Category: Uncategorized

Debacle in Chicago

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

The Chicago teachers’ strike is turning into an all-round debacle – for school children and their families, for President Obama and his party, and quite likely for the teachers themselves. Only Republicans are smiling, as the strike supplies fresh fodder to their campaign to vilify and weaken public sector unions.

By shutting down the city’s public schools over a contract dispute, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has left about 350,000 students in the lurch, not to mention their parents, who’ve had to scramble to find safe places to park them during the day. Even if you think the teachers have valid grievances, it’s hard to justify using Chicago’s public school students as pawns in a political test of will with city leaders.

Now in its fourth day, the strike also threatens to throw a monkey wrench into President Obama’s finely tuned campaign machine.

Chicago, after all, is the President’s home town. Its mayor, the sharp-tongued Rahm Emanuel, is Obama’s former Chief of Staff and a key political ally. The CTU, 25,000 members strong, is furious at Emanuel for pushing accountability measures it claims are unfair to teachers. And teachers’ unions are a potent source of votes and money for Democrats.

The stage is thus set for a family feud among Democrats at the worst possible moment – just as Obama seems to be pulling away from Mitt Romney.

Continue reading at The Hill.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

Don’t Ground the Golden Goose

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Serendipity is crucial to scientific discovery. Researchers often stumble on breakthroughs when they are working on entirely different problems. That’s why it’s vital for government to cast a wide net in funding scientific research.

Unfortunately, government-funded research will be on the chopping block unless Congress acts to avert a budget “sequester” by the end of the year. The sequester would cut discretionary domestic spending, for science and everything else, by over 8 percent, or nearly $39 billion in 2013 alone.

This is the wrong way to solve America’s debt problem. Washington’s investment in science is critical to preserving our country’s comparative advantage in technological and economic innovation. PPI has stressed the need to boost investment in knowledge production, as well as our physical and human capital.

That’s why PPI is proud to join Rep. Jim Cooper, the Association of American Universities and other pro-innovation organizations in today’s unveiling of the “Golden Goose” award. Continue reading “Don’t Ground the Golden Goose” →

Manufacturing Jobs Boom Is For Real

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

PPI’s Michael Mandel was quoted in CNN Money about the bottoming out of the manufacturing sector:

“What we’re seeing is the bottoming out of manufacturing,” said Michael Mandel, chief economy strategist with the Progressive Policy Institute. “The really sharp jump in wanted ads coincides with the portion of manufacturing that is switching from shrink to growth mode.”

Read the entire article here.

Idealism without Illusion: Henry Jackson at 100

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

PPI’s Will Marshall is quoted in World Affairs on the need to rebalance U.S. foreign policy:

My wager is that Jackson would have cheered on the Democratic Leadership Council’s Will Marshall, who has called for another rebalancing of US foreign policy. The course correction from the George W. Bush years was necessary, he argues, but the chastened realism of his successor is an over-correction that must be addressed in turn. Marshall, the president and founder of the Progressive Policy Institute, argues, in true Jacksonian style, that

the administration’s policy of reassurance and strategic humility … has overlooked … the “values dimension” of American power as well as the ideological wellsprings of conflict in today’s networked world.

While noting that Obama’s closure of the half-century national security confidence gap between the Democrats and Republicans is “no mean feat,” Marshall points out that when it really matters—for example, when Iran’s Green Movement was repressed in 2009 and needed support, or when the ideological roots of violent extremism needs articulating and combating—“the president seems to lose his voice.”

Read the entire article here.

Michelle’s Winning Message

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Michelle Obama cleaned Mitt Romney’s clock last night. By recounting the sacrifices her family and her husband’s family made to give their children a better life, she put the lie to Republican claims that Democrats stand for entitlements and dependency.

Obama exemplifies the middle class values and aspirations that Republicans love to extol, but unlike them she understands the social context that makes personal success possible — supportive families and communities and public investments that give everyone a shot at opportunity. By emphasizing her own blue collar roots and work ethic, she made it clear she doesn’t need lectures from GOP trust fund babies about the threat moochers, free loaders and “takers” supposedly pose to U.S. prosperity.

Opportunity, responsibility, community – haven’t we heard Obama’s message somewhere before? In any case, it’s the right answer to the GOP’s chilly new brand of selfish, anti-social, and anything-but-compassionate conservatism.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

Renewing America’s Fighting Faith

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

PPI’s Will Marshall writes for Foreign Policy on why Barack Obama’s correction to the excesses of the George W. Bush years was necessary, and why a cold-blooded realism is not enough to safeguard America interests and promote its values.

One of the most striking aspects of the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign has been Barack Obama’s ability to neutralize the Republican Party’s traditional advantage on national security. Voters see Obama as a better commander in chief than Mitt Romney and have more confidence in his ability to handle foreign policy.

