Criticism of Capitalism | The War of the Rich

It is worth remembering the striking quote from Warren Buffett, the ancient stock market speculator: "There is class warfare, all right," admitted the then 75-year-old, "but it is my class, the rich class, that is waging war, and we are winning." That was more than ten years ago; it appeared in the New York Times at the end of November 2006 – and the pace, radicalism, and violence of the greedy and insatiable continue to increase worldwide.

This "summit of superstars," as the publisher calls this slim volume of conversations, comes at just the right time. Thomas Piketty, an economist from Paris, debates with Michael J. Sandel, a philosopher at Harvard – the one (Piketty) is a bestselling author of "Capital in the 21st Century," the other a bestselling author of "What Money Can't Buy!" (Sandel). The title of the volume: "The Struggles of the Future: Equality and Justice in the 21st Century." The topics, divided into nine chapters, include growing social inequality, climate change, mass migration, the rise of the right, and the future of the left.

Both intellectuals agree that all the social and political upheavals worldwide, including the rise of autocrats and fascists, did not fall from the sky. "The center-left politicians failed," says Sandel: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Gerhard Schröder – they paved the way, they ensured growing injustice, anger, and outrage in broad circles, and they facilitated the rise of populists like Trump, Farage, Merz, and the like.

Back in 2008, US President Obama bailed out the financial industry. To do this, he appointed "the same economists who had already deregulated the financial sector under Clinton." And what did they do under Obama? "They bailed out the banks and left ordinary homeowners to fend for themselves," Sandel said. "The bailout of Wall Street at taxpayer expense" cast a shadow over Obama's presidency. High hopes for progressive or social democratic policies were dashed. And two streams of protest emerged: on the one hand, the Ocupy Wall Street movement and "the surprisingly successful candidacy of Bernie Sanders against Hillary Clinton"; on the other, the Tea Party movement and ultimately Trump's first election to the White House. A "feeling of injustice, anger, and outrage" developed among the population.

Piketty agrees with Sandel and then explains why the neoliberal policies that have prevailed for more than four decades have not been overcome by left-liberal politicians. It is "the fear that I myself spoke about in my book *Capital and Ideology *," says Piketty, "the fear of opening the Pandora's box of redistribution, but also of re-evaluating our actions. The fear of not knowing where to stop."

If the majority of the population is to be made more satisfied and in agreement with the prevailing policies, a fundamental change is needed. "How can we foster a sense of community?" asks Sandel. Tax progression, certainly, meaning making the wealthy pay more. A tax on the rich, a capital gains tax, an appropriate inheritance tax on very large fortunes, a tax on excess profits (as well as the abolition of tax avoidance schemes and stricter controls and sanctions for large-scale tax evasion)—in other words, all the things that the incoming German government is once again omitting.

"Dignity and mutual recognition" are necessary, the interlocutors agree; in short, a society based on solidarity is needed to prevent a slide into fascism. "Awaken a sense of mutual responsibility and shared belonging," demands the philosopher. "We have begun," adds the economist, "to build a legal system that is essentially designed to allow the richest to evade any community obligation. And then we pretend that this is perfectly natural." Piketty's proposal: taxing corporate profits at the UN level. "I stand for a democratic, federal, internationalist socialism," declares the professor at the elite Parisian École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales . And he broadens his perspective when he adds that we have completely ignored "the question of trust, international justice, and North-South redistribution." How can a more peaceful world come about?

"The only way to win public opinion in the US or France," says Piketty, "is through targeted taxation of high net worth, of large corporations that pay directly." However, this demand will not be heard or implemented as long as a political class that primarily wants to share in the wealth and is elected into governments is under the sway of the wealthy class, not the representatives of the people, as they still claim to be. However, the two intellectuals do not address this shift in the dominant political class.

How can community spirit be fostered? Through redistribution, which makes the wealthy pay more.

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"The votes for Trump or Le Pen," explains the French economist, "are due less to migrant flows than to job losses." And the Harvard Law School lecturer and co-founder of communitarianism , who in this dialogue serves more as a prompter and questioner, adds: It's not about "immigration," but "about the feeling that others look down on you. It's about recognition. It's about dignity." Towards the end of the book, the two discuss Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his "Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality among Men" (1754). The problem, Piketty claims, is "less the first enclosure, the first piece of private property," than the limitless accumulation of property. (...) Some have great power, and others lose control."

A few notes, explanations, and background information from the publisher would have been helpful in clarifying some of the terms and contexts for interested readers who aren't so well-versed in the academic world. The rampage of US President Donald Trump, who has returned to the White House for a second time and is brutally turning the world upside down, isn't even mentioned in this volume. Unfortunately.

Thomas Piketty/Michael J. Sandel: The Struggles of the Future: Equality and Justice in the 21st Century. Translated from English by Stefan Lorenzer. CH Beck, 160 pp., hardcover, €20.