Phillip Longman: All Publications, Events and Press

Should the U.S. Mandate Private Pension Saving?

Communications — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
07/09/2008 - 10:00am

A recent report on Australia's mandatory retirement system, known as superannuation, found that the average Australian will retire on a nest egg of more than $500,000-five times the nest egg of a typical 401(k) participant approaching retirement in the U.S. Most workers are required to save 9% of pay. Could adapting features of superannuation reverse America's retirement shortfall?

Mavis Robertson, one of the founders of the superannuation movement and Garry Weaven, one of the initiators of industry superannuation, will speak on how the system came into being and the challenges faced by its advocates.

Jane White, the president and founder of Retirement Solutions, LLC will speak on how adopting Australia's mandatory 9% employer contribution rate could boost our 401(k) account balances.

Pamela Perun will describe her proposal (with Gene Steuerle) for a "Super Simple" saving plan for the U.S. that is modeled on the new United Kingdom pension reforms that are similar to Australia's, but require both employers and employees to pay in.

Phillip Longman in the Boston Globe | 'A World Without Children'

Communications — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:55:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...In Japan, where the fall in fertility rates began early, the working-age population has been a diminishing share of the nation for 20 years. Yet for much of that period, unemployment has been up, not down.

"Similarly, in the United States, the number of people between the ages of 15 and 24 has been declining in relative terms since 1990," demographer Phillip Longman observed in the Harvard Business Review. "But the smaller supply has not made younger workers more valuable; their unemployment rate has increased relative to that of their older counterparts."

Far from boosting the economy, an aging population depresses it. As workers are taxed more heavily to support surging numbers of elders, they respond by working less, which leads to stagnation, which reduces economic opportunity still further. "Imagine that all your taxes went for nothing but Social Security and Medicare," says Longman in "Demographic Winter," a new documentary about the coming population decline, "and you still didn't have health care as a young person."... LINK

Bankrupt Nation

Ron Tang — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:57:00 -0400

For a married couple, talking about money can be hard. But the cost of using a credit card to put off the conversation is almost always worse. So it is with a company, a city or a country. In While America Aged, financial journalist Roger Lowenstein uses the stories of three deeply encumbered institutions -- General Motors, the New York City subway system and the City of San Diego -- as examples not only of the way most individual Americans conduct their personal finances, but also of how the country as a whole has long lived beyond its means. What… more

Phillip Longman in the Century Foundation Group Blog: Taking Note | 'The Assault on VistA'

Communications — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:32:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...So why would the DoD contract out the development of a health records system instead of co-opting VistA, which can be reworked for different contexts? It’s not because of it’s too difficult, that’s for sure. Blankenhorn quotes Phillip Longman, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and an outspoken champion of the VA noting that the government “could wire Walter Reed or Bethesda (the two biggest military hospitals) for VistA in an afternoon. Technically there’s no big problem....”

...Yet still, the DoD created an entirely new system—one which has only limited interoperability with VistA. Longman, the author of The Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Health Care is Better Than Yours, explains just how bad things are: “I just gave 11 [speeches] to front line VA employees in the last few weeks, and I heard over and over again their frustration over not being able to get to the people at the [DoD] making the hand-offs [of patients between departments]. Not only can’t the computers talk to each other, they can’t get the Army doctor in Germany on the phone to answer a simple question...

...What’s going on here? Why is the DoD strangling VistA? Why is the government wasting time and taxpayer dollars on contracts while ignoring the potential of a proven, high-quality IT system like VistA? Longman has some ideas. For one, he says, “there are DoD people who have built their careers on AHLTA and want people to switch to their system.” Further, he notes, “the recent political appointees to the VA…are people with DoD backgrounds. And the DoD culture is ‘procure everything’ – they don’t make anything themselves, they procure it. When they get to the VA they don’t appreciate the open source culture...” LINK

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.

Population Bombing

Ron Tang — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:46:00 -0400

In the 20th century, a global network of colluding activists, institutions, and governments sought to engineer solutions to various real and perceived social problems by, as Matthew Connelly puts it in his new book, planning "other people's families." In its most egregious expression, this movement led to the forced sterilization of millions of people around the world, including many thousands in the U.S., on the grounds that they were -- genetically or otherwise -- unfit. California alone had sterilized 7,500 people by 1931, and the practice continued in other states up until the 1970s.

