Markets & Morals
Why we're here . . .
America has never been richer and never felt more fragmented. Today’s particular predicament is most evident in the yawning gap between the very rich and the rest. We witness spiraling wealth inequality – vast riches for a few, abject poverty for many consigned to a permanent underclass, and a growing sense of unfairness for the millions stuck in the dwindling middle class between. Our people have become disillusioned, and justifiably so, by the growing chasm between the uber-wealthy who own and control the bulk of society’s productive resources and those who have nothing to sell but their labor.
Wealth Inequality
Americans are lonelier, more distrustful, and more cynical than ever. Patriotism has declined, especially among younger Americans. Trust in institutions has eroded through a long accumulation of broken promises and the steady feeling that "the system isn't built for people like me." People are less likely to belong to anything, whether it's a church, a union, or a civic organization. The social structures that once buffered against hardship and gave daily life some texture have dissolved. What replaced them is a digital environment that's very good at stimulating connection and very bad at producing it.
Disillusioned and Polarized Citizens
Capitalism has always worked better when it rests on trust, shared norms, and a basic sense of obligation to people beyond yourself. The problem is that it also quietly eats those things. While it doesn't necessarily set out to destroy what it depends on, it has no inherent mechanism for protecting it. The institutions that once did that replenishing -- the churches, the civic organizations, the third places where people mixed across class lines -- got outcompeted by things that were faster and cheaper and more convenient. The market won.
The Moral Values Undergirding Capitalism Have Atrophied
America's Vital Signs
70
70% of Americans believe that the economy is rigged against them by the rich and powerful to keep them and their children from getting ahead.
90
90% of Americans coming of age in the 1970’s could reliably expect to earn more than their parents. For young people starting families in the 2010’s, only 50% can expect to improve over their parents.
40
40% of American families can not handle an unexpected expense of just $400 without either selling possessions or borrowing money.
Democratic capitalism is losing legitimacy. In a democracy, an economic system survives because people believe they have skin in the game. Today, most Americans believe they are left out or left behind.
We’re here to propose some practical reforms that give every single citizen a meaningful stake in America's future prosperity.
Three Pillars
Renewed Capitalism
American capitalism has created extraordinary wealth, but the increasingly concentrated ownership of that wealth has grown resentment and eroded trust.
Socialism is not the answer. The National Endowment will gradually expand stock ownership in America’s corporations to include every citizen, not the government. It will distribute annual dividends to all Americans.
When prosperity is broadly distributed, our economy begins to feel like something we build together, not something that happens to us.
Shared Purpose
Each generation receives the benefits of sacrifices made by those who came before. Universal national service asks us to acknowledge that inheritance and pay it forward.
Every young American would dedicate one year to serving the nation in military, healthcare, education, and conservation roles.
Service builds friendships across race, region, religion, and class. It cultivates discipline, resilience, and gratitude. At a time when Americans increasingly retreat into separate cultural and ideological tribes, shared service can restore a sense of common purpose
Moral Foundations
Markets depend on the foundations of trust, moral guardrails, and a shared understanding that "enlightened self-interest" prevails over the relentless pursuit of short-term gain.
Yet history has proven that capitalism run amok erodes the very moral foundations on which it rests. We live in a time of rising materialism, declining trust, and spiritual drift, closely track the pervasive moral malaise at the end of the First Gilded Age.
No single policy initiative can repair the tattered moral fabric of our nation. Restoring moral foundations requires strengthening communities, faith institutions, civic associations, and cultural norms that elevate service over indulgence and responsibility over greed; that liberate us from the shackles of rampant consumerism and help us find a shared sense of purpose.
Three Pillars
Three core commitments lie at the heart of our work:
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Economic security through ownership
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Stronger social bonds through shared service
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Institutional reinforcement of shared values
