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Read the rules in the OP before posting, please.In order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a re-read to refresh your memory! The vast majority of you are contributing in a healthy way, keep it up! NOTE: When providing a source, explain why you feel it is relevant and what purpose it adds to the discussion if it's not obvious. Also take note that unsubstantiated tweets/posts meant only to rekindle old arguments can result in a mod action. |
On September 22 2014 21:06 WhiteDog wrote:Show nested quote +On September 22 2014 20:51 coverpunch wrote:The Guardian asks: Why is Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century a best seller? They go on to get takes from economists active in blogging and social media. I'm curious how many people here have read it. I have finished it. At 1200+ pages, I won't hold it against you if you haven't as there isn't much payoff - it does nothing to sway you if you've already made up your mind. Somehow, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty has become a conversation piece among well-read people. Its graphic red-and-ivory cover is inescapable. Early in its launch, it hit No 1 on Amazon’s bestseller list and the paper version – a doorstop in punishing, heavy hardcover – sold out in major bookstores.
Piketty’s main argument is this: that invested capital – in the stock market, in real estate – will grow faster than income.
The implications of that are deep: to have invested capital, you must have money already. If you rely on income, as most people do, you will likely never catch up to the wealth of people who are already rich. The 1% and the 99% enshrined by Occupy are not an anomaly of our time, Piketty’s research suggests. It’s a structural feature of capitalism. Piketty’s work – which has been in progress for over a decade – is a natural pairing with the Occupy movement, which also questions the premises of capitalism. I'd restate this summary. Piketty's main argument is that the rich are too rich as a natural consequence of capitalism and their wealth needs to be redistributed to the poor. His r > g is his support argument proving the current system is unsustainable as a result of entrenched inequality. There's a better summary of Piketty's book : Marx "intuitions" were right, and brilliant, but he didn't have any statistics (even if he tried to made some). Yeah, I wanted to point out that Piketty is a neo-Marxist but I didn't know how to say it without coming off as judgmental.
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Cayman Islands24199 Posts
you gotta have the stats to be credible but the broad phenomenon is pretty well known. it's known as the rich gets richer.
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The rich getting richer wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't over the backs of the poor.
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On September 22 2014 21:22 coverpunch wrote:Show nested quote +On September 22 2014 21:06 WhiteDog wrote:On September 22 2014 20:51 coverpunch wrote:The Guardian asks: Why is Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century a best seller? They go on to get takes from economists active in blogging and social media. I'm curious how many people here have read it. I have finished it. At 1200+ pages, I won't hold it against you if you haven't as there isn't much payoff - it does nothing to sway you if you've already made up your mind. Somehow, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty has become a conversation piece among well-read people. Its graphic red-and-ivory cover is inescapable. Early in its launch, it hit No 1 on Amazon’s bestseller list and the paper version – a doorstop in punishing, heavy hardcover – sold out in major bookstores.
Piketty’s main argument is this: that invested capital – in the stock market, in real estate – will grow faster than income.
The implications of that are deep: to have invested capital, you must have money already. If you rely on income, as most people do, you will likely never catch up to the wealth of people who are already rich. The 1% and the 99% enshrined by Occupy are not an anomaly of our time, Piketty’s research suggests. It’s a structural feature of capitalism. Piketty’s work – which has been in progress for over a decade – is a natural pairing with the Occupy movement, which also questions the premises of capitalism. I'd restate this summary. Piketty's main argument is that the rich are too rich as a natural consequence of capitalism and their wealth needs to be redistributed to the poor. His r > g is his support argument proving the current system is unsustainable as a result of entrenched inequality. There's a better summary of Piketty's book : Marx "intuitions" were right, and brilliant, but he didn't have any statistics (even if he tried to made some). Yeah, I wanted to point out that Piketty is a neo-Marxist but I didn't know how to say it without coming off as judgmental. Yeah but Piketty would strongly reject the idea that he is a neo marxist. In fact in France he is viewed as a center left liberal (meaning free marketist), and he take some page in the book to explain that he has no interests toward communist experience of the past. It says a lot about our society and the moment we live in, when we know the problems are real but refuse to even discuss some solutions, because doing so will strip you of any credibility.
