Next Social Contract: Publications, Events and More

Whither the GOP

Communications — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
07/17/2008 - 6:00pm

The 2008 election appears likely to be a transformative one for each of the major political parties and the nation as a whole. Barack Obama has energized much of the existing Democratic base and attracted newcomers to politics. But he famously failed in the primaries to draw working class voters, meaning that this crucial slice of the electorate remains up for grabs-and may well dictate who becomes the next president. Is a weakened Republican Party in any position to capitalize?

This event will begin with a discussion by Reihan Salam of the GOP's inability to consolidate their periodic gains among working class voters and a new social model under which they might do so. Salam's first book (co-authored with Ross Douthat), Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream, has received enthusiastic praise from influential columnists on the right, including David Brooks and Michael Barone. Following this, a panel of journalists and political observers will discuss the points raised by Salam and Douthat, and the feasibility of crafting a Republican working class agenda.

About The Next Social Contract Initiative: The New America Foundation has launched the Next Social Contract Initiative (NSC) to design and advance a new framework for a 21st-century social contract, along with a detailed policy agenda to support it. The fundamental premise of this initiative is that, given the unimaginable changes of the last half-century, we should think from scratch about the appropriate roles of each sector of society-government, employers, individuals, and civil society. The programs and policies of a new social contract should be designed to support entrepreneurship and risk-taking, encourage long-term growth and broadly shared prosperity, and support individuals and families not as employees, but as citizens.

light refreshments served, cash bar available

Jesse Helms Is Not Dead

Ron Tang — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:49:00 -0400

Having devoted his career to shocking and outraging American liberals, the late North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms continues to provoke them from his grave. Progressive journals and blogs are full of Helms horror stories. How he tried to make Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun cry by singing "Dixie" in the Senate elevator. How he won reelection against a black opponent by means of an ad showing the hands of a white man who had allegedly lost a job because of affirmative action. How he never repented of his segregationist past, unlike Strom Thurmond and George Wallace.

All quite true, quite horrifying… more

Should the U.S. Mandate Private Pension Saving?

Communications — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:00:00 -0400

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

On Wednesday, July 9, 2008, The New America Foundation’s Next Social Contract Initiative hosted a panel discussion on Australia’s mandatory pension plan (aka “superannuation”). Mavis Robertson, Former Chair of the Cbus superannuation fund, and Garry Weaven, Chair of Industry Funds Management and a member of the Superannuation Advisory Committee spoke on the pros and cons of superannuation. Jane White, President of Retirement Solutions, and Pamela Perun, Policy Director of the Initiative on Financial Security at the Aspen Institute, addressed whether modeling aspects of the Australian system could improve America’s current pensions system. Michael Calabrese, Vice President of the New America Foundation, moderated the event. An MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below, while video is available at right.

Robertson opened the panel discussion by explaining the superannuation system. Superannuation took off in 1992 when the Australian government mandated that companies provide a compulsory 3% wage contribution to employees’ pensions. In 2002 that number rose to 9%. Employees can choose how to invest their funds and the accounts are portable. The four major options are industry funds, retail funds, public funds and self managed funds. Industry funds have been the most successful, averaging 11% return over the last 10 years, but still make up only 16% of the pension market. Retail funds managed by financial investors make up 33%, government employee funds 17%, and personal investors 23%.

Weaven spoke to the advantages and disadvantages of the system. He noted that Australia’s pension system is bolstered by a means tested social insurance system known as Aged Pension. Unlike American Social Security, Aged Pension eligibility is not based on prior work. He also argued that tax exemptions alone are not enough to encourage low and middle income earners to save for retirement so a mandatory system is necessary. According to Weaven, the complexity of choosing from thousands of investment options is a downside to the Australian system.

White compared the Australian system to America’s. The average Australian will retire will $553,000 in assets whereas the average American will have $110,000 dollars of assets, she said. Furthermore, because the mandated rate in Australian only recently increased to 9%, Australia is providing a generous $450,000 “catch up” subsidy over three years to workers over 50. She suggests that America emulate the Australian system by requiring companies without defined benefit plans to provide 401k plans with a 9% employer contribution.

