Zero-Sum Us-Against-Them Populism March 11, 2024 In the “good old days” (they weren’t) economic progress was nonexistent. Most people lived in extreme poverty, generation after generation. You could only get ahead at someone else’s expense: a zero-sum world. Gradually a better one emerged. Capitalism, market economics, division of labor, and trade all enabled us to escape the zero-sum trap. If I provide something you need or want, in exchange for something I need or want, we’re both better off. Thus “the good of others multiplies my own good,” David Brooks wrote in a recent column. This is what sent economic advancement into overdrive, especially with the modern era of globalization applying it the world over. Multiplying real incomes dramatically, raising living standards, and almost eliminating extreme deprivation. But too many people still don’t get it. “Socialists” imagine all good somehow comes (or should come) from government rather than enterprising individuals; even think...