The Stakeholder SocietyA quarter century of trickle-down economics has failed. Economic inequality in the United States has dramatically increased. Many, alas, seem resigned to this growing chasm between rich and poor. But what would happen, ask Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott, if America were to make good on its promise of equal opportunity by granting every qualifying young adult a citizen's stake of eighty thousand dollars? Ackerman and Alstott argue that every American citizen has the right to share in the wealth accumulated by preceding generations. The distribution of wealth is currently so skewed that the stakeholding fund could be financed by an annual tax of two percent on the property owned by the richest forty percent of Americans. Ackerman and Alstott analyze their initiative from moral, political, economic, legal, and human perspectives. By summoning the political will to initiate stakeholding, they argue, we can achieve a society that is more democratic, productive, and free. Their simple but realistic plan would enhance each young adultís real ability to shape his or her own future. It is, in short, an idea that should be taken seriously by anyone concerned with citizenship, welfare dependency, or social justice in America today. |
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age twenty-one allow Americans annual assets average basic income benefits Bill and Brenda billion catalytic reform Census Chap child citizen's pension citizens claim cost decisions earnings eighty thousand dollars eighty-thousand-dollar elderly equal opportunity exemption federal freedom future gain GI Bill gift tax gifts graduates high school income tax individual inequality initiative insurance analogy investment Joan less liberal libertarian lives married couple Medicare moral moral hazard myopia OECD old age parents payback obligation payment payroll tax percent Phelps political privilege bracket privilege tax problem proposal question raise receive require responsible retirement revenue rich Social Security Social Security Administration spend stake stakeholding fund stakeholding society taxation taxpayers tion trusteeship tax tuition U.S. Bureau U.S. Department U.S. House wages wealth tax welfare women workers young adults