Well, I'm sure most readers have read my initial piece on the Piketty book by now, "
The Misguided Resurgence of Marxist Collectivism."
It turns out I was on to more than I realized at the time.
Every now and then you have a book that catches the moment's zeitgeist, and
Capital in the Twenty-First Century sure has the makings of another earth-shaker. (I'm finding myself reminded of the urgent reception of Paul Kennedy's
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers back in 1987, a time when the country's was awash in massive Reagan-era deficits and frightened to death of the prospect of Japan as No. 1.) At the very least members of the Washington establishment will be gleefully brandishing this tome while demanding an increase in top tax rates
reminiscent of the "glory" days of the Roosevelt administration.
And right on cue, the big bloviating, hypocritical luxury leftists are pumping this book like there's no tomorrow. I watched this full 20-minute Bill Moyers interview with far-left economist Paul Krugman earlier today. It's a classic "highbrow" PBS joint. Behold these two left-wing know-it-alls pontificating on how horrible is the U.S. economy in this new "Gilded Age" of allegedly extreme economic inequality. And not long into the discussion we get to the root of the left's disgusting and divisive racism and class warfare. At around 14:30 minutes Moyers bemoans society's alleged "ugliness," an obviously coded attack on those conservatives in particular who've worked to prevent a return to the confiscatory tax rates of last century. And not to disappoint, Krugman intercepts the dog whistle and launches into a typical attack on certain groups in society (ahem, tea party types, cough, hack) who are animated by those ever-present "underlying racist" motivations that are the standard fall-back trope of the congenitally stupid MSNBC crowd.
I find it particularly interesting that we're having a fairly vigorous to-do about income inequality at precisely the moment that leftist political fortunes are fading, and fading fast. Krugman even laments that we're not likely to see the political pendulum swing toward passing the left's obscene tax policies until 2024.
But never forget that these people, while bemoaning the corporate excesses of "untrammeled" wealth, are themselves some of the most privileged media and educational insiders in American life. "Pampered" would be putting it much too mildly for these epic hypocrites lounging in the lap of leftist luxury.
Bill Moyers, for example, as
Discover the Networks points out, "Has received at least $20 million in taxpayer money from public broadcasting, but refuses to disclose his income." Naturally.
And don't miss this laugh riot report on Paul Krugman at Instapundit,
"HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Krugman’s CUNY Sinecure":
Whether or not Krugman’s scholarship and teaching ability warrant such a superior salary is certainly worthy of debate, but the real issue for most commentators is not how much CUNY will pay Krugman, but how little they are asking him to do. CUNY is essentially offering him what used to be called a sinecure. Like ecclesiastical appointments “without the care of souls,” the terms of Krugman’s contract require him to do almost nothing his first year and then teach just one graduate seminar each year for as long as he would like to stay at CUNY. This required teaching in the second year is less than half of the usual course load for most distinguished professors at the Graduate Center, some of whom teach three classes per year and advise several dissertations at a time. Whether Krugman will advise or sit on any dissertation committees remains to be seen.
It is clear from his acceptance email however, that he is interested in doing as little work as possible.
So, kind of like his columns, then.
Heh.
And Krugman's shaking down CUNY for a cool $225,000 annually. Man the barricades!
So, yeah, it's a Marxist renaissance we're in, for sure. The leftist establishment media is definitely in the tank, so be on the lookout for a passel of fawning reviews of Piketty's work in the weeks (perhaps even months) ahead. And then it will all subside and leftists will retreat into their collectivist fortress, working feverishly on their next attack on salt-of-the-earth Americans. It's depraved, I know. But a patriot's day is never done. Just keep exposing these hypocritical hacks for all they're worth, which not surprisingly is quite a bit.