This movement also, through philanthropies and government-directed… more

Confronting the Debt Culture

Communications — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/12/2008 - 5:00pm

"By some estimates, payday loans topped $28 billion last year, and have doubled every year for the past five years. These numbers are really frightening."

-Sheila Bair, Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, April 19, 2007

Join the New America Foundation/Asset Building Program and the Institute for American Values for a timely conference on thrift and its increasingly important role in reducing and managing personal and societal debt. Speakers will discuss changing the debt culture, solutions to payday lending, and lessons from abroad.

For attendees who register through the New America website, the conference is free (otherwise it is $50). Your free registration through New America entitles you to:

receive a copy of the report, For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture;
participate in all sessions and attend the May 13 luncheon; and
attend a reception at 5:00 p.m. on May 12 and preview the exhibit, Thrift: In Search of the Art of Living Well.

For more information and the conference agenda, please visit the conference website.

This conference is co-sponsored by Demos, the Institute for American Values, the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, the New America Foundation, Public Agenda, and the University of Virginia's Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture.

Treatment Options

Ron Tang — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:00:00 -0400

In his new book, The Healthcare Fix: Universal Insurance for All Americans (MIT Press, 2007), Laurence J. Kotlikoff demonstrates that at some point between 2035 and 2050, the costs of Medicare and Medicaid (two health-care programs that serve only a minority of the population), combined with the costs of Social Security, will approximate the total current cost of the entire federal government as a percentage of GDP. Medicare and Medicaid, without Social Security, will surpass the current cost of government by 2082. To cover the deepening long-term deficits of those two programs would require raising roughly $70-trillion and putting it… more

Dangerous Demographics

Communications — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:30:00 -0400

A New America Event
04/18/2008 - 3:30pm

Over the next few decades, the developed world will age and weaken. Meanwhile, demographic trends in the developing world-from resurgent youth booms in the Islamic Belt to premature aging in China and population implosion in Russia-will give rise to daunting new security threats. While some argue that "global aging" is pushing the world toward greater peace and prosperity, a crisis looms in the 2020s. The risks of both chaotic state collapse and neo-authoritarian reaction are rising. Neither the triumph of democratic capitalism nor a "geriatric peace" are the most likely outcomes. The demographic trends of the 21st century will challenge the geopolitical idealism of both the right and the left.

In a wide-ranging analysis of the dynamics of population and power, Richard Jackson and Neil Howe lay out a provocative new interpretation of how demography is reshaping the geopolitical landscape and redefining tomorrow's foreign-policy challenges. Please join us for a discussion of the findings of their new report, The Graying of the Great Powers: Demographics and Geopolitics in the 21st Century.

What Does 'Post-Partisan' Mean?

Next Social Contract — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

One might well have imagined over the last few years that we were headed toward an era of deeply partisan politics. Under the tutelage of Karl Rove, the Bush Administration “played to the base.” Most of the energy on the other end of the spectrum came from “netroots” bloggers who flamed Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, and the centrist Democratic Leadership Conference with nearly the same contempt they showed for George W. Bush and Karl Rove. Yet here we find ourselves at a moment many describe a “post-partisan” -- with the two front-running Presidential candidates, McCain and Obama, best known for their ability work with and show respect for… more

New America Foundation Releases New Report on Public Opinion and Political Culture

Communications — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:09:00 -0500

Today the New America Foundation's Next Social Contract Initiative and Pollster Cliff Zukin released new findings on how public opinion shapes national values and informs the potential for policy reform, particularly in the areas of health care, education, taxes and economic security. The new report, entitled "The American Public and the Next Social Contract: Public Opinion and Political Culture in 2007," is available here.

