by James S. Albus
Abstract
Poverty has been the enduring lot of the human race since the beginning. While the technology exists to produce enough wealth to eliminate poverty, there are a number of economic and political constraints that prevent a rate of economic growth sufficient to end poverty in the foreseeable future. Also there exist no mechanisms to allow the benefits of the productivity growth necessary to sustain rapid economic growth to be equitably distributed. These problems are discussed and a solution is proposed. Specifically a pair of new institutions are suggested to generate the necessary investment capital, to prevent inflation in the face of rapid economic growth, and to distribute the benefits among the general population. It is suggested that 6% economic growth could be achieved in the United States with less than 4% inflation by increasing the current national investment rate by 12% of GDP, while increasing the savings rate by 4% of GDP.