An unusual bestseller

[Deleted]

Capital in the Twenty-First Century appears to have become the #1 bestseller in the United States.

But is anybody really reading it?

[htmb]

Unfortunately your link didn't work. I had never heard of the book so looked it up on Amazon. I doubt I'd ever read it.

[Deleted]

I couldn't even find the original link again, so here is another one: Capital in the 21st Century

I certainly wouldn't read it because the findings are so self-evident that I don't even see a reason to write a book. But maybe it is a new idea in other countries.

[htmb]

I won't read it because I'm a Pisces.

[bjd]

Paul Krugman wrote an op-ed in the NY Times about it today. He too says what Piketty says is self-evident, although the right-wing economists and politicians in the States have called Piketty a Marxist because they have no arguments other than insults.

[patricklondon]

have called Piketty a Marxist because they have no arguments other than insults.

The assumption that dismissing someone as a Marxist is ipso facto an insult is itself an indication of their limitations. He was appallingly wrong or naive about plenty of things, but a shrewd analyst of many others. The problem with too many economists has been blind faith in the policy prescriptions they derive from their analysis, right back to the "political economy" orthodoxies whose deficiencies Marx was pointing out.


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[patricklondon]

Actually, Piketty has updated Marx's assertions about the accumulation of capital, so it isn't just an insult to say he is a Marxist:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/12/capitalism-isnt-working-thomas-piketty

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[Deleted]

A French article I read today says that the book is also a runaway success in India.

[mossie]

Not a book I would choose for casual reading.

But it does address a very important issue. The gap between the haves and have-nots, both among individuals, but more seriously between countries, is growing rapidly. This can only end badly.

[Deleted]

Ever since "capitalism" claims to have won the Cold War, too many people seem to be unable to question its validity. I have to admit that it is comforting to live in a country that still has enough communists and other anti capitalists to keep the debate alive. While I am not a defender of communism, I believe it is good to have other belief systems to challenge the ones that are dominating us (and which are generally presented as the "only" option).

[lagatta]

"Communism", of course, can mean anything. At one point I worked in the communications department (service d'information) of a leading Québec trade union confederation. And met trade unionists persecuted by their respected governments. Nothing much more similar than Chilean "communists" and Polish "anti-communists".

As for their persecutors, they even sported similar dark glasses...