Sign in with Facebook
Thomas Ray's Reviews > A Brief History of Equality
A Brief History of Equality
by
by
Thomas Ray's review
bookshelves: at-library, tax-the-rich, history, banking, china, politics, neocolonialism, wolfram
Jun 05, 2023
bookshelves: at-library, tax-the-rich, history, banking, china, politics, neocolonialism, wolfram
A Brief History of Equality, Thomas Piketty, 2021 in French, 2022 in English, 274 pages, Dewey 305.09, ISBN 9780674273559. Translated by Steven Randall.
Abrogate the untaxed-free-movement-of-capital treaties. Tax the rich.
Big changes in law and society have been occurring regularly since 1780: it's worth saying what changes must happen, and how. p. 119. It is both desirable and possible to tax the rich and expand the welfare state. p. 45.
Chapter 7: Democracy, Socialism, and Progressive Taxation
Bankers, financiers, investors, and money managers planned and lobbied from the 1940s to 1980s, and succeeded in pushing through international treaties that give them a nearly-sacred right to enrich themselves at any country's expense, then whisk the capital away, tax-free, duty-free, regulation-free. pp. 170-174. This state of affairs must be undone to keep the world from being a colony owned and exploited by the super-rich.
Chapter 1: The Movement toward Equality
Progress exists. In 1820, world average life expectancy at birth was 26 years; in 2020 it's 72. Literacy among people age 15 or older rose from 12% to 85%. pp. 16-17.
A better indicator than GDP is "national income," which equals "gross domestic product" minus depreciation (such as depletion of natural resources), plus or minus net income or loss to the rest of the world. Selling off extracted minerals adds zero to national income. p. 23.
Global GDP is about 100 trillion euros. p. 24. (About $11,000 per person, 2020.) https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=...
Chapter 2: The Slow Deconcentration of Power and Property
The top 0.001% of French fortunes (500, out of 50 million adults) totaled 6% of all that could be owned in 2020, up from 2% in 2010 (6,000 times average wealth, up from 2,000 times ten years ago). p. 44.
From 1910 to 2020, the wealthiest 1% of the French lost a 31% share of total wealth: 55% down to 24%. The 50th-to-90th percentiles gained a 25% share: 13% in 1910; 38% in 2020. All of this transfer was pre-1985: the middle class has been slowly losing, the dominant class quickly gaining share since then. pp. 31, 42, 44.
Chapter 3: The Heritage of Slavery and Colonialism
Forests covered 30-40% of Europe (UK to Denmark to Prussia, Spain to France to Italy) in 1500. By 1800, it was down to about 10% (16% France, 4% Denmark). p. 50.
China's and India's share in worldwide manufacturing, 53% in 1800, fell to 5% in 1900 due to protectionism by Europe. pp. 58-59.
The British East India Company and the Dutch East Indes Company were militarized robbers. p. 60.
Chapter 4: The Question of Reparations
Slaves (90% of Haitians) received 20% of the product of their labor (in food and clothing); the nonenslaved 10% appropriated 80%, in 1789. pp. 82-83.
Current wealth distribution among and within countries bears the deep mark of the slaveholding, colonial past. p. 93.
We must ensure egalitarian access to education, employment, and property. p. 93. Tax multinationals and billionaires: they got rich on the backs of the poor, who deserve and need a share. p. 94.
Chapter 5: Revolution, Status, and Class
Hundreds of French peasant and laborer rebellions, 1730-1789, led to the cancellation of nobles' privileges--but to strengthening the rights of property owners. pp. 5, 95-99.
In Sweden in 1871, there were dozens of districts where one wealthy man cast the majority of votes. Then in the 1920s, Social Democrats took control, adopted one-person-one-vote, progressive taxation, and greatly increased social services.
Everything is changeable. p. 107.
Chapter 6: The Great Redistribution 1914-1980
Two world wars and a great depression, 1914-1945, overturned the power relationships between labor and capital in the West. Very-progressive income and inheritance taxes reduced the wealth and power of the few, and brought opportunities and prosperity to the many. p. 121. The U.S. top federal income tax rate was over 90% from 1951-1963, and 70% until 1980. p. 131. The U.S. top marginal inheritance tax rate was 70% until 1980. p. 132. Taxing the rich, and repudiating and/or inflating away the public debt, freed the West from the yoke of indebtedness to the rich, until 1980. These were political fights that were won in midcentury, and must be refought and rewon to achieve a decent life for the many. p. 149. Total private wealth in Western Europe was six to eight years of national income from 1870-1914, two to three years from 1950 to 1980, now back up to five to six years in 2020. p. 141. Peter Lindert, Growing Public, 2004.
