Piketty: “Some billionaires consume academics”
by Gaius Publius
The above quote is part of a quip by Thomas Piketty (him) at a gathering of economists that included a number of right-wing ideologues like Greg Mankiw. The writer Masaccio tells the tale:
Piketty Gets A Laugh At Mankiw’s Expense
… One of those panels, packed with right-wing economists, was set up by Mankiw, who used it as a stage to attack Piketty. He and his fellow ideologues decided unanimously that the best thing to do is to impose a consumption tax, presumably as part of a package to lower taxes on the top earners and to keep capital gains taxes low and corporate taxes at their lowest level in decades.
Masaccio then mentions a joke Mankiw made publicly at Picketty’s expense (I’ll send you there to read that). The result:
Then someone asked Piketty what he thought about the consumption tax idea. Collins reports his reply:
“We know something about billionaire consumption,” Piketty observed, “but it is hard to measure some of it. Some billionaires are consuming politicians, others consume reporters, and some consume academics.”
Ideologue (my characterization above) or operative (Piketty’s)? Feel free to decide for yourself. Masaccio’s response: “Sweet.”
GP
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