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Renewing the American Social Contract a New Vision for Improving Economic Security

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Renewing the American Social Contract a New Vision for Improving Economic Security 2012-2013 Renewing the American Social Contract A New Vision for Improving Economic Security With Contributions From: Greg Anrig | Steven Attewell | Dean Baker | Bruce Bartlett | Lauren Damme Joshua Freedman | Steven Hill | Robert Hiltonsmith | Mike Konczal | Robert Kuttner Michael Lind | Peter Lindert | Jeff Madrick | Steven Teles | Bruce Stokes | Ron Unz Economic Growth Program Next Social Contract Initiative New America Foundation About the Project The Next Social Contract Initiative aims to rethink our inherited social contract, the system of institutions and policies designed to empower and support citizens from childhood through work and retirement. Inspired by the premise that economic security and opportunity are mutually reinforcing, a new social contract should foster innovation and openness, encourage long-term growth and broadly shared prosperity, and engage individuals and families not only as participants in the economy but also as citizens. About the Series Renewing the American Social Contract is a series of major policy papers outlining bold proposals from leading thinkers for reforming American social policy in areas from wages and job creation to taxation and the welfare state. Representing diverse perspectives from across the political spectrum, the contributors to the series share a commitment to questioning orthodoxy and enlarging the boundaries of debate. These papers were previously published at New America and are available online individually here. The Next Social Contract Initiative is made possible with support from the Rockefeller Foundation. The editors would like to thank all of the authors for their time and effort, Alex Holt for layout assistance, and Sherle R. Schwenninger, director of the Economic Growth Program and American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, for his guidance and editing contributions. Cover photo courtesy of Flickr/Jon Starbuck. Original versions of Greg Anrig’s piece on Medicaid, Lauren Damme’s on family leave, and Steven Attewell’s on unemployment insurance have been updated from their original published version for this collection. © 2013 New America Foundation This report carries a Creative Commons license, which permits non- commercial re-use of New America content when proper attribution is provided. This means you are free to copy, display and distribute New America’s work, or include our content in derivative works, under the following conditions: • Attribution. You must clearly attribute the work to the New America Foundation, and provide a link back to www.Newamerica.net. • Noncommercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes without explicit prior permission from New America. • Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. For the full legal code of this Creative Commons license, please visit www.creativecommons.org. If you have any questions about citing or re- using New America content, please contact us. Contents Introduction by Michael Lind and Joshua Freedman v Complexity vs. Efficiency: Rethinking the American Social Contract Kludgeocracy: The American Way of Policy by Steven Teles 2 No Discount: Comparing the Public Option to the Coupon Welfare State by Mike Konczal 12 Competing Visions of the Past: Lessons from History for the Future of Social Policy by Steven Attewell 21 Good Jobs and Good Wages: The High Road to Shared Prosperity The Case for Wage-Led Growth by Jeff Madrick 36 Raising American Wages...by Raising American Wages by Ron Unz 59 Economic Recovery and Social Investment: A Strategy to Create Good Jobs in the Service Sector by Robert Kuttner 67 Independence Through Interdependence: Lifelong Economic Security Expanded Social Security: A Plan to Increase Retirement Security for All Americans by Michael Lind, Steven Hill, Robert Hiltonsmith, and Joshua Freedman 78 The Next Priority for Health Care: Federalize Medicaid by Greg Anrig 100 Front Line of Defense: Building a New Unemployment Insurance System by Steven Attewell 114 Paid Family Leave by Lauren Damme 120 Paying for The Next Social Contract Debt, Deficits, and Demographics: Why We Can Afford the Social Contract by Dean Baker 135 Tax Reform That Works: Building a Solid Fiscal Foundation with a VAT by Bruce Bartlett 155 Social Contract Budgeting: Prescriptions from Economics and History by Peter Lindert 167 Appendices Public Attitudes Toward the Next Social Contract by Bruce Stokes 186 Further Resources on the Next Social Contract 198 i Introduction America’s social contract needs to be reinvented for the twenty-first century. Our inher- ited social contract — the overall system of economic security for individuals as chil- dren, working adults and retirees — was mainly built during the New Deal era. In the years since, long-term economic and demographic changes have eroded its foundations, even before the crisis of the Great Recession further tested its strength. Some elements