Broadcast Sept 18, 2001 Ask somebody who’s not from the United States to describe Americans, and almost invariably you’ll get a description of someone who’s outgoing and upbeat. No challenge is too great for us, no obstacle too high. In fact, to the outsider, our overwhelmingly sunny view of life sometimes seems a bit naive, […]
Robert Reich
Robert B. Reich, a co-founder of The American Prospect, is a professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few, one of the books featured in the Prospect’s High School Essay Contest.
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Corporate Power in Overdrive
The New York Times CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — With last week’s reversal of his campaign pledge to limit power plants’ emissions of carbon dioxide, a key contributor to global warming, President Bush surrendered to coal companies and utilities dependent on coal. He had little choice. It’s payback time, and every industry and trade association is busily […]
Posted inEducation in America
The treadmill of the new economy
Interview by A J Vogl Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich looks at why so many people feel they’re running just to stay in place. Robert B. Reich makes it look easy-from university to government back to university again. In 1992, he left Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government to serve as secretary of labor during […]
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Coping With the Shortage of High Tech Workers
Computer World The biggest threat to America’s booming IT sector is a severe shortage of skilled people. Some estimates put the current shortfall at 400,000. What’s to be done? In most industries facing such shortages, salary levels rise until enough people are attracted to fill the need. Supply responds to demand. But, as you’ll see […]
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A “C” To Success
(Broadcast 5/24/01) When President Bush recently addressed Yale s graduating seniors, he gave a hearty “well done” to those who got straight A s, but consoled the C students by telling them that they, too, could be president of the United States. Apparently, he was referring to his own less than stellar academic performance as […]
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Regulation is out, litigation is in
USA Today Among the hottest regulatory issues today are these: How to prevent kids from smoking cigarettes? What to do about the flood of handguns? How to end sweatshop labor in the apparel industry? How to cope with new kinds of market power in high-technology industries? In the old days, state legislatures or Congress would […]
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The Coming Bush Recession
P resident of the United States Economy Alan Greenspan is frustrated. George W., the mere president-elect, won’t deal. Worse, Greenspan can’t punish W. for not dealing. He can’t even credibly threaten punishment, because punishment is just what W. wants. Don’t throw me into that briar patch, Br’er Greenspan! The last two presidents have been willing […]
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Gen. Greenspan’s Timid March
We’re not in a war economy yet. We’re in an economy that’s just plainsinking. What to do? Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has told Congress to”wait and see” what happens before enacting a stimulus package lest it createinflationary fantasies among traders of long-term bonds. In an extraordinary showof newly bipartisan gutlessness, our representatives in Washington […]
Posted inEconomic Policy
We Are All Third Wayers Now
The Third Way doesn’t have to be market conservatism in centrist clothing.
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It’s the Year 2000 Economy, Stupid
Exactly eight years ago, I trudged through New Hampshire sleet and slush, telling anyone who’d listen that Bill Clinton would do wonders for the American economy. Now, as the nation lurches into a millennial election year, most Americans seem largely content. The economy has faded as an election-year issue. But it shouldn’t havethere are Two […]