Isabella Weber Urges Affordable Essentials to Counter Far-Right Rise in New Book at 38
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Oct 16
Isabella Weber Urges Affordable Essentials to Counter Far-Right Rise in New Book at 38
2 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 16
Summary
Isabella Weber, 38, says her new book "Anti-Fascist Economics" argues that housing, food, energy, transport, water and healthcare must be made affordable to blunt support for the far right.
Weber links authoritarian gains to a "crisis of livelihoods," saying inequality, corporate concentration and climate-driven price shocks have left mainstream parties defending an unbearable status quo.
Her policy playbook rejects ideological purity in favor of sector-by-sector intervention, from public grain buffer stocks to Mexico-style capped baskets of 24 essential goods and cheaper or free public transport.
Climate sits at the center of that agenda: Weber says fossil-fuel dependence exposes households to volatility, while oil and gas companies made $916 billion in net income in 2022 and half of US gains went to the top 1%.
The argument is already influencing progressive politicians including Zohran Mamdani, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, as Weber presses economists to rebuild faith in democracy through affordability.