Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2019)

Directed by: Justin Pemberton | 103 minutes | documentary | Starring: Vanessa Redgrave, Kate Williams, Thomas Piketty, Faiza Shaheen, Gillian Tett, Rana Foroohar, Ian Bremmer, Paul Piff, Gabriel Zucman, Francis Fukuyama, Joseph Stiglitz, Suresh Naidu, Simon Johnson, Bryce Edwards, Paul Mason, Lucas Chancel

The director of the documentary ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’, Justin Pemberton, takes us on a journey from the year 1700 to our present existence, based on the book of the same name by the French economist Thomas Piketty. A wonderful insight into the kitchen of big money. Das Kapital but slightly different.

On this tour, from Jane Austen to The Simpsons, we come to the conclusion that in the 21st century capital seems to be distributed in the same way as in the 18th century. A small top layer owns almost everything and the 95 or more percent below that has to divide the rest among themselves. You have the very poorest (with a life expectancy of only 17 years!), the middle class and the top layer, the rich elite. Power and wealth are acquired through descent. Land ownership, lease of land, loans to workers: we see how the landlords best ‘capitalized’ their inherited wealth.

This led to extreme inequality over the centuries. This inequality, poor versus rich, shows many tensions in the economic, social and political spheres. Where it was previously thought that competition was the motivation to keep the economy going, it appears that nowadays there are fewer and fewer opportunities for young people. Partly due to sky-high student debts, they have almost nowhere to go on the housing market. A house as an investment is almost impossible for them anymore. Capital in the Twenty-First Century’ begins with the fall of communism. Via the French and the Industrial Revolution we end up in the 20th century where we see that a strengthened nationalism (Germany wanted a bigger piece of the pie, because until that time Great Britain and France with their colonies about 3/4 of the earth managed…) leads to cultural terrorism. That starts another war. This struggle for capital has resulted in an economic crisis. Around the 1920s, workers and women increasingly have a voice. Stocks skyrocketed until the ‘bubble’ bursts in 1929.

Germany remained very poor because of the reparations it had to make after the end of World War I. Poverty appears to be a healthy breeding ground for the emerging fascism. And then we see the dichotomy between economy and capital: the war industry turned out to be a solution to the crisis, but the war (WWII) itself led to the destruction of capital.
The new politics in the 1950s led to more social security. Hard work and study is often a guarantee for a place higher up. Capital must be ‘tamed’. In the 1960s we see the rise of civil rights organizations. In the 1970s, the war in the Middle East led to an oil crisis, the key component of the global economy.

Over the past four decades, the proportion of the middle class has declined sharply, especially in the United States. Margaret Thatcher (grocer’s daughter who manages to become Prime Minister of Great Britain) and US President Ronald Reagan in particular tamper with workers’ rights and allow capital to flow freely through the market. Despite this, Germany and Japan are catching up with America in terms of production. The world is globalizing, capital is being spread across several continents. The wages earned by the economy disappear less and less into the pockets of the workers. It’s Gordon Gekko’s time on the stock exchange (“Greed is good”). Making money fast, the yuppies in power with deregulation as the mantra. In the 1990s, the economy flourished: everyone can borrow money and/or take out mortgages, even the very poorest. Until the new ‘stock market crash’ in 2008. The rich elite are gaining more and more political influence. The ‘one person, one vote’ is exchanged for ‘one dollar, one vote’. The rich avoid taxes (including Apple, Amazon, Facebook, McDonald’s) and opt for empty BVs in tax havens such as Bermuda.

The future according to Piketty?: low social mobility and increasing inequality. From 1700 to 2018, the economy has grown by 1.8%, in contrast to the return on capital: 4 to 5%. See the crux there. Instead of tackling the multinationals, we focus our anger on immigration. Capitalism must be regulated with higher taxes on wealth and inheritance. According to the star economist, it is a political and an intellectual challenge to fight inequality, but he does not see it as impossible. “Past shows that if we distribute available capital more democratically and more inclusively, we can create a healthy society with less inequality.”

Bob Dylan already sang it: The times they are a changing. According to a graffitti tag in the documentary: Eternité, Fraternité, Beyoncé. In short, we are faced with a challenge. Or for a new revolution…