The Abundance Illusion: How Corporate Power Creates Scarcity

The Broadband Bait-and-Switch

Ezra Klein's viral anecdote about bureaucratic broadband rollout, while compelling, misses a crucial point: Republican senators and their cable industry allies engineered the very red tape Klein decries. This wasn't a progressive obsession with process, but a calculated move by corporate power to protect its monopolies.

The real lesson? Uncritical bipartisanship can sabotage progressive goals, and corporate influence, often ignored in the "Abundance Discourse," is a major driver of scarcity.

The Green Energy Bottleneck

While Abundance blames environmental regulations for slowing renewable energy development, the core culprit is the fossil fuel industry's stranglehold on the energy sector. From obstructing grid interconnection to spreading disinformation, their power plays are the real obstacles to a clean energy future.

Even with streamlined permitting, if fossil fuel giants maintain political dominance, the needed clean energy transition remains a distant dream.

The Housing Mirage

Abundance fixates on zoning laws as the primary driver of the housing crisis, but the root issue runs deeper: economic inequality fostered by corporate practices that suppress wages. The real scarcity isn't of physical structures but of accessible, affordable homes in a market rigged by corporate power and wealth hoarding.

As Luis Quintero, a Johns Hopkins economist, observes, "Large, dominant players...intentionally avoid building...because they know it will bring down the prices." This manufactured scarcity lines corporate pockets at the expense of working people.

Corporate Capture and Manufactured Scarcity

From baby formula to prescription drugs, scarcity across various sectors stems from decades of lax antitrust enforcement and restrictive patent regimes – both fueled by corporate lobbying. The "Abundance Discourse" conveniently sidesteps these corporate power plays, focusing instead on bureaucratic scapegoats.

Even healthcare, impacted by the strengthening of insurers under the Affordable Care Act, reflects how corporate interests shape access and affordability.

Empowering the Wrong Narrative

By downplaying corporate power, the "Abundance Discourse" aligns with deregulatory narratives championed by the far right. This strengthens the hands of figures like Elon Musk, who use the guise of "government efficiency" to undermine essential regulations and further concentrate wealth.

The false choice presented – between breathable air and homelessness, or between fast transportation and regulatory hurdles – obscures corporate power’s active role in creating these dilemmas.

The Democratic Crossroads

The Abundance Agenda's avoidance of corporate culpability is no accident; it resonates within a media ecosystem owned and influenced by the very oligarchs it protects. This narrative serves to undermine the growing populist movement within the Democratic Party that seeks to address the root causes of economic inequality.

As the 2024 elections approach, Democrats must choose: will they confront corporate power and champion economic justice, or will they embrace a rhetoric of deregulation that ultimately empowers the forces of scarcity?

The answer, as the article suggests, should be abundantly clear.