In a system known as “Free Markets, Shared Foundations,” you make as much as you can and you never lose the basics.

Imagine you graduate from school, get a good job and earn $90,000 a year. You’re doing everything right. Then you get cancer and lose your job, or your child needs expensive medical care.

In a pure capitalist system, those events can wipe out years of savings and leave you struggling financially. In a “Free Markets, Shared Foundations” system, you still keep the rewards of your hard work and can become as wealthy as your talent and effort allow, but healthcare, education and other basic services remain secure.

The goal is not to make everyone equal. The goal is to ensure that success is determined by ability and effort, not by whether you were lucky enough to avoid life’s biggest setbacks.

In short: Capitalism lets you build wealth; shared foundations keep one crisis from destroying it.

SCOTT LEBLEU

Lafayette