"The report notes that there is an increasing acceptance of the need for mutual support and an active role for government, coupled with continuedfield.These tensions shed light on the perpetual interplay between the enduring American… more

The Next Era of American Politics

Communications — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
02/29/2008 - 11:00am

Phillip Longman began by framing the core question of the event: are we in a transformative political moment, and what would that mean? Even after a decade of debilitating partisanship, Rovian strategists and Netroots bloggers continue to exacerbate political polarization. Yet, with the likely nominations of John McCain and Barack Obama, observers of all political stripes have sensed the prospect of a political sea-change. Whether it is a government unified around a bold progressive majority, a resurgent and transmuted conservatism, or some kind of “post-partisanship,” the possibility of a new political era in America is very real. Nonetheless, the data show that partisan identification and ideological polarization are as prevalent as ever.

Longman attempted to unravel this knot by tracing the career of that unusual phrase, “post-partisan.” In the 1980s it described an effort to overhaul entitlements, in the 1990s it adopted a cool and detached air from political observers such as JFK, Jr., and in the 2000s it represented the desire of centrist politicians such as Michael Bloomberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger to pursue innovative policy ideas. Now, post-partisanship may reflect a new approach to politics by the “Millenial” generation, who value respect and comity even as they overwhelmingly identify as either liberal or conservative.

Next, Cliff Zukin, Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the Rutgers University, presented his paper, “The American Public and the Next Social Contract: Public Opinion and Political Culture in 2007.” He stressed the distinction between public attitudes on current policy debates and enduring values that lie at the core of the American character. These values serve as a kind of passive restraint and guiding structure for policy discussion, and they include a commitment to equality of opportunity, independence and self-reliance, and a wary acceptance of the idea that the government can play a positive role in individuals’ lives. In turn, these values shape public opinion in important issue areas: on education, they believe that it is a democratic entitlement; on social security, they are skeptical of its solvency and open to finding an acceptable working solution; on health care, they are willing to entertain broad overhauls to address costs and coverage; in their jobs, they are satisfied but anxious about basic economic insecurity. Zukin concluded his remarks with a broad caveat for framing the next social contract. Only in moments of crisis does a window of opportunity for sweeping policy change occur, and an unprecedented shift in economic concerns might point to such a moment.

In the subsequent panel, Mark Schmitt, Julian Zelizer, Professor of History and Public Policy at Princeton University, and Susan Milligan, national political reporter for the Boston Globe, discussed the role of institutions on the next political era. Schmitt stressed that, while trends may point to a different political trajectory, it will not be a return to bipartisanship between liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats. Indeed, the last attempt at that kind of cooperation was the implosion of health care reform in 1993. Since then, the “great sorting out” has occurred, with Republicans to the left and Democrats to the right purged in 1994 and 2006, respectively. This development, and the recent Democratic turn in public opinion, may be a welcome change. Post-partisan sentiments may simply reflect “an opportunity for liberalism to engage with an honest version of conservatism.” The cooperation that could emerge from such a debate is of an unprecedented character: not simply reaching across the aisle to cherry pick like-minded senators, but taking seriously and working together with those who disagree.

Professor Zelizer expressed skepticism about any kind of sea-change in politics. First, he said that conservatism will remain entrenched in political institutions and lasting policy victories, even in the face of a possibly overwhelming electoral loss in 2008. Much the same as in the 1970s, when conservatives imagined that liberalism would simply vanish, it is a fantasy to think that conservative gains in media outlets, court appointments, and lowering tax rates will disappear. Second, polarization is unlikely to fade to the background, as it is fueled not only by public opinion, but also by key institutional features such as the committee system, the primary system, and the new 24-hour media cycle. Finally, any progressive or populist movement will face serious challenges: the Democratic party is no longer the party of the working class, it suffers from conflicting philosophies, and it may fall prey to impossibly high expectations.

Susan Milligan then argued that partisanship is less a matter of liberal and conservative ideology than it is a result of power struggles. Since 1994, the margin between legislative control and minority status has been slight, and Democrats and Republicans alike have not been inclined to throw any bones to the other side. Responding to these pitched battles, the public’s preference for candidates like Obama, McCain, and Huckabee shows that the electorate is taking the process back. “They are physically and emotionally exhausted from the red state/blue state divide,” and the growth of independent voters as a key plurality of voters supports this broad change in political attitudes.

