Letter from the Editor

"To merit the approbation of good and virtuous citizens is the height of my ambition; and will be a full compensation for all my toils and sufferings in the long and painful contest in which we have been engaged." George Washington, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, 10th Feby, 1783.

Dear reader,

A mention of Apple CEO Cook's receiving a copy of Gandhi's "The Story of My Experiments with Truth," during a recent visit to the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, India, caught my eye recently. Another press report mentions that this is the book Cook is reading now. Another was the repeated mention in reports of the words "burning injustice," used in the very first speech outside 10 Downing Street, London, by Britain's new prime minister, Theresa May. What do these two have in common?

To understand this I have to take you back to another time, another place. At the time Harold Macmillan was prime minister of Britain, Adenauer in Germany, Eisenhower and then Kennedy was the U.S. president, Nehru and Mao were leaders of India and China.This was the period of the late fifties and early sixties. This was a period of pragmatism and optimism. Growing up in Ahmedabad we could feel the sense of optimism and opportunity, even though in financial resources our family struggled feeling the effects of the partition of India- similar to Jimmy Carter saying later about growing up poor in Georgia but not feeling it at all. I read Gandhi's "The Story of My Experiments With Truth," several times while growing up. I say this because we live in a period following the great recession where young people in the middle and working class lack the optimism and faith in a better future of that period. As I said in my first letter there was a sense of public spirited energy in that period that is missing today. A lot of mistakes had been made, and a lot had been learned the hard way. I would ask Cook after he has read Gandhi what he thinks Gandhi would say about investing in infrastructure that would improve people's lives? Of course Cook would have to rethink an entrenched view about taxes, because most governments today are strapped in their finances. Can you imagine if leaders of that period simply stayed with existing conceptions. Experience meant rethinking old assumptions. Today it means we all benefit from growth together. Apple has long since won its war with Microsoft. It was always about hearts and minds, not just technology. Isn't it time for a change in thinking?

Imagine what the world would be like with Britain's prime minister of that time, Macmilllan, not changing his thinking, or Adenauer in Germany, or Eisenhower and Kennedy? Macmillan followed Winston Churchill as prime minister, yet experience taught him something. He changed course, and set the course to decolonize most of sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. Adenauer also learned from experience, and set the course for Germany to bring together European countries under the European Union. Experience is nothing without the willingness to change course, or take a new path that works for the benefit of all.

U.S. Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen cited a SCF Survey showing 62 million American households, representing the bottom half of the people in America, with an average net worth of about $11,000 in 2013. She says further that for about one fourth of the 62 million households the net worth is zero, imagine just zero. There is something else which may be of additional concern. Bernie Sanders has called attention to the 1 percent. But hardly ever reported in the media or mentioned by Sanders, is that the next 45 percent after the 5 percent had average net worth of $424,000 in 2013, cited by Yellen. This is a good thing in of itself, but there is a real danger that this encourages complacency. A wide gap of this magnitude of 40 times between that 45 percent and the bottom 50 percent, encourages the pernicious consequence of this group saying this is not that big of a problem, that things will catch up for the rest, ignoring the facts of low intergenerational mobility that exist. For Yellen the inner voice asking these questions is almost like "what would Tobin say?" James Tobin was a mentor for Yellen, and author of a biography of FDR. 

Beyond this is an even bigger problem. As one has to look for this particular information from a credible source, and it is not easily found in today's media. One consequence is people going in different directions, and instead of debate with facts such as these, and what to do about them, a debate is playing out with the wilder side of human nature, slogans, soundbites on television, rumors, and desperation on all sides. The immigrant debate feeds into this economic insecurity of the middle and working class. Is this because of a perception that leaders, including business leaders, are not learning from experience, as in the most difficult early postwar period? We have tried to make information vital to the well being of the middle class and working class easily visible. We see it as part of Renewal America, Renewal Europe, and Early Warning. We bring the best from a varied set of international news sites. Especially today with a fair dose of trivia on each site, including surprisingly the BBC, this remains a challenge. Conversely there is still a lot of good reporting and news rendering from which we can draw to bring you a good selection of articles every week, provide gist of articles, our unique groups and links, and Search going back 10 years. We hope you will give us the opportunity to bring you useful information and insights to better understand our world, and hope you will support a new brand of independent journalism. Economic opportunity for the middle and working class is the core of our democracy, and has been since Washington. As a land rich country this was particularly true of America from the pioneer days. Economic opportunity for the middle and working class is also at the core of our economy, as expanding economic opportunity creates wealth and growth. And economic opportunity for the middle and working class is the core also of our national security. This is true of America. This is also true for the countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Adam Smith, a contemporary of Jefferson and Washington, emphasized the importance of social and moral sentiment in capitalism. This was an important aspect of the time, and is reflected in the words of Washington I have quoted. You looked then to to your peers in all parts of society for respect in your actions, and this acted in ways to make capitalism with a social face work for all parts of society. We have in the period since then added social protections. Yet the first is as important as the second. While growing up in Ahmedabad I was obsessed with the abject poverty in India and China, and resolved to find out why. What I have found after years of searching is that it is all about going after as Washington and Smith say, "the good of the many," as this is the only way to increase the wealth of the country. A industrialist like Matsushita of Panasonic understood this after rethinking his philosophy of life following the war, as he never hired tax accountants to look at what they could do to minimize taxes, simply instructed that taxes be paid for the corporation, like everybody else. He also made it a point to travel on regular commercial flights, like everybody else, winning the hearts of the Japanese people.