Rules are the regulatory and legal frameworks that make<\/strong> up the economy, like those affecting property ownership, corporate formation, labor law, copyright, antitrust, monetary, tax, and expenditure policy, and other economic structures.<\/strong> They also include the institutions that perpetuate discrimination, including structural discrimination\u2014an entire system of rules, regulations, expenditure policies, and normative practices that exclude populations from the economy and economic opportunity. Unequal socio-economic outcomes for women and people of color are rooted in this kind of structural discrimination, in addition to other forms of bias. . . .<\/p>\n

Our challenge, then, is to rewrite the rules to work for everyone<\/strong>. To do so, we must re-learn what we thought we knew about how modern economies work. We must also devise new policies to eliminate the distortions that pervade our financial sector, our corporate rules, our macroeconomic, monetary, tax, expenditure, and competition policies, our labor relations, and our political structures. It is important to engage all of these challenges simultaneously, since our economy is a system and these elements interact<\/strong>. This will not be easy; we must push to achieve these fundamental changes at a time when the American people have lost faith in their government\u2019s ability to act in service of the common good.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The problems we face today are in large part the result of economic decisions we made\u2014or failed to make\u2014beginning in the late 1970s.<\/p>\n

The changes occurring in our economy, politics, and society have been dramatic, and there is a corresponding sense of urgency in this report. We cannot afford to go forward with minor tweaks and hope that they do the trick. We know the answer: they will not, and the suffering that will occur in the meantime is unconscionable.<\/strong> And, as we explain, this is not just about the present, but the future. The policies of today are \u201cbaking in\u201d the America of 2050: unless we change course, we will be a country with slower growth, ever more inequality, and ever less equality of opportunity.<\/strong> Inequality has been a choice, and it is within our power to reverse it. <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n