Chapter 8: Real Equality against Discrimination
Gendered, social, and ethno-racial discrimination is endemic nearly everywhere. p. 175. Governments spend more on rich kids' educations than on poor kids'. pp. 176-184. Ditto infrastructure and government services generally. p. 196. Women receive 38% of the payroll in France, men 62%, in 2020. (62/38=1.63; 38/62=.61) p. 185. The average income of blacks in the U.S. is 56% that of whites (1/.56=1.79), as of 2018. p. 192.
Chapter 9: Exiting Neocolonialism
National-government revenues were 13.7% of GDP in the poorest third of the world, including Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, in 2022-2019; 40% in the richest third, including North America and Europe. Nigeria, Chad, and Central African Republic government revenues were only 6-8% of GDP. Not enough for essential functions. pp. 209-210.
The largest financial portfolios worldwide are placed largely in tax havens. p. 211. Transnational billionaires are richer than states, much as in the French Revolution. p. 13.
Global-north investors continue to plunder the labor and resources of poorer regions. pp. 212-213.
Fortunes of over 10 million euros total half of global GDP. p. 215.
The impoverishment of the poor has been the source of enrichment of the rich. p. 216.
Chapter 10: Toward a Democratic, Ecological, and Multicultural Socialism
The Chinese government owns 30% of all that can be owned in China. Not housing, but most of industry. Western governments' net ownership is negative, thanks to a refusal to tax the rich, instead borrowing from them. pp. 231-235, 240.
The authoritarian, antidemocratic Chinese government expresses its official positions daily in /Global Times/: https://www.globaltimes.cn/ p. 233.
Piketty's other books:
Capital in the 21st Century (French 2013, English 2014) shows that, when the rate of return on capital exceeds the growth rate of the economy, inequality grows without bound. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Capital and Ideology (French 2019, English 2020) shows that, since 1789, supposed justifications for inequality have been successively revealed as false, and abandoned. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Piketty's World Inequality Database is a trove. https://wid.world
Figures and tables for this book are on Piketty's home page here: http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/en/equality
Piketty recommends:
K. Pomeranz, /The Great Divergence/, 2000
Fernand Braudel, /Civilization and Capitalism/, 1982-1984.
Immanuel Wallerstein, /The Modern World-System/, 1974-1989
Abrogate the untaxed-free-movement-of-capital treaties. Tax the rich.
Big changes in law and society have been occurring regularly since 1780: it's worth saying what changes must happen, and how. p. 119. It is both desirable and possible to tax the rich and expand the welfare state. p. 45.
Chapter 7: Democracy, Socialism, and Progressive Taxation
Bankers, financiers, investors, and money managers planned and lobbied from the 1940s to 1980s, and succeeded in pushing through international treaties that give them a nearly-sacred right to enrich themselves at any country's expense, then whisk the capital away, tax-free, duty-free, regulation-free. pp. 170-174. This state of affairs must be undone to keep the world from being a colony owned and exploited by the super-rich.
Chapter 1: The Movement toward Equality
Progress exists. In 1820, world average life expectancy at birth was 26 years; in 2020 it's 72. Literacy among people age 15 or older rose from 12% to 85%. pp. 16-17.
A better indicator than GDP is "national income," which equals "gross domestic product" minus depreciation (such as depletion of natural resources), plus or minus net income or loss to the rest of the world. Selling off extracted minerals adds zero to national income. p. 23.
Global GDP is about 100 trillion euros. p. 24. (About $11,000 per person, 2020.) https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=...
Chapter 2: The Slow Deconcentration of Power and Property
The top 0.001% of French fortunes (500, out of 50 million adults) totaled 6% of all that could be owned in 2020, up from 2% in 2010 (6,000 times average wealth, up from 2,000 times ten years ago). p. 44.
From 1910 to 2020, the wealthiest 1% of the French lost a 31% share of total wealth: 55% down to 24%. The 50th-to-90th percentiles gained a 25% share: 13% in 1910; 38% in 2020. All of this transfer was pre-1985: the middle class has been slowly losing, the dominant class quickly gaining share since then. pp. 31, 42, 44.
Chapter 3: The Heritage of Slavery and Colonialism
Forests covered 30-40% of Europe (UK to Denmark to Prussia, Spain to France to Italy) in 1500. By 1800, it was down to about 10% (16% France, 4% Denmark). p. 50.
China's and India's share in worldwide manufacturing, 53% in 1800, fell to 5% in 1900 due to protectionism by Europe. pp. 58-59.
The British East India Company and the Dutch East Indes Company were militarized robbers. p. 60.
