Obama: Israel-Hamas war forcing 'moral reckoning on all of us' I See the full speech
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Former President Barack Obama said it’s “impossible to be dispassionate” after the terrorist attack on Israelis and the images coming out of Gaza, saying the conflict forces “a moral reckoning on all of us.” He made the remarks during a Chicago forum on how technology innovations like artificial intelligence are fundamental to safeguarding and expanding democracy in countries around the world. Watch his full remarks.
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Transcript
0:00
[Music] hello everybody have a seat have a
0:09
seat hello Chicago thank you Alina for that
0:16
outstanding introduction uh I I will say that Michelle would be jealous to see that
0:24
she has a six-month-old at home and she doesn't look tired uh
0:31
and more importantly thank you for everything that you're doing to connect people with jobs and reduce inequality
0:38
in the city that we love uh I want to thank our amazing panelists who you've
0:44
already heard from and who you're going to hear from all the leaders who are part of our Network who who've come from
0:50
far and [Music] wide all the experts who generously
0:56
agreed to join us for our second annual democracy forum I want to say you know just how blessed
1:04
we are to have you here now I have always believed that the
1:09
ideas of a now 62y old gray-haired
1:14
although still relatively fit
1:20
ex-president are less relevant than the ideas and insights of you a new generation of
1:28
leaders that's why after leaving the White House Michelle and I started the
1:34
Obama Foundation to inspire and Empower and connect those of you who are going to be driving change for years to come
1:41
and we now have a Global Network of hundreds of young leaders from practically every
1:46
continent who are tackling some of the most important issues of our
1:51
time and we have never needed you more than we need you
1:58
today as we speak the world feels more unstable and
2:05
more dangerous than it has in a very long
2:11
time Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine continues to challenge the international
2:18
order this summer delivered record-breaking temperatures across the planet with an uptake in drought and
2:25
flooding wildfires right here in
2:31
America but also around the world we've seen a continued assault on Democratic
2:36
Norms escalating political polarization a lot of it fueled by a
2:43
steady stream of misinformation and bile on social
2:50
media and of course over the last few weeks we have watched a deadly struggle
2:56
unfold in the Middle East triggered by the horrific murder of more
3:03
than 1,400 mostly civilian Israelis many of them children at the hands of Hamas
3:09
as well as the Abduction of over 200 hostages and then an Israeli response
3:17
that has so far resulted in the displacement of well over a million
3:23
people the death of at least 9,000 Palestinian civilians thousands of them
3:29
also children the cut off of water food
3:35
electricity to a captive population that risks creating an even even greater
3:41
humanitarian crisis and all of this is taking place
3:46
against the backdrop of Decades of failure to achieve a durable peace for
3:52
both Israelis and Palestinians one that is based on genuine security for Israel a
3:58
recognition of its right to exist and a piece that is based on an end of
4:06
the occupation and the creation of a viable State and self-determination for the Palestinian
4:15
people now I will
4:21
admit it is impossible to be dispassionate in the face of this
4:28
Carnage it is hard to feel
4:34
hopeful the images of families mourning of bodies being pulled from
4:42
Rubble force a moral Reckoning on all of
4:48
us the ensuing debate has roiled college campuses divided friends and allies laid
4:54
bare generational divides and set off a surge of of anti-Semitism and anti-muslim
5:05
sentiment and even here within our Obama Foundation family
5:11
we've had to sort through our anguish our outrage our fears and our differences on the
5:20
issues not so much differences in the outcome we wish
5:25
for I had a conversation with a group of you around this issue and you were passionate and pushed me around some of
5:33
the public statements I had made and the issue is
5:39
not a wish for different outcomes an end to the killing peaceful
5:46
coexistence between two Sovereign and free peoples but rather different assessments
5:51
of the path that we need to take in order to get there and the roles each of us have to
5:58
play in order to maximize the chances of what seems impossible right
6:06
now and yet as heartbreaking as the news is right
6:13
now and it is heartbreaking as daunting as all the
6:21
challenges that we Face may be I stand Here convinced
6:30
that it is within our power or more specifically within your
6:36
power to make this world better that's what this democracy form
6:43
is all about it's an affirmation of our shared unyielding belief that war and
6:49
racial Division and religious conflict and poverty and hunger and catastrophic climate change are not
6:58
inevitable we're here because we believe that Humanity can Bridge our
7:05
differences and make better choices that we can see each other and listen to each
7:12
other and imagine each other's hardships and
7:20
