What's tiresome is that this imputation of rich-kid elitism in people he disagrees with is fired off from the comfortable pages of a rich-kid elitist newspaper, Le Monde.

Must be nice to be Pierre-Antoine Delhommais (sounds rich-kid elitist, doesn't it?). He gets to defend an economic system that directs most of the annual added wealth into the pockets of those who already hold an unfair share of the standing stock of wealth, while his conscience is clear because World Bank economists tell him he's aiding the cause of the poor. The rising tide lifts all boats and rocks Delhommais to sleep.

However, there are plenty of people on the centre-left (and even not so centre), who hold this kind of view: productivist, pro-industry, anti-ecologist. In my experience, they are not open to debate. (Delhommais's dogmatism is a case in point). It's as if there were two churches, two belief systems, on the left, one which integrates (and has integrated over the last 30-40 years) the notion of a finite planet into its worldview, the other which seems incapable of it, or steadfastly refuses to try.

The first lot seem to me to hold views that are closer to reality (sorry kcurie ;)). But the second are far more numerous and have the lines of argument most people want to hear.