Chapter 4: The Question of Reparations
Slaves (90% of Haitians) received 20% of the product of their labor (in food and clothing); the nonenslaved 10% appropriated 80%, in 1789. pp. 82-83.
Current wealth distribution among and within countries bears the deep mark of the slaveholding, colonial past. p. 93.
We must ensure egalitarian access to education, employment, and property. p. 93. Tax multinationals and billionaires: they got rich on the backs of the poor, who deserve and need a share. p. 94.
Chapter 5: Revolution, Status, and Class
Hundreds of French peasant and laborer rebellions, 1730-1789, led to the cancellation of nobles' privileges--but to strengthening the rights of property owners. pp. 5, 95-99.
In Sweden in 1871, there were dozens of districts where one wealthy man cast the majority of votes. Then in the 1920s, Social Democrats took control, adopted one-person-one-vote, progressive taxation, and greatly increased social services.
Everything is changeable. p. 107.
Chapter 6: The Great Redistribution 1914-1980
Two world wars and a great depression, 1914-1945, overturned the power relationships between labor and capital in the West. Very-progressive income and inheritance taxes reduced the wealth and power of the few, and brought opportunities and prosperity to the many. p. 121. The U.S. top federal income tax rate was over 90% from 1951-1963, and 70% until 1980. p. 131. The U.S. top marginal inheritance tax rate was 70% until 1980. p. 132. Taxing the rich, and repudiating and/or inflating away the public debt, freed the West from the yoke of indebtedness to the rich, until 1980. These were political fights that were won in midcentury, and must be refought and rewon to achieve a decent life for the many. p. 149. Total private wealth in Western Europe was six to eight years of national income from 1870-1914, two to three years from 1950 to 1980, now back up to five to six years in 2020. p. 141. Peter Lindert, Growing Public, 2004.
Chapter 8: Real Equality against Discrimination
Gendered, social, and ethno-racial discrimination is endemic nearly everywhere. p. 175. Governments spend more on rich kids' educations than on poor kids'. pp. 176-184. Ditto infrastructure and government services generally. p. 196. Women receive 38% of the payroll in France, men 62%, in 2020. (62/38=1.63; 38/62=.61) p. 185. The average income of blacks in the U.S. is 56% that of whites (1/.56=1.79), as of 2018. p. 192.
Chapter 9: Exiting Neocolonialism
National-government revenues were 13.7% of GDP in the poorest third of the world, including Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, in 2022-2019; 40% in the richest third, including North America and Europe. Nigeria, Chad, and Central African Republic government revenues were only 6-8% of GDP. Not enough for essential functions. pp. 209-210.
The largest financial portfolios worldwide are placed largely in tax havens. p. 211. Transnational billionaires are richer than states, much as in the French Revolution. p. 13.
Global-north investors continue to plunder the labor and resources of poorer regions. pp. 212-213.
Fortunes of over 10 million euros total half of global GDP. p. 215.
The impoverishment of the poor has been the source of enrichment of the rich. p. 216.
Chapter 10: Toward a Democratic, Ecological, and Multicultural Socialism
The Chinese government owns 30% of all that can be owned in China. Not housing, but most of industry. Western governments' net ownership is negative, thanks to a refusal to tax the rich, instead borrowing from them. pp. 231-235, 240.
The authoritarian, antidemocratic Chinese government expresses its official positions daily in /Global Times/: https://www.globaltimes.cn/ p. 233.
Piketty's other books:
Capital in the 21st Century (French 2013, English 2014) shows that, when the rate of return on capital exceeds the growth rate of the economy, inequality grows without bound. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Capital and Ideology (French 2019, English 2020) shows that, since 1789, supposed justifications for inequality have been successively revealed as false, and abandoned. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Piketty's World Inequality Database is a trove. https://wid.world
Figures and tables for this book are on Piketty's home page here: http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/en/equality
Piketty recommends:
K. Pomeranz, /The Great Divergence/, 2000
Fernand Braudel, /Civilization and Capitalism/, 1982-1984.
Immanuel Wallerstein, /The Modern World-System/, 1974-1989
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
A Brief History of Equality.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Finished Reading
March 6, 2022
– Shelved
March 6, 2022
– Shelved as:
to-read
May 4, 2022
– Shelved as:
at-library
May 23, 2023
– Shelved as:
tax-the-rich
May 23, 2023
– Shelved as:
history
May 23, 2023
– Shelved as:
banking
May 23, 2023
– Shelved as:
china
May 23, 2023
– Shelved as:
politics
May 28, 2023
– Shelved as:
neocolonialism
June 15, 2023
– Shelved as:
wolfram