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On September 22 2014 12:01 GoTuNk! wrote: As a business owner from other country I can say without doubt taxes have screwed me up bigtime.
Some people seem to miss how taxing all the legal burden is on small business owners, prolly more so than the tax itself. Not to mention how the slightless error implies fines that would make the bank industry flush in shame.
Also, it fucks up big time on our margins (we do mainly import and sell) because we can't fill the containers with goods (better scales economy) due to lack of financial resources, you have to pay 19% upfront of the import and later deduct it on sales. The time gap between investing and selling is huge and fucks up the cash flows.
Motivation is algo a huge factor, seeing your work taken away feels like being robbed without the chance to defend yourself; doing the actual work of filling documents and online forms where you are giving away your money feels even worse.
Edit: My business is not bankrupt but I think it would be a lot bigger and providing a steady income already if it wasn't for taxes and the brutal paper work load. Yikes. If you are operating your business out of Chile, it appears to go against their improvements in both regulations and fiscal freedom they've gained since the mid 90's.
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On September 22 2014 09:26 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:Show nested quote +The secretary of Florida's prison system has fired nearly three dozen guards in the wake of the recent scrutiny given to inmate deaths across the state over the past few years, the Miami Herald newspaper reported.
Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Michael Crews dismissed 32 guards on Friday, according to the newspaper. All of them had been accused of criminal misconduct or wrongdoing stemming from inmate deaths at four different prisons, the report said.
Florida's prison system has drawn increasing attention after the circumstances of the 2012 death of mentally ill prisoner Darren Rainey came to light.
In June, the American Civil Liberties Union penned a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calling for a federal investigation into Rainey's death, alleging that the state had attempted to "cover it up."
The letter said Rainey was blasted with scalding hot water in a locked closet-sized shower as a punishment at the state's Dade Correctional Institution in Miami.
After two hours, Rainey was found dead with his skin separated from his body, the letter said. The water temperature was later measured at 180 degrees, according to court records.
The Florida Department of Corrections was not immediately available for comment. Source
Firing? For searing a mans skin off? Hopefully there's a criminal investigation going on against these guards.
Call me a softy, but I doubt he deserved to be seared to death.
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Hey, he possessed some cocaine, and he still had two months on his sentence for that.
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On September 22 2014 23:27 goiflin wrote:Show nested quote +On September 22 2014 09:26 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:The secretary of Florida's prison system has fired nearly three dozen guards in the wake of the recent scrutiny given to inmate deaths across the state over the past few years, the Miami Herald newspaper reported.
Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Michael Crews dismissed 32 guards on Friday, according to the newspaper. All of them had been accused of criminal misconduct or wrongdoing stemming from inmate deaths at four different prisons, the report said.
Florida's prison system has drawn increasing attention after the circumstances of the 2012 death of mentally ill prisoner Darren Rainey came to light.
In June, the American Civil Liberties Union penned a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calling for a federal investigation into Rainey's death, alleging that the state had attempted to "cover it up."
The letter said Rainey was blasted with scalding hot water in a locked closet-sized shower as a punishment at the state's Dade Correctional Institution in Miami.
After two hours, Rainey was found dead with his skin separated from his body, the letter said. The water temperature was later measured at 180 degrees, according to court records.
The Florida Department of Corrections was not immediately available for comment. Source Firing? For searing a mans skin off? Hopefully there's a criminal investigation going on against these guards. Call me a softy, but I doubt he deserved to be seared to death. You would think blasting a man with scalding water until he dies would be manslaughter at the least if not downright murder.
I love the little "2 hours later he was found dead without his skin". How the fuck do you find someone like that 2 hours later when you just blasted him with scalding water. Did they just leave him there while they went for some coffee and donuts or what.
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On September 22 2014 23:36 Gorsameth wrote:Show nested quote +On September 22 2014 23:27 goiflin wrote:On September 22 2014 09:26 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:The secretary of Florida's prison system has fired nearly three dozen guards in the wake of the recent scrutiny given to inmate deaths across the state over the past few years, the Miami Herald newspaper reported.
Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Michael Crews dismissed 32 guards on Friday, according to the newspaper. All of them had been accused of criminal misconduct or wrongdoing stemming from inmate deaths at four different prisons, the report said.
Florida's prison system has drawn increasing attention after the circumstances of the 2012 death of mentally ill prisoner Darren Rainey came to light.
In June, the American Civil Liberties Union penned a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calling for a federal investigation into Rainey's death, alleging that the state had attempted to "cover it up."
The letter said Rainey was blasted with scalding hot water in a locked closet-sized shower as a punishment at the state's Dade Correctional Institution in Miami.
After two hours, Rainey was found dead with his skin separated from his body, the letter said. The water temperature was later measured at 180 degrees, according to court records.
The Florida Department of Corrections was not immediately available for comment. Source Firing? For searing a mans skin off? Hopefully there's a criminal investigation going on against these guards. Call me a softy, but I doubt he deserved to be seared to death. You would think blasting a man with scalding water until he dies would be manslaughter at the least if not downright murder. I love the little "2 hours later he was found dead without his skin". How the fuck do you find someone like that 2 hours later when you just blasted him with scalding water. Did they just leave him there while they went for some coffee and donuts or what.
Yeah, i just don't get it. It sounds on par with Mexican cartel slayings. Absolutely disgusting, that these are the kinds of people they're giving up their rights to, when you commit a crime, violent or nonviolent.
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Pikketty is a big fraud that uses models based on normalized statistical assumptions for real-world predictions, and the real-world has nothing to do with normalized statistical distributions. Pikketty is a big fraud!
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On September 22 2014 23:58 2primenumbers wrote: Pikketty is a big fraud that uses models based on normalized statistical assumptions for real-world predictions, and the real-world has nothing to do with normalized statistical distributions. Pikketty is a big fraud! You wanting him to be a fraud is different from him actually being one. He did not use any models, but empirical data and assumption on a possible scenario based on those data. It's a fact that capital is rising.
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On September 22 2014 23:58 2primenumbers wrote: _______is a big fraud that uses models based on normalized statistical assumptions for real-world predictions, and the real-world has nothing to do with normalized statistical distributions. ______ is a big fraud! Said every Austrian economist ever. Luckily, you saw fit to spare us from your definition of the "real world."
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On September 22 2014 23:27 goiflin wrote:Show nested quote +On September 22 2014 09:26 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:The secretary of Florida's prison system has fired nearly three dozen guards in the wake of the recent scrutiny given to inmate deaths across the state over the past few years, the Miami Herald newspaper reported.
Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Michael Crews dismissed 32 guards on Friday, according to the newspaper. All of them had been accused of criminal misconduct or wrongdoing stemming from inmate deaths at four different prisons, the report said.
Florida's prison system has drawn increasing attention after the circumstances of the 2012 death of mentally ill prisoner Darren Rainey came to light.
In June, the American Civil Liberties Union penned a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calling for a federal investigation into Rainey's death, alleging that the state had attempted to "cover it up."
The letter said Rainey was blasted with scalding hot water in a locked closet-sized shower as a punishment at the state's Dade Correctional Institution in Miami.
After two hours, Rainey was found dead with his skin separated from his body, the letter said. The water temperature was later measured at 180 degrees, according to court records.
The Florida Department of Corrections was not immediately available for comment. Source Firing? For searing a mans skin off? Hopefully there's a criminal investigation going on against these guards. Call me a softy, but I doubt he deserved to be seared to death.
Honestly I'm surprised they even got fired. The usual is just desk duty or paid vacation until the heat dies down.
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Piketty has some good data, bit I am in disageement with the conclusion. Capital income growing faster than labour os fine. His solution of a progressive global wealth tax needs many many more baby steps and decades to be possible. The secular shift from labour to capital is similar to the shift from agrarian to industrial to information to capital.
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I haven't read the whole Piketty book, but if I remember correctly all he called for was higher taxation, which doesn't exactly make you a Marxist. If I remember correctly his data also pointed out that inequality was never lower than "right now",as in the last 100-150 years, since mixed economies have become the norm in the Western World.
