The Stakeholder Society
(Sorry, a little late with this one. I was actually away from the Internet for the last several days.)
Imagine getting your high school diploma at around 18 and three years later the government gives you $80,000, with no strings attached. That’s the radical premise of a book by Yale Law School professors Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott. It’s called The Stakeholder Society, and the suggestion is that those who are given a foundation could use the money to invest in their own businesses, go to college, or otherwise feel they have a stake in society.
Though I heard about it some time ago, I haven’t read the book yet (it’s part of my mammoth Amazon wish list.) I was reminded of it when I read “The $6,000 Solution“, an article that’s part of The Atlantic‘s state of the union report.
Author Ray Boshara suggests an approach more restrained than that of the professors: a $6,000 grant at birth, placed in what he calls an American Stakeholder Account. With 7% return, that’s about $20,000 at graduation.
There are some important points to remember about the principle here, and Boshara does a good job of summarizing them: there’s a big difference between wealth and income, and it’s especially acute to those who aren’t white. A non-biased program such as this (which could be funded with just a quarter of recent corporate income tax breaks) would follow in the tradition of the G.I. Bill and the Homestead Act in granting Americans a good start, and in so doing giving back to our own country through the participation of a vibrant, active citizen.
Seems a good investment to me.