[apsec112]

Returns to capital in the form of ownership of companies (including eg. the source code to automate labor that's owned by those companies) have been flat. Higher returns on capital have almost entirely been caused by higher housing prices. See eg. Rognlie's paper at http://www.mit.edu/~mrognlie/piketty_diminishing_returns.pdf.

[lmm]

George was and remains right. Economic growth is captured by landowners; the solution is to tax and redistribute at that point.

[antisthenes]

The non-violent solution is thus a land-value tax. Hopefully forcing most if not all the non-economically active people to move to cheaper COL areas.

That is not to say we should discourage home ownership, but we should discourage multiple home ownership for the purpose of rent extraction. Land is a zero-sum market and landlords who are against development and housing construction are effectively stealing value from those who would use thee homes as a residence.

[GFK_of_xmaspast]

It's almost as if the rate of profit tends to fall.

[eli_gottlieb]

It's almost as if the real solution to our problems is worker control of the means of production.

[choxi]

Does "returns to capital in the form of ownership of companies" mean "returns to capital on stocks and equities"? I'm confused because returns on equities certainly haven't been flat.