has happened in the US, UK, and France so it likely explains what's going on in Canada too, especially when you look at the social democratic NDP. I guess this is another way of explaining the rise of the Professional Managerial Class. Since people with university degrees only make up about 20 to 30% of the population even in rich countries, this goes a long way towards explaining election results. Piketty speculates that perhaps the Brahmins and merchants will merge to create a party of the elite, which doesn't sound that implausible.
Piketty doesn't have too many solutions except for a progressive tax on capital, wealth, and income and a transnational alliance to regulate the global economy. All of these would be impossible without a fundamental change in the global power structure, which is true, but how do we get there? This only comes up in the last chapter but doesn't detract from what came before.
In addition, Piketty doesn't seem to believe in Modern Monetary Theory, in that he apparently hews to the idea that governments tax them spend and not the other way around. This blindness seems a little strange since he appears to be quite well read otherwise.
TL; DR Great research and analysis, inadequate solutions.