Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century, in 20 minutes (2014) [video]
Wonderful talk. One thing he called for was a wealth tax, which is something that makes complete sense but is going to be very unpopular. On the otherhand, he also calls for progressive income taxes (something that is reported by the media and an easier pill to swallow) - in my country, Canada, progressive income taxes are not the answer IMHO.<p>We didn&#x27;t have as much inequality for education (i.e. lots of decent Universities, not terribly expensive). The problem is wealth in the form of housing has exploded for a large fraction of the population (typically older people) and has left young people (well, anybody without a house) in the dust. In major cities like Toronto and Vancouver, average detached houses cost well over a million bucks. This is also happening because of bone-headed environmental policies (I&#x27;m all for the environment, I just don&#x27;t understand why people without homes are punished for having a green belt while people with homes are rewarded). Our current PM (I&#x27;m a fan) has done many good things but he doesn&#x27;t get this. We had something called the child tax credit, which families with children would get unconditionally - this became something you&#x27;d get based on income. Now, young people who are desperately saving for downpayments are hampered even more ... buying a home is just out of reach. In my humble opinion, a wealth tax is the way to go and young people should make their voices heard to our representatives.<p>In summary, people need to understand the difference between income inequality and wealth inequality. I argue the problem is NOT income inequality - it is wealth differences.