The United States could transform its property tax system into a progressive tax on net worth without asking permission to the rest of the world. Thomas Piketty More Quotes by Thomas Piketty More Quotes From Thomas Piketty When inequality gets too extreme, then it becomes useless for growth, and it can even become bad because it tends to lead to high perpetuation of inequality over time and low mobility. Thomas Piketty bad inequality growth time There is a fundamentalist belief by capitalists that capital will save the world, and it just isn't so. Thomas Piketty will just belief world When you are an entrepreneur, you have founded your own firm, it is so easy to find that you exist - you are the main shareholder of your company; it is very easy to look at the stock market position of your company to know how rich you are. Thomas Piketty look you rich easy I think if you look back through time, the history of income, wealth and taxation is full of surprise. So I am not terribly impressed by those who know in advance what will or will not happen. Thomas Piketty i-am you time history Having a decent share of the national wealth for the middle class is not bad for growth. It is actually useful both for equity and efficiency reasons. Thomas Piketty bad efficiency wealth growth Economists tend to think they are much, much smarter than historians, than everybody. And this is a bit too much because at the end of the day, we don't know very much in economics. Thomas Piketty end-of-the-day end day think Market forces and capitalism by themselves aren't sufficient to ensure the common good and to limit the concentration of wealth at levels that are compatible with democratic ideals. Thomas Piketty limit good capitalism wealth Once constituted, capital reproduces itself faster than output increases. The past devours the future. Thomas Piketty once than future past I'm not as pessimistic as what a number of people seem to believe. Thomas Piketty seem number believe people I don't pretend that I can predict the future value of the growth rate or rate of return. Thomas Piketty value future growth i-can