“Americans built the richest and most prosperous society ever to exist, and one part of that was the creation of an endless stream of handheld entertainments, which told them they were miserable and impoverished, and consequently the country committed immediate political and economic suicide”

Tfw Latin American countries have a better understanding of economics than the US president

Or maybe: abundance economy has "making material goods as abundant / available / cheap as possible" as its goal. I think there is significant value add to say "there are also these intangible assets that are good to make abundant / available (/cheap?) also!" I don't think these are in tension.

I think we are not close to the production frontier of what we could achieve sustainably within our closed system (which includes a constant inflow of energy from the sun). But an abundance of things like trust, community, safety, etc. would enhance an economy with abundant material goods.

I was interpreting you as saying that valuing intangible assets is necessary because not everyone will be able to afford TVs, but most "abundance economy" believers would probably argue the goal they are working towards is for basically everyone to be able to afford a TV. So I proposed synthesis.

While physical assets are rivalrous in a way intangible ones aren't, sufficient technological/social/political capability would allow us to drive the cost low enough to be afforded with only a modicum of productive effort (e.g., continue TV real price trend from 1950 to now).

If I can propose a slightly different formulation that might appeal more to intended audience: "abundance economy" should include the abundance of intangible assets as well as tangible ones. Best IMO is if everyone has a TV and rotating watch parties are held at a different place each week.

Interesting to read the conclusion of this article 4 years after it was written - almost none of the proposed ideas were implemented, yet the US economy has rebounded much better than most peer countries and many of the economic gains have accrued to people with the lowest incomes.