Update (May 8, 2014): Capital in the Twenty-First Century is a book written by Thomas Piketty, a French economist. The book has gained critical acclaim and set off hot political debates. Mr. Piketty has used extensive empirical data to argue that global disparity between rich and poor are steadily widening. His emphasis on the role of inherited wealth reminds me of Andrew Carnegie's argument in the Gospel of Wealth. These two are coming from radically different backgrounds. However, potential similarities in their argument is worth considering for the sake of building up rational consensus in public debates.
Read more:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/may/08/thomas-piketty-new-gilded-age/
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2014/03/31/140331crbo_books_cassidy?currentPage=all
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The present state of global economy, as defined and practiced today, is incompatible with the
vision of a just and peaceful society. It promotes rivalry, expansionism, glorification of crass materialism, and a culture that stands identified with conspicuous consumption. Endemic poverty, growing unemployment, widening gap between rich and poor, and failed development plans have degraded and exploited millions and caused wars. In the midst of abject poverty and misery, there exists a concentration of wealth and power that is unparalleled in human history.
In this time and age of convoluted doctrines and ideologies of of greed and conflict when the body politic is rent with crisis and fragmentation, it's worth rereading Andrew Carnegie's the Goepel of Wealth. In the Gospel of Wealth, written in 1889, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), a wealthy industrialist, argues that it's fallacious to preach that an unbridled system
of free enterprise will automatically bring about peace and
prosperity. His argument may surprize many of today's billionaires!
THE GOSPEL OF WEALTH .pdf
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