Frank Micciche: All Publications, Events and Press

Presidents, Politics, and Moderation

Communications — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 05:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
06/18/2008 - 12:15pm

On June 18th the New America Foundation’s Next Social Contract Initiative held a book launch for Professor Gil Troy’s latest book, Leading from the Center: Why Moderates Make the Best Presidents. Professor Troy is a history professor at McGill University and a Visiting Scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. Frank Micciche, Deputy Director of the Next Social Contract, moderated the event. An MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below, while video is available at right.

Professor Troy spoke on the difficulties of pushing a moderate agenda in the current media climate. “Partisanship gets attention,” he said. Bloggers, networks and candidates who take a strong and decisive position get airtime. “It’s easy to get whipped into a partisan frenzy, much harder to take a breath,” Troy said.

But both prospective presidential nominees have offered at least a rhetoric of centrism. According to Troy, this is more important than people realize. Throughout history effective presidents have voiced a “lyrical centrism” which inspires people to get behind a candidate’s vision for the nation, even if they don’t agree with the candidate on all policy. Troy discussed some of the most effective presidents in our nation’s history--arguing that they were in fact “muscular moderates.”

George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan were presidents who took action, but did so by navigating between factions. While many of these figures may seem radical in retrospect, given the climate of their time they were rational men who treaded carefully but steadily in line with their core convictions.

Bill Clinton seemed perfectly cast to be a successful moderate president. However, Troy cites his “spineless centrism” and poll-driven agenda as the reason for an unmemorable administration, at least as far as public policy is concerned. And George W. Bush, who had so ably rallied the country after 9/11, was a man of great conviction and little moderation in Troy’s view. He quotes one of Bush’s top campaign aides as saying that, in seeking reelection, they would not try to find new voters from among the political middle but would “rally the base”—successfully as it happened.

-Tyler Ibottson-Sindelar, Intern for the Next Social Contract Initiative

Averting a Bust for the Boomers

Communications — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:30:00 -0400

A New America Event
06/05/2008 - 9:30am

Most discussion of the impending wave of Baby Boomers entering retirement age focuses on the capacity of entitlement programs to support them. Under-examined is the question of Boomers’ abilities to support themselves and what policy changes might be necessary to help them do so. The ongoing instability in financial markets and its effect on the assets that many Boomers have planned to tap for retirement add to the uncertainty. Macroeconomic developments, workplace norms and existing policy barriers all make the most obvious short-term solution to the problem—working longer and saving more—more difficult than many imagine. An MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below, while video is available at right.

With this as a backdrop, New America’s Next Social Contract Initiative and the McKinsey Global Institute co-hosted, Averting a Bust for the Boomers: The State of Retirement Preparedness and How to Improve It on June 5 at the US Capitol Building. The event featured the official release of, "Talkin' 'Bout My Generation: The Economic Impact of Aging US Baby Boomers."

Chairman Herb Kohl of the Senate Special Committee on aging welcomed attendees with opening remarks that commended the report and its findings and highlighted legislation that he and a bipartisan coalition of Special Committee members have sponsored to remove existing barriers to the continued employment of older workers.

MGI Director Diana Farrell then provided a detailed Power Point summary of the report's methodology and findings. Chief among them is the fact that 69% of older Boomers expected top retire in the next few years are unprepared to maintain their current lifestyle (defined as an inability to spend at 80% of current levels throughout the course of their retirement). The summary also provided an insightful analysis of how the Boomers got to this point and principles for addressing the problem.

Pulitzer Prize-winning business columnist Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post then moderated a panel discussion on the report. Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution, John Rother of AARP and Next Social Contract Research Director, and NAF Senior Fellow, Phil Longman participated in the discussion.

In commenting on the report, all cited the need to address healthcare costs, which will represent a growing portion of expenses for retired Boomers. In addition, there was general agreement that increasing household savings rates, voluntarily or via mandatory measures, was essential to preventing the trends detailed in the report from becoming an insurmountable reality for Boomers and future generations of retirees.

POSTPONED: The Monopolist Assault on Entrepreneurs

Communications — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/29/2008 - 3:15pm

This event has been postponed until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience.

The yeoman tradition—in which the small property owner and the entrepreneur represent an American ideal—inspired many of the nation’s founders, Thomas Jefferson most notably. Yet today, deregulation and a lax interpretation of anti-trust law make it increasingly difficult for small businesses to even access local markets. Mega chains may be ruthlessly efficient in driving down prices, but their near-monopoly positions create tremendous barriers to entry and competition for the modern day yeoman. Meanwhile, corporate conglomeration in a range of fields limits career choices, opportunities and wages even among the professional classes.

Senior fellows Phil Longman, author of the recent New America white paper Yeoman’s Return: Small Scale Ownership and the Next Progressive Era, and Barry C. Lynn, author of Breaking the Chain: The Antitrust Case Against Wal-Mart (Harper's, July 2006), will provide an insightful look at the evolving fate of the iconic “self-made man” and discuss how the principles of the Democratic-Republican party, 200 years after it first came to dominate American politics, offer a roadmap for restoration of a true opportunity society.

Frank Micciche: All Publications, Events and Press

Presidents, Politics, and Moderation

Averting a Bust for the Boomers

POSTPONED: The Monopolist Assault on Entrepreneurs

**This event has been postponed until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience.**

This event has been postponed until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience.