America does not suffer from a shortage of economic policies. It suffers from the absence of a unifying long-term economic doctrine that survives changes in administration and organizes the nation’s economic policies around a single strategic objective: expanding America’s productive capacity. Without that doctrine, America risks making good individual policy decisions without achieving a great national economic outcome. What it lacks is the strategic framework that aligns those policies behind one national objective: building America’s next era of prosperity.For years, America’s economic conversation has revolved around inflation. Every consumer price index report becomes breaking news. Every Federal Reserve meeting generates speculation about interest rates. Financial markets react immediately. Businesses adjust expectations. Those conversations matter because inflation affects every person.Inflation, interest rates, wage growth, living standards, and competitiveness are all outcomes. The question is not whether those outcomes matter. They do. The question is what consistently produces them. The defining economic question of the next decade is not whether inflation falls another half percentage point or whether the Federal Reserve raises or lowers interest rates. It is whether the United States expands its productive capacity.