Picking on Piketty

George Rebane

Admittedly not a difficult task.  I just finished Brief History of Equality (2022) by Thomas Piketty.  Darling of the international Left, we have encountered this French economist before in these pages (here).  Our American Left is in thrall with the man’s wisdom, prescience, and prescriptions for a better world.  Piketty’s thoughts and nostrums on economics and the future global order are important for Americans to understand since they form the illustrated intellectual basis for much of the Democrats’ social, economic, and even foreign policies.  Piketty’s extensive neo-Marxist works give our Left the veneer of legitimacy to sway the country’s center and undecided toward wholesale collectivism.

In my previous remarks on Brief History I concentrated on some of the technical points from his earlier works, specifically points that evinced his massive blindspots about human nature, especially when it comes to our economic behavior in the presence of monetary risk.

In this coda I want to put a ribbon around his arguments promoting the new world order he has invented and labeled “federalized democratic socialism”, along with various other derivative names.  This is a destination form of collectivism that Piketty describes as “decentralized” socialism, hence the appended ‘federalized’ attribute.  Such decentralization will result when the masses come together to “develop new forms of sovereignism(sic) with a universalist vocation.”  If you understand any of this ideo-babble, you’re a better man than I.

The best one can extract from this verbiage is that our global future will be composed of a lot of small sovereign socialist states operating under some TBD central global governance that insures the national public sector wealth of each such federalized state is at least as great as that of its private sector, which will then operate to the benefit of its workers and other ‘stakeholders’ as opposed to its shareholder owners.  Actually, Piketty’s formula for corporate ownership has the workers with greater voting rights than the (any remaining) entrepreneurs who conceived, invested, worked, and risked to build the company.  (See also Obama’s famous ‘You didn’t build that!’ observation.)

Everyone will be a happy camper in this brave new world because everyone apparently will take their morning altruism pill (Altruvitin?) before venturing out.  Without such practiced altruism, the whole socio-economic order would collapse, and revert back to what Piketty calls today’s “outdated hypercapitalism” (which he seems to confuse with corporatism).

Piketty’s federalized democratic socialist world will have achieved the great goal of equality, primarily by having taxed the bejeezus out of our wealthy citizens; all this without affecting their motivation for continuing to create new wealth unabated.  You see, Piketty is of the large leftist cohort of economists that firmly holds ‘wealth generation is not affected by tax rates’.  As a Lucky Strike Extra, he also teaches that Trump’s policies did nothing to benefit America’s economy, and only served to divert “the middle and lower classes … to have serious doubts about globalization.”

To his benefit, Piketty does admit to different forms of socialism, none measuring up to his new federalized democratic socialism which will be achieved through some yet to be defined grassroots mass revolution by workers who have nothing to lose but their chains.  I am reminded of the cartoon with a scientist writing a blizzard of equations filling a blackboard with a large space in the middle in which is written, ‘and then a miracle happens’.

In a cold splash of realism Piketty admits, “it would be absurd to claim that such a path is easy to follow and clearly marked out: nearly everything remains to be invented,” especially since the desired “universalist sovereignism will not always be easy to distinguish from nationalist sovereignism”  Huh?

The first line of global elites with dedicated powers will be “transnational assemblies” that result from a “constant search for credible international coalitions capable of accelerating the transition toward socialist, democratic federalism, (that) should remain the ultimate objective.”

But not to worry about the untrammeled road to our workers’ paradise.  We may confidently take the first steps by implementing the sure-fire policy of taxing ourselves out of today’s growing inflation.  And somewhere along the way, when we’ve set up all these powerful and coordinated transnational assemblies to form the decentralized federalized socialist states, these same established global power brokers will then voluntarily pull stakes, fold their tents, and fade away.  Yes indeed.

Don’t you just want to sell a bridge or something similar to people who are so enamored of federalized democratic socialism sailing into the future on an ocean of human equality and altruism?

Comments

[Barry Pruett]

https://www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/project/155441/version/V1/view

Testosterone administration induces a red shift and Democrats. The link is a scholarly study showing that increase testosterone levels affects political affiliation towards the right. The study might be something to consider in reference to Piketty’s ideas and globalism.

[Ortondeles]

That's right.. The red folks are real men and those Dems are a bunch of pussies..

[scenes]

Piketty admits, “it would be absurd to claim that such a path is easy to follow and clearly marked out: nearly everything remains to be invented,”

lol. In the meantime we can go to other star systems by (1) inventing an FTL drive and (2) make an airtight container to travel in. 1/2 of the problem is solved already!