How much this will matter in an election dominated by economic anxiety remains to be seen. But closing the national security confidence gap that has dogged Democrats for nearly 50 years is no mean accomplishment — if it lasts.

Republicans, meanwhile, have splintered into rival camps. Centrist internationalists like Dick Lugar are out of favor, leaving realists, neocons, Tea Party nationalists, and neo-isolationists to battle it out for the party’s soul. Romney hasn’t even tried to weave a coherent story about America’s global role from such incongruous strands, confining himself instead to scattershot criticisms of Obama’s polices and hackneyed slogans about “American exceptionalism” and “peace through strength.”

Read the entire article.

Think tank seeks new federal office to counter extremist ideology

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

PPI’s Will Marshall is quoted in Government Executive on why anti-Islamic extremism has no home port in the U.S., speaking on a panel of foreign policy specialists at the Hudson Institute:

Will Marshall, founder and president of the Progressive Policy Institute, speculated on why anti-Islamic extremism “has no home port in the U.S. government.” He said Americans are skeptical that Islamic extremism would catch on inside the United States and are uneasy attacking an ideology that has a religious provenance.

“There’s a consoling myth that it’s just a handful of fanatics, but it has spread to places like Sinai and Mali,” Marshall said. “We also may lack confidence in our own story” and hence fall back on “moral relativism” on such issues as the Palestinian-Israel conflict. He said the office would target moderate Arab populations to help send a message of economic opportunity and “rewrite the rules of war” so that U.S.-based Muslims would no longer conclude that jihad is somehow not as bad as terrorism.

Read the entire article here.

 

Election Watch: Look Back, Look Forward

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Today we’re going to take a look back at the Republican National Convention, and a look ahead at the Democratic confab.

Republicans entered their convention with multiple challenges: (1) introducing Paul Ryan; (2) reintroducing Mitt Romney; (3) showing some diversity in a party that’s in deep trouble with minority voters; (4) exhibiting excitement and enthusiasm; (5) tightening their negative case against Barack Obama; (6) presenting a plausible positive agenda related to the shortcomings in Obama’s performance they had identified; and (7) avoiding mistakes.

The general judgment (or mine, anyway) is that they did a reasonably good job with (1), (3) and (5); a minimally effective job with (2) and (4); and fell significantly short on (6) and (7). Some of these tasks involved serious tradeoffs: Ryan’s effective speech, and to a considerable extent Romney self-“humanization,” came at the direct expense of a positive presentation of a coherent agenda. You’d never know listening to Ryan that he was the author of a budget resolution that constitutes most of the GOP agenda; to the uninitiated, he came across as a nice, non-controversial young man who is most focused on protecting his mother’s Medicare benefits from Barack Obama. This image will obviously not bear a great deal of scrutiny. Despite a brisk recitation of his alleged 5-point “jobs plan,” Romney did not do much to connect his burnished autobiography to any policy specifics, particularly as related to economic recovery and jobs.  His speech may have been effectively reassuring to voters who have already decisively turned against the incumbent and simply want to be convinced the GOP nominee is not a robotic corporate executive, but didn’t exactly seal the deal otherwise. Continue reading “Election Watch: Look Back, Look Forward” →

The Anti-Reagan: Even A Hologram Of The Gipper Overshadows Mitt Romney

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Writing for the Daily Beast, Will Marshall argues Ronald Reagan, whatever his failings, was a man of convictions. Mitt Romney, by contrast, is a man of circumstance.

In a small but telling episode, Republican activists reportedly blocked a plan for a surprise speech outside the party’s convention—by a hologram of Ronald Reagan. They feared the projection would overshadow living candidate Mitt Romney’s speech accepting the GOP nomination.

It was the right call. The Tampa Republicans have resigned themselves to Romney, but they positively adore Reagan. The last thing they needed was a giant holographic image reminding them of how very unlike the Gipper their nominee is.

Reagan was the ultimate conviction politician. It helped, of course, that he was a genial ex-actor who knew how to deliver a line. But his political career was anchored in the bedrock of certain political beliefs: individual liberty, free enterprise, anti-statism, and America’s democratic mission. Even many who disagreed with Reagan or thought his views too simplistic admired his sincere and steadfast dedication to these principles.

Read the entire article. 

Romney’s stance on housing: ‘Let it run its course’

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

PPI’s Jason Gold was quoted in foxnews.com about the way Romney wants to fix the ailing housing market:

“Romney’s running as Mr. Fix-it on the economy, but he has nothing to say  about one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle,” said Jason Gold, a senior fellow  at the Progressive Policy Institute, a Washington D.C. think tank  affiliated with the Democratic Party.

Gold, who specializes in housing policy, questioned whether Romney’s  selection of Ryan as a running mate indicates he supports privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as Ryan called for in a budget blueprint last year. Romney  hasn’t said.

Many conservatives argue such a move would finally untangle government — and  taxpayers — from the mortgage business. Gold calls it an impractical step that would almost  certainly end the days of 30-year fixed mortgages. “It would take a sledgehammer to the housing market and throw us right back into recession.”

