The Progressive Economic Agenda
January 16, 2007 08:30 AM
My friends* at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) have been working for a while on a rather detailed policy road map for the nation. Late last year I got a preview of this agenda at a presentation the EPI team made at the AFL-CIO--and its good stuff.. The first part of the work was unveiled at an event last week on healthcare by Jacob Hacker. (For some blog reaction on this proposal see Ezra Klein .) Newly-elected Senator Jim Webb of Virginia took part in the event. Among his comments: "We measure the health of a society not simply by what the stock market is doing, but whether the people who are doing the work of society are truly receiving a fair share.” It’s the sort of thing that should go without saying, and yet it doesn't.
As for EPI, their work often focuses on describing what's happening, and analyzing why its happening, which is an invaluable service. But this work is a big step beyond. Video of Hacker's presentation, his paper and a paper on globalization by Jeff Faux are all available on the EPI site. There will be more to come on fiscal policy, retirement, labor, infrastructure, energy and, yes, education.
In some not quite EPI related news, Bill Schweke of the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) has a new blog, Ideas in Development. CFED is a great resource for discussions about education as one part of an economic development strategy. And Schweke is the author of Smart Money, EPI’s treatise on the relationship between education and economic development. If you are into this issue, you should check it out.
Disc. AFT provides some support for EPI
