The idea of “ownership society” did not originate somewhere on the plains of Texas or the back room of the White House. Matter of fact, if we look back to the birthplace of personal liberties (according to the French) it was Lafayette and friends who, in 1789, set forth in Article 2 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man that “The goal of any political association is the conservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of the man. These rights are personal freedom, liberty, the ownership of property.”

The President’s concept of an “ownership society” puts the responsibility for an individual’s welfare on his shoulders and not the governments, essentially reversing 70 years of New Deal programs and policies. As owners we would become a nation of self-providers and self-funders for every economic need. We would own and fund our own pensions. We would own and fund our own health insurance. We would take responsibility for other government provided social services.

In his book Bullish on Bush: How George W. Bush’s Ownership Society Will Make America Stronger, author Stephen Moore adopts the view that through the miracle of compound interest, all Americans have the chance to become millionaires.

There are more than a few Democrats, and even a Republican or two, who have their doubts that the policies of the New Deal should be so hastily thrown out. With ownership comes the right to fail as well as to succeed.

Responsible public policy should take into account that not all men are created equal in the sense they have the ability to look after themselves. Not all families can automatically be turned into capitalists by making available tax favored saving accounts. For example on the lower end of the economic spectrum are families who need every penny to pay for basic survival and since these folks pay little or no tax anyway, they have zero incentive to become “owners” of social programs that used to provide them some social safety net for free.

Moore does make some interesting points with his concept of America as a society of savers and investors. With larger stakes in corporate America, we would be likely to identify with business and more likely to support policies, such as free trade, that “workers” have historically opposed. The additional emphasis on personal saving and investing would be beneficial to the economy and the stock market specifically.

This transition has already begun, if we look back to the decade of the 80s. IRAs became a part of the American savings scene. Corporations ditched defined benefit plans in favor of the 401k…leaving the worker the option, and responsible for, saving for their own retirement. More people than ever became stockholders either through retirement plan investing or personal savings.

The great boom of the 90s saw an expansion of numbers of American shareholder/investors. Unfortunately, while wide, the expansion was not deep according to the Federal Reserve survey that shows half of all households have financial assets that total less than $20,000.

The Bush concept of ownership has merit and will have broad appeal…providing policy makers don’t pull the rug out from under those who need societal assistance and a leg up in life. I like the idea of each of us accepting personal responsibility for our lives. But as the French Monarchy learned the hard way…too big a gulf between those who have and those who have not eventually leads to radical revolution!