"The red folks are real men and those Dems are a bunch of pussies.."

Not all of them, but there's been a lot of studies tying testosterone levels to political party. It even makes sense given the increased risk aversion you'd see due to gender and hormone levels. There's nothing to be ashamed about, it just is.

Female suffrage aside as a change in politics, I think there's a good case to study decreasing testosterone levels among young males over time and voting patterns...not to mention the strong need to wear pretty dresses that seems prevalent nowadays. Cause? Dunno. Inactivity maybe, helicopter moms, high fructose corn syrup, high BMI, outgassing from modern materials?

Biden voters are a mystery and Crazytown is a thing to be understood, not hated.

[grouper the groper]

Maybe the higher testosterone levels explains all the groping, sexual assault allegations, etc. against republican politicians. Oh and on't forget ball tanning..

[scenes]

"Maybe the higher testosterone levels explains all the groping, sexual assault allegations, etc. against republican politicians."

It's possible. The days of LBJ are long over and I can't imagine Grand Admiral Levine feeling up the help. He's far too proper a lady.

I haven't seen any studies on the matter, and then there's always the problem of defining 'sexual assault'. Is Frank Langella's situation an 'assault'? Is the lipstick-wearin' Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Nuclear Energy groping when he's buggering a trussed up young man in a dog suit?

The thing is that you don't even need much testosterone to ship off $40B of US defense corporation largesse to Ukraine to keep the death rate good and high, just look at Schumer and McConnell.

[Bill Tozer]

@ 1:22 pm.

What is sexual assualt? What is sexual harrassment?

'Wisconsin middle schoolers accused of sexual harassment for using wrong gender pronouns'

Lawyer argues use of incorrect gender pronouns does not violate Title IX

https://www.foxnews.com/us/middle-schoolers-sexual-harassment-gender-pronouns

[scenes]

re: BillT@1:34PM

My, what a nice story.

Anyone who has the means and/or energy to pull their kids out of the Crazytown Unified School District should have done so some time ago.

It's never too late.

Bummer that the local folks never try to justify this stuff. Seriously, I could use the laugh.

[Bill Tozer]

The lefties simlpt cannot not leave the children alone. They keep trying to make children as deviate as they are. The Left is obssesed with the underage's private parts. sickos.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/tuscon-high-school-counselor-sexual-d

[Bill Tozer]

“And somewhere along the way, when we’ve set up all these powerful and coordinated transnational assemblies to form the decentralized federalized socialist states, these same established global power brokers will then voluntarily pull stakes, fold their tents, and fade away. Yes indeed.”

That sounds exactly like the ending to The Communist Manifesto. The workers will run things locally and no need for a centralized state. All will behalf nicely and tears shall be stricken from the land.

[Scott O]

"Admittedly not a difficult task."
Yep
There will always be those folks that truly wish we could all be happy as clams.
And if you point out it ain't gonna happen, then you are evil.
This topic is topical but for me it's boring.
They are stupid but have an audience.
You can point out reality (for now) but they have such thick skulls.
Piketty is just a hustler like the race hustlers in this country. It's a profitable hustle.
He will not engage with intelligent people nor argue his case in a neutral arena.
We are risen above the mud because we hustled and strove to do better. Somehow society believes we can now throw this aside and all coast into the future as one on an equal plane regardless of effort.
The mentally ill drug addict living in a Chinese tent on a street in LA deserves everything in life that you have because EQUITY! Good luck, sport - see you on the other side.

[Bill Tozer]

I can hear the Leftwing poetry being sung across the land.

'Systemic racism pervades every part of our society': new White House press secretary in 2020
Karine Jean-Pierre under fire for incendiary language, fueling election conspiracies, labeling opponents racist.

https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/new-biden-press-secretary-fueled-election-conspiracies-accused-political
——————-
Sing out that Lefty poetry louder! I just can’t get enough of that sweet stuff.

State medical boards urge punishment, reeducation for doctors spreading COVID 'misinformation'
Cosponsor of U.S. Medical Licensing Examination arguably promotes outdated view of mask efficacy, and new study of CO2 concentration in masks may further erode its position.

https://justthenews.com/nation/free-speech/state-medical-boards-urge-punishment-re-education-doctors-spreading-covid

Reeducation sounds like a fun summer camp, eh Doc?