Capital in the Twenty-First Century

source: Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Its quite obvious since our country has directed itself to the left, and gone largely the same way that Europe has, we have been getting poorer, and have less freedom and opportunity. In 1960 the average citizen, even with no education had a house, 2 vehicles, was able to support a spouse and family on one income. Things were unimaginably better. Homicide rate was much lower in fact. We have been going steadily downhill, and now, the average American rents a hovel, even 2 incomes cane barely afford a family, and we just own 1 vehicle, and barely have enough in the bank to last a couple of months. First and foremost we need to know the direction we thought off as progressive is regressive. Our mental health and health in general is going downhill as well. Suicide rate is rising. Drug abuse is rising. 70% of Americans are over weight, 40% are obsess, and our life expectancy has actually gone downhill. Lest look at what we have done to try and improve things; Minimum wage increases, Unions, body positivity, insane amount t of immigration....what has this done for us? Made us poor, made us unhealthy, made us unhappy. Look at our education system. We pay on average 10X more per student for education then other countries. The tax payer is paying far too much, and yet, we are the 37th in ratings. In the 1960's we were ranked at 2. Then Carter created the Depot of Education. Then came the Teachers Union. Now we have kids who cant even read, but who are spending a huge part of their free time wondering what gender they are, and what a flag for it might look like. Math is one of the hardest hit subjects. The improvements in how we teach Math have not improved our students. Just the opposite. The simplest thing to do when you realize youre going down the wrong path is to backtrack. I suggest we do exactly that. Because we know what this will lead to. It will lead to a global community where all people live like a 3rd world country, with a small cabal of elites who get to drive, own large homes, and have an armed security to protect them. The rest of us will take public transportation( believe me, there is almost nothing more demeaning, and nothing that takes away your independence quite as much as not owning your transportation) rent little hovels packed like sardines in skyscrapers (so if food shortages come, we will not even have a way to grow a potato), an open border so no country will be able to give opportunities to its citizens, because as soon as they try, people from everywhere will come and take. And we will probably not even be allowed to complain. There will certainly be a social credit score.

They took a complex and in depth book and turned it into a ridiculously oversimplified hyperbolic Doco.. complete with sinister music when the baddies were on screen. Any adult with a basic knowledge of history won't take away anything new from this. I get they have to make it compelling, but at least present some of the other sides thinking or the trade offs or complexities. This film does highlight some serious issues that some people might not have been aware of. But it's myopic presentation will just lead to further oversimplified takes that seem to be making the problem worse.

Great respect for the author and the monumental effort that resulted in an incredibly meticulous, methodical, and importantly a measured academic thesis. Not that I vouch for its conclusion (as a free market capitalist) but I'm mature enough to admire something without agreeing with it. This documentary is none of these and is counter to the tone and spirit of the work, manipulating cherry-picked surface-level facts from the book from the outset with a presupposed ideological standpoint to suit a contemporary audience rather than inform them.

I'm not a fan of neoliberal capitalism. So, interested. Haven't read the book, and afterwards feel completely uncompelled to do so. Maybe because I'm old ^^. "Everybody wants to sell what's already been sold And everybody wants to tell what's already been told What's the use of money if you ain't gonna break the mold?" - P. R. Nelson There, I saved you the watch-time and totally mangled history-facts. Geez, my mind is still spinning from the spinning... This is - I don't know what this is. A jambled mess. Painting a dystopic picture but in a fear-mongering way. The solution offered is 1 minute long (tax the rich). Not the worst of ideas, but by the time we get to it I was so annoyed by the sweeping and silly superficiality of it that I wanted to protest the idea just because I felt like protesting anything they said. How they handled the start for WW1 was - ridiculous. Just to mention the one point. Waste of time.

Thomas Piketty's 'Capital in the 21st Century' is a thorough, thought-provoking book about the nature of our society and economy. This documentary, based on the book, is sadly not very good, a whistle-stop tour of every flaw of capitalism associated with a giddying succession of background images. A succession of talking heads either provide brief insight into topics that would have merited a documentary in themselves, or give us a short summary of common knowledge that shows very little understanding (I do not believe that the person who comments on Adam Smith, for example, has actually read anything by Smith; someone else seems to believe Margaret Thatcher somehow broke new ground as a Prime Minister who wasn't an aristocrat; everything gets boiled down into simplistic factoids that perfectly embody what everybody knows already but which aren't in fact correct). It's a shame; the book has sufficient merit that you even learn a lot from reading critiques of it by those who disagree with it; this film will teach you nothing at all.

Having read both the French and English editions of the book by Thomas Piketty, I can say unequivocally... Skip that and just watch the movie. Justin Pemberton moves you through the process of the underlying premise and all the facts in the book, brilliantly and with just the right amount of visual and musical collage to keep you interested and more curious by the minute, to the inevitable conclusion Piketty reached in his award winning nonfiction. A few friends of mine have also read Piketty's book and we all experienced the same cerebral exhaustion; in other words it is a very heavy read, packed full of data, all of which supports, for most us, the clear and very welcomed conclusion of the author. In both the book and the movie, a glimmer of hope is left to the reader and viewer to draw after some further pondering. And oh yes, you will do some of that. If you hadn't herd yet, the topic is inequality between rich and poor, how it was in the past and how it is again today, and worse than we're told by any politicians, and why it never seems to really go away. There are several hard truths about human nature, about societies, about political realities that will be hard for some to face, and this movie highlights those like the book didn't quite do for me. Since reading the book, I have searched for and still am seeking another book to offer up a guide of sorts out of the mess we are in, the one we the 90% find ourselves in. There isn't one, not yet at least. But if enough people see the movie, reflect on the hopes and thoughts Piketty challenged us when he concluded his work, then I trust people will recognize the leaders that can make the changes, the incremental changes to fix things without the masses resorting to the alternate consequence mentioned only in the book, revolution and more wars.

What was the purpose of creating this film? If it's goal was to regurgitate the history of capitalism, well done. Everything I heard, I know..... nothing new is revealed. The troubling omission, is Bitcoin. It's a new economy just emerging. If you don't know about BTC, if you don't own any, you're wholely ignorant or uneducated. This film misses the mark. How can you painstakingly tell the story of capitalism without addressing the coming economy? Bitcoin has a market capitalization of $1TUSD. It's growing rapidly and will eclipse *ALL* banks eventually. Word.

I would have given 8.5 stars for the content, but it is elitist to sub-title content instead of dub content into the intended language. Visual mediums like TV, are not meant to be read, unless your a speed reader that can quickly read and absorb the visuals, and the documentary has great visuals. In this simple obvious mistake, the film makers show their own disconnection from the masses who's cause they are attempting to forward. Did they not see the irony in this, did anyone else?

A must watch documentary especially during this time of uncertainity. Wish more world leaders saw this.