tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post1665073897887157206..comments2024-03-06T06:34:42.881-05:00Comments on EconoSpeak: Sandwichman on Tomasky on Summers on PikettyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-71441105474397933742014-05-17T10:17:29.887-04:002014-05-17T10:17:29.887-04:00More EconoSpeak may be required. Perhaps a respons...More EconoSpeak may be required. Perhaps a response to this might be in order: <br />Wisdom from Don Boudreaux:<br /><br />"Piketty’s main thesis - that capital in free markets (absent calamities such as war) automatically grows at an average annual rate of at least 4 percent, so that those individuals with more wealth than others today will be those individuals with even more wealth than others tomorrow - is difficult to square with reality<br /><br />Consider, for example, that 21 of the still-living 100 richest Americans of only five years ago are no longer in that group today.* That’s a greater than 20 percent turnover in a mere half-decade – and this turnover isn’t likely explained by the financial crisis. As reported by Larry Summers (who is no libertarian): “When Forbes compared its list of the wealthiest Aericans in 1982 and 2012, it found that less than one tenth of the 1982 list was still on the list in 2012, despite the fact that a significant majority of members of the 1982 list would have qualified for the 2012 list if they had accumulated wealth at a real rate of even 4 percent a year.”**<br /><br />http://cafehayek.com/2014/05/down-the-lane-with-piketty.html<br />Real-world market economies are far more dynamic and churning than Professor Piketty and his fans realize."Stephen Cusuloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00121210450957373900noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-68367125336196155662014-05-17T10:15:43.605-04:002014-05-17T10:15:43.605-04:00More EconoSpeak may be required. Perhaps a respons...More EconoSpeak may be required. Perhaps a response to this might be in order: <br />Wisdom from Don Boudreaux:<br /><br />"Piketty’s main thesis - that capital in free markets (absent calamities such as war) automatically grows at an average annual rate of at least 4 percent, so that those individuals with more wealth than others today will be those individuals with even more wealth than others tomorrow - is difficult to square with reality<br /><br />Consider, for example, that 21 of the still-living 100 richest Americans of only five years ago are no longer in that group today.* That’s a greater than 20 percent turnover in a mere half-decade – and this turnover isn’t likely explained by the financial crisis. As reported by Larry Summers (who is no libertarian): “When Forbes compared its list of the wealthiest Aericans in 1982 and 2012, it found that less than one tenth of the 1982 list was still on the list in 2012, despite the fact that a significant majority of members of the 1982 list would have qualified for the 2012 list if they had accumulated wealth at a real rate of even 4 percent a year.”**<br /><br />http://cafehayek.com/2014/05/down-the-lane-with-piketty.html<br />Real-world market economies are far more dynamic and churning than Professor Piketty and his fans realize."<br />Stephen Cusuloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00121210450957373900noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-77245990974925219142014-05-17T10:08:09.768-04:002014-05-17T10:08:09.768-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Stephen Cusuloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00121210450957373900noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-16534908569615004972014-05-16T14:26:38.554-04:002014-05-16T14:26:38.554-04:00"The former Treasury secretary, one of our mo..."The former Treasury secretary, one of our most distinguished economists,..."<br /><br />Are we to take that comment seriously? Or is it addressed only to the political class and the elites that they empower?Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12971442888151627894noreply@blogger.com