Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will appear at an event later this month in Boston with French economist Thomas Piketty, bringing together the authors of two books on economic inequality that have both vaulted to the top of the Amazon and New York Times best-seller lists.
The conversation between Warren and Piketty, to be aired on HuffPost Live, will take place at Boston’s Old South Meeting House on May 31.Warren’s recent book, A Fighting Chance, has been on The New York Times best-seller list since its release, and nearly hit number 1 on Amazon’s list, coming in second just behind Piketty’s Capital In The 21st Century.
That Warren and Piketty’s books have been topping the charts has fueled a sense that a new economic populism may be gaining broad public support in the face of a flagging economy and yawning economic inequality.
In particular, the success of Capital — a 700-page economics book translated from the French — has taken the publishing industry by storm and reshaped the political conversation around inequality. Piketty and other collaborators spent more than a decade putting together the most comprehensive data on income and wealth, going back more than 200 years. What Piketty found has shaken up the economics profession, which has argued for decades that capitalism naturally leads to reduced inequality at some undefined stage of development. Piketty argues to the contrary that the period of declining inequality in the middle of the 20th century was an anomaly rather than the norm, and that over the past two centuries, the return that the wealthy have earned on capital has been significantly larger than the growth of the overall economy. In short, the rich get richer.
Warren’s book, meanwhile, was initially to be titled “Rigged,” but she ultimately chose a more hopeful title, and her assertion that she will continue to do everything in her power to level the playing field on behalf of the middle class has only fueled speculation that she may make a bid for the White House in 2016. She has repeatedly said that she is not running for president, though couches her refusals in the present tense.
Elizabeth Warren is making a terrible mistake by not running for president in 2016. Not only for herself, but for her fellow citizens. Her message is close to pitch perfect for our time. A presidential debate between Democratic candidates Warren, Clinton and Bernie Sanders would be something to behold. Let’s hope that Warren comes to her senses and does the right thing for her country.
I love Liz, but I’m still skeptical that she is ready for prime-time, center stage on foreign policy and I sense that she is too.
Dealing with foreign policy is fairly easy and pretty straightforward if you’re not trying to build an empire. The goal of Clinton and the neo-cons is to maintain our current empire and build it bigger. That is unacceptable. For a multitude of reasons. Warren is a very bright person. She can learn the ins and outs of what’s going on in world in a matter of days or at most weeks. Anyone can. It’s not that complicated. As long as Warren keeps in mind that if you try to steal somebody’s natural resources or overthrow their government they might just get angry and push back. A lesson Obama has yet to learn.
I take your point. However, election of President Warren would not put and end to the imperial ambitions of the deep government, whhich basically dictates acceptable options in diplomacy, military policy, and governmental PR (which is gobbled up whole by the MSM). Overcoming that juggernaut would be much more involved and difficult than simply issuing orders. Also, I hope you were exaggerating when you said that anyone “can learn the ins and outs of that’s going on in world in a matter of days or at most weeks.” The world is a very big and complicated place.
The fastest and easiest way to stop a moving juggernaut is to throw sand into its mechanisms. Obama like Clinton went along to get along and changed little. Bernie Sanders won’t go along. Because he’s fearless and a person without ego and guile. Warren has a great message, but she needs to stiffen her backbone. Foreign policy is easy. Really. The world isn’t as big a place as the 1% (oligarchy) would have us believe. Nor is it as complicated. Honestly. For example the CIA takeover of Libya is failing. It’s simple to see that because what’s happening in Libya is being reported by the corporate media. We are told nothing except what the 1% wants us to know. When they fail they slowly let us in on their failure. Often spinning it as a win. When approaching foreign policy it’s best view it from the opposite perspective. More often than not the actual facts will then be revealed.