The first-of-its-kind report is the most comprehensive refutation of ideas set forth by the growing national “abundance movement.”
READ THE REPORT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Revolving Door Project: burke@therevolvingdoorproject.org; Open Markets Institute: woolheater@openmarketsinstitute.org
Today, the Revolving Door Project and the Open Markets Institute released a new report on the policy underpinnings of the so-called “abundance agenda.” The Revolving Door Project plans to release a follow-up report on the funding of the abundance agenda next week.
“The success of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s Abundance has catapulted the ‘abundance agenda’ to the forefront of national politics in America. Despite this ascent, the analysis that the abundance authors have promulgated has been shockingly thin and, at times, proved outright incorrect. This report sets out to actually excavate the proposed policy prescriptions of the broader abundance movement, and thoroughly address their flaws,” stated Jeff Hauser, Executive Director of the Revolving Door Project.
Hauser continued: “In the popular imagination, abundance is nothing more than the futuristic vision laid forth in the first few pages of Klein and Thompson’s book. When abundance-supporting politicians are asked about it, Klein’s name is often the first word out of their mouth. But this obscures the powerful coalition of political pundits, politicians, and think tanks that have painstakingly constructed a national movement around ‘abundance’ for years before the publication of this book. These interested parties have taken on the more detail-oriented work of actually producing policy for abundance, and it is often far more conservative and destructive than implied in Klein and Thompson’s superficial tract. This report delves into these ideas and thoroughly debunks the flawed premise behind this work, and hopes to set the record straight on the issues with the abundance agenda they have elevated.”
Revolving Door Project Senior Researcher and report co-author Kenny Stancil said: “At a time of widespread anger at economic inequality, people are yearning for left-populist policies to redistribute the wealth and power that billionaires have hoarded during the neoliberal era. Into the fray comes the so-called abundance agenda, a corporate-backed effort to repackage and launder the very neoliberal policies that people are sick of. But no amount of lipstick can make that pig appealing. Notwithstanding some allusions to increasing state capacity and an attempt to co-opt pre-existing progressive critiques of exclusionary zoning, the abundance agenda is compatible with union-busting, environmental deregulation, and other right-wing goals.”
“What’s more, the abundance agenda misdiagnoses the causes of scarcity, and its deregulatory approach is incapable of solving the crises it purports to address,” said Stancil. “Abundance advocates erroneously blame environmental review for hindering the clean energy transition, for example, but they have little to say about the real causes of delay, including privately owned utilities’ profit-driven opposition to building interstate transmission lines, investors’ prioritization of short-term oil and gas profits, and interference from fossil fuel-backed politicians.”
Revolving Door Project Deputy Research Director and report co-author Hannah Story Brown said: “As the report explores, abundance talking points have already been adopted by Trump’s energy appointees to justify new fossil fuel projects, while circumventing public participation and transparency in the environmental review process. With the Trump administration, the Republican-led Congress, and right-wing Supreme Court advancing their attacks on bedrock environmental law, Abundance proponents are sounding more like their echo than their opposition.”
“A more equal and prosperous society doesn’t happen when corporations set the rules,” said Brian Callaci, Chief Economist of the Open Markets Institute and co-author of the report. “It happens when the public sector uses its power to protect communities, ensure fair competition, and ensure that prosperity is shared.”
Photo: Bryan Bechtold / NREL
The full report can be found here. Journalists interested in more information or on the upcoming report about the Abundance Agenda’s backers are encouraged to contact Henry Burke, burke@therevolvingdoorproject.org
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2025-08-26DebunkingtheAbundanceAgenda