Calling out the “moral disgrace” of childhood poverty and the failings of our criminal justice system in a Washington Post op-ed, LISC board chair and former treasury secretary Robert Rubin describes the ways smart public investment and targeted spending on infrastructure, innovation and social programs could help our growing economy benefit everyone.
The excerpt below was published in The Washington Post:
Here’s how America should play its winning hand for long-run economic growth
The progress our economy has made since the financial crisis is real. So, too, is the sense that our country is adrift. Faith in institutions is eroding. Income inequality, job insecurity and sluggish wage growth — even with 2015’s improved performance — are fraying our social fabric. Technological development and, to a lesser extent, globalization contribute to productivity and growth but also put pressure on wages and jobs. The poverty rate is unconscionably high. Many feel that the American promise of hard work leading to a better life is out of reach.
The United States, however, still holds the world’s best long-run hand. The question is how we play our cards. We need a policy regime that effectively promotes growth, widespread income gains and greater economic security in the context of an economy undergoing transformation. These three objectives are interdependent and mutually reinforcing and, taken together, constitute one overarching goal: inclusive growth, which could, in turn, restore a sense of common purpose, confidence in our future and much-needed social cohesion.
An inclusive growth agenda would address three broad categories of challenges: first, public investment; second, structural reform and innovation; and, finally, our intermediate and longer-term fiscal outlook. Continued[+]...