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On September 23 2014 02:45 Wolfstan wrote: Piketty has some good data, bit I am in disageement with the conclusion. Capital income growing faster than labour os fine. His solution of a progressive global wealth tax needs many many more baby steps and decades to be possible. The secular shift from labour to capital is similar to the shift from agrarian to industrial to information to capital. How is it "fine"? Also, it's not some shift from one form to another, it's a reversion from the relative equality we had 40-70 years ago to the inequality we had 100 years ago.
On September 23 2014 03:17 Nyxisto wrote: I haven't read the whole Piketty book, but if I remember correctly all he called for was higher taxation, which doesn't exactly make you a Marxist. If I remember correctly his data also pointed out that inequality was never lower than "right now",as in the last 100-150 years, since mixed economies have become the norm in the Western World. He notes that the 50s-70s were abnormal in their equality throughout history, not that "right now" is better than 100 years ago. He's warning us that we've returned to those levels.
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On September 22 2014 23:36 Simberto wrote: Hey, he possessed some cocaine, and he still had two months on his sentence for that. Ah so it is merely the war on drugs escalating a bit. Guess it is inspired by the mexican drug lords, then. But it is written in a ridiculous way.
The more detailed case as presented by a fellow inmate is not for the feint-hearted: Miami Herald June 25 2014
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On September 23 2014 03:17 Nyxisto wrote: I haven't read the whole Piketty book, but if I remember correctly all he called for was higher taxation, which doesn't exactly make you a Marxist. If I remember correctly his data also pointed out that inequality was never lower than "right now",as in the last 100-150 years, since mixed economies have become the norm in the Western World. Marx barely touched the subject of "what to do against inequalities", but he pointed out a tendancy in capitalism to push, through the search of profit from capitalists, to gradually accumulate all the wealth in the hands of those capitalists, effectively killing any possible for future profit, and putting the worker class at subsistance level (and unemployment). This idea of a tendancy of capitalism to go towards a completly inegalitarian society is at the core of marxism, and Piketty effectively proved that Marx was, more or less, right (under certain condition, which is low growth and no taxation on capital basically).
The main difference is Marx go further in his analysis, and consider this tendancy is linked to the private property of means of production, which leads him to desire a common property of those means of production - the dreaded "communism".
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On September 23 2014 03:48 aksfjh wrote:Show nested quote +On September 23 2014 02:45 Wolfstan wrote: Piketty has some good data, bit I am in disageement with the conclusion. Capital income growing faster than labour os fine. His solution of a progressive global wealth tax needs many many more baby steps and decades to be possible. The secular shift from labour to capital is similar to the shift from agrarian to industrial to information to capital. How is it "fine"? Also, it's not some shift from one form to another, it's a reversion from the relative equality we had 40-70 Have you not been reading his posts? The poor are poor because of moral failings, Wolfstan is successful not because of geological makeup of Alberta but because of his will to success and tax cuts -- you know, oil responds to those by bubbling up.
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On September 23 2014 01:12 WhiteDog wrote:Show nested quote +On September 22 2014 23:58 2primenumbers wrote: Pikketty is a big fraud that uses models based on normalized statistical assumptions for real-world predictions, and the real-world has nothing to do with normalized statistical distributions. Pikketty is a big fraud! You wanting him to be a fraud is different from him actually being one. He did not use any models, but empirical data and assumption on a possible scenario based on those data. It's a fact that capital is rising. Well he's not a fraudster, but the FT did poke some holes in his empirical data sets (source). They're a bit picky, but still worthwhile noting.
Also, Piketty's charts on wealth accumulation (capital as % of GDP) are almost entirely driven by increases in housing prices. If you either ignore that, or if you use a different valuation method (value from rents), capital as a percent of GDP doesn't really begin to rise again after WW2 (source).
As for Marx, it seems that Piketty refutes Marx as much as anything. Marx wrote about capital growing faster than the economy, leading to a fall in profit (tendency of the rate of profit to fall). But Piketty insists that the rate of profit has and will remain constant.
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