In Reply to: Has anybody read Abundance? posted by ClockBlocker on July 03, 2025 at 15:24:04
I have not read it, but I heard Klein, especially, discuss these ideas on various platforms and while I appreciate where they are going with this and how they can be correct on the specifics, I feel like they're lacking a satisfactory criticism of capitalism to be able to really make sense and have a more meaningful contribution to the debate we need to have in this country.
Also maybe not a very commonly accepted view but it's a pattern I observed in different political traditions, and that is, the center left (= liberals) are especially very very bad about how to wield power correctly to achieve results. They have this weird ambivalence about power that forces them to dilute their ability to be effective. I didn't hear them take this angle in any of the discussions I heard, focusing instead on how good intentions can lead to paralysis if they're not reined in, which to be honest, makes me feel icky to some extent.
So my uninformed take on this, without actually having read to book, is that they are likely correct on the specifics but off the mark on the generality.