Donald Trump is serving up a scarcity agenda to America. He and the White House say we don’t have an economy that works, so we might just need to accept a period of economic hardship. They say America cannot afford its debt, and therefore we cannot afford health care for the poor. They say America doesn’t have enough manufacturing, so we have to accept less trade. They say America doesn’t have enough housing, and so we need fewer immigrants. America needs the opposite of this scarcity mindset to grow and thrive. We need an abundance agenda. But what does that mean? The answer to that question is in my new book, which I cowrote with the New York Times columnist and podcaster Ezra Klein. He is also today’s guest. We talk about ‘Abundance’ the book, and why it exists. And we talk about abundance the idea, and why it matters. (You can buy the book here!) If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected]. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Ezra Klein Producer: Devon Baroldi P.S. If you live in Seattle, Atlanta, or the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, Derek is coming your way in March! See him live at book events in your city. Tickets here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Full Episode
Hey, it's Bill Simmons letting you know that we are covering the White Lotus on the Prestige TV podcast and the Ringer TV YouTube channel every Sunday night this season with Mally Rubin and Joanna Robinson.
Also on Wednesdays, Rob Mahoney and I will be sort of diving deep into theories and listener questions. So you can watch that on the Ringer YouTube channel and also on the Spotify app.
Subscribe to the Prestige podcast feed. Subscribe to the Ringer TV YouTube channel. And don't forget, you can also watch these podcasts on Spotify.
White Lotus, let's go. Du bist immer am Puls der Zeit und gerne up to date? Dann ist der NowBrief des neuen Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra genau das Richtige für dich. Stau auf dem Weg zur Arbeit? Dann wird dir automatisch geraten, früher loszufahren. Es regnet am Zielort? Dann empfiehlt es dir, den Regenschirm mitzunehmen. Mit dem Galaxy S25 Ultra kannst du einen Schritt voraus sein. Neugierig?
Erfahre mehr auf Samsung.de Today, abundance.
In his recent address to Congress, Donald Trump promised a golden age of America. But when you take a closer look at his policies, when you squint through the blur of tariffs added and removed and re-added and re-removed, I think the picture that moves into focus is something very different than an expansive vision of the future. It's something more like a pinched vision of the present.
Again and again, the Trump White House has pointed to existing shortages to demand new sacrifices. They say America cannot afford our debt, and therefore, we can't afford healthcare for the poor. They say America doesn't have enough manufacturing, and so we must accept less trade. They say America doesn't have enough housing, and so we need fewer immigrants. Less for less.
This looks to me like a regime of scarcity. Now, of course, Republicans will disagree. They'll argue that in the long run, their politics is designed to solve America's problems. We can already see many ways in which the problems that got Donald Trump elected in the first place are being exacerbated by his first policies. Take, for example, affordability and housing.
Housing costs are too high in this country, obviously. And home construction has lagged for decades. The problem is particularly bad for young people who shifted significantly toward the Republican side in 2024. The median age of first-time homebuyers in America recently surged to an all-time high. And delays in homebuying are having a ripple effect.
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