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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (70572)	6/3/2008 9:12:51 PM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 543135

Interesting thought, I thought. "In The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, Benjamin Friedman argues pretty convincingly that people feel good when their circumstances are improving relative to their peer group, or when their absolute standard of living goes up. Actual retrograde movement into a smaller house with less yard, or a tiny car, feels wrenching. Moreover, it has broad effects on society: if the stagnation is widespread, people become less generous, more self-involved. Charitable giving drops off sharply during recessions, because people think of it as a luxury. In an interesting way, I wonder if environmentalism and liberalism aren't politically at war with each other. I don't mean that they are philosophically incompatible; they aren't, and in fact they tend to come as a package deal. But if we actually cut back on people's standards of living in order to conserve energy, their willingness to support other parts of the liberal platform, such as broader safety nets, will probably drop." meganmcardle.theatlantic.com