Three-Pillar Bridge Policy Cost Estimator
A parametric estimator that prices the Three-Pillar Bridge — Radical Reskilling, Portable Benefits, and Income Floors — at chosen coverage and generosity settings, then maps the bill against four funding-source mixes drawn from Chapter 1's arithmetic.
What it does
Maya lost her job to a $180-a-month system, installed on a Tuesday and operational by Thursday. Tom processed his eighth denial letter in a week. The question Chapter 1 of The Bridge leaves on the table for any policymaker is brutally concrete: what would it actually cost to catch them — and where does the money come from? This estimator turns that question into numbers.
The tool prices each of the three pillars at parameters you choose — how many workers you cover, how generously, for how long — and returns an annual program cost, a per-capita figure, and a funding-source mix you can stress-test. It is deliberately built so you cannot price one pillar in isolation: the chapter's central claim is that the structure fails if any pillar is removed, so the estimator forces all three into the same budget and shows what happens when you starve one.
This is not a forecast engine. It is an arithmetic transparency device. Chapter 1 argues that "the fiscal capacity already exists — the problem is political economy, not arithmetic." The estimator lets a mayor, a governor, a legislator, or a skeptical CFO see that arithmetic for themselves: plug in the coverage they think is politically achievable, watch the bill, and confront the funding trade-offs honestly rather than waving them away.
Who it's for: policymakers and their staff, transition-focused economists, foundation program officers, and enterprise leaders modeling unilateral private versions of the Bridge (the chapter notes firms can build portable benefits and reskilling infrastructure without waiting for legislation).
Figure: The Three-Pillar Bridge this tool prices — remove any pillar and the structure fails, which is why the estimator budgets all three together.
Set the population, the three pillars, and the funding mix, then price the Bridge to see the annual cost, per‑capita figures, and how the bill maps against funding sources.
The Three-Pillar Bridge
Participation Dividend Modeler
Steward-Ownership Structure Selector
Four Futures Self-Locator
- Book 2 (*The Bridge*), Chapter 1 — "The Displacement Crisis and the Three-Pillar Bridge," especially "The Three-Pillar Bridge," "Why All Three Pillars Are Necessary," and "Funding the Bridge: The Arithmetic Behind the Policy."