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  • One Billion Americans

  • The Case for Thinking Bigger
  • Written by: Matthew Yglesias
  • Narrated by: Matthew Yglesias
  • Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (23 ratings)

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One Billion Americans

Written by: Matthew Yglesias
Narrated by: Matthew Yglesias
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Publisher's Summary

National best seller

What would actually make America great: more people.

If the most challenging crisis in living memory has shown us anything, it’s that America has lost the will and the means to lead. We can’t compete with the huge population clusters of the global marketplace by keeping our population static or letting it diminish, or with our crumbling transit and unaffordable housing. The winner in the future world is going to have more - more ideas, more ambition, more utilization of resources, more people.

Exactly how many Americans do we need to win? According to Matthew Yglesias, one billion.

From one of our foremost policy writers, One Billion Americans is the provocative yet logical argument that if we aren’t moving forward, we’re losing. Vox founder Yglesias invites us to think bigger, while taking the problems of decline seriously. What really contributes to national prosperity should not be controversial: supporting parents and children, welcoming immigrants and their contributions, and exploring creative policies that support growth - like more housing, better transportation, improved education, revitalized welfare, and climate change mitigation. Drawing on examples and solutions from around the world, Yglesias shows not only that we can do this, but why we must.

Making the case for massive population growth with analytic rigor and imagination, One Billion Americans issues a radical but undeniable challenge: Why not do it all and stay on top forever?

©2020 Matthew Yglesias (P)2020 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about One Billion Americans

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Short read(listen), interesting ideas

This book is narrated by its author. Worth the listen for the ideas, even though not all arguments are great. It is more of a manifesto than a true analysis, but Ygglesias does well in putting his ideas into writing

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Matt is out of touch

The author stinks of a fundimentally disconnected aristocrat, like a caricature drawn by the Right, itching to grab the leavers of power and shoehorn hundreds of millions of free people into his version of utopia. He further takes a reasonable idea, and as if to a freshman at a college bar, proceeds to use it as a vessel for ALL of his policy preferences while taking mindless shots at his political opponents. Easily the worst defended road map to a goal I've ever read.

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