From: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Purveyor of Truth Time to shed the right -vs- left, socialism -vs- capitalism hyperbole and purchase Thomas Piketty's new book " Capital in the Twenty-First Century. " PARIS — Thomas Piketty turned 18 in 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, so he was spared the tortured, decades-long French intellectual debate about the virtues and vices of communism. Even more telling, he remembers, was a trip he took with a close friend to Romania in early 1990, after the collapse of the Soviet empire. “This sort of vaccinated me for life against lazy, anticapitalist rhetoric, because when you see these empty shops, you see these people queuing for nothing in the street,” he said, “it became clear to me that we need private property and market institutions, not just for economic efficiency but for personal freedom.” (emphasis mine) But his disenchantment with communism doesn’t mean that Mr. Piketty has turned his back on the intellectual ...
She's smart, articulate, and represents her generation and its aspirations. Good for her. She and others -- AOC, for example, will stumble and have stumbled, but overall, I'm impressed with them. I like the fact that they're not afraid to speak out and for the 99% who haven't had representatives looking out for their best interests. We'll see how this plays out. But, so far, so good. Brava!
ReplyDeleteMy concern is their over the top progressiveness. There are some real issues with the New Green Deal proposal. America could become another Portugal,Greece, or even Venezuela. IMO anyway. Perhaps they'ii tweak it so it is actually doable without collapsing the economy.
DeleteOff topic Les... I owe you some tequila/mezcal for the Pats Super Bowl win. Now that I'm back in the US, send me your address through my email and I'll get it out to you. You can find my contact info on my info page...
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave. But I'd much rather sit down with you over a great lunch on a few if you're ever in Mass. Or, when I make out your way. Not Mexico though as I do not have a passport.
DeleteDeal...
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