Piketty is still front and center. This post throws down a challenge to conservatives.
Conservatives argue that stating these facts amounts to class warfare (while, say, shifting the tax burden away from inheritance and capital gains and onto wages does not). But, really, why be so defensive? Instead of denying the underlying realities, or going all squishy like the Kochs and arguing that unfettered competition is actually good for those on the short end of the stick, conservatives ought to have the courage to argue publicly what, thanks to Mitt Romney, we know they assert privately: If you believe that those who do better financially do so because they deserve it, well, what’s wrong with more inequality? Isn’t that actually the goal?If the chief goal of captialism economic growth and economic growth depends on capital formation, is not the goal of capitalism to increase capital? There is nothing in the principles underlying capitalism about either distribution or labor share relative to capital share. Distributional effects are assumed to be equitable based on reward to marginal productivity.
This ignores the influence of institutional power and economic rents that derive from it.
US News
Piketty's Old News
Eric B. Schnurer | President of Public Works LLC, a national public policy consulting firm advising state and local government
(h/t Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism)
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