Abstract [Draft]: Several research papers have been published in the recent past on the so called Bottom of the

Pyramid ever since C.K. Prahalad and Stewart Hart came out with their seminal work on *Finding the fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid*. The focus has been on MNCs and Transnational corporations going after the burgeoning poor of the less developed countries to find new sustainable markets. It is the authors view that an analogous scenario exists right here in the United States where the government, private enterprise and civil society need to come together to grow and sustain the base of the pyramid. They argue that to do so is in the self interests of the top of the base for without a strong, vibrant and robust bottom there would not be a top or middle. Economic downturns under normal business cycles have a disproportionate adverse impact on the Base (Bottom) of the Pyramid. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) first referred to the *Base of The Pyramid* in advancing the cause of providing a socio-economic safety net (Social Security) to the average American. That safety net - expanded by President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) with Medicare and Medicaid is now characterized as a huge unfunded liability. [Estimates range from $50 trillion to about $140 trillion. Add to that other financial exposure of the federal government and the cumulative unfunded liabilities of all the state and local governments then the US faces the prospect of an economic collapse worse than the Great Depression. Looked at another way, the present value of
the federal governments funding shortfall for Medicare, Medicaid and other programs now exceeds $100 trillion, notes Wharton business and public policy professor Kent Smetters. (Knowledge Wharton, Today
Posted August 12, 2011) Christopher

Rupe and a host of others (2010) came up with an interesting graph on the diminishing marginal productivity of debt in the US economy to show debt saturation in the economy.

That is the bad news. Worse still, is that it does not include any of the unfunded liabilities mentioned above. This will inevitably lead to prescriptive measures of slashing federal and state budgets. The impact of an aggressive cut in government spending to make a serious dent in the overall debt carried by the US will be disproportionately felt by the BOP regardless of how one defines the BOP in the US. A working definition based on medium income - $50K would be one way to measure the base. However, in 2006 the top 0.01% averaged about 976 times more income than America s bottom 90%. It follows then that the base of the pyramid is really much larger.

The gap between the top 1% and everyone else hasn't been this bad since the Roaring Twenties

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/15-charts-about-wealth-and-inequality-in-america-2010-4#the-gap-between-the-top-1and-everyone-else-hasnt-been-this-bad-since-the-roaring-twenties-1#ixzz1VELV3Tp1

An ailing global economy and more particularly an anemic US economy will continue to bring untold misery to the BOP. It is imperative therefore that a new economic architecture, holistically driven and social business in character, be given serious consideration.
Indeed, this could lead to a radical new approach to social welfare secure and sustainable social safety network (Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) and targeted investments that yield sustainable returns to the top while strengthening the bottom of the pyramid. In his June 25, 2009 blog - Sustainability and the Base of the Pyramid: Why it Matters to the U.S.,

Stacy Blackman citing Stewart Hart writes:

By getting away from a philanthropic approach and instead concentrating on developing sustainability at the bottom of the pyramid, Hart argues that the top of the pyramid will also benefit: At the base of the pyramid you can incubate green technology, then trickle it up. If youre able to create a growth platform and make it work there we can always add cost and features and trickle it up. Eventually it can make its way back to places like the United States to compete.
In the present set of papers the authors argue for an analogous indigenous model one that is embraced by federal, state and local governments and private enterprise. We don t have to wait for an import of successful sustainability models from poor countries because there is a dire need right here at home, right now. Where we depart from Stewart Hart is that we believe the motivation for the top is not that it will also benefit them, as much as it is imperative for their very survival.

We propose a series of modular papers that address total US federal, state and local government financial exposures and offer possible sustainable solutions to manage and prevent another Great Recession - an architectural model that leads from financial liability to sustainable growth:

Points of Arrival

Social Business Dimensions A Social Business Architecture

Social Business Process

We challenge patterns of myopic thinking and behavior which led to the Great Recession. With analytical rigor we will offer a sustainability index as a tool to strengthen the pillars of economic society: education, immigration, healthcare, good paying jobs and a more robust social safety net. Thus, in modules we will offer a revision of Great Recession experiences to provide global financial sustainability solutions.