of the social contract, like Social Security and tem is compounded by the fact that the social contract has been unemployment insurance, have held up well, and deserve to be created in spurts of reform through piecemeal programs run by preserved or perhaps expanded. Other parts have fallen away, like a dispersed set of actors at different levels of government. This disappearing employer defined benefit pensions, and need to be method of policymaking, dubbed “kludgeocracy” by Steven Teles replaced by programs that fit the needs of today’s workers and (Kludgeocracy: The American Way of Policy, Page 2), has not economic structure. Meanwhile, arrangements like individual served Americans well. Steven Attewell details how this system reliance on tax-favored private savings accounts have failed in came to be and explains the shortcomings of the employer-based their objectives and should be reconsidered. system on which we have come to depend (Competing Visions of the Past, Page 20). The current political environment has raised additional ques- tions about the social contract. In an era of constrained budgets The American social contract can achieve its goal of an inclusive and the shifting of power from labor to capital, there has been a economy only if the middle class is able to grow along with the concerted effort to shrink or eliminate many of the cornerstone economy. Yet American wages have been stagnant for more than public elements of the social contract. The repeated refrain that a generation, and wages in the service industries that are gaining “we cannot afford” these programs has tended to dominate pub- the most jobs in a changing economy are often insufficient to lic debate, at the price of shutting down discussion about how to ensure a decent standard of living. Jeff Madrick argues that the realize the underlying principles of the social contract in today’s current low-wage regime across the globe – part of an economic conditions. strategy focused on mercantilism – has been a key factor in cre- ating an unstable world economy. The only sustainable path to It is to promote that public discussion that we have commis- prosperity is through wage-led growth (The Case for Wage-Led sioned leading thinkers to propose ideas for the next social con- Growth, Page 36). tract in America. The essays in this collection come from authors of many different backgrounds, ideologies, and experiences, and In a demand-strapped economy, higher wages would allow more as a result their solutions do not always align. But taken together, people to meet their needs and increase consumption of basic the essays in this collection share certain themes. goods and services that improve standards of living and contrib- ute to a stronger economy. Robert Kuttner exposes the dangers The most important theme is that the next social contract should of the current weak economic recovery and proposes a strategy be broader, simpler, and more inclusive. Instead of layering small to combat weak economic growth with public investment in the programs on top of previous small programs, it would be better service sector that will increase wages, create better jobs, and to consolidate complex existing policies into fewer programs that boost the economy (Economic Recovery and Social Investment, are more transparent and whose benefits and burdens are more Page 67). Ron Unz lays out the case for a higher minimum wage equitably shared. in the United States (Raising American Wages…by Raising American Wages, Page 59). Much of the existing social contract was designed to achieve goals through opaque, indirect methods that would allay politi- But higher wages alone are not enough. As an advanced nation, cal opposition to “big government.” The complexity of the sys- we have a moral obligation and an economic interest in creating a social contract that will adequately and ably support its citizens rect this flaw by ensuring paid family leave for all workers (Paid when they cannot work, because they are ill, disabled, young Family Leave, Page 120). or elderly. When it comes to the delivery of benefits to citizens, the fashionable trend toward combining private provision with Implementing broader public programs in some cases would publicly-subsidized vouchers needs critical examination. Mike require more revenue, but it is possible to create stable, sustain- Konczal examines the pros and cons of public provision versus able, and fair funding mechanisms that need not undermine eco- vouchers and when it makes sense to have public programs nomic growth. A value-added tax (VAT), as Bruce Bartlett notes, rather than vouchers (No Discount: Comparing the Public has successfully formed the basis of social contract financing Option to the Coupon Welfare State, Page 11). across the developed world and used to be widely popular among conservatives in the United States (Tax Reform that Works, Page Perhaps the most common rebuttal of an expanded vision of the 155). A VAT need not be regressive in its impact if it is used to social contract is the alleged need to cut back due to the aging finance progressive social programs.
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