The problem with zero-sum games is that the essence of problem solving is loss allocation. But this is precisely what our political process is least capable of doing. When there are economic gains to be allocated, our political process can allocate them. When there are large economic losses to be allocated, our political process is paralyzed. And with political paralysis comes economic paralysis.
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Since economic gains are relatively easy to allocate, the basic problem comes down to one of allocating economic losses. Whose income “ought” to go down?
Historically we have used economic growth to avoid having to make this judgment. If we just have more growth, we can have more good jobs for everyone, and we won’t have to worry about taking jobs away from whites and giving them to blacks. If we
