The Ownership Society and Employee Ownership

The Ownership Society and Employee Ownership

By Corey Rosen, NCEO Executive DirectorThere's lots of disagreement about President Bush's vision and plan for an "Ownership Society," but it's hard to find anyone who disagrees with the notion that ownership itself is a powerful idea. The debate is over exactly how people can become owners. Should people, for instance, be encouraged to save for themselves in order to become owners? Or, should Social Security taxes be invested by government in private ownership accounts?To me, it's quite remarkable that there is all this rhetoric about "ownership" yet barely a whisper about the one proven approach that has created more owners of productive capital in our nation's history than any other: employee ownership.