By Jeremiah Johnson
RECENTLY, A THREAD THAT CALLED FOR a return to communal kitchens and handwashing laundry went viral on X, prompting a high-pitched conversation about the concept of “degrowth.” Mainstream liberals and conservatives both got in some entertaining dunks on the idea, but the episode also gave rise to some worthwhile discussions on the nature of economic growth. The ideology of degrowth as it’s most often articulated is stupid, and I won’t rehash the many good arguments against it here. What’s harder to explain is exactly why we value growth as opposed to other possible core values.
