Today on The Janssen Report (#41) we examine “Capital in the 21st Century”, in-depth research by Thomas Piketty.

French economist and researcher Thomas Piketty recently published a book about his study concerning the developments of wealth and income inequality.

• Broad study incorporating who owns what versus who earns what
• Unique collection of data spanning 20 countries and multiple centuries
• Proof of growing income and wealth inequality being the norm rather than the exception
• Rate of Return to capital tends to be higher than the economic growth rate leading to increasing inequality
• If sustained in this way, the current system will lead to a terrifying gap in wealth and income, middle class will vanish

Although I truly acclaim Thomas Piketty’s work, I feel there is an important note to make. My criticism: I think a strong case can be made against the conclusion that capitalism leads to these inequalities. What lacks in our so-called capitalist system these days is SOUND MONEY and FREE MARKETS. I have already argued that we have NO true capitalism. Of course there is no such thing as a perfect society (and no perfect capitalism) – there will always be disruptive forces at play. However, the current system we are part of has little to do with capitalism. Therefore, my reasoning is that what we truly see is CRONY capitalism at work here: corrupted money and rigged markets.

Link to the study: – http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.ph…

Definition of crony capitalism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crony_ca… –

Link to info about crony capitalism: http://www.soundmoneyproject.org/?p=8415

Link to Janssen Report # covering TTIP/TTP.

Link to Janssen Report # covering Global Corporate Control.

Cheers,

Marco Janssen

The Janssen Report