We are an advocacy group promoting policies that advance American economic security and the financial security of families through expanding capitalism and wealth at home and more strategic and robust economic and financial diplomacy abroad.
For too long, we have not paid enough attention to how insecure many Americans are about their family’s economic future.
Economic and financial security for America is national security - and both are linked to economic diplomacy and foreign policy.
For most of American history, U.S. foreign policy has been centered on economics.
“Our plan is commerce,” declared Thomas Paine, the revolution’s leading pamphleteer.
“That,” he continued, “will secure us the peace and friendship of all Europe.”
From Alexander Hamilton to William Seward to John Hay to James A. Baker III, our best chief diplomats and Treasury Secretaries have understood that domestic economic policy was linked to economic statecraft and should be at the center of our foreign policy agenda of safeguarding and advancing American interests.
Unfortunately, in the last three decades, American economic policies and diplomacy has been at best, reactive, naïve and almost always subordinate to perceived security interests. Policymakers have yielded to near term corporate interests embracing free markets without any sort of blueprint to protect and advance the financial security of Americans. And if Americans believe their economic security concerns are not addressed, they are unlikely to support an active foreign policy that they don’t trust or understand.
One of his colleagues stated that Secretary Seward possessed that rare blend of thought and action and "what is very rare in a lawyer, a politician, or a statesman - imagination".
In this spirit, we will select, mobilize and financially support a small but committed group of talented fellows to craft creative new strategies framed in content that captures the attention of influential media, financiers, business groups, policymakers, and members of Congress. The goal is to sharply expand the number of Americans that benefit from capitalism.
Core Initiatives
1) Economic Security: Commonwealth Capitalism
If America is divided by economic factors such as class, wealth and financial literacy, one measure could unite it - a dramatic expansion in the percentage of Americans owning U.S. stocks.
Only about half of Americans own stock and this has tremendous implications since, without holding a sizable amount of stock that appreciates over time, building wealth is very difficult. According to estimates by the Federal Reserve, the mean real net worth for the bottom half of households in the United States was lower in 2019 than it had been in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell. By these estimates, in fact, the net worth of such households was about a third lower in 2019 than it had been three decades before.
Most Americans have limited incomes and little disposable income left over to invest in stocks so year by year they fall behind stockholding Americans as stock markets advance. Furthermore, this continues generation after generation leading to many Americans having no stake in capitalism and likely little knowledge of finance, business and economics.
This initiative will pull Americans together at a time when so much is pulling them apart.
We propose and promote policies to dramatically broaden the ownership of U.S. stocks with the following objectives:
1) increase economic security through the power of dividends and compounding, 2) increase educational opportunity, 3) increase economic education and financial literacy and, 4) broaden the distribution of wealth in America.
2) Economic Security/Diplomacy: Rare Metal/Rare Earths
This initiative is to encourage new partnerships and projects between America, Australia, Japan, Latin America and Canada to develop secure supply chains for critical rare metals and rare earths.
No new phone, tablet, car, missile or satellite transferring your data at lightning speed can be made without certain materials and metals that are buried in a surprisingly small, unstable, unfriendly number of countries. China now controls 80% of rare earths and America is 100% dependent on foreign sources for 21 of the 35 most important of these strategic metals.
China’s hallmark initiative, “Made in China 2025,” aims to build strategic industries in national defense, science, and technology. China is executing an action plan for its metals industry to achieve world-power status by deploying state-owned enterprises and private firms to invest in resource-rich opportunities around the globe.
America needs urgent action through private and public partnerships with its dependable allies and partners. We are already making progress with Australia’s Lynas signing an agreement to build a rare earths refining facility in Texas and Canada’s Medallion Resources signing an agreement with Nebraska’s Rare Earth Salts to bring the first rare earths supply chain to North America.
3) Economic Diplomacy: Southeast Asia (ASEAN Finance Council)
The Indo Pacific is where the world’s center of economic and innovation is shifting, where our strongest partners and competitors are based amidst rising “state capitalism”, and where our destiny as the world’s leading power will be either confirmed or upended.
America will remain the world’s pre-eminent leader if it has the diplomatic skill and finesse to make sure that this rivalry plays out peacefully.
The stakes could not be higher since the region reaching across the Indian Ocean through the Straits of Malacca all the way to the Sea of Japan is now home to several rising, contending powers such as China and India. New strategic balances are emerging, creating friction, tension and disputes as well as opportunities. American diplomacy and business can play a critical role as leader, balancer and mediator in the age of U.S.- China rivalry.
And the balance of power for America in this region runs through Southeast Asia and this initiative is to support financial and investment ties between America, Southeast Asia & Japan.
South of China and East of India - the expansive, high growth, and strategically important ASEAN region of 645 million optimistic, youthful, tech-savvy consumers offers a wealth of entrepreneurial talent and an abundance of commercial opportunities.
This is why a wave of capital from China, Europe, Japan, India and South Korea is chasing significant opportunities in the region. Southeast Asia is attracting more foreign direct investment than China. Importantly, outbound investment from ASEAN companies and institutional investors is also trending upwards.
The importance of deeper ties with ASEAN is why former US Secretary of State George P. Shultz agreed to join this initiative.
For too long, we have not paid enough attention to how insecure many Americans are about their family’s economic future.
Economic and financial security for America is national security - and both are linked to economic diplomacy and foreign policy.
For most of American history, U.S. foreign policy has been centered on economics.
“Our plan is commerce,” declared Thomas Paine, the revolution’s leading pamphleteer.
“That,” he continued, “will secure us the peace and friendship of all Europe.”
From Alexander Hamilton to William Seward to John Hay to James A. Baker III, our best chief diplomats and Treasury Secretaries have understood that domestic economic policy was linked to economic statecraft and should be at the center of our foreign policy agenda of safeguarding and advancing American interests.
Unfortunately, in the last three decades, American economic policies and diplomacy has been at best, reactive, naïve and almost always subordinate to perceived security interests. Policymakers have yielded to near term corporate interests embracing free markets without any sort of blueprint to protect and advance the financial security of Americans. And if Americans believe their economic security concerns are not addressed, they are unlikely to support an active foreign policy that they don’t trust or understand.
One of his colleagues stated that Secretary Seward possessed that rare blend of thought and action and "what is very rare in a lawyer, a politician, or a statesman - imagination".
In this spirit, we will select, mobilize and financially support a small but committed group of talented fellows to craft creative new strategies framed in content that captures the attention of influential media, financiers, business groups, policymakers, and members of Congress. The goal is to sharply expand the number of Americans that benefit from capitalism.
Core Initiatives
1) Economic Security: Commonwealth Capitalism
If America is divided by economic factors such as class, wealth and financial literacy, one measure could unite it - a dramatic expansion in the percentage of Americans owning U.S. stocks.
Only about half of Americans own stock and this has tremendous implications since, without holding a sizable amount of stock that appreciates over time, building wealth is very difficult. According to estimates by the Federal Reserve, the mean real net worth for the bottom half of households in the United States was lower in 2019 than it had been in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell. By these estimates, in fact, the net worth of such households was about a third lower in 2019 than it had been three decades before.
Most Americans have limited incomes and little disposable income left over to invest in stocks so year by year they fall behind stockholding Americans as stock markets advance. Furthermore, this continues generation after generation leading to many Americans having no stake in capitalism and likely little knowledge of finance, business and economics.
This initiative will pull Americans together at a time when so much is pulling them apart.
We propose and promote policies to dramatically broaden the ownership of U.S. stocks with the following objectives:
1) increase economic security through the power of dividends and compounding, 2) increase educational opportunity, 3) increase economic education and financial literacy and, 4) broaden the distribution of wealth in America.
2) Economic Security/Diplomacy: Rare Metal/Rare Earths
This initiative is to encourage new partnerships and projects between America, Australia, Japan, Latin America and Canada to develop secure supply chains for critical rare metals and rare earths.
No new phone, tablet, car, missile or satellite transferring your data at lightning speed can be made without certain materials and metals that are buried in a surprisingly small, unstable, unfriendly number of countries. China now controls 80% of rare earths and America is 100% dependent on foreign sources for 21 of the 35 most important of these strategic metals.
China’s hallmark initiative, “Made in China 2025,” aims to build strategic industries in national defense, science, and technology. China is executing an action plan for its metals industry to achieve world-power status by deploying state-owned enterprises and private firms to invest in resource-rich opportunities around the globe.
America needs urgent action through private and public partnerships with its dependable allies and partners. We are already making progress with Australia’s Lynas signing an agreement to build a rare earths refining facility in Texas and Canada’s Medallion Resources signing an agreement with Nebraska’s Rare Earth Salts to bring the first rare earths supply chain to North America.
3) Economic Diplomacy: Southeast Asia (ASEAN Finance Council)
The Indo Pacific is where the world’s center of economic and innovation is shifting, where our strongest partners and competitors are based amidst rising “state capitalism”, and where our destiny as the world’s leading power will be either confirmed or upended.
America will remain the world’s pre-eminent leader if it has the diplomatic skill and finesse to make sure that this rivalry plays out peacefully.
The stakes could not be higher since the region reaching across the Indian Ocean through the Straits of Malacca all the way to the Sea of Japan is now home to several rising, contending powers such as China and India. New strategic balances are emerging, creating friction, tension and disputes as well as opportunities. American diplomacy and business can play a critical role as leader, balancer and mediator in the age of U.S.- China rivalry.
And the balance of power for America in this region runs through Southeast Asia and this initiative is to support financial and investment ties between America, Southeast Asia & Japan.
South of China and East of India - the expansive, high growth, and strategically important ASEAN region of 645 million optimistic, youthful, tech-savvy consumers offers a wealth of entrepreneurial talent and an abundance of commercial opportunities.
This is why a wave of capital from China, Europe, Japan, India and South Korea is chasing significant opportunities in the region. Southeast Asia is attracting more foreign direct investment than China. Importantly, outbound investment from ASEAN companies and institutional investors is also trending upwards.
The importance of deeper ties with ASEAN is why former US Secretary of State George P. Shultz agreed to join this initiative.