There is much that makes sense in Third Way’s approach. Mr. Cowan argues that the battle for redistribution of wealth that shaped Democratic politics over the 20th century culminated with the Affordable Care Act — the last missing piece of the social safety net, offering health insurance to all. Now, he adds, the critical task is to remedy the lack of opportunity faced by so many Americans seeking to make a decent living in the tech-heavy, globalized 21st.
Offering free college is not the way to do it. That can sound meaningless in the large swaths of the country where fewer than 30 percent of residents have a bachelor’s degree. Half of the people who start a four-year program do not finish it. A national apprenticeship program that could help connect people to good jobs is a more fruitful option.
The government could also encourage small-business formation — often stifled for lack of credit and seed capital. It could take a more proactive role to lean against market power that shuts rivals out of markets.
The challenge is not to prepare for a jobless future but to ensure available jobs offering decent incomes to working families, Mr. Cowan adds. A $15-an-hour minimum wage is a bad idea. But wage subsidies and a regional minimum wage adjusted for the cost of living might do the trick. To bolster retirement finances, employers could be required to contribute a minimum to workers’ private retirement plans.
This platform, by the way, would probably mitigate income inequality. It would just do so in a more business-friendly manner than the one suggested by the slash-and-burn talk further to the left. It has a shortcoming, however: It will be harder to sell a program that lacks villains.
