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Apologies if this is duplicate information. The Nation sponsored a forum on April 16 with Thomas Piketty speaking first, followed by Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman and Steven Durlauf (University of Wisconsin–Madison). The forum was broadcast live over the internet and it will soon be posted on The Nation's website. An interview of Thomas Piketty is published in the latest edition of the New Left Review 85 (Jan Feb 2014). This is the closing remark by Piketty in the interview: "I am not particularly optimistic about the future. Lessons from the past suggest that violent disturbances often play a major role, and that formal democratic institutions do not always respond to rising inequality, in particular because they can be captured by financial elites. But I want to believe that we can learn from past catastrophes and find more peaceful, sustainable ways to regulate capitalist dynamics." The last sentence needs no comment on this listserv. I recommend listening to the forum and reading the interview (it will take some patience, I know), in order to understand the current liberal capitalist apologist position. I think Durlauf expressed the most insight when he said that what Piketty's work really called for was a new human being with a philosophical outlook that sees economic equity as desirable, I am paraphrasing and may be making him sound better than he did. Nevertheless, this is indeed the conundrum facing liberal capitalists and socialists alike. Only the socialist course can create that equity but the masses must adopt this philosophy for economic equity to become a reality. Red Arnie Bay Area, CA ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
