Thomas Piketty on A Brief History of Equality

[@tedg1609]

What a pleasure to hear this thoughtful interview with Dr. Piketty. Thank you both :)

[@neclanurunleyen]

Thanks for this marvelous presentation both of you! 😊

[@sonaan10]

I belong to a family which is part of the bottom 40% of the wealth distribution in Pakistan. My GRE scores, grades, and intelligence were arguably comparable to the top 5%, if not higher in my society. However, I never had the same opportunities that significantly less talented people had relative to me. If higher education was not captured by the elite, I would have better opportunities.

[@NowPleaseReadThis]

Dear Mr Piketty, I have written a persuasive essay that I would be honored if you would read it. Please feel free to incorporate any or all of it's talking points into your presentations. Here it is: The Twin Parallel Rails Organizing Society There are two continuums that run side by side like train tracks that don’t cross over each other but together carry a society either to a destination of positive collaborative fulfillment or to the opposite destination of negative self-centered separation. Rail 1. Governance. Democratic Socialism vs Corporate Socialism: a primer. We are all socialists. Humans require society for survival. Socialism is all governance. Governance is the type of gov. tax appropriations, gov. regulations and the direction of gov. agencies. It is a continuum. It goes from Democratic Socialism which is spending tax monies and having policies for the benefit of all those who actually contribute to the tax pool and represent the vast majority of the population, to Corporate Socialism which is spending tax monies and making gov. policies for the benefit of the corporate interests of the 2%, many of which pay little or no taxes and brag about gaming a system they have bought and influence with their ever exponentially increasing wealth. This is a nasty feedback loop that leads us to a state of economic serfdom and ultimately to gated communities for these same people who caused this situation, with their insatiable greed machine of lobbyists and swinging door appointments leading from corporate boardrooms to government agencies and administrations and back again. Rail 2. Economics The second parallel rail/continuum of societal organization is the agreed upon Mode of Economic Exchange which ranges from Capitalism that encourages the individual profit motive, to Communism which says we must share the profits of our labors. Communism has never existed except as an idea. It has historically been implemented as a rallying cry to disaffected people in rebellions against minority rule, but once the new batch of rulers took power they quickly and logically reverted to their own individual capital interests, which in a society governed by Democratic Socialism would be just fine, but instead though, they quickly diverted themselves to the greed interests of the top 2% by adopting extreme Corporate Socialism to become Oligarchs and Fascists. Just look at the brutal suppression where these rebellions took place in the societies of Russia, China and North Korea for example. Actual Communism has only existed in some local communes of people dedicated to the concept, but they only last a short time because they are inefficient at meeting the individual needs and aspirations of its members beyond those who are totally committed to that group. The idea of Communism persists because it is used as a Canard by the top 2% in most all societies. A 'Canard' is a spurious idea presented by someone to provide an excuse for motives that would otherwise be revealed as being for their own selfish ends. It’s a diversionary tactic and smoke screen rolled into one. Communism is held up and used as a 'Canard' by both those who promote the interests of the Corporate Socialists in countries with democracies like the United States, where it is presented as being a bogeyman that will lead them all down the path of 'socialism' and 'communism', to its use by the so called ‘Communist States’, where it is held up by their 'Communist Party' leaders who want to hide their actual oligarchical, fascist intentions from their masses by presenting it as a Utopian ideal to which they must all sacrifice their individual desires. Either way, the end result is the same, with the canard idea of Communism being used to cajole and control the majority into serving the interests of the few. Capitalism’s ability to motivate people into a commerce of ideas, services and products with profits that address individual needs is the only mode of monetary exchange that makes efficient sense. Only you know what you desire and aspire too. Even ‘Communist’ countries use Capitalism but only to the extent the ruling party members permit, in so far as it promotes the wealthfare of the top 2%. There the Corporate Socialist extremists dominate those societies with an iron fist; as seen in China, Russia and North Korea. Rail #1 ‘Governance’ final thoughts Democratic Socialism as governance plus Capitalism for economic exchange equals a society that builds itself up for the betterment of all its members by spending their tax dollars and government policy on national health care, a clean environment, education, timely infrastructure spending, retirement insurance, etc. for all its citizens. The Scandinavian countries and most of Europe and the Commonwealth countries come to mind. Whereas Corporate Socialism as governance, plus Capitalism for economic exchange = a society like ours - The United States; that has government policies, tax money appropriations, regulations, laws, and judicial and agency appointments increasingly designed to shunt money to the top 2% of its citizens; leaving us with no National Health Care, a shrinking middle class, a growing class of unhealthy uninsured working poor, and also with a disproportionate tax burden favoring the wealthy, a deteriorating environment for the short term gain of investors in some industries, and a crumbling infrastructure to avoid any legislation requiring additional taxation of the 2%. Also, it has led us to bogus foreign wars for corporate profit with the resulting deaths of American youths to benefit the shareholders in the Military Industrial Complex, as with Halliburton’s corporate investors and their ilk. The logical conclusion of Corporate Socialism at its extreme endpoint is to shift rule from Democracy to rule by Oligarchy (rule by a few) and Fascism (combining a central dictator), with them foremost always representing the financial interests of the top 2%. In these so called ‘Communist States’, this is combined with threats of military and police force to the citizenry, so they fear their governments readiness to deploy against them for any serious internal challenges they may pose to their rule, as is found in Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Belarus, Cuba and a number of other countries. The interests of the Corporate Socialists are routinely promoted by the top 2% under the guise of patriotic duty and endless flag waving. This perversely manipulates the community’s natural tribal instinct to rally together, while both hiding the greedy intentions of the 2% and steering the rest of the population to serve those interests. This dominance of the short-sighted greed lust of Corporate Socialism in both the Democracies and in the so called 'Communist States' is leading us to a diminishing quality of life, and an inability to make positive adaptive change. This is causing ever increasing societal chaos with uncontrolled desperate migration, a burgeoning global population and environmental degradation. The Societies of our planet need to work towards establishing truly representative Democratic Socialism in order for us to avert disaster and to coordinate our place on Earth in a manner that will sustain a good life for all our species and ecosystems. Everyone, we have got to get it together using Democratic Socialism combined with Capitalism. War, disease and misery are not necessary management tools.

[@marctwain8273]

Señor Markus klingt ja sympathischer als Mon·si·eur, Thomas Piketty live, gegen meine Unendlichen Wissenslücken wie (Einstein schon' i- m Vergleich des Menschen mit dem Universum- sagte) 😉🤐😛

[@AraMacaraig]

It signifies the history of equality..the author reflects the continous progressive of the said countries.If u dont like history ur nothing becoz it reflects the well side version of Professor Piketty.The line graphs and the distribution of ds s well done..However i like ds too also..ds type of presentation s markable by college students..but my high school students knows ds .They can easily grasp and interpret wat im saying.I know ds s hard for them..look they

[@AraMacaraig]

are smart even though they not belong to higher sections..from time to time wen I look at dem dey are satisfied from learning . I hope D's s not the beginning of this kind of strategical and motivational learning..For me,if all teachers love their 3:44 3:44 3:44 3:44 3:44

[@AraMacaraig]

their job spiritually their students falls under the sign of excellent..they paid much ..GO ON FELLOW TEACHERS..Congratulation Professor Piketty 4 ur success.❤❤❤❤

[@cameronburnard2301]

14:03

[@yutyuiiu]

where to start