Perun pointed out that America already has an extensive social insurance system and mandating an additional 9% pension would be excessive. Social Security already provides an average equivalent of $250,000 in retirement assets per person. Instead she proposed a system where workers could opt in to a “Super Simple” plan, which would mandate a small employer contribution but also require an individual contribution higher than current 401k plans. It would be portable and universal.

-Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar, Research Intern for the Next Social Contract Initiative

Next Social Contract in Bloomberg | 'Tame Health-Care Gorilla With New Medical Plan'

Communications — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:52:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...Health expenditures consume about 16 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. Translated to an individual family, medical insurance claims 20 percent of median income. That's compared with 8 percent in 1987, according to the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy institute in Washington...

``If we do not make health insurance more affordable, a majority of working Americans will be uninsured by 2020,'' it says in its ``The Next Social Contract'' report... LINK

Next Social Contract event in Encore | 'Averting a Bust for Boomers'

Communications — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:43:00 -0400

New America in the News:
The New America Foundation’s panel today, “Averting a Bust for the Boomers: The State of Retirement Preparedness and How to Improve It,” blew up the popular image of baby boomers as healthy, wealthy and wise (at least about their finances)...LINK

Grand New Party

Ron Tang — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:42:00 -0400

Grand New Party lays bare the failures of the conservative revolution and presents a detailed blueprint for building the next Republican majority. Blending history, analysis, and fresh, often controversial recommendations, Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam argue that it is time to move beyond the Reagan legacy and the mind-set of the current Republican power structure.

In a concise examination of recent political trends, the authors show that the Democrats' cultural liberalism makes their party inherently hostile to the interests and values of the working class. But on a host of issues, today's Republican Party lacks a message that speaks to their… more

Change We Can Afford

Communications — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
06/24/2008 - 12:15pm

On Tuesday, June 24, 2008 the New America Foundation’s Next Social Contract Initiative hosted a panel discussion with Yale Law School professor Michael Graetz; Maya MacGuineas, President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and Director of the Fiscal Policy Program at New America; and Michael Lind, Whitehead Senior Fellow at New America. Professor Graetz spoke on his new book, 100 Million Unnecessary Returns: A Simple, Fair, and Competitive Tax Plan for the United States. The panelists offered responses to the book followed by Q&A with the audience. Howard Gleckman, Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute’s Tax Policy Center moderated the discussion.

In his comments, as in his book, Graetz called for a dramatic reform of the American tax system. He pointed out that, while the nation’s overall rate of taxation is relatively low compared to other OECD nations, our high corporate and income tax levies prevent us from reaping the rewards of our productivity--particularly in an ever-more globalized economy. Graetz proposes a value added tax (VAT) on consumption spending as the primary vehicle for reform. He would eliminate the income tax for households earning under $100,000, lower it to 25% for other households, and provide a payroll tax credit to low income earners. He also recommends lowering the corporate tax rate to 15%. The overall package of reforms would, according to Graetz, make US corporations more competitive while maintaining a progressive tax system and provide the political climate for the government to take responsibility for its budget.

MacGuineas praised Graetz’s proposal and agreed with his recommendations on most fronts. She stated that such a dramatic change was necessary in order to restore stability to the tax code—observing that special interests oppose any suggestion of incremental reform, curtailing of tax expenditures or raising tax rates. MacGuineas went even further, proposing the creation of a progressive consumption tax and the elimination of the income tax for all but the wealthiest individuals.

Lind addressed the political feasibility of a consumption tax. He spoke of the Regan and Bush tax cuts as popular “revolts” against tax policy that occurred because people felt sticker shock at the magnitude of their tax burdens. Lind favors a less transparent system that would be more politically sustainable. The consumption tax, as proposed by Graetz, would charge people only in small increments at the time of consumption making it less likely to trigger sustained opposition. In contrast to MacGuineas and Graetz, Lind said he favored the use of tax credits to make economic policy. He suggested that they allow the government to redistribute across barriers of income, race, or location whereas direct entitlement transfers cause political controversy and popular resentment.

-Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar, Research Intern for the Next Social Contract Initiative

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

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.

Did Hillary Crack the Working-Class Code?

