When Political Power Marries Market Power

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 by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“Where in history do we find such a fusion of political power and person affairs? In the Roman Empire where the emperor….could make his horse a senator and force all those courtiers who didn’t appreciate his poetry to slit their wrists….”

Umberto Eco (Turning back the Clock)

( May 4, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Almost one and a half centuries after Marx published his Capital, another Capital is taking the world by storm. Thomas Piketty’s ‘Capital in the Twenty First Century’ uses a trove of data to demonstrate the truth of an old belief – left to its own devices, capitalism causes wealth to concentrate in a handful of hands and inequality to soar.

Prof. Piketty is no advocate of systemic change. 

When Political Power Marries Market Power by Thavam Ratna