Sometimes you have to congratulate the progressive left on their ability to turn that frown upside down. When the laws of economics hand them socialist lemons, they turn right around and make leisure lemonade. Specifically, Kate Aronoff at the Intercept has written an article that says the Green New Deal will make us all happier—in part because who needs all that work and economic output anyway?

To show I’m not putting words in her mouth, here are some excerpts from the Aronoff piece:

The government’s releases of various economic indicators such as GDP, CPI and unemployment receive wide coverage in the media. In a measured and authoritative voice, various economists and other experts who are interviewed discuss their views regarding the health of the economy. A rise in an indicator such as GDP is interpreted as good news while a decline is seen as pointing to troubles ahead.

What are the tools that economists and financial experts utilize in their assessments of the economy? What is the basis of their framework of thought?

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article.

People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent. By Joseph E. Stiglitz. Norton, 2019. Xxvii + 371 pages.

In the wake of the Notre Dame fire, both French politicians and private donors, including billionaires, pledged to rebuild the Church. Emmanuel Macron promised — rather unconvincingly — to have the church rebuilt within five years.

In response, some observers questioned why a government should be in the business of rebuilding churches. After all, doesn’t Notre Dame have insurance?

Well, it turns out Notre Dame doesn’t have insurance, and that leads us to a larger problem with the church.

Marxian doctrine doesn’t deny the possibility of absolute truth, but it maintains that absolute truth can be attained only in the classless society. Or in the proletarian class society.

The United States has a long, violent history of intervention in Latin America, although few Americans know about it. Were one to ask the average American, for example, about the US occupation of the Dominican Republic — which lasted for eight years from 1916 to 1924 — one is likely to only receive a blank stare in return.

Even in the cases of those interventions which are more famous — such as the Spanish-American War or the Panama invasion of 1989 — details remains virtually unknown among much of the general public.