A Mobility State for an Age of Inequality

America’s real crisis is not just inequality; it is the collapse of mobility in a high-churn, high-immigration society. The old promise—work hard, play by the rules, move up—now feels like a rumor for millions juggling gig jobs, locked out of housing markets, or stuck with obsolete skills. We do not need nostalgic protectionism or minimalist fatalism. We need a mobility state: public policy designed not to freeze people in place with bigger cushions, but to equip them to move—across jobs, regions, and life stages—without falling through the cracks.

The New Inequality: Resilience, Not Just Income

Today’s inequality is less about static wealth gaps and more about who has buffers against constant change. Asset owners ride appreciating houses and stocks; everyone else faces volatile pay, algorithm-driven schedules, and benefits that vanish when the job does. Automation, platforms, and global competition reward the adaptable and punish the exposed. The result is a divide in agency: some treat layoffs as detours; others never recover.

Why Obvious Fixes Keep Dying

Americans broadly support making retraining easier, benefits portable, or housing less gated. Yet reforms stall because of:

• Structural veto points and regulatory capture
• Cultural skepticism of “big government”
• Partisan branding wars (“socialism” vs. “welfare”)

The Mobility State: A Third Model

A mobility state treats public spending as opportunity infrastructure for a lattice economy, not a single ladder. Core design principles:

1. Simplicity – clear rules, no 400-page manuals
2. Portability – benefits follow the person
3. Opportunity-focused – tools for growth and transition
4. Near-universal – kills the “undeserving other” stigma
5. Time- or milestone-bounded – like the GI Bill

These principles let conservatives champion it as pro-work and pro-dynamism, progressives as pro-fairness and anti-rigging, and libertarians as anti-oligarchy.

Four Concrete, Bipartisan-Friendly Tools

1. Universal Opportunity Accounts

Seed every citizen (and long-term resident) with a modest, lifelong account usable only for trajectory-changing investments: retraining, relocation, small-business startup, credential recognition.   → Right: “capitalism for everyone” Left: “democratizing capital”

2. Portable, Person-Attached Benefits

Detach core health coverage and basic protections from the employer. Change jobs or go independent—coverage travels with you.   → Reduces small-business burden while ending job-lock terror

3. A Modern GI Bill for Economic Transitions

Generous, time-limited support for anyone at a major pivot: automation-displaced workers, returning caregivers, immigrants getting credentials recognized, mid-career switchers. Tuition + stipends + relocation grants.

4. Housing Mobility Tools

Mobility vouchers to move to opportunity-rich regions, down-payment help for first-time buyers in high-cost metros, and federal incentives that reward building instead of exclusionary zoning.

None promise equal outcomes. All equalize access to the means of adaptation.

Why This Package Can Actually Pass

• Modular (pilot in friendly states first)
• Evidence-friendly (successful experiments are hard to demonize)
• Dual-language framing works in both red and blue rooms
• Changes the question from “How big should welfare be?” to “Is the game still fair?”

A Fairer Climb, Not a Bigger Cushion

America will never be a low-immigration, slow-change protection state, nor should it accept a minimal state where only the already-secure can take risks. A mobility state accepts the country as it is—restless, open, churning—and makes relentless motion survivable and empowering for people who do not inherit wealth.

The real divide is no longer just left vs. right. It is between those comfortable with a closed-club climb and those who insist the ladder stays open to new strivers.

That is the only way to salvage the American promise in the century we actually live in.