pain and that this better future is most likely to happen under Democratic systems of
7:28
government democracies in which everyone's dignity is
7:35
recognized where the rule of law and human rights are respected by
7:41
everybody where people have a voice in how they're governed where we all have a stake in
7:47
maintaining the social order and where we can disagree with each other sometimes bitterly without
7:55
losing sight of the ties that bind us together
8:02
that's why we're here that's the
8:08
work you're doing and if we're
8:13
right that A Renewed commitment to democracy is a key ingredient to solving
8:19
all our other big challenges then we have so much more
8:25
work to do
8:31
because right now we're up against a set of Economic and technological and cultural
8:39
trends that are sweeping across the globe and they're weakening people's commitment to democratic
8:48
values and they are promoting violence and
8:55
domination they're making us blind to each other and they're making us
9:03
cynical about our capacity to work together and govern
9:13
ourselves now the leadup to last year's Forum we focused on one such Trend that
9:20
was the flood of toxic content on social media and we heard how thought leaders
9:26
and Civic organizations and Academia the tech sector are starting to reimagine the
9:32
ways that we use this technology to strengthen communities instead of weakening them how we can change the
9:40
Paradigm to reinvigorate journalism and combat lies and hate speech and rebuild
9:49
social trust and this year we've gathered
9:54
together an equally impressive group of thinkers and practitioners to look at at another major factor that's eroding
10:01
confidence in democracy and that's the widespread sense that the global economy
10:07
is r that it serves the few at the expense of the
10:12
many and that even popularly elected governments either can't or won't
10:19
deliver on the promise of a better life for the average
10:27
family now obviously the this is a huge topic I am fairly certain we will not
10:33
solve the problems of 21st century capitalism in this form and certainly not in a single
10:42
speech and you will be relieved to know that I don't intend to
10:50
try in the time I've left my goal is modest I want to offer a few thoughts
10:55
about how we can start reframing our economic de I want to highlight a few ways that
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innovators including some of you are already starting to build an economic order that's more inclusive more
11:08
sustainable more just even if it's still right now on a micro
11:13
level and then we're going to bring up people who know more about this than I do uh to share a discussion around these
11:23
issues now let me start with some admittedly oversimplified economic history
11:29
and I'm going to make a couple of assertions that you may or may not agree with
11:35
first the market based economic system we commonly know as
11:42
capitalism has been the greater greatest generator of wealth and Innovation that
11:48
the world has ever seen some of you may think that's
11:53
controversial but it it really is hard to argue otherwise before the Industrial
12:00
Revolution economic growth barely budged and the average person struggled to scr
12:05
up enough to eat for
12:14
centuries Millennium and then the combination of scientific
12:20
advances combined with market-based principles cause production to explode
12:26
and standards of living to Exel
12:32
the main alternative to capitalism that emerged a communist system based on centralized command and control
12:39
planning worked better in theory than in
12:44
practice as China which shifted from a command and control model to a more market-based
12:51
system and managed within a few decades the unprecedented feat of lifting
12:56
hundreds of millions of people out of extreme po poverty the bottom line is this while
13:04
there may be in fact better ways than capitalism to organize the productive
13:09
capacity of large modern societies we haven't discovered those systems yet maybe one of you will invent
13:17
them maybe there's an Adam Smith out there
13:23
somewhere but just because an economic system generates wealth and innovation
13:28
doesn't mean it guarantees a good Society because from the
13:36
outset turns out market-based systems have been compatible with slavery cast
13:42
systems colonialization War exploitation corruption fraud
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autocracy the poisoning of our natural
13:56
environment fortunately thank thanks to the accumulated efforts bit by
14:03
bit of reformers and organizers and Visionaries not so different from many
14:08
of you some mostly democratic governments began
14:15
to recognize the need to moderate capitalism's
14:20
excesses especially after the Great Depression in World War II governments began making public
14:27
investments in education Transportation scientific research and
14:32
and housing they constructed a social safety net to protect at least some of their
14:39
citizens from destitution they granted workers the right to
14:44
organize passed laws to protect consumer and
14:50
environment enacted policies designed to maintain the Integrity of the financial
14:56
system to prevent monopolies and bring back uh bring the system back into
15:03
balance now granted these developments were uneven some countries over regulated others
15:27
