Daily Bafflements

• Rich idiots are bathing in wine and sand, and paying extra for fancy ice. (Thanks to Ben Walsh for that sand one.)

• From this New Yorker piece about Janet Yellen’s recent speech we learn that “In 1989, the bottom half of the distribution owned just three per cent of all wealth. By 2013, that figure had fallen to one per cent.” Since 1989, the average net worth of American families in the bottom fifty percent has fallen from $22,000 to $11,000. (Via Nicholas Thompson.)

• Economists provide more proof that Thomas Piketty is right about capital returns growing faster than the rest of the economy.

• And another economist provides more proof that Naomi Klein is right about capitalism’s inability to effectively reverse climate change.