- The world-famous economist Thomas Piketty published a new 1,200-page book on Thursday that lays out a plan for getting rid of billionaires and reforming capitalism.
- The book is a follow-up to “Capital in the 21st Century,” which helped advance key debates surrounding income inequality.
- “The time has come to exit this phase of making property sacred, to go beyond capitalism,” Piketty told French magazine L’Obs.
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The world-famous economist Thomas Piketty is back with a 1,200-page guide to abolishing billionaires and reforming capitalism.
The economist published the French edition “Capital and Ideology,” on Thursday. The book is a sequel to “Capital in the 21st Century,” which focuses on wealth and income equality throughout Europe and the United States in the 18th Century.
“The time has come to exit this phase of making property sacred, to go beyond capitalism,” Piketty told French magazine L’Obs.
Piketty’s new book builds on many of his existing positions and ideas regarding income equality and capitalism, and goes further to propose a variety of ways he believes would help improve economic systems. One of his proposals is a wealth tax ranging from as little as 0.1% to as much as 90%.
"The system I propose makes it possible to own several million euros, or even tens of millions, at least for a while,'' Piketty said in his interview with L'Obs. "But those with several hundred million euros, or several billion, will have to share power.''
Piketty also argues that shareholders shouldn't own more than 10% of the voting rights at any company. He's also proposed his own variant of universal basic income called "inheritance for all," which would give all French citizens a $132,000 payout when they turn 25.