Thomas Piketty on his book 'Capital'

Economist Thomas Piketty talks rising income inequality, extreme executive pay, and the future of unions while discussing his bestseller 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century.'

[rh]

At last a truly independent economist with forward thinking and a sense of reality. Thank you Thomas Piketty!

[LetreJete]

Piketty is just another champion of that one dead, white male that never seems dead enough.  Raymond Aron's "Opium of the Intellectuals" should have put the stake in Karl's heart once and for all, but here he is again.   And yes, we really need a Frenchman lecturing us on making wealth.  I'll read his book, but I'll be sure to read it when it's out in Livre de Poche.  Post Script:  If the average American could watch this man's TV appearances in France, they'd tar and feather any American journalist singing his praises.

[chuckheppner]

Why ‘Capital in the 21st Century’ is the ‘Game of Thrones’ of economic texts (no, really)

With apologies to HBO/Game of Thrones Big Important Book Alert! A young French economist named Thomas Piketty has written the Game of Thrones of economic texts (coined here, right now, by us). That is, you don't need to be into dragons and swords to appreciate the mastery of HBO's Game of Thrones and you don't have to be a number-crunching policy wonk to appreciate the message of Piketty's book, Capital in the 21st Century.

The book has "turbocharged the debate about income inequality" as Steven Pearlstein wrote in his Wall Street Journal review. If you don't have time to wade through a 600-page economic text, even one that references Jane Austen, here is a cocktail party-friendly takeaway from the Guardian's review of the book:

"Piketty's argument is that, in an economy where the rate of return on capital outstrips the rate of growth, inherited wealth will always grow faster than earned wealth. So the fact that rich kids can swan aimlessly from gap year to internship to a job at father's bank/ministry/TV network -- while the poor kids sweat into their barista uniforms -- is not an accident: it is the system working normally."
That's a bad thing and it's the reason everybody from Pope Francis to President Obama is talking about income inequality.
Here is Piketty in a CNN interview explaining why, among other things, generous compensation to top managers is a direct threat to democracy:

[brodeythedisciplinebarber]

I don't know what he saying let me buy the book.

[alainautin]

You compare rodman with piketty whaouu some American people are really narrow minded!

[Columbus]

France -- which has no economic growth -- is lecturing us on how to grow the economy?!!!