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Robert Kuttner

Robert Kuttner is co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, as well as a distinguished senior fellow of the think tank Demos. He was a longtime columnist for Business Week and continues to write columns in The Boston Globe. He is the author of Obama's Challenge and other books.

Recent Articles

Thank You, Al Gore

Robert KuttnerDec 19, 2001

A funny thing happened to Al Gore on the way to his surprisingly effective acceptance speech. He became a liberal.


The speech was as liberal as anything FDR or LBJ or Jesse Jackson or one of the Kennedys might have delivered. It was built around a commitment to fight for ordinary people, against large and powerful interests. This, of course, is precisely what made it effective.


Comment: The McCain Mutiny

Robert KuttnerDec 19, 2001

On most issues, Republican legislators have presented a solid phalanx to give the
Bush administration whatever it wants. The exception is campaign finance
reform--and the chink in the Republican armor is Arizona Senator John McCain.
Should Democrats be cheered? The answer is a qualified yes. For starters, the
reform coalition is mostly McCain plus Democrats. The Democrats are thus
identified with an overdue set of popular reforms, while George W. Bush, who won
election on a tide of unlimited corporate money, is identified with business as
usual. The bad news is that the McCain-Feingold

Comment: Taking It with You

Robert KuttnerDec 19, 2001


As Sheldon Pollack writes in this issue ["It's Alive," page 29], Republicans in Congress are close to killing the estate tax. Some remnant will survive, but it could be significantly cut, and with the collusion of many Democrats. Why get rid of a tax paid only by the richest 1 percent of Americans? Why scrap our only wealth tax, one that accounted for $28 billion dollars of revenue in 1999? You can understand why Republicans favor repeal, but why do numerous Democrats follow suit?



Comment: Top-Down Class Warfare

Robert KuttnerDec 19, 2001


It is difficult for a liberal to raise concerns about irresponsible corporations without being accused of class warfare. The Wall Street Journal recently ridiculed Al Gore for "schlock populism" and cynical "business-bashing."

Of Our Time: Taking Care of Business

Robert KuttnerDec 19, 2001

Few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very
foundations of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a
social responsibility other than to make as much money for their shareholders as
possible.

—Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom

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