1. Excellent review of Abundance that usefully disentangles the (often useful, at worst harmless) policy prescriptions from ticklish question of political salesmanship & the dubious politics of the larger movement. www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2025/03/24/t... - ThreadSky

jeetheer.bsky.social • 30 days ago

1. Excellent review of Abundance that usefully disentangles the (often useful, at worst harmless) policy prescriptions from ticklish question of political salesmanship & the dubious politics of the larger movement. https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2025/03/24/the-abundance-agenda/

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asthepalacesburn.bsky.social•30 days ago

He needs to fix the link to the Zephyr Teachout article.
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/03/23/an-abundance-of-ambiguity/

corruption47.bsky.social•28 days ago

Yea, abundance is not the word that will stir mens' loins. Do some message testing please. This language is what academics who've never done a day's politicking come up with. I might agree with some of the agenda but the rhetoric sucks. Politics is all about emotion.

jeetheer.bsky.social•30 days ago

2. The Bruenig review reminded me of something I do like about the Abundance gang (previously the Vox boys and before that the Juicebox Mafia): unlike the liberalism of more recent vintage they have a utopian imagination, almost a Fourieristic utopianism.

jeetheer.bsky.social•30 days ago

3. Liberalism since the Cold War has often been militantly anti-utopian (aside from sinister fantasies of military domination), to its disservice. Without some utopian hope, it's impossible to break the straight-jacket of the present.

jeetheer.bsky.social•30 days ago

4. So yes, dream way: one billion Americans, New Deal style building projects, even oceans made of lemonade and humans growing tails with eyes at the tip (Fourier's great hopes). These help expand the range of the possible.

jeetheer.bsky.social•30 days ago

5. What makes the Vox Punditi annoying is that these Utopian pet schemes are combined with a super-ego of pragmatic naysaying selectively applied to rival projects. Bruenig's example of Klein on Medicare for All is a good example.

jeetheer.bsky.social•30 days ago

6. Defeating health insurance industry would be hard, yes, but actually much less hard changing homeownership fetish of most American adults.

michaelvitamin.bsky.social•30 days ago

When homeownership is the only way you can safely retire, you buy a home

shtirlets.bsky.social•30 days ago

Why is defeating healthcare industry entrenchment easier than eliminating overwhelming zoning rules?

sundiego2015.bsky.social•30 days ago

No actually universal healthcare would be a devastating for the stock, bond, and labor markets while raising taxes massively. It is a lot harder lift than saying certain municipalities should have denser housing and we should have easier permitting for non-coal power.

jeetheer.bsky.social•30 days ago

7 Yglesias/Klein mirror Musk who is both selling wild utopian science fiction (mars colonies!) & implementing austerity politics to pay for it (social security & medicare cults). It's a strange formula, half-Fourier, half-Malthus, or Utopia for me, austerity for you

centristhumanist.bsky.social•30 days ago

Not convinced it's "excellent".

The reviewer's distaste for historical context is simply incorrect.

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