Today’s links America and “national capitalism”: How the EU should respond to Trumpism. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: 2005, 2010, 2015 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I’ve been. Latest books: You keep readin’ em, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Colophon: All the rest. America and “national capitalism” (permalink) Thomas Piketty’s 2013 unexpected bestseller (a 750 page economics book translated from French!) Capital in the 21st Century, offers a very convincing explanation of our political decay, and it continues to serve this purpose as the decay undergoes alarming acceleration: https://memex.craphound.com/2014/06/24/thomas-pikettys-capital-in-the-21st-century/ Let me sketch out that argument really briefly for you here. Absent any kind of government intervention, markets make investors richer than workers (AKA “the rate of return on capital exceeds the rate of return from growth” or “r > g”). This is true even for extremely powerful workers who get very, very rich indeed. Piketty illustrates this in many ways, but my favorite is the Parable of Bill Gates, Liliane Bettencourt and Bill Gates (again). Bill Gates founded Microsoft in 1975 and he stepped down as CEO in 2000. In the intervening 25 years, he built the company into the most profitable firm in human history and grew very, very rich. This is Market Lore Canon: found a successful company, grow rich. Now, Bill Gates started with a bunch of money – he comes from a wealthy family – but he grew his personal…Pluralistic: America and "national capitalism" (18 Feb 2025)