A Country That Works

"What I think it says, about not just progressivism but about America, is that we are at a unique historical moment and this is not our fathers’ and grandfathers’ economy. In fact, we are in the midst of a significant transformation – what really is a third economic revolution in world history. The agricultural revolution took 3,000 years to transition, and the industrial revolution took 300. It’s important to understand that we, in a single generation, are going to witness an entire revolutionary moment and that everything is changing. So the book is really about how people and policy and countries can think about a different way to make progress than our parents and grandparents thought about. When countries realise that they are teams, then they appreciate that the market in a global economy works differently to the market in a national economy alone. It forces America to really come together and think about how we’re going to make sure that the American dream continues. It’s no longer the case that people have one job in their lifetime – employer-based healthcare and employer-based pensions aren’t going to work when my son is going to have had nine to 12 jobs by the time he’s 35. We need to think about job creation, not simply let the market make decisions but think about a partnership between the public sector and the private sector. The book is about how we invest, where the jobs of the future are going to be, and how we help accelerate those jobs. It’s an effort to say that to make progress in the 21st century, we need to shed the 20th century market fundamentalism and move to a more shared sense of teamwork as a country. I think every institution is in the middle of the biggest challenges they’ve ever faced. They’re facing the challenge of either changing, or being swallowed by change. I know the labour movement has a tremendous history, but that history won’t make it successful in the future – it’s up to labour to change by looking at those factors within its own control. In SEIU [the Service Employees International Union], whether we spend our money on growth or on defending the members we have, is a very big choice. One was about history and the other was about the future. Institutions – and I think this relates to political parties, unions and many other people – are not going to drive into the future looking in the rear-view mirror. There are new realities, new technologies, new factors at play, and we need to build a 21st century plan for success – starting by taking a real good look in the mirror to make sure we’re not just trying to continue the old ways. I think that will guarantee success in a new moment."