Fall 2015, No. 38
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman makes the case for why the Trans-Pacific Partnership—the big trade deal that the Administration is pushing—is in fact a progressive accord. His essay sets the stage for a vigorous debate this fall—both on our website and in the broader discourse—over the fate of the TPP.
There’s more. We have Bill Galston and Elaine Kamarck on the problem that plagues our economic life: the insistent focus on the short-term among executives and Wall Street. Their proposals against “quarterly capitalism” have already been taken up by Hillary Clinton. Eric Liu revisits E.D. Hirsch Jr.’s landmark essay on cultural literacy and asks: What does cultural literacy mean in twenty-first-century America? And Larry Downes wonders if our regulators can adapt to a new world of drones, apps, and big data.
In the books section, Connie Schultz reviews Anne-Marie Slaughter’s latest; Bruce Bartlett assesses David Madland’s lament for the middle class; Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig critiques the new Robert Putnam; and Kim Phillips-Fein takes a look at Kevin M. Kruse’s history of postwar Christian libertarianism. Finally, Ian Millhiser responds to Amanda Hollis-Brusky’s review of his book in the previous issue, and Katherine Stone has some things to add to Nick Hanauer and David Rolf’s idea for a “Shared Security System.”