Reid Cramer introduced the panel of David Gray, Maya MacGuineas, and Len Nichols, to explore what policies might be possible in a new political era. Cramer opened the discussion by outlining a number of challenges to basic economic security that assets policy might redress. Against the backdrop of increasing income volatility and rising health and energy costs, the burst of the housing bubble has eroded a key source of savings for Americans. In order for individuals to weather this and other economic storms, policymakers should look to the tradition of the Homestead Act and the G.I. Bill and broaden asset ownership. This kind of inclusive savings policy can transcend partisan debates, by embracing the principles of opportunity from the left and ownership from the right. In the short term, sensible solutions such as automatic saving attract support across the political spectrum, and in the long term, big ideas like a universal 401(k) are promising goals for the next political era.

Next, David Gray spoke about the possibilities for a new political era to coalesce around smaller, more manageable issues that “fly under the radar.” These policy areas, such as spending on children and work/family balance, enjoy robust public support from Democrats and Republicans alike. A number of trends point to the promise of policy innovation on this front. Work and family balance has been an important issue on the presidential campaign trail, and it has seen significant progress as an issue at the state level. As military families and entrepreneurial families struggle to maintain balance, work and family policy is growing increasingly salient. Finally, workplace flexibility will allow the elderly to work comfortably later into life, which will shore up their economic security and provide an important component to addressing the long-term fiscal challenges of entitlements.

Maya MacGuineas then described the challenges that tax and fiscal policy face, as well as some promising strategies that might elevate them to the crucial role they will have to play in the coming political era. These issues may lack the freshness of other innovative policy ideas, and “the size of the government is a cleavage issue between the two parties.” Even worse, there is lingering resentment on deficit reduction, because politicians who sacrificed political capital to see a surplus emerge in the 1990s only to rapidly vanish “fear they will get burned again.” Partisan trends continue, and they breed reluctance to face hard policy choices, even while “easy grabs” such as AMT reform and the stimulus package enjoy bipartisan success. The general lesson to draw is that incrementalism fails, and fundamental reform is needed. There are several approaches that might see such reform through. One is a commission that would construct a comprehensive proposal “with enough moving pieces to build a coalition” that could last. Other ideas include redefining budget concepts in favor of fiscal responsibility and building automatic changes, or triggers, into the budget. Perhaps the most important component of reform is a “grand bargain” that would help those who lose out in any fiscal restructuring.

Then, Len Nichols discussed the question of why now is the crucial moment to move forward on perennial issues of cost, access, and quality in health care. First, the cost of doing nothing is growing to staggering proportions. Support for national health care declined in the early 1990s as the economy eased out of recession; now, the current recession only adds to a more fundamental anxiety caused by skyrocketing health care costs. Second, employers are increasingly unable to compete internationally while providing health benefits. Because they cannot push insurance costs into higher prices or lower wages, employer-based health care is giving way. Finally, broad system stress from emergency care costs establishes the linkages between cost, access, and quality with crystal clarity. We see the results of these salient trends on both sides of the presidential campaign, and recent bipartisan success in the form of the Bennett-Wyden bill should offer hope for coming reform. For such cross-partisan cooperation to prevail, the “new math” tells us that a working proposal must enjoy not only 60, but 70 senators who find it acceptable. To make inroads into both parties and to repair our broken health care system, reform must create effective insurance markets, subsidize those who would otherwise lack coverage, and focus on the twin principles of personal and shared responsibility. The inescapable linkages connecting all these issues show that a grand bargain, laying out the next social contract, is critical.

For the final panel, Mark Schmitt introduced David Frum, fellow at AEI and author of Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again, and Jonathan Chait, senior editor at The New Republic and author of The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics, to discuss the new direction that the parties will take in the coming political era. Frum described Republican control that began to emerge in the 1990s as “the GOP cashing in on the Reagan revolution of the 1980s.” After a rare succession of elections failing to produce a clear majority for any candidate, George W. Bush sought in his Presidency to assemble a new coalition, turning the GOP into a lasting majority party. The events of September 11, 2001 disrupted this effort, and public opinion trends have begun to favor Democrats. The question remains how the Republican party will respond to this new era, and whether Democrats will overstretch in their victory in 2008.

