Gerstner asserts less than half of people under 40 believe in capitalism.
“There's a reason less than half of people under the age of 40 believe in capitalism, Ed.”
Gerstner says 70% of Americans don't participate in market upside and less than half under 40 favor capitalism.
“They don't have accounts that compound. They feel left out. They feel left behind. Less than half of people under the age of 40 have a favorable view of capitalism.”
Gerstner says less than half of under-40s believe in capitalism, making private accounts critical.
“Less than half of people under the age of 40 believe in it. Okay? Gallup, Pew, Axios, we have all the data.”
Gerstner claims all human GDP growth occurred after America's founding and wealth of nations publication.
“So we have two thousand years, you have no GDP growth. And it all happens to magically line up with, you know, the founding of America, the wealth of nations, limited government, entrepreneurialism, etcetera.”
Gerstner says less than half of Americans under 40 believe in capitalism, prompting his proposal.
“Okay? He said the Marxists are going to hate this because every child from birth is going to be aligned with capital Right?”
Gerstner says US GDP per capita is 100x Nicaragua's today versus equal 100 years ago.
“The today, the GDP per capita of The United States to Nicaragua is a 100 x. Why? Right? We're living at a time where I think there's a lot of controversy about capitalism.”
Gerstner says the accounts would grow to $12,000 by age 10, giving kids ownership stakes in major companies.
“At 10 years old, you'll have $12,000 in that account. You see that you own a little bit of Tesla, of of Microsoft, of UnitedHealthcare.”
Gerstner cites that 44% of Americans aged 18-29 believe socialism is superior to capitalism.
“Joe, among the age group 18 29, 44% of that group believe socialism is a superior form of organizing government than capitalism.”
Gerstner argues backlash against capitalism stems from technology revolution displacing human labor, not capitalism itself.
“I would argue that's not really a feature of capitalism so much as it's a feature of a technology revolution.”
Gerstner predicts global wealth will increase but distribution will become more concentrated due to technology.
“Global wealth, as measured by the mountain of labor and capital that exists in the world, the conveniences that will be available to people will be better than they've ever been before, but the distribution of those will be way more concentrated as we've already seen.”
Gerstner warns AI and ML will increase productivity but concentrate wealth distribution even more than today.
“Global wealth, as measured by the mountain of labor and capital that exists in the world, the conveniences that will be available to people will be better than they've ever been before, but the distribution of those will be way more concentrated”