"Occupy was right: capitalism has failed the world
One of the slogans of the 2011 Occupy protests was 'capitalism isn't working'. Now, in an epic, groundbreaking new book, French economist Thomas Piketty explains why they're right"
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On the contrary, capitalism has succeeded so well in revolutionising the productive capacity of society that it has now rendered itself obsolete. Capitalism was a very efficient system when productive capacity could not meet the needs of all. It thrives on scarcity. But to the extent that the productive capacity of society has now, because of capitalism advanced so far that it can now meet the needs of all, capitalism is not just redundant, but a massive obstruction to realising that potential. Because capitalism can ONLY operate where there is scarcity. Where it does not naturally exist, capitalism must create artificial scarcity in order to operate. Piketty doesn't seem to get that, or doesn't want to see it. I guess that would force him to conclude that socialism is the only answer and his own material interests would suffer if he started saying that. An economist's role is to conceal and obfuscate what is readily apparant, he does his job well.
BillBartlett Bracknell Tas