Authors: William A. Darity Jr., Darrick Hamilton, Rakeen Mabud
Introduction: The US needs an economy that is grounded in justice and morality, where everyone, free of undue resource constraints, can prosper. To achieve this, citizens ought to have universal access to economic rights, such as the right to employment, medical and health care, high-quality education, and sound banking and financial services.
Currently, our system provides these rights primarily through private providers in the “free market,” but these companies often fail to meet the following criteria:
- Quantity: Are the goods adequately supplied?
- Quality: Are the goods high quality?
- Access: Do people have adequate access to these goods?
America’s markets-first approach to policymaking is failing. In “Increasing Public Power to Increase Competition: A Foundation for an Inclusive Economy,” Sandy Darity, Darrick Hamilton, and Rakeen Mabud argue that the government should intervene by introducing public options that provide essential goods and services in direct competition with private firms.
By increasing competition in the market for essential goods and services, government can be the agent of higher levels of American well-being, health, and opportunity—for all.
Proposals
- Employment: We propose a federal job guarantee (FJG)-a universal public option for employment-as a solution to the problem of quantity, quality, and access as they relate to the supply of jobs. Under a FJG, the federal government would compete directly with the private sector, particularly at the low end of the labor market.
- Health Insurance: We advocate a system where the government provides universal health insurance, but individuals are not restricted from purchasing health insurance in the private market if they so desire. This proposal would not outlaw private plans; rather, individuals might choose to opt for private health insurance.
- Housing: We propose that the federal government also become a direct supplier of residential properties of acceptable quality at prices that put downward pressure on prices offered by the private sector. Our proposal would ensure that house prices would be kept in check and that low-income residents would be able to afford adequate housing.
- Education: Not only should more resources be devoted to bolstering public schools, but there should also be much greater standardization of funding, practices, and metrics for success-all of which should be determined at the federal level. Federal standardization would mitigate some of the concerns with the current model of decentralized financing: uneven and inadequate quantity, quality, and access.
- Financial Services: Public and postal banking could eliminate predatory lending practices, including payday lenders and pawn shops, which target the nation’s most vulnerable borrowers.
- Birthright to Financial Capital: The public sector could provide each young American with a government funded trust, the amount of which would be determined on the basis of their family’s wealth position: the larger the parental wealth, the lower the trust; the lower the parental wealth, the larger the trust. The objective of this plan would be to establish more egalitarian access to wealth-the paramount ingredient for economic security and financial agency-irrespective of a family’s financial position into which a young person is born.
