Abundance and the Left
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What is the book 'Abundance' about and why discuss it now?
It is a wild thing to release a book into the world. Abundance, the book I co-wrote with Derek Thompson, has been out for a month and a half. It hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list this week, which thank you to all of you out there who have read it or listened to it. No way that would have happened without you. And it's doing things out there that I never really expected it to do, creating arguments that I didn't see coming, which is amazing. And so I wanted to have on today two people from the left, which is where much more of the pushback than I necessarily saw coming has come from. One from the anti-monopoly left, which I think sees abundance in ways I didn't initially foresee as a threat, as a challenge. And I also wanted to have somebody on from the part of the left that has become obsessed with building.
Who are Zephyr Teachout and Saikat Chakrabarti, and what perspectives do they bring?
the Green New Deal left, the industrial policy left, the left that thinks we have lost the ability to accomplish the missions the left has set for America through the government. So my guests today are Shrikant Chakraborty, who is running for Congress in San Francisco against Nancy Pelosi. He's the president and co-founder of the New Consensus think tank, and he was AOC's first chief of staff. He helped recruit her for Congress and run her campaign. And Zephyr Teachout, who is a law professor at Fordham University, a key figure in anti-monopoly thinking. She has mounted runs for governor, for a state attorney general, for Congress, has authored a number of books. I found this conversation both great about abundance, but also about some of the broader goals, questions, animating impulses and theories of the left as it tries to define itself for this next era. Shotka Chakrabarty, Zephyr Teachout, welcome to the show.
Thanks so much for having us on.
What are the key disagreements and agreements on abundance from the left?
Yeah, thanks for having us. So my simplest summary of abundance is it's an effort to focus people on the question of what do we need more of and what is stopping us from getting it. So I'd like to hear from both of you about what you think of the book's arguments, where you agree and where you disagree. And Zephyr, why don't we start with you?
Yeah, I mean, I appreciate how you led off because I do actually think there's a deep disagreement. I'll start with the deep disagreement and then there's some areas of genuine agreement and we should talk about those as well. But I gather you're having us on to really fight out the... I want the deep disagreement, yeah. There's an area of deep disagreement and there's areas of specific disagreement. So the deepest disagreement is actually what you started with, which is the question of focus. And I think that we should be focusing democratic politics and politics in general on the problem of concentrated power and the way in which concentrated power is making it impossible to do things and also really crushing our democracy. That we really do have an oligarchy problem and that the anti-monopoly toolkit is then a response to that. So, like, with that focus, I would say...
OK, something good the Biden administration did, getting over-the-counter hearing aids, like a life changer for millions of Americans. Who blocked that? Well, it's an oligarchy in the hearing aid market. There's basically five companies that control the hearing aids, and they did everything they could to slow down the procedure that The best friend of the Chamber of Commerce is a long notice and comment period that slows down government from doing something really good and meaningful. So I use that as a micro example, but the macro critique and disagreement is around focus.
So, Kat? Well, I actually agree with a lot of the goal of abundance. And I think everyone here agrees that America is really stuck. And the specific reasons why we're stuck, I think, might be where there's some disagreement or this broader than a thing than just process. But the thing I really want to add to the discussion and the question we've been studying at New Consensus has been, how do countries get unstuck? Because if you look at the history of the 20th century,
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the book 'Abundance' about and why discuss it now?
0:32–1:15
2
Who are Zephyr Teachout and Saikat Chakrabarti, and what perspectives do they bring?
1:15–2:20
3
What are the key disagreements and agreements on abundance from the left?
2:20–6:48
4
Why is housing so expensive in California compared to Texas?
6:48–13:24
5
How do democratic processes and concentrated power affect infrastructure and housing policy?
13:24–23:06
6
What lessons can America learn from Europe about government-led development?
23:06–28:50
7
How does money in politics and corporate power influence policy making and infrastructure projects?
28:50–40:23
8
Why is green energy development more successful in some states than others?
40:23–1:14:41