underregulation the free market as far as the I can see global trade would
15:32
steadily increase and all this would lead to the advance of western style
15:39
liberal democracies around the world also everybody would be able to
15:44
buy big
15:50
Banks most of you came of age just as that
15:55
consensus was starting to unram why is
16:01
that well it turned out that things like globalization automation the
16:06
internet allowed big corporations and High Finance to set up
16:11
and do business anywhere shift money around with trillions and with a click of a
16:20
button and not surprisingly many of them shifted money and operations to places
16:25
with lower wages lower taxes fewer regulatory constraints because for
16:31
multinational corporations and High Finance that meant lower costs higher profits a bigger rate of
16:42
return that meant workers lost bargaining power small businesses couldn't
16:50
compete local economies were gutted and we were left with a winner
16:56
take all economy that dramatic rically increased inequality within countries between
17:03
countries between cities and rural
17:10
areas the other thing is that as business and finance went Global
17:15
governments including democratic governments had more trouble enforcing tax laws and regulations and trying to
17:23
bring balance to the economy in Democratic countries unequal
17:31
economic power translated into unequal political power and the wealthiest
17:37
people and largest corporations who could afford lobbyists and political donations were able to press to weaken
17:45
labor laws ease regulations slash taxes punch holes in the safety net and reduce
17:52
government investment in public goods meanwhile China and Russia showed
17:58
once again that capitalism actually could function quite nicely under authoritarian Andor corrupt
18:09
regimes and meanwhile the financial crisis in 2008 just as I was about to become
18:17
president as well as the pandemic a decade later showed how in a more
18:23
connected World vulnerabilities anywhere could put put every economy at
18:34
risk so what this mean for ordinary people even in the richest
18:41
countries all these Trends led to stagnant wages lower savings more debt
18:47
greater job insecurity higher costs and
18:54
maybe most profoundly increasing doubt
18:59
that their children would be able to match much less exceed their own living
19:08
standards more and more people came to believe that their government wasn't looking out for them and that politics was a zero sum
19:19
game and as anger and frustration Rose so did anti-immigrant
19:26
sentiment so did did right-wing populism so did a strident
19:34
nationalism that has all too often led to the promotion by politicians of
19:43
anti-democratic ideas and has often led to International
19:50
conflict so how should we
19:56
respond there are are some who argue that capitalism's overwhelming emphasis
20:03
on growth and consumption is the
20:10
problem it's voracious consumption of our planets
20:16
resources the sense that the only measure of our well-being is more
20:22
stuff and and I think particularly in light of the potential for catastrophic
20:28
climate change I think a lot of people in your generation are thinking in those terms
20:34
and there's wisdom in some of
20:39
this reforming our economy as I'll return to at the end of this
20:45
talk really does require not just better policies but a shift in our
20:52
mindset but uh I'm going to argue that
21:00
growth productivity is still
21:06
important those of you who are idealistic and Progressive and are upset about
21:11
inequality you can't ignore growth you can't ignore
21:16
making the economy work wherever you are
21:23
working whatever level development the communities Where You Are
21:29
affiliated with may be in Asia in Africa in Latin
21:36
America in inner cities here in the United States in rural communities here
21:42
in the United States in some cases in places where the
21:49
highest birth rates and the youngest populations are growing
21:55
up there are millions in some cases billions of
22:01
people who still lack reliable electricity adequate shelter access to
22:09
Medicine even if we could redistribute all the wealth of every billionaire on
22:17
Earth address what rightly feels like an
22:22
obscene amount of inequity it's still wouldn't be enough
22:28
to lift all those people out of poverty we'd still need economic growth
22:34
to do that also in richer democracies like the
22:42
United States or Europe it's always been easier to build support for more robust
22:49
social programs and more public investment and more opportunity for marginalized groups and more generous
22:55
foreign assistance when the economic pie is getting
23:01
bigger and people's wages are going up and people feel more secure when things
23:07
get tighter people start feeling a little more
23:14
selfish so while it's important for us to focus on sustainable growth and inclusive growth broad-based growth we
23:21
can't afford to ignore growth entirely which brings me to a related
23:26
point with automation replacing so many blue collar jobs and pretty soon White
23:33
Collar jobs with the problems we've seen with social media there is a temptation
23:39
to blame technology itself for much of what ails
23:45
us and again there are elements of Truth in some cases to some
23:51
of the work that's been done on the effects of and disruptions of Technology
23:57