Jonathan Chait then argued that the key source of this Democratic ascendance is “the disappearance of broadly shared prosperity” in the economy, propelled by the Bush tax cuts. Chait disputed that rising Democratic self-identification is a temporary fluctuation in partisanship, but rather a lasting ideological sea change. Yet, despite these favorable trends, a progressive agenda could encounter a number of obstacles in 2008, principally the filibuster in the senate. In order to meet these challenges, Democrats must develop institutions, such as nonprofits, to respond to ideas from the right. Furthermore, they must mobilize the public to counterbalance the influence of political inertia and self-interested insiders. He cited Barack Obama’s theory of change as one vision to accomplish this task. In response, David Frum argued that a President Obama, like Reagan and Clinton before him, would only be able to make this kind of direct appeal to the public once.

-David McNamee is a Program Associate for the Next Social Contract.

Yeoman's Return

Next Social Contract — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:28:00 -0500

Though Americans are deeply divided in their politics, they still generally share one transcendent political value. It is the distinctly American notion that the widespread ownership of property—particularly homes, small businesses, and financial savings—benefits individuals and the nation. This core American belief descends from a political tradition in American life that is older than the Republic itself. It is the Yeoman ideal—which holds that small-scale property ownership confers special dignity and autonomy to the individual, while also improving civic participation and serving as a check on monopoly capital.

From Jeffersonian farmer to unionized craft tradesman to internet entrepreneur, the values of the yeoman have given shape to American politics. Challenged by the issue… more

New America in CQ Politics | 'Mandatory Spending Could Fund Vet Health Care'

Communications — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:20:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Mandatory Spending Could Fund Vet Health Care, Group Suggests (CQPolitics.com)

An outside commission has suggested major changes to government health care for veterans in an effort to improve the long-term viability of the system.

At a forum at the New America Foundation on Wednesday, members of the Commission on the Future of America’s Veterans said they planned to release a report this summer that would call for a “government-chartered entity” funded by mandatory spending to provide health care for U.S. veterans. more

Examining Veterans’ Health Care

Communications — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
01/16/2008 - 10:00am

Between 1994 and 1999, Kenneth W. Kizer, MD, MPH, led a dramatic turnaround of the Veterans health care system. Today, in study after study, the VA emerges as an exemplar of best practices in patient safety, disease management, evidence-based medicine, electronic medical records and customer service. Both Senators Clinton and Obama, as well as a number of jounalists and academics, have recently pointed to the VA health care system as a model for national healthcare reform, and a December 2007 Congressional Budget Office interim report suggests VA may offer lessons to other public sector, as well as private sector systems.

But there is a very real danger that the system could unravel due to a confluence of political and financial pressures in the not-distant future. With the enormous federal financial challenges predicted by GAO and CBO for the next decade, what is really needed to treat the hundreds of thousands of new wounded warriors coming to VA hospitals out of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the millions of Vietnam, World War II and other veterans who currently rely on VA healthcare?

The New America Foundation invites you to join a panel of policy experts as they participate in a thoughtful discussion of the health care needs of today’s veterans, and discuss concepts from an independent commission focused on bringing about major change in VA’s health care for the future. As questions of cost effectiveness and quality care play out for the next decade, these experts will inform the debate in the public sphere and policy arena.

Ray Boshara, Phil Longman in Houston Chronicle | "Thrift is it in 2008"

Communications — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:18:00 -0500

New America in the News:
Time to Make Outsaving the Joneses a Reality (Houston Chronicle)

"One in seven families is dealing with a debt collector," Ray Boshara and Phillip Longman of the New America Foundation think tank wrote in a Washington Post commentary. "Children today are more likely to live through their parents' bankruptcy than their parents' divorce," they wrote. And that likelihood will increase this year. ...