Read the entire article here. 

 

What Paul Ryan learned from Jack Kemp

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

The Washington Post’s Suzy Khimm quotes Will Marshall on Jack Kemp and Empower America:

“What the Empower America folks wanted to do is move beyond the green eyeshade, balance-the-budget message of traditional conservatism. They didn’t want to have simply a negative narrative about government,” said Will Marshall, who headed a similar policy shop for Clinton’s New Democrats.

Marshall also pointed out that Kemp went out of his way to advocate for new ways of helping low-income Americans. He proposed creating specially targeted business and income-tax breaks in designated “enterprise zones” of high poverty as an alternative to direct government handouts.

Read the entire article.

Young America: Squeezed into Summer Vacation

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Last week’s employment status report of America’s youth from the BLS shows the number of people aged 16-24 not in the labor force or enrolled in school in July continues to rise, despite the overall recovery in the labor market.

The number of youth “at loose ends” during the summer of 2012 totaled over 7.5 million – a 2% increase over the same month in 2011, and a 10% increase over 2007. These are young people aged 16-24 that were not working for pay, not actively looking for work, and not enrolled in school in July. I analyzed data from the Current Population Survey to get these numbers.

What’s likely happening is that potential young workers are being squeezed out of the labor force. I’ve written about the “Great Squeeze” before. As middle-tier jobs fall away, we see a shift down in the workforce. College grads squeeze out non-degree holders by taking jobs that don’t require a degree (and pay less). Those with less education squeeze out those with even less education. Eventually there are no jobs left for the youngest, least educated workers.

So, what are these 7.5 million young Americans doing on their summer vacation? Beach getaways and late nights out? Auditioning for American Idol? One Fed economist found an answer that may surprise most parents: “watching TV, playing video games and sleeping.” Of course we can also take comfort knowing at least some of these people are getting experience in unpaid internships, as they don’t count as being employed (statistically speaking).

How young Americans spend their summer vacation matters – for the 7.5 million young people in this category that aren’t unpaid interns, they are not getting the “real-world” experience that will enable future success. And we need them to be prepared for the economy they will inherent. Or at least able to pay for our retirement. That means doing what we can to fix the real problem: Getting young people the education and training that they need to prosper.

 

The Untouchable Economy: Why Americans Are Turning Against ‘Stuff’

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Writing for The Atlantic, PPI’s Michael Mandel argues that young people are viewing themselves as microbusinesses operating in a highly uncertain economic environment.

Millennials are shifting from tangibles (cars and homes) to intangibles (education and access to data), but they are not alone. In today’s data-driven economy, the business sector is moving along the same tangible-to-intangible path as the Millennials, perhaps at an even faster pace. Business spending on nonresidential structures, other than mining-related, is roughly 30% below the 2007 pre-recession highs, while investment in software is up almost 20% over the same period.

In fact, Millennials are responding to the same trends as businesses, and for much the same reasons. Members of the younger generation are being forced — or encouraged — to think entrepreneurially, to view themselves as microbusinesses operating in a highly uncertain economic environment. Why buy a home or car if there are lower-risk, lower-cost options? Why invest in physical capital if spending on human capital and data can have bigger payoffs?

This shift changes corporate strategy and marketing aimed towards Millennials. If Millennials are operating like microbusinesses, then companies must reframe their appeal in terms of business values such as security, collaboration and competitiveness. So they will be open to companies that create products and services to help them protect themselves, find allies, or prosper economically.

Read the entire article.

Why Congress Shouldn’t Let Up on Housing

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

New data from the S&P Case Shiller Home Price Index reinforce the conventional wisdom: home prices have found a bottom and are rising. That is certainly welcome news for beleaguered homeowners, as well as a skittish housing industry desperate for a psychological boost. It should not mean, however, that Washington policy makers can simply sit back and let market forces take their course. Now, as the economic headwinds are finally easing, policy makers should double down and strengthen public initiatives that have helped us get to this point.

While the vast majority of housing price indices are certainly showing improvement, it’s important to remember that those are national averages of the largest metro areas. Big cities where housing markets are doing well, like Washington, DC and other heavily populated coastal metros carry greater weight in the stats than places like the Rustbelt where prices are recovering more slowly.

Continue reading “Why Congress Shouldn’t Let Up on Housing” →

Is real GDP real?

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

The Star Tribune’s Adam Belz quotes Michael Mandel on the flaws of the GDP data and the state of the Minnesota economy:

“(The numbers) don’t mean what they look like they mean,” Mandel said. “Minnesota manufacturing is not nearly so robust as the numbers make it appear.”

Growth in manufacturing in Minnesota and the rest of the U.S. is a mirage, Mandel said. He goes into great detail for his reasons here, but basically he doesn’t think the output figures are accurate.

Read the entire article.