If twenty-first-century America has an idol, a graven image we collectively worship, it is Gross Domestic Product. All discussion about the flourishing of our nation is reduced to GDP, and its increase seen as an ironclad refutation of any who question whether America is, in fact, flourishing. But GDP, as today calculated, is largely fake, disconnected from actual production of value. Worse, flourishing-as-quantity is a destructive way to view our society. It was once a commonplace that the v...
