Why Save the Bankers? And Other Essays on Our Economic and Political Crisis

Superstar economist Piketty (economics, Paris Sch. of Economics) is author of the best-selling global phenomenon Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century, which emphasizes his work on wealth and income inequality. The essays in this impressive collection start in September 2008 following the collapse of Lehman Brothers and provide an examination of the Barack Obama presidency and the EU's debt crisis. Piketty brings together selections from eight years of columns in the French publication Libération. These annotated pieces consider tech giant Steve Jobs's career and what it teaches us about economics and obligations which must be or must not be paid. Other writings probe the mysteries of the Carbon Tax; the Central Bank at work; French President Francois Hollande as a new Franklin D. Roosevelt for Europe; what it means to be free; and the how and what of federalism. An essay from Le Monde (the only essay not from Libération) looks at the crisis in Europe on the night of November 13, 2015, when Islamic State-trained militants launched attacks against civilians in Paris. These excellent essays presuppose little knowledge of economics and provide an overview in nontechnical language of events in the news in Europe, which have relevance to the United States.