"For the first time in decades, America has a chance to define its next political order."
What It’s About
Derek Thompson argues that America faces a defining political choice between Donald Trump’s vision of scarcity, anger, and retrenchment, and a liberal alternative rooted in abundance, optimism, and growth.
Harkening back to the ideas introduced by A Simple Plan to Solve All of America’s Problems, Thompson calls for an "Abundance Agenda" that fuses together a progressive devotion to equity, a conservative respect for national achievement, and a libertarian appreciation for regulatory reform.
Upshot
Thompson argues that:
- Scarcity reinforces itself: Scarcity-minded conservatives have weaponized painful shortages — for example, in housing and manufacturing jobs — to push policies that reinforce overall economic scarcity
- Democrats have to face their own demons: Liberal cities afflicted by endless regulatory hurdles and “NIMBYism” have done more than anyone else to make housing unaffordable and new infrastructure impossible to build
- Abundance is the Way: The only way out of this death spiral is an agenda of aggressive new construction, bold science, and thoughtful deregulation
Did you know? In California, for every 10-point increase in progressive voter share, housing permits issued drop by 30 percent.
Read the Full Article
Buy the Book: Abundance
Why It Matters
Thompson has long been ahead of the curve in diagnosing why America feels economically and socially stagnant. His new book with Ezra Klein, Abundance, helps liberals understand how to deliver tangible progress rather than symbolic gestures.
Who Wrote It
Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic covering economics, culture, and technology. He is the co-author of Abundance with the New York Times’ Ezra Klein.
