Shareholder value theory - the destructive idea that companies should be run solely for the benefit of shareholders - has led to financialized businesses that do not invest in the areas that will lead to future growth or the invention of useful new products.

Mainstream economic theories popular in the last several decades have tended to downplay the government's role in markets and to increase skepticism about even that more limited role. Austerity, particularly in Europe, has added to the problem. It has not worked, even on its own terms.

While infrastructure is of course important, it must be part of a bigger vision. The point is not to simply dig ditches but to steer those investments towards transformational growth.

The globalized nature of production and innovation means that the benefits don't necessarily stay in the country where the investments are made.

Growth in productivity has diverged from growth in the share that working people can expect right across advanced economies, but this trend started earlier and has been more pronounced in the U.S.

Markets are not static entities that are 'intervened' in (for good or bad) but are outcomes of public and private interactions.

The actual division of labor must be reflected in the division of the rewards (and prices, which is the way the consumer gets rewarded).