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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

Comment: Should Gore Do a Humphrey?

Does Al Gore need his own China policy? What do Republican kingmakers do if George W. bombs big-time?

Robert KuttnerDec 19, 2001


When we last visited the campaign fallout from President Clinton's deal to admit China to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the AFL-CIO was gearing up to make the deal's defeat a top legislative priority, even at the cost of weakening the Democratic nominee. That would presumably be Vice President Gore, whom labor has endorsed. Meanwhile, House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt, frantically working to avoid a NAFTA-style donnybrook, was trying to broker some kind of compromise that would keep labor on board.



President Bush's World Is Turning

Robert KuttnerDec 19, 2001

The Bush administration's alarming penchant for going it alone in world affairs could have one
unintended and salutary effect: Europe, however reluctantly, is learning how to lead. And
Europe could lead the way to a more balanced global order.

Consider the following events of recent months:

Europe and Japan decide to go forward with the Kyoto Accords on global warming despite America's
nonparticipation. Eventually, the United States will have to decide whether to be part of a system that
it had no voice in designing.

Comment: The Political Fed

Robert KuttnerDec 19, 2001

So Alan Greenspan is a political
animal. What--you were expecting a philosopher-king? A lot of people
who should know better were taken by surprise when Fed Chairman
Greenspan made George W. Bush's inaugural week by embracing a big tax
cut. But it's not as if Greenspan got this far on, say, charm. As Bob
Woodward's recent biography of him makes clear, Greenspan for more than
a decade outmaneuvered other members of the Fed's board of governors and
made such tactical alliances as he needed to survive.

Tax-Cut Battle Lost, Democrats Can't Let Up Now

Robert KuttnerDec 19, 2001

In losing $1.35 trillion of federal revenue to George W. Bush's tax cut, the Democrats
lost an important battle, but maybe they haven't lost the war.

The war, in this case, is a principled conflict between two contending philosophies of
governance and the good society. Should people fend mostly for themselves or should some
needs be provided socially?

The Tax Debate We Really Need

Robert KuttnerDec 19, 2001

The increasingly severe economic downturn offers a fresh basis to reconsider
President Bush's tax plan. For starters, it's the wrong kind of tax cut. For reasons of
budgetary sleight of hand, most of the benefits would occur in future years. But we
need a strong economic stimulus right now.

By contrast, President Kennedy's tax cut, which conservatives love to invoke, was
front-loaded.

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