but but the truth is Automation and disruptive
24:03
Technologies are not going
24:08
away it's hard to find an instance in human history where something's
24:13
invented and isn't used whether that's the printing press
24:21
or gunpowder or the
24:26
computer in fact technological disruptions are
24:31
only going to accelerate as AI models get more sophisticated I think you may
24:36
have already heard that from a panel or maybe it's coming
24:42
up and there are some big risks associated with AI and I'm encouraged
24:47
that the Biden Administration and other governments are beginning to recognize that and build out a possible regulatory
24:54
framework to guard against those risks and in some cases slow down the widespread roll out of more powerful
25:01
models before they've been tested
25:07
but it's coming and in some cases we're actually
25:13
going to need Ai and other powerful new technologies to help us solve tough
25:19
problems like the transition to a zeroc carbon economy like that's a hard thing to
25:26
do we can come up with Pathways for new
25:32
carbon free energy sources we have to seize them so the question isn't how to
25:38
stop these advances from happening completely it's how to make sure they're subject to public
25:46
debate and consider
25:52
Public Safety and Welfare concerns and that the benefits of these new technologies flow to everyone and that
25:59
they're accessible not just in the places where they're invented or the companies that
26:04
make them but also in other countries and in poor
26:11
communities so with with that framework in mind let me quickly preview some of
26:16
our some of our work some of the key opportunities that our working group identified to build a more inclusive and
26:22
sustainable economy at the top of the list our measures
26:28
that can not only help workers find a job but also get a bigger share of the economic P to return that
26:36
balance at the macro level that starts with us making sure our governments
26:42
those in charge of managing the economy support fiscal and monetary
26:48
policies that encourage full employment you know for for decades
26:55
economists told us we couldn't go below a natural unemployment rate they estimated it might be around 5 5 a half%
27:02
without sparking inflation but as it turns out there's
27:08
nothing natural about a steady unemployment rate that leaves millions
27:14
of people out of work and that is twice as high in some
27:19
cases in African-American communities or in rural
27:25
communities and recent experience right here in the United States shows that government actually can bring
27:32
unemployment down to just under 4% while keeping inflation
27:39
manageable lower unemployment and Tighter labor markets give workers more power to ask for higher pay and move to
27:47
better jobs but it it doesn't eliminate the ups
27:52
and downs of the business cycle so over the long run
27:58
we can't just rely on the Federal Reserve
28:03
or a bunch of uh remote government
28:09
officials and one of the best ways to also raise wages and provide more
28:15
Financial Security is to reverse the declining rate of
28:20
unionization now I will give you a few quick statistics for the United States
28:28
obviously there's an international audience there there
28:34
differences but I I know us pretty
28:39
good here in the US at the peak of Union power in the
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1950s about a third of private sector jobs were unionized
28:51
onethird and correspondingly a larger share of the nation's GDP went to
28:57
ordinary workers and income inequality was at a low
29:03
E and the economy grew at a consistently High
29:13
rate since then the rate of unionization has steadily
29:19
Fallen not by accident not because it was inevitable but because of a combination of policy and business and
29:25
economic changes conservative state legislates passed so-called right to work
29:31
laws Congress and federal agencies weaken National collective bargaining
29:36
rules manufacturers shifted operations to right to work states or as we already
29:42
noted offshor shifted jobs out of the country and those that
29:51
remained they perfected techniques to beat back organizing drives meanwhile the economy grew
29:58
primarily in the service sector which traditionally hadn't been the focus of unions take that all together and the
30:04
result is that today only 6% of private sector jobs in the US are unionized
30:11
6% of private sector jobs are unionized in the UK and Canada it's
30:16
twice that still not great the good news is that positive
30:24
attitudes towards unions in the US are the highest that they've been in more than 50
30:32
years and we've also seen successful strikes most recently between Auto Workers and the big three uh automakers
30:40
that show the power of unions to get a better deal for their workers so we need to take advantage of
30:46
this changing mood to push for stronger labor loss both at the national level
30:52
and the state levels and we should support International movements to create unions in other
31:01
economies but if unions want to grow their memberships they're also going to have to change how they do
31:09
business for example unions used to be most heavily
31:16
represented in manufacturing Industries with predominantly male
31:22
workforces often times those unions not all but many and especially the trade
31:29
