They start their article with statistics that demonstrate that while a small number of Americans are becoming super-rich, the Middle Class is shrinking:
OVER THE LAST 20 years, the United States has regressed into what one economist calls a "plutonomy" — a society in which the largest economic gains flow to an ever smaller portion of the population. According to recent economic statistics, from 1999 to 2004, the inflation-adjusted income of the bottom 90% of all U.S. households grew by 2%, compared with a 57% jump for the richest 10%. Incomes rose by more than 87% for households annually making $1 million and more than doubled for those that take home about $20 million a year.
To avoid a "plutonomy," the authors suggest that we rebuild our infrastructure. They point out that doing this has helped during the Depression and when the Interstate Highway System was built.
This is true. But today, besides dwindling wages, we are faced with two additional, terrible problems: global warming and job outsourcing. As I have said before, global warming is informing us that we must replace oil and gas with sustainable energy sources. To counter job outsourcing, we must develop a new industry that brings the comparative advantage back to U.S. A sustainable energy industry will fill the bill nicely.
A sustainable energy industry may require new elements to our infrastructure. Changing from oil and gas to an energy system based on hydrogen, for instance, will require new factories, new transportation systems, new political arrangements and will lead to new trading systems. The same is true if we concentrate on solar cells or on biofuels. At this point we don't know what the new era will be like, which is why I recommended a huge study to put us on the right track.
In addition to studying sustainable energy sources themselves, we will need to redesign our infrastructure to gear up our society to the use of the new energy devices.
A long-term project for research on sustainable energy sources, redesign of infrastructure to accommodate new energy sources, building the new infrastructre, and the preparation of workers for the high-paying new jobs, will set us on the road to rebuilding the Middle Class and to the achievement of broad prosperity. We must get started on this project as soon as possible.
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