The ownership solution

the long version

Backed by a wide array of influential supporters from the worlds of business, finance, government, non-profits, and academia, The Ownership Solution is nothing less than a new capitalist manifesto - a blueprint for making the system of free enterprise really work. To Jeff Gates, a pioneer in the field of employee ownership, the central problem of capitalism is that it doesn't create enough capitalists. In the United States, for example, despite rising living standards, full employment, low inflation, and a bull market that can't stop setting records, the gulf between the haves and the have-nots is widening. Concentration of wealth at the top results in what Gates calls "disconnected capitalism," and it will cause the system to implode, unless politicians, corporate executives, investors, social activists, and common citizens come up with creative strategies to make the system more inclusive. Gates operates from the fundamental assumption that people are likely to become better stewards of all the systems of which they are part - social, political, fiscal, cultural, and natural - as they gain a personal stake in the economic system. Drawing from the experiences of over a dozen nations, Gates offers a set of strategy and policy recommendations to reinforce this trend toward capitalism by and for the people.