Abundance and the Left
About this episode
Saikat Chakrabarti and Zephyr Teachout debate the left's response to Abundance, the Klein-Thompson book on why America can't build. Teachout's deep disagreement is about focus: she says Democratic politics should center concentrated corporate power and oligarchy, with the antimonopoly toolkit as the answer — illustrated by the hearing-aid oligopoly and Big Oil's war on green energy. Chakrabarti, broadly sympathetic to abundance goals, argues countries get unstuck through 'mission mode': sweeping transformation, comprehensive plans, and executing institutions like the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, pointing to France's TGV and WWII mobilization. They spar over housing costs, why green energy builds faster in Texas, money in politics, and state capacity — and agree the left has abdicated governing ambition. Teachout concedes antimonopoly can't solve everything, including racism.