ABSTRACT
In the standard, industrial society model of Keynesian economics, job growth drives the economy, and consumption, in turn, is what drives job growth. In a globalized economy where wages are always lower somewhere else, keeping manufacturing jobs here is a losing battle. Instead one should focus on de-linking—to the maximum extent possible—economic security from the vagaries of the labor market by helping average Americans become part of an investor class. Americans should be thinking about themselves as an investor society, as global capital managers. With the consumption-based approach to social and economic policy, there will always be a disconnect between the macroeconomic health of the US economy and the fortunes of the typical American family. The family savings plan should garner appeal on both sides of the aisle. Republicans have long desired private savings accounts for all Americans. An integrated, lifetime savings policy would create a single mechanism to incentivize savings for a variety of productive purposes.
