Robert ReichRobert Reich, perhaps best known as labor secretary under Bill Clinton, recently announced his endorsement of Barack Obama. He explains his decision on his blog.
Reich has served in three national administrations, and implemented the Family and Medical Leave Act while he was labor secretary. He was awarded the Vaclev Havel Foundation Prize for his work in economic and social thought. He is currently professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California and has written eleven books, the most recent of which is Supercapitalism.
He is co-founding editor of The American Prospect magazine and offers weekly comments on public radio’s “Marketplace” about such topics as returning favors, and failed sales pitches.
We are very happy he has agreed to field questions from Freakonomics readers. Please fire away in the comments section below and, as with past Q&A’s, Reich will provide the answers in short course.
Addendum: Reich answers your questions here.
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Mr. Reich,
In your book Supercapitalism you talk about how you think labor unions need a seat at the bargaining table in order to bring around more equality in earnings. I see this point but I wonder what you think of a situation where unions become so powerful that they force companies to teeter on the brink of bankruptcy because they have given such generous salaries/benefits. How do you prevent a powerful union from threatening the long term viability of a company or even a whole industry?
What steps, if any, can the US take to consider staying at par with China(projecting for the next 25 years), in terms of economic growth, capital, GDP, etc?
Do you believe in redistribution of wealth via taxation?
What role should taxation assume in government?
Barack Obama said last week he favors raising the capital gains tax for “fairness” reasons, even though a higher tax rate may not increase tax revenue. Wouldn’t a higher capital gains tax rate eventually lead to less investment and fewer new jobs created?
What incentives can government or society provide to individuals to encourage actions that benefit those individuals and society in the long-term (20-50 years for individuals, