Monday, April 21, 2014

An Indictment of the Invisible Hand

Please see "An Indictment of the Invisible Hand" by Jeffrey Madrick, Moyers & Company

Writing about Thomas Piketty's 700-page book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, some quotes:

The only way to rectify the imbalance is more aggressive taxes on property and high incomes to reduce inequality.

some of this capital has been put to good use, but as it grows so much faster than the economy, it seems more than obvious that it is the result of monopoly, rents that are not related to real returns of investment, manipulation of markets and regulations, political influence, and so on. Free market competition has not worked.

Instead, he believes higher taxes are the only solution. But regulation of monopolists and Wall Street manipulators would be part of such a solution. More vigorous anti-trust prosecution would be another. Fairer and more strongly implemented labor laws would have given workers a fairer shake, as would more union-friendly regulations and a higher minimum wage.


Bill

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