Ending Vacuum Economics: Building an Economy That Works for All

Our economy sucks, but Stewardship can fix it.

For decades, we have been told that wealth would “trickle down” from the overflowing accounts of corporations and the wealthy. If only we kept taxes low and provided bailouts for the overleveraged, those with more would spend to create jobs and markets for the rest. Instead, we’ve ended up with the reverse. What we live under today is what I’ve termed Vacuum Economics: instead of wealth trickling down, it gets sucked upwards. The many work harder and fall behind, while the few accumulate fortunes beyond imagination.

This is not a natural law. It is the result of political choices that have often been purchased through corporate capture of politicians. Choices that left wages flat while costs exploded, allowed oligarchs and private equity to dismantle institutions, and let housing markets become a playground for investors instead of a foundation for building families and communities. Vacuum Economics keeps the middle squeezed, the poor desperate, and less than 1% richer than kings.

The Problems We All See

Wage stagnation. Productivity and profits have risen for decades, but wages haven’t kept up. A person working full-time should be able to afford a decent life. Yet millions can’t cover rent, childcare, groceries, or medical bills. Corporations force their workers to rely on the same safety-net government systems that they lobby to dismantle or actively profit from. The promise that hard work leads to security has been broken.

The housing crisis. Homes were once anchors of stability. Now, corporate landlords and foreign investors scoop up properties, push prices higher, and extract value from the lives of families desperate to live in or near the communities where they work. Families compete with Wall Street just to have a roof overhead, turning a vessel for building wealth and security into an instrument of exploitation.

The money game. The biggest winners of our system often contribute the least. Multinationals and globe-trotting elites use loopholes, tax havens, and accounting tricks to avoid paying their fair share. While small businesses and workers carry the load, they leverage themselves to acquire more assets, price out competition, and demand further cuts to their responsibilities. Individuals, wielding the wealth of nations, buying the country out from under us and giving nothing back to the infrastructure and ideals we built that made it possible.

Building the Alternative

Vacuum Economics is not destiny. Stewardship demands that the suction is broken, and wealth circulates through society as it is meant to, rather than being drained away into the bottomless pockets of the greediest few.

1. Regulate foreign and speculative investment. Homes should be for people, not portfolios. We can put guardrails in place that prevent housing from being treated purely as a profit machine. Communities thrive when families can live where they work and invest in their own home, rather than live in deteriorating housing stock that consumes the largest single bite of their income. Hedge funds and wealthy overseas corporations will do only the minimum necessary to maintain their value extraction, leaving houses to decay over time. Owner-occupants have an interest in improving their housing, which will remain for future owners’ benefits.

2. Tie wages to a real American Living Standard. Minimum wage debates often get stuck on numbers as virtue signaling. The truth is simple: any work worth doing should support life. That means pegging wages to the actual cost of living. Housing, healthcare, food, and transportation, among other necessities. If the economy grows, the workers should feel it too.

3. Tax wealth, not work. A fair and enforced tax system shouldn’t squeeze paychecks while letting billionaires skate by. Wealth taxes, stronger estate taxes, and closing loopholes ensure those who’ve gained the most from our country contribute back. We can lighten the burden on working people and small businesses by finally asking extreme wealth to pay its share.

The Payoff

This is not about punishing success. This is about creating balance and protecting the fundamentals of our economy from becoming a winner-takes-all game among the elites, using the lives of everyday Americans as ante. A healthy economy doesn’t hoard wealth and assets at the top. It circulates prosperity broadly, improves the velocity of money, and allows people to buy homes, start businesses, and raise families without fear.

The economic applications of Stewardship are clear:

· A strong middle class. With fair wages and affordable housing, families can build stability.

· Resilient communities. When money stays local, small businesses thrive and owner-occupant neighborhoods strengthen.

· Fewer billionaires and fewer impoverished. Extreme inequality is a sign of sickness in the economy and society. A balanced economy lifts the bottom and reduces the ability to buy policy, people, and power at the top.

A Closing Image

A healthy economy is like a healthy heart. It keeps blood flowing, preventing it from pooling in one spot, never draining away from the rest of the body. When wealth circulates, everyone has oxygen to grow.

Vacuum Economics has left America winded and weak. It is time to change course. With Stewardship, we can build an economy that works for everyone, not just the sucking few.