I'm listening to Capital by Thomas Piketty.

What's great about it is that I've read a slew of Political Science 101-type articles and books, such as Winner-Take-All Politics and "Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult". It's getting a bit stale for me, all the dead-horse-beating. I started reading American Amnesia and I had to stop and return the book because I know already. The dismantling of the mixed economy. Rich people getting richer. The handwaving dogma of the job-creators.

Capital, though? It's not Poli 101. I'm not quite sure where it's at in the Econ & Hist department, but it's refreshingly higher up. The translation is lucid and engaging, and my only fear is the fear of all audiobooking: It won't stick as well as the physical page. But I think I'll supplement with the "physical" copy I have on iBooks. This book makes me excited. Walking down the street and hearing this:

Of course, everyone can also understand that if all the company’s earnings from its output went to paying wages and nothing to profits, it would probably be difficult to attract the capital needed to finance new investments, at least as our economies are currently organized (to be sure, one can imagine other forms of organization). Furthermore, it is not necessarily just to deny any remuneration to those who choose to save more than others—assuming, of course, that differences in saving are an important reason for the inequality of wealth. Bear in mind, too, that a portion of what is called “the income of capital” may be remuneration for “entrepreneurial” labor, and this should no doubt be treated as we treat other forms of labor. This classic argument deserves closer scrutiny. Taking all these elements into account, what is the “right” split between capital and labor? Can we be sure that an economy based on the “free market” and private property always and everywhere leads to an optimal division, as if by magic? In an ideal society, how would one arrange the division between capital and labor? How should one think about the problem?

puts a big old grin on my face.