Folks, we’re here today for a simple reason: to talk about the middle class. From the start, I think it worth asking why do we care about the middle class in the first place? It’s an honest question.

From where I sit, a strong middle class brings social stability. Americans are more connected when we share economic circumstances, when we know that the other man or woman is facing the same struggles and successes we are.

A strong middle class breeds opportunity. We’re starting to see this more in studies — that the communities that best allow people to move up the economic ladder are ones with a big middle class.

When the middle class is strong, our economy does well, too. American companies rely on millions of consumers to buy their products, which feeds a virtuous cycle of prosperity. Jobs are added. Everyone wins.

But if we have a weak middle class, we become a fractured country. Opportunity fades. People feel left out — and they either drop out or fight for radical change. And that’s what we’re starting to see — a younger generation that’s questioning the very essence of our capitalist system. And it’s this lack of hope, lack of opportunity that’s driving so much of what’s happening today.

America is all about possibilities. That’s what separates us from every other country. Every generation believes there is something better waiting for their kids. But when people start to think their kids aren’t going to do as well, things begin to erode. People stop believing the American dream is possible. When that dream lives, anything is possible. Whether that means digging out of tough times, or getting stronger in good times. But it’s all built on the premise that kids will do better than we have done.

A lot of this hope and optimism was based on a basic bargain we used to have in this country. If you contributed to the success of an enterprise, you got to share in its success. But that’s not true anymore. The bargain has been broken. The gap between productivity and income has been growing for decades. Workers are delivering more — and getting less and less in return.

Folks, the middle class is in trouble. Now it’s all about taking care of the folks at the top, it’s all about stock buybacks, it’s all about taking care of the shareholders. And very little has gone into the pockets of workers — and even less into investment in things like research and development or worker training.

While it can be argued that at a macroeconomic level, globalization and automation and technology have been successful — it’s left a lot of people behind. It’s left a lot of people fearful for their future. It’s left a lot of people unable to maintain their quality of life.

Take that guy making $60,000 on the assembly line and his wife making another $30,000 — together they’re making $90,000. They’ve got two kids, a mortgage payment, a car payment, basically no retirement savings — and they can’t make it. And they’re scared.

Every generation believes there is something better waiting for their kids. But when people start to think their kids aren’t going to do as well, things begin to erode. People stop believing the American dream is possible.

The problem isn’t just the salary. It’s the soaring cost of college with nothing put aside for tuition. The huge mortgage. The empty retirement savings account, or no pension. The fear that you’re going to have to ask your kids for help.

The middle class is not a number. Some economists might say the middle class is $50,000 a year. Or $52,000. But it’s really a value set. It’s living in a neighborhood where you know your kids will come home safe. It’s having a retirement where you can take care of yourself. It’s being able to send your kids to college. It’s owning your own home.

My dad used to have an expression. He used to say that a job was about a lot more than a paycheck. It’s about dignity, it’s about respect, it’s about one’s place in the community. It’s about being able to look your child in the eye and say everything is going to be okay. Well, far too many people today can’t do that. They can’t look their child in the eye and say it’s going to be okay. That’s what we have to change. And there are answers.

So what do we have to do?

First, we’ve got to deal with income inequality.

It not only hurts growth, it’s pulling us apart. And the country won’t stand for it forever. So we have to deal with the tax code. It’s wildly skewed towards taking care of those at the top. It favors investors over workers. And it’s riddled with unproductive tax expenditures.

Look at what just happened with the latest tax cut: Once again, those at the very top got the biggest break. And what will we have to show for it? Even Republicans admit there is no evidence these tax cuts are being put to work in the economy. No new growth, just more debt — and that puts middle-class programs like Social Security and Medicare in jeopardy.

What we need is a pro-growth, progressive tax code that treats workers as job creators, not just investors. That gets rid of unproductive loopholes like stepped-up basis. And that raises enough revenue to make sure that Social Security and Medicare are here to stay.

Second, we’ve got to educate our people.

My wife has an expression. She says any country that out-educates us will out-compete us. It’s not just my wife. In 2014, President Obama asked me to lead a year-long process on the workforce and the jobs of the future. I traveled the country meeting with major CEO and business leaders in the nation — and the overwhelming message from the business community was we need a better-educated, better-trained workforce. We found that by the end of this decade six in ten jobs would require some education beyond high school. And it doesn’t end there. Digitalization, automation, artificial intelligence, Moore’s law — the changes are coming so fast that if you don’t commit yourself to lifelong education, you’ll be obsolete.

Quite simply, 12 years of education is no longer enough. Does anyone think if we were building our public school system today, we would stop at 12 years of education?

So we need widespread access to affordable college. Community collegeshould be free. In my view, four-year public colleges should be free, too. And we need to make lifelong learning commonplace: From the PhD engineer to the factory line worker, education has to be part of every worker’s lifeblood.

Third, we’ve got to empower workers.

Workers have no leverage. They’ve got no power. The deck has been stacked against them. Look at the studies. We used to think wage stagnation was only driven by globalization and automation. But now we know lack of competition matters too. All the power is with employers, with companies. And they’re squeezing the life out of workers because workers have no bargaining power.

So we need competitive labor markets and protections for workers. Nearly 40 percent of workers will be subject to a non-compete in their career. One-fourth of workers can’t even talk about wages. There are over 4 million workers who because of a false classification are denied overtime — costing them $1.2 billion in lost wages every year.

So we need to get rid of abusive non-compete clauses. Let workers know what their fellow employees are being paid. Provide fair pay for people who work overtime.

Fourth, we’ve got to rebuild this nation’s infrastructure.

The country is falling apart. We need roads, waterways, and ports to move our products. We need highways and transit to get workers to and from work. We need lightning-fast broadband to communicate. It’s not a luxury; it’s a necessity to compete with the rest of the world.

So we need massive investment in infrastructure. Roads, bridges, airports, broadband. We’ve been lagging behind our competitors for too many years.

And fifth, we’ve got to get every part of this nation in the game.

Innovation and entrepreneurship are at the heart of the American economy. It’s always been this way. It’s how we got on top and why we’ve stayed on top for so long.

But so many Americans are being left out. Three-fourths of all venture capital goes to just four cities. Think of all the great ideas that never got funding because the entrepreneur lived in the wrong city. We can’t have ZIP codes deciding the future of this nation.

So we need policies that get investment capital to every state in the nation. During the recession, President Obama added parts to the Recovery Act that got small business funding to innovators in forgotten towns around the country. We need to make this permanent. One idea is a ‘race to the top’ that gives federal dollars to states that are willing to make their economies friendlier for investors.