unions here in the United States were not particularly welcoming to folks that
31:35
look like
31:40
me today 84% of private sector jobs are
31:45
in the service sector that number keeps on
31:50
growing and in the education and Health Services sector just to take one example
31:57
more than 3/4 of the workforce is women it's surprising isn't it that
32:06
really important jobs that don't pay any
32:12
money are traditionally women's jobs it's curious how that
32:20
[Applause] happened now to organize those work in
32:27
these fastest growing sectors it won't be enough to just negotiate over wages
32:33
and traditional benefits although that's really important unions are also going to have
32:39
to find new and creative ways to meet the needs of these new workers and those needs may not match up
32:46
with somebody who was working on the factory floor it may include things like
32:52
continuing education or reliable and affordable child care
32:58
or the ability to adapt to new technologies now already some unions are
33:05
doing just that for example during the pandemic unions at the healthcare giant Kaiser
33:11
Permanente negotiated to get Workers up to $300 a week for child
33:18
care locals in both the United Food and Commercial Workers and the teamsters successfully negotiated for more
33:24
flexible schedules to accommodate child care needs and then in terms of adapting to
33:31
the new economy look at the new contract between Hollywood writers and Studios it
33:37
it wasn't just about pay it also stipulates that Studios can't treat AI
33:43
generated content as quote unquote Source material and then Force screenwriters to clean up whatever Joe
33:51
and Chad GPT generated for Less credit and a lower fee
33:59
so that kind of adaptability that kind of creative thinking that will increase the appeal of unions to a more diverse
34:06
set of workers across a wider cross-section of the economy and by the way it also has the
34:13
potential to be good for business because if workers are
34:19
satisfied if they're not stressed if if they're
34:25
not trying to deal with what to do with a young child at
34:31
home that boosts productivity reduces High turnover rates and that
34:38
matters in terms of how your business
34:43
performs all right second thing we need to think about how do we adapt the
34:49
social safety net to New Economic realities I already talked about this there's there's always been a difference
34:56
in size scope of social benefits that various
35:01
democracies or non-democracies provide their citizens among rich
35:06
countries the US has a particularly stingy Safety
35:12
Net in contrast to citizens in the Nordic
35:19
countries they historically have been willing to pay significantly higher taxes to support more High quality
35:27
public services and more generous social insurance benefits what accounts for the
35:35
difference well it turns out that one of the foundations for building political
35:41
support for a strong safety net is high measures of social
35:46
trust right people need to believe that everybody is putting money
35:52
into these programs and everybody is taking money out that right now I'm doing okay but I
35:59
might lose my job I might get sick something might happen there but for the grace of God go
36:07
I so that I don't resent it when I'm not sick somebody else is down
36:14
on their life that kind of social trust is easier to do in smaller countries where
36:23
everybody is named Sven
36:30
I mean for any nordics out there I'm I'm
36:38
just messing with you but but the point is is is relevant it is harder to build
36:48
social trust and hence generous social programs in big diverse countries like
36:54
the US where let's face it politics Ians who may have an agenda of just
37:01
wanting to keep taxes low and and
37:07
uh not have to put in they can play on racial stereotypes
37:14
about freeloading minorities to weaken support for social
37:22
insurance but if our goal is to build social cohesion and strength in
37:28
democracy then moving closer to a Nordic model makes
37:37
sense there are some trade-offs but as long as government
37:43
programs are well-managed and transparent more public benefits in
37:48
exchange for higher taxes typically means lower inequality and greater
37:54
Economic Security for every everybody it also means highquality public
38:01
schools in Finland in Denmark rich people send their kids to
38:08
the same schools as poor people because the schools are super good with really well-paid highly
38:16
trained High status teachers and that produces well-educated
38:22
healthy citizens who also have shared experience
38:28
and and that in turn makes them more invested in how their government works
38:33
and more invested in maintaining these social programs and
38:38
creating good outcomes for the Next Generation so so
38:44
that's my view about making social programs more
38:50
robust but whether we're talking about Denmark or the United States rapid changes in the economy are still going
38:57
to require other changes in the design of social insurance programs so in the US for example the
39:04
rise of self-employment people's much more
39:09
likely to churn between jobs means Health Care retirement plans unemployment insurance can't be tied to
39:17
a particular job or
39:24
employer that idea of portability it it it goes with you as that part of
39:31
of yeah that's part of what the Affordable Care Act was all