America’s Changing Social Contract

adminn — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 09:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
12/03/2007 - 9:00am

Despite the sustained economic growth of recent years, Americans are increasingly concerned with economic security. Even before economists began reporting signs of recession, skyrocketing health care costs, faltering pensions, and burgeoning inequality frayed the fabric of the American social contract. America's social contract is an evolving, complex web of legal and informal relationships between households, employers, government, and civil society that extends beyond particular federal programs. Now is the time to strike a new bargain between these sectors, rethinking the rights and responsibilities of each. Breathing new life into the American social contract is needed to keep pace with our 21st century economy and build the conditions for sustained growth and healthy families.

On Dec. 3, the New America Foundation convened 200 guests at the Mayflower Hotel to explore the intellectual framework of the next social contract. Andy Stern, President of the SEIU, and Carl Camden, CEO of Kelly Services, began the conversation by outlining the promise and the challenges that this coming social contract will encounter. Speaking from the divergent sectors of labor, business and the growing contingent workforce, both leaders issued bold calls for reform and reflected on the turbulent economic challenges that the America social contract faces. Mr. Stern addressed the rights and responsibilities of workers and employers, particularly the important realms of pensions and health care. Mr. Camden offered the perspective of the millions of American temporary and freelance workers and comment on the promise and innovation of flexible, citizen-based benefits.

In response to these opening remarks was a panel discussion to further hash out the rights and responsibilities of employers. Michael Calabrese, Joe Minarik, Donna Klein, and Thomas Kochan addressed the particular responsibilities such as child care and workplace flexibility, the importance of wages and benefits providing for basic economic security, and their potential burden on the global economic competitiveness of American firms.

Next, Brian Gallagher and Diana Aviv offered their perspective on the role of civil society, in a discussion moderated by Michael Lipsky. They focused on the key issues of shared responsibility, wealth, and philanthropy in the social contract. It is important for the social contract to provide certain goods outside of the purview of government, and panel clarified the role of civil society in performing this task.

During a lunchtime conversation, Michael Lind offered a global view of the social contract and how it evolves over time. Mr. Lind articulated the logic of one of the next social contract’s bedrock principles: that the grand bargain between citizens be citizen-based.

Mark Schmitt led a panel on the role of government, including Jacob Hacker, Karen Kornbluh, William Galston, and Reihan Salam. They discussed the government’s role in providing economic security to citizens, the increasing risk and uncertainty that Americans families face, and how confronting these challenges with the language of the social contract can transform our politics.

Finally, David Gray, along with a panel of Jane Waldfogel, Phil Longman, Kelleen Kaye, and Christine Kim discussed the role of the family in the social contract. Changes in the workforce and demography create challenges for government and business to help families balance work and life. Together, the panelists discussed what the status of the two-parent family is in America, what challenges young adult parents face, and where family formation and choices in child rearing intersect with policy.

The event agenda can be found below. Video of the first half of this all-day event is available at right; the afternoon sessions can be viewed by clicking here. An MP3 audio recording of the complete event can be played below, or downloaded via this link.

The Next Social Contract Initiative aims to reinvent American social policy for the twenty-first century. Through a program of research and public education, the initiative will explore the origins of our modern social contract, articulate the guiding principles for constructing a new contract, and advance a set of promising policy reforms. To learn more about this initiative, please click here.

Forget Easy Money

Articles — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 07:12:00 -0400

Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, has a curious new idea -- or, more precisely, an old one. No longer will it use wads of Chinese cash recycled through Wall Street to make subprime loans to unqualified borrowers. Instead, it will take in deposits from small savers and lend them out to people who might actually repay them -- just like that humble thrift institution president George Bailey did in It’s a Wonderful Life.

Imagine: a bank that promotes thrift! This could be the start of something big. Writing recently in the American Banker, Eugene Ludwig, a former comptroller of… more

Best Care Everywhere

Articles — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 08:37:00 -0400

Back in July, while trying to justify his opposition to expanding government health care coverage for children, President Bush made a telling comment. The uninsured, he said, "have access to health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room."

That remark stuck many as blithe and callous, and in many ways it was. The uninsured don’t receive in ERs anything like the full array of health care they need. Indeed, one of the abiding arguments for universal health care is that patients often wind up in the emergency room with acute illnesses that could have been treated… more