Abundance and Its Discontents (James Livingston, 3/07/25, Project Syndicate)
[T]he vision Klein and Thompson offer makes the idea of abundance sound like what awaits the Tribulation Force of the Left Behind film franchise, whose members prove they are worthy of joining the Raptured in heaven by working hard against the anti-Christ on Earth. The abundance we need and deserve cannot be incentivized by monetizing it and attracting private investors and contractors emboldened by relaxed regulations and officials who are willing and able to bend the rules. Nor does it have to wait on the arrival of another “political order” that will deliver the goods because it tells a “better story,” as per the historian Gary Gerstle’s periodization of the US political party system (eagerly cited by Klein and Thompson). Abundance is here and now, abiding in the simple fact that economic growth doesn’t require more savings, more work, and more fossil fuels (and thus the incineration of the planet), because growth – at any pace – no longer demands larger inputs of either capital and labor.
It’s impossible tyo overstate deflationary pressures.