Over the last year, we spent time talking to leaders in our network and experts from outside the Foundation about how to create an economy that is more sustainable and more inclusive – one that strengthens democracy instead of weakens it.
Here are some of the ways they’re thinking about the work ahead: - Support workers more, not less. Over the last year, we’ve seen successful strikes by everyone from Hollywood writers to health care and auto workers. Now we need to address factors that make it harder to join a union. Unions need to adapt to reach the 100 million workers who aren’t unionized and they need to be more responsive to their members on everything workers care about, including educational advancement, childcare, and the impact of new technology.
- Build a stronger safety net. As technology reduces the number of hours people need to work, we should explore ideas like universal basic income and guaranteed income that give people who don’t have paid work the time and space to find a new purpose. We should also look into a shorter work week so more people experience the dignity that comes with work.
- Look at a new cross-border tax and regulatory regime. If we’re going to change the social safety net, we’re going to have to pay for it with taxes – not just on income, but also on wealth and on corporations. Tax avoidance has become rampant, in part because it’s easy for those corporations and individuals to move their money overseas. Fixing this problem will require global cooperation.
- Focus on sustainable growth. Even if we could magically create a system where everybody has what the wealthiest have right now, science has shown that the planet couldn’t take it. The good news is that innovation has driven the price of clean energy down in a pretty remarkable way. Now we need to encourage both more private investment and faster adoption and transition to clean energy.
- Reimagine corporate responsibility. We need to change the mindset that the only responsibility a corporation has is to increase shareholder value. That’s a bankrupt idea. The truth is that lots of other things – workers, communities, the planet – matter, too. And not just to society at large. They actually matter to companies themselves.
It’s up to all of us to grapple with these issues. And it’s the next generation in particular – including the young people I met at the Democracy Forum – whose ideas and energy we need. |
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