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My father used to say "don't tell me what you value, show me your budget and I'll tell you what you value." It's true in a family and it's true for a nation. He used to say something else, too: "If everything is equally important to you, nothing is important to you." It is all about priorities. What matters most. And that should determine what we invest in.



For me, our highest priority is clear as can be. We have to restore the basic bargain. There used to be a basic bargain in this country that if you contributed to the success of an enterprise you got to share in its profits so you could not only make ends meet but also get ahead.



This basic bargain has been broken. And as a result, too many workers are being left behind. Income disparities are increasing to dangerous proportions that can't sustain a democracy.



That's why last fall, I wrote about the significant and legitimate anxiety millions of Americans are feeling regarding whether or not automation and globalization will wipe out middle class jobs. Whether hard-working middle class people will be able to provide for themselves and their families.



I noted that some in Silicon Valley whose fortunes are built on automation have proposed a universal basic income on the theory that there will no longer be enough work to go around. But that misses the point. Americans have always defined themselves by what they do and how they provide for their families. What the idea of a universal basic income misses is that a job is about more than a paycheck. It is about dignity and one's place in their community. What Americans want is a good job and a steady paycheck, not a government check or a consolation prize for missing out on the American dream.



The American people are willing to work and when they work they're entitled to be justly rewarded. That's the American promise.

