The State of the Commons

ALL AMERICANS are joint owners of a trove of hidden assets.  These assets — natural gifts like air and water, and social creations like science and the Internet — constitute our shared inheritance.  They’re vital to our lives and make our economy run.  The trouble is, our shared inheritance is being grossly mismanaged.  Maintenance is terrible, theft is rampant and rents often aren’t being collected.  To put it bluntly, our common wealth — and our children’s — is being squandered.