Ron Tang — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:29:00 -0400

The tragedy of Hillary Clinton's campaign for the presidency is that only after she had effectively lost the Democratic nomination did she find a language and message that gave people a reason to vote for her beyond the claim that her nomination was inevitable. By that point, though, the day-to-day proxy war with Barack Obama was so relentless that even her supporters may have missed the subtle argument and language that could be her lasting contribution to progressive politics.

While Clinton was winning primaries in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky, much attention was paid to the reasons that white working-class… more

McCain Is In For a Terrible Shock If He Wins

Ron Tang — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:59:00 -0400

Britain’s Conservatives might be plotting a triumphant return to power but America’s Republicans are in a state of utter collapse. And it’s not just because the tide is turning after two terms of George W. Bush. For better or for worse, the Cameron Conservatives have adapted to a more culturally liberal, urban, diverse society. They have reconciled themselves to the welfare state in a way that Keith Joseph and Margaret Thatcher never did. Republicans, in contrast, are labouring under the illusion that America remains the yeoman democracy of yesteryear, full of plucky individualists. Slowly but surely, American politics is catching… more

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.

What Does Not Change

Ron Tang — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:50:00 -0400

The presidential primary process, over the years since Eugene McCarthy "won" New Hampshire by losing it in 1968, has evolved into such an elaborate analysis of expectations and sequence that, this year, it has finally imploded on itself. Every other Tuesday brings a new analysis of whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama has done better or worse than expected, is closing the gap or widening it. New measures are invented weekly -- this week, a version of the popular vote that excludes four states, but includes the invalid primaries in Michigan and Florida seems to have taken hold in the… more

What's the Matter With Bitterness?

Ron Tang — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:42:00 -0400

Behind the controversy over whether Sen. Obama's description of rural Pennsylvanians as "bitter" about their economic circumstances was condescending, there is another argument, one that's been lurking, unspoken, since the beginning of the Democratic campaign. It's a debate about the legacy and meaning of the last 16 years of the Democratic Party, and both candidates have said some highly provocative things, putting cards on the table that they've been holding for months.

First, Sen. Clinton. In the "Compassion Forum" Sunday night, she tried to depict Obama as comparable to the last two defeated Democratic nominees: "Large segments of the electorate concluded… more

Obama-ism Without Obama

Ron Tang — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:52:00 -0400

Whether he becomes president this year, sometime in the future, or never, Barack Obama will surely stand as a distinctive and surprising figure in our political history. Yet as the lens pulls back, individuals who at first seem uniquely transformative almost always come to be seen, more modestly, as reflections of their times, as products of trends and choices not of their own making. When Ronald Reagan was turning American politics on its head in 1980 and 1981, we saw Reagan, the man; today it is hardly revisionism to see Reagan as part of a long process of conservative reinvention… more

Illusions and Delusions About the U.S. Economic Picture

Communications — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:20:00 -0400

A New America Event
04/02/2008 - 12:00pm

Former John Edwards campaign senior economic advisor and telecom executive Leo Hindery understands better than most the difference between the needs of Wall Street and the needs of average Americans on Main Street. Looking at the subprime crisis as a symptom of a long history of economic mismanagement, Leo Hindery will argue that recent calls to change the regulatory bureaucracy in Washington are at best a band-aid. Rather, the American economy needs a long-term strategy to build a new edge in tradable goods and services to rebuild our middle class with high-wage jobs and reduce our massive trade imbalances.

Leo Hindery has announced his support of Barack Obama’s campaign -- but he will be speaking on his own behalf and not that of any campaign. Economic writers and commentators Bruce Stokes and Sherle Schwenninger will offer reactions.

An MP3 audio recording of the 87-minute event can be downloaded below, while the video of the full event is viewable at right.

Democratizing Capital

Ron Tang — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:53:00 -0400

Below is a longer version of the article published in The Nation. For the version appearing in The Nation, please click here.

Historical analogies are never exact. Yet many of the choices we have before us today are similar to ones that an earlier generation of progressives faced as the 1932 election approached. As we do today, the progressives of the 20th century confronted a society beset by a huge gap between classes and an economy laid flat by the bursting of the speculative excesses of the previous decade. To be sure, our economy is nowhere near Depression levels… more

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