This Saturday saw Thomas Piketty deliver a stirring speech at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus, the Professor of Economics at the Paris School of Economics (and author of twelve books) hitting some notes that were rather close to home.

Piketty has come under fire from critics for his book Capital in the 21st Century, a merciless attack on capitalism that has made him unpopular with conservatives and financial bigwigs across the world. He stuck to his guns when addressing a crowd of around 2 000 this weekend, earning a standing ovation at the completion of his address.

So what did he say that won the crowd over? Here’s Mail and Guardian:

Piketty’s book begins at Marikana, and goes on to argue for the introduction of a global wealth tax, as one means of redistributing wealth to address inquality.

In terms of inequality, Piketty says South Africa is “top of its class”. He says that 60% of all income earned in South Africa is in the hands of 10% of the population.

Piketty’s work also draws on tax records to draw insights into who has owned what during the last two centuries or so. Yet on Saturday he lamented the lack of public records, globally, that would complete this analysis for all countries.

Piketty says a global registry of financial assets is needed to truly understand wealth ownership, and thus begin to address income inequality.

While such a registry might seem “utopian”, he said, it is not impossible: these registries already exist, but they are owned by private corporations, and accessing this data is very difficult for members of the public.

Piketty also argues for “progressive taxation”, which also entails aggressively combatting corporate tax evasion.

He says that up to 50% of all financial assets in Africa are held offshore, robbing the continent of much needed resources. Africa does not need development aid, he says. It needs companies to pay their fair share of tax. He also argued against the privatisation of public services.

“I understand that many people, including many business leaders are very skeptical about the capacity of government to deliver this, but on the other hand I think there is no other option than to try to improve the functioning, and contribute… to pay the tax that would finance the functioning of public sector education. There’s no other strategy.

“The strategy according to which you do it through privatising the education and health system, and let the business sector do it, will not work. I think what does work historically, in order to have sustainable and equitable growth, is to have a well-functioning public education and health system, and South Africa should go in this direction.”

He said it was critical that there was more data available about “who owns what in South Africa”. “I think it is very difficult to have a reasonable debate about wealth with so little information,” he said.

Top of our class is usually something we can be proud of, although this stinging attack from someone far more versed in his field than us leaves us licking our wounds.

It was actually a close run thing as to whether or not Piketty would make it to our shores, some passport problems meaning he could not board his initial flight from Paris to Johannesburg. Thankfully the issue was sorted and he managed to dish out some harsh truths.

Whether or not anyone heeds his advice is a different story altogether – big business doesn’t take too kindly to change.

[sources:mg&timeslive]