How can we attack wealth inequality in the United States?

In a report out today from the People’s Policy Project, Matt Bruenig proposes a federal-level social wealth fund — a permanent, publicly owned fund that would actively own and manage capital assets. Over time, the fund would seek to expand its ownership stake in private enterprises and use its shareholdings to accomplish social goals (like reducing carbon emissions).

The core purpose of the fund, Bruenig writes, would be to correct a situation in which “millionaires own 80 percent of the country’s wealth while the bottom third of families owns none of it. . . .  As the assets under management increase, the value of the shares held by the citizen-owners will increase, causing wealth inequality to fall.”