Redefining American Progress

When V. I. Lenin wanted to change the economic course of the fledgling Soviet Union in the 1920s, he instituted the New Economic Policy. In the 1950s, Mao Tse-tung sought to transform China with the Great Leap Forward. In the 2010s, a group of progressives dissatisfied with the United States’ political and social landscape are pushing the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI).

Developed as an alternative to gross domestic product for measuring prosperity, this new performance metric allows politicians and bureaucrats to take account of more subjective costs and benefits in calculating “genuine” progress. As its advocates put it, the GDP measures wealth, whereas the GPI measures “well-being.” Thus, economic, environmental, and social “indicators” are designated assets or liabilities in this contrived new balance sheet.
Maryland governor Martin O’Malley hosted a summit in Annapolis earlier this month for members of the burgeoning GPI movement. This national forum received scant media attention, and the issue itself has largely been under the radar of most mainstream-media outlets. But when we’re facing such an ambitious undertaking as redefining American progress, it’s time to get a clear view of where this is heading.

Read more: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/331558/redefining-american-progress-jim-pettit