To achieve the American Dream, it is no longer enough to work from nine to five. For too many years, wealth has primarily accumulated in assets, rather than in wages. 

Now, AI is transforming how our economy operates, and a wide range of voices are unifying around a shared goal: expanding worker equity ownership.  

The ownership economy has the potential to expand the ability of every citizen to own financial capital, to benefit from an upside once reserved for the rich, and to help to experience the American Dream.  

I am optimistic that with the right policies and momentum, an ownership economy can become the foundation of a new social contract between business and society—where corporate profit and economic participation reinforce one another, grounded in the principles of Inclusive Capitalism: fairness, equity, and opportunity.  Many investors, politicians, and business leaders—including big tech CEOs—increasingly recognize that as AI reshapes work and productivity, the wealth it creates must be shared broadly across society.  

In his encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” titled Encyclical on Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence, Pope Leo XIV calls on us to create an economy that values dignity, and that “instead of waiting for the benefits of growth to reach the poor, ‘eventually,’ decisions need to be taken now to ensure that growth becomes inclusive from the outset.” 

Pope Leo is far from alone in this view. Worlds away, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink similarly argued in his 2026 letter to investors that with AI driving growth in capital markets, ownership, too, must broaden. 

From historic programs like the federally-sponsored employee stock ownership plans (known as “ESOPs”) to new policies like Trump Accounts, an ownership economy is already part of our national mindset, but access must be expanded and made........

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