39:37
about but we need to do more of that and if AI ends
39:44
up eliminating entire categories of
39:49
jobs if it means that as much stuff or as many services can be produced with
39:56
fewer workers not just on the factory floor but in law firms or in graphic design
40:04
shops we may need to consider bigger changes and we should start talking about that now things like a shorter
40:11
work week or a universal basic income or guaranteed
40:16
income I ideas that can spread work around and supplement the incomes of
40:23
people as they shift to the much needed work that I mentioned earlier that can't
40:31
be automated that a program alone can't do things like child care and education and
40:40
health care and Elder Care some of these ideas are being
40:46
tested as we speak right here in Chicago there's a pilot program called
40:51
Chicago promise that's been giving thousands of low to moderate income families $500 in cash every month to
40:57
help them meet basic needs and it's modeled after a similar program in Stockton California and and it's showing
41:04
early promise because the thesis is you improve Financial
41:10
stability you improve well-being of low-income families they actually can fix a busted
41:17
car they don't have electricity turned off their lives are more
41:22
stable it doesn't discourage them from working full-time it in fact makes it easier for them to
41:29
go out and find a job and work
41:35
full-time more broadly one of the the bright spots coming out of the pandemic uh has been evidence that the
41:43
generous benefits people received during the lockdowns which is unusual for the
41:49
United States uh maybe one of the reasons why
41:54
the US economy has actually seen an unprecedented increase in new business formation over the past couple years
42:01
because people had a little bit of a cushion to go out and take a risk and try that new
42:07
idea and that's the thing about giving people a safety net and helping them
42:12
achieve their basic needs not only does it relieve hardship
42:19
not only does it strengthen our democracy it can also Empower people to be more productive and raise their
42:25
ambitions and set an example for their children and that benefits all of us and that
42:32
benefits the economy and that benefits business all right number three we need
42:40
to work on how to enforce tax and Regulatory standards across National
42:47
borders as I said earlier in every country the wealthy the biggest
42:54
corporations we disproportionately political influence and they typically
42:59
use it to push back against taxes and regulations globalization only increases
43:04
their leverage they can shift money and operations anywhere even the
43:11
threat of doing so often leads governments
43:17
to engage in what I call a race to the bottom they're they compete to see who
43:23
can create the most quote unquote business-friendly environment which means letting companies do whatever they
43:31
want the only answer to this is more Global
43:37
cooperation and of course that is not easy to do when we got Wars in Ukraine
43:43
in the Middle East and you've got increasing hostility between the United States and
43:49
China so this isn't not a short-term
43:54
project part part of what also makes it harder is although over the long run it's in the interest of all countries to
44:01
regain some measure of control over their economies in the short run small
44:08
countries may decide you know us serving as a tax Haven for the wealthy us
44:14
disregarding environmental or labor laws it's our only chance to
44:20
develop though in some cases with less than scrupulous regimes it may also be
44:27
an optimal way to engage in
44:33
corruption now the good news is we're starting to see examples despite all the
44:41
challenges internationally we're starting to see some examples of strategic cooperation on this issue so
44:48
for ex uh for instance two years ago more than 130 countries agreed to a
44:54
global minimum tax tax as a way to stop this race to the
44:59
bottom track countes supposed to share information enforce
45:06
mutually uh their their tax standards and it's still early getting every country to actually
45:14
enforce the agreement is going to be hard but it's a start and we should build on this
45:21
approach we're going to need similar International agreements to maintain global trade and shift to a more
45:28
sustainable and clean energy economy on trade over over the last century trade has allowed poor countries
45:35
to pursue an export driven strategy to develop themselves by accessing
45:41
wealthier markets a lot of time it's just extractive
45:47
Industries it does not help those countries develop in some cases it
45:52
has in any event increasingly that bargain may not
45:59
work and part of the reason is because countries like China have gained the system they flooded export markets long
46:08
after they had become one of the two biggest economies in the world and had moved into
46:14
so-called middle- inome status and partly it's because workers
46:20
in more advanced economies like the United States or Great Britain have pushed back against an arrangement that
46:28
allows them to buy cheap TVs and sneakers but may mean they lose their job not a
46:35
great trade-off so building a trade regime that helps everyone and not just some
46:42
and that can Garner political support will require new models of
46:49
cooperation we're going to have to create trade deals where wealthy countries are willing to open up to the
46:55
poorest countries even if those poor countries don't completely reciprocate they're
47:01
allowed to protect some of their own infant Industries but once those countries graduate to Middle inome status like
47:09
China then they have to provide more reciprocal access and start relying more on expanding their own internal markets
47:16
in order to grow and that same principle is going to be crucial if
47:24
we're going to deal with climate change countries like China countries like India not to mention most of the African
47:30
continent they're absolutely right to insist they shouldn't be expected to sacrifice their own development well
47:37
we're drying our SUVs their people still have a smaller carbon footprint on a per
47:42
capita basis most of the problem was created by countries in the global
47:47
North all true but the planet is
47:54
cooked if they keep burning fossil fuels the way we have in the past the way we're
48:01
doing now and the the way they're doing now so the United States
48:08
could reduce its emissions down to zero
48:14
tomorrow but if China and India kept on going at their current trajectory we still have a
48:22
problem the good news is that innovation has actually driven the price of clean energy down more than even the most
48:29
optimistic projections predicted so now we need to encourage
48:34
both more private investment and faster adoption and transition to clean energy
48:40
that's what President Biden did when he signed the inflation reduction act the most ambitious investment in combating
48:48
climate change in history but the world is is also going
48:54
to have to subsidize the transfer and Adoption of some of these latest Clean
48:59
Energy Technologies to the global South and help these countries build up
49:05
the necessary infrastructure the Paris Accord
49:10
recognizes this not all countries have to do the same thing under the deal but
49:15
every country has to do something the thing is we have to move faster not only because climate change
49:22
will impact every country but because it's likely to worsen problems like Mass migration crossb conflicts that stress
49:30
our democracies which brings me to the last
49:35
key issue that our working group explored if we are going to encourage more private investment in the common
49:42
good if we're going to create more worker friendly policies we have to reimagine how corporations are governed
49:49
and operate for more than 50 years Cor corporate managers have
49:56
embraced The View popularized by Milton fredman that their only responsibility
50:02
is to increase shareholder value that's all the thing is fredman's Formula isn't
50:12
drawn from stone tablets it's not a a mutable scientific principle this is not
50:17
one of the laws of physics it is a societal choice about values
50:27
corporations are perfectly capable of operating efficiently and profitably
50:32
while considering the impact they have on their workers and on their communities and on the planet and on our
50:44
democracy and and I would argue that taking that broader view may actually improve their bottom
50:51
line because in today's interconnected world the best companies have to
50:58
consider the longterm strategies that will help them retain Talent OR recruit
51:05
Talent from an increasingly diverse Workforce they got to maintain their brand or somebody is going to cancel
51:12
them on their phone they have to continue to
51:17
innovate narrow obsessions with quarterly earning reports to satisfy
51:23
Wall Street often makes that harder and despite what some politicians
51:30
might say about companies acting too woke your
51:35
generation is less and less interested in doing business with or working for companies that are not good corporate
51:48
citizens and maybe that's why for the first time in years say you're already having an
51:53
impact just I stuff
52:01
stuff for the first time in years we're starting to see a noticeable shift in how at least corporations talk about
52:08
their mission our job is to make sure the talk
52:13
is matched by action so I I I'll I'll give you an example there's a lot of discussion right now is it's fashionable
52:21
to talk about impact investing and the idea is financial
52:26
institutions claim that not all of your portfolios but some of them will only
52:31
invest in companies that provide some social good along with a market rate of
52:38
return when you when you look under the hood and I and I've I've talked to a
52:44
number of the folks who who are pitching this
52:49
um sometimes too often these impact investing funds really are branding
52:56
exercises in which pretty conventional Investments of dubious social
53:03
benefit uh they may not be bad but they're not uh solving huge problems are dressed
53:11
up and repackaged to make them more appealing
53:17
fortunately there have been serious efforts underway both by nonprofits and
53:23
academic researchers and to their credit even some of the investment funds involved to bring some analytical rigor
53:30
to the idea so you were form rating systems that measure and certify
53:35
companies give them a a Good Housekeeping seal of approval that they really are having meaning meaningful
53:42
impact on issues like climate change or providing education to the underserved and we should encourage
53:50
that if if we can make that work that could be impactful we also need to explore new
53:56
types of corporate structures from worker owned companies to purpose-driven
54:01
public benefit corporations that allow companies to operate for a
54:07
profit to benefit from the efficiencies and discipline that comes with the
54:13
market but also allow those same companies to pursue broader social goals
54:19
at the same time so take Patagonia last year the company's
54:25
founder announced they would be transferring 100% of voting and non voting stock to a trust and nonprofit
54:33
set up to sustain their values and fight climate change ponia will still be able to hire
54:39
and grow and and make those coats but now all profits will be
54:46
distributed to groups that are dedicated to protecting the planet getting workers more leverage
54:55
expanding and redesigning the social safety net improving crossb cooperation
55:01
to help governments tax and regulate and negotiate fair trade deals and transition to clean
55:08
energy exploring new ways for corporations to operate in a way that's consistent
55:14
with profits and the common good none of these steps are
55:22
easy we will not eliminate through any of these steps all inequality we're not
55:28
going to eliminate poverty we're not going to uh entirely ward off the disruptions
55:34
that come from Ai and other new technologies but if we take these steps
55:39
which are achievable they would make our economy work better they'd improve people's lives
55:47
they would reduce inequality they would strengthen our
55:54
democracies one last point before we bring on the
55:59
panel of folks who know more about this stuff than I do achieving any of these
56:06
things will require more than just Innovative
56:12
policymaking it will require more than just Savvy strategic
56:17
politics it will require a broader shift in
56:23
values the other day I went back and and reread one of my favorite passages from
56:29
one of Bobby Kennedy's speeches back in the 60s that's Bobby Kennedy the father
56:34
not the son in it he describes the standard
56:43
measure of economic performance that countries and
56:50
international agencies and economists use uh gross domestic product
56:56
GDP and he describes how it reflects what he calls the poverty of
57:04
satisfaction that afflicts us all and he goes on to talk about how
57:12
GDP as we use it measures the locks on our
57:19
doors and the locks that we put on our prisons it counts the destruction of our
57:27
forests and cigarette advertising it counts nuclear warhead
57:33
construction and armored cars for the police to contain unrest in our
57:41
cities what it doesn't measure is the health of our children or the quality of their
57:48
education or the joy of their play
57:56
it doesn't account for our wit or wisdom our
58:01
Compassion or our devotion to Country it measures everything he says
58:09
except that which makes life
58:15
worthwhile when talking about the economy many of us including those of us
58:21
who consider ourselves Progressive we obsess over the material measures of progress income and taxes and wages and
58:28
trade balances and the latest inflation numbers and that is important especially important for poor
58:36
people for working families with little margin for error having a job that pays enough to cover the bills putting food
58:42
on the table managing through a crisis that's still Out Of
58:49
Reach material things matter
58:56
but Goods money is not the only thing that drives
59:02
us a job provides an income a paycheck but it can also provide a sense of Pride
59:09
and belonging people may want new furniture or the latest Air
59:15
Jordans but they also want more time with their families they want a neighborhood where
59:21
they can take a walk without being afraid or passing by somebody who they know has
59:28
nothing and is cold they want to sense of purpose to
59:34
their days the choices we make about our economy affect all those things that
59:41
make life worthwhile and we shouldn't be afraid to talk about
59:48
that one silver lining of the pandemic was that it forced millions of people especially young people to step back and
59:56
take stock of what's really important your generation is starting to
1:00:02
ask tough questions about how you want to live and work and spend your time and it may be that by answering
1:00:09
those questions you can help all of us realign our economic policies with our deepest
1:00:18
values almost 200 years ago Alex to teville described American society uh
1:00:25
American Social and economic equality as quote the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be
1:00:33
derived he wrote that Americans put a kind of heroism in their way of doing
1:00:41
Commerce but at a time when our bonds of trust are growing
1:00:47
weaker at a time when we are drowning in stuff and
1:00:52
yet people seem deeply anxious and
1:00:59
unfulfilled we need a new generation of Heroes to strengthen our bonds of trust
1:01:05
to create an economic system that supports and sustains those things that
1:01:11
matter including our democratic values for years to come that's what many of
1:01:18
our young leaders are doing and it's up to the rest of us to do everything we can to support them
1:01:25
thank you everybody all right thank [Music]
1:01:35
[Applause] [Music]
1:01:53
you
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