🤔 American capitalism and 'deaths of despair,' again

Such deep pessimism about the US economy is unwarranted

Quote of the Issue

“Conservative futurism recognizes that humans aren't merely passive victims of nature or fate, but active agents who can shape their own destiny and improve their condition through creative and entrepreneurial problem-solving. So let's go. Faster, please!” - James Pethokoukis, The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised

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Some self promotion: I have a book coming out tomnorrow, October 3. The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised is currently available for pre-order pretty much everywhere. Some folks are already saying nice things about it:

Anyway, I’m very excited about it! Let’s gooooo! 🆙↗⤴📈

• Amazon

• Barnes & Noble

• Books-A-Million

• Target

• Walmart

• Bookshop

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The Essay

🤔 American capitalism and 'deaths of despair,' again

In an interesting coincidence, tomorrow is the release date not only for my book, The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised, but also for a new book by Nobel laureate economist Angus Deaton, Economics in America: An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality. Both books have a lot to say about economic growth. Mine argues that much faster growth is both needed and possible — with economic openness (trade and immigration) an important pro-growth factor.

Deaton’s, on the other hand, argues that the economics profession has been too focused on economic growth, especially via globalization, and too little on the economic inequality and disruption caused by Schumpeterian creative destruction. As Deaton tells Bloomberg, “You can’t think about trade policy and think about money entirely. It’s people’s souls and their communities and their churches” and their lives that are at stake when jobs are dislocated."