French Author causes economists to think.

Thomas Piketty, a french author, wrote a book in 2014 titled Capital in the twenty-first century. The book focuses on the growth of the returns to capital in the economy are exceeding the rate of growth of the economy. For those of you who are not in an economics class, Piketty is basically saying that the rich are getting richer and everybody else is struggling. I'm not going to get into politics while writing this but I am however going to look at Piketty's conclusions in his research.

Piketty's General Conclusions:

1. Wealth is growing faster than the economy. 
2. Piketty wants to adopt a global tax on wealth. He suggests 80%.
3. Faster economic growth = diminishing importance of wealth ; slower economic growth = increase importance of wealth.
4. High levels of wealth inequality are a problem.

Why should we care?

Most of us are not in the top 1% of upper class. Therefore the economy that we operate in today, the businesses that we own, the jobs that we hold, the money that we invest, and the income we earn are not growing anywhere near the rate that the wealth obtained by the elite upper class is growing. Regardless of our personal thoughts on this fact, we have to be aware of the effects on society that this large gap has. How/if we think that gap should be eliminated is a matter of opinion. 

Works cited:

Gates, Bill. "Why Inequality Matters." Why Inequality Matters. N.p., 13 Oct. 2014. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.