With Liberty and Dividends for All

Economic inequality has become like the weather: everyone talks about it and nobody does anything about it. Working Assets founder Peter Barnes actually has a plan: a bold effort to break the stalemate over economic policy, lift up our middle class, and make everyone a stakeholder in a cleaner planet. Barnes argues that, thanks to automation, globalization, and winner-take-all capitalism, there will never again be enough high-paying jobs to sustain a large middle class. The only hope lies in non-labor income - that is, in jobs plus something more.Building upon our Declaration of Independence, an essay by Thomas Paine, and a 30-year-old program in Alaska, Barnes proposes paying monthly dividends to every American. This supplemental income would come from the wealth we own together - such as the atmosphere, our ecosystems, and the benefits that flow from our common cultural, social, legal and intellectual heritage. Such dividends would not only keep our economy humming, but can also be designed to make it unprofitable to abuse nature. And Barnes' proposal bypasses the current gridlock between left and right; once set up, the dividend system is purely market-based. This is a truly visionary yet eminently practical solution to a seemingly intractable problem.