We are living through a transformation that will rearrange the politics and economics of the coming century. As we move into the borderless economy, the notion of national products, national technologies, and national corporations will become increasingly meaningless. The only thing that will remain rooted within national borders are the people who make up a nation. This shift has enormous political implications. It means that the traditional idea of national solidarity and purpose can no longer be defined in purely economic terms. It also leads to fragmentation as those citizens best positioned to thrive in the world market are tempted to slip the bonds of national allegiance, and by so doing disengage themselves from their less favored fellows.
First is the changing nature of business among the highly competitive advanced industrialized nations. ... This calls for creative specialists with extensive skills and education, not, as in the past, a large work force with only general skills.
ReplyDeleteSecond, many large companies have lost their American character. ... As production and services move freely across borders, the decision to locate a facility in Detroit, Munich, or Osaka depends on where a company can find the most talented and experienced workers. Moreover, whether it invests in Wall Street, London, or Tokyo depends on where the returns are highest.
America's problem is that while some Americans are adding substantial value, most are not. In consequence, the gap between those few in the first group and everyone else is widening. The symbolic analysts are becoming increasingly insulated from the rest of Americans through intensified residential segregation by income, a widening gap in educational opportunity and achievement, a less progressive tax system, and more privatization of services, from child care to personal security. In this way, symbolic analysts are quietly seceding from the large diverse publics of America into homogenous enclaves, within which their earnings need not be redistributed to people less fortunate than themselves.
ReplyDeleteImproving the economic position of the bottom four-fifths of the American work force will require that the fortunate fifth share its wealth and invest in the wealth-creating capacities of other Americans. Reich offers a number of proposals toward this end:
1) instituting a progressive income tax;
2) providing opportunities for all Americans to become symbolic analysts by investing in education at all levels;
3) increasing the numbers of Americans who could apply symbolic analysis to production and in-person services; and
4) addressing the plight of the long-term poor.