Ownership Society
By Paul M. Weyrich
January 31, 2005

The Pew Hispanic Center recently released statistics showing that the nation's minority population suffered adversely during the last recession.

It is easy, as activist groups already have done, to seize upon the statistics presented in the article to argue that discrimination has prevented certain ethnic and racial groups from gaining a secure foothold on the ladder of upward advancement. Indeed, one analyst interviewed by the Associated Press, Roderick Harrison of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think-tank known for a center-left slant, argued that the lack of significant Black and Hispanic wealth in part "reflects a history of discrimination." Do not be surprised if the statistical findings reported by this study become part of the cant employed by the radical reparations movement as it seeks to redistribute income to compensate for slavery and segregation.

The agenda of the reparations movement is clearly socialism in disguise. There never has been consensus within the community that would purportedly benefit from the reparations on how wealth would be distributed or who would oversee the distribution. Moreover, the reparations movement purposely overlooks the vast sum of money that has been spent over the last four decades on social programs, many of which actually encouraged the perpetuation of poverty.

The reparations movement also overlooks the significant progress that Black Americans have made over the last few decades. The poverty rate among Black Americans stood at 41.8% in 1966. It was 24.4% last year. Only 3.9% of Black Americans held a college degree in 1964. Today more than 17% of Black Americans have a college degree.

Conservatives have our own agenda to help Americans who are not sharing in America's prosperity. It emphasizes opportunity. The economic benefits of a good education cannot be emphasized too strongly. Moreover, too many Americans simply fail to realize the importance of saving money and the power of compounding interest. Furthermore, there is too little recognition throughout our society that marriage is one of the greatest promoters of increasing savings and an important factor in helping families to cope with economic adversity. Last year, a team of Heritage Foundation researchers including Patrick F. Fagan, a former colleague of mine at the Free Congress Foundation, concluded in their paper entitled Increasing Marriage Will Dramatically Reduce Child Poverty "[t]he erosion of marriage and the increase in single-parent families are major causes of child poverty in the United States. Nearly three-quarters of government means-tested welfare aid to children goes to single-parent families. Over 80 percent of long-term child poverty occurs in broken or never-married families."

The conservative strategy to promote ownership relies not just upon making Americans realize that they can become property and investment owners but to help enable them to do just that. President Bush, for one, is a strong proponent of creating an "Ownership Society" by promoting greater ownership of retirement assets through expanding contribution limits of IRAs and 401 (k) accounts. Not all conservatives agree with reworking the Social Security system now but there are other elements of the "Ownership Society" that merit their own consideration.

When families own stock and property and have a special savings account to help meet the costs of college for their children they truly have a real stake in our society. They are not required to rely upon the government to help them make ends meet because they have jobs, are earning regular paychecks and are managing to save some every week. Welfare reform helped to provide many Americans with a boost to stop collecting a government-issued check and to start pocketing an employer-issued paycheck. The first jobs may not have paid very much but many of the "welfare mothers" who are now earning better salaries are doing so because they took that first step and strived hard to remain in the job market.

Seeking to create greater incentives for marriage throughout society can help more Americans, particularly those from poor backgrounds, often single family backgrounds, with few family assets, to start rising up the economic ladder.

Reducing the tax burden on Americans while simultaneously providing more incentives for savings and investment through the proposed establishment of Retirement Savings Accounts could help boost the assets of many American households. Similarly, the proposed Lifetime Savings Accounts would allow families to save for their children's college education, the down-payment on a home or for job training. Neither account, if enacted, would tax the earnings.

Then there is the idea of taking power away from the government bureaucrats at the unemployment office and putting it in the hands of those Americans who will need to acquire new skills to remain competitive in the job market. Establishing personal reemployment accounts -- something President Bush has discussed -- can help workers to do just that. Furthermore, doing away with the so-called "death tax" on inheritances will help more Americans provide their children with the savings that can help them to achieve greater economic security.

Currently the U.S. home ownership rate is nearly 70%. Only 48.1% of Black Americans own their own homes, figures that have not improved dramatically from the mid-1970s when 43.3% of Black Americans were homeowners. However, more can be done to increase home ownership. One measure that has been discussed by President Bush is a Single-Family Affordable Housing Tax Credit aimed at creating more affordable housing. Greater financial education efforts can help consumers to learn how to purchase homes for their families.

This new approach helps Americans become real shareholders in our economy, rather than merely government-check recipients, because the emphasis is on savings and investment and the ability to pass on what they earn to their children. Shareholders will feel the benefit in being able to earn and save and see their proceeds grow. It is a dramatic turn from what many Americans have learned to expect. Clearly, greater homeownership, more emphasis upon savings for retirement and abolition of the inheritance tax will go far toward helping more Americans gain a vital foothold on the economic ladder to upward mobility. Working to build a true Ownership Society can help those Americans willing to take that vital first step upward to climb higher up the economic ladder and to take their family members upward, too. Government can provide a boost to those Americans looking to move upward but those taking that first step must be willing to put forth the effort required to climb higher.

The opponents of the Ownership Society continue to express their doubt in the character of those Americans who lack material affluence, implying in coded terms that they lack the intelligence and discipline to succeed. No doubt it will take a concerted educational effort to help those Americans unaccustomed to saving and investing to learn the principles of doing so and to help them learn how to apply those lessons in their lives. It is a challenge that, along with the government, social and fraternal organizations, churches and synagogues must meet. However, nothing encourages more success like initial success. When people see their neighbors prospering they will want to do so as well. The payoff of the Ownership Society will be a more conscientious and prosperous society that truly understands it has more to win if able to keep more of its earnings. Proponents of the Ownership Society know that the American character is strong enough to meet that challenge.

It's time the doubters are proved wrong.

--------------

Paul M. Weyrich is Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.

--------------------

Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.