Why Are Economists Giving Piketty the Cold Shoulder? (2017) • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Are Economists Giving Piketty the Cold Shoulder? (2017)

#141

Post by ernst_klim » Mon, Apr 01, 2019, 3:36 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #54

geezerjay wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Populism is a major problem, and one which is based on unscrupulous politicians taking advantage of the ignorance and prejudice while promissing unrealisting and outright impossible solutions to problems that they missrepresent and even invent. And that has absolutely zero to do with science in general and economic models in particular. Time and again we see populist politicians fanning up the masses with anti-capita…

> Populism is a major problem, and one which is based on unscrupulous politicians taking advantage of the ignorance and prejudice while promissing unrealisting and outright impossible solutions to problems that they missrepresent and even invent. Isn't that also what the elites (say, the 10%-ers) have historically also said for realistic and entirely possible solutions (like beheading the King and building a democrat…

>like beheading the King and building a democratic state

Beheading the king has never lead to a democratic state.

The end of segregation as well as suffrage were achieved by slow evolutionary process.

Revolutions and radical means had never achieved anything but chaos, mass slaughter and poverty.

Re: Why Are Economists Giving Piketty the Cold Shoulder? (2017)

#142

Post by mcguire » Mon, Apr 01, 2019, 4:10 PM UTC

ericd wrote: post #134

mcguire wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity... Paris: 27€/m^2 ($30/m^2) SF: $4.95/ft^2 ($53/m^2)

Yeah, Parisian apartments are even cheaper than this implies, since SF apartments tend to be larger than the average Parisian apartment. So the rent that most people pay is generally a good bit less than half.

Now, if we could get the population density up to that of Manila or Mumbai, anyone who wanted to live there could afford it without any difficulties.

Re: Why Are Economists Giving Piketty the Cold Shoulder? (2017)

#143

Post by closeparen » Mon, Apr 01, 2019, 4:54 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #139

closeparen wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We’ve actually had a taste of a world without Goldman Sachs and its ilk performing their functions: the credit freeze right after the crash. Was that better?

That's like: "We had a taste of a world after segregation, the LA riots. Was that better?". The "credit freeze right after the crash" still happened within the crash that Goldman Sachs and its ilk caused, and still happened in a world where Goldman Sachs and its ilk set the rules.

The LA riots are what happens when we continue to have excessive and racist policing past the end of public acceptance of it. No excessive and racist use of force, no LA riots.

The financial crisis is what happens when we don't have access to credit. Whether the financial industry self-destructs as in 2008 or is destructed by the guillotines outside, you're going to have a hard time getting credit without it. No credit, we'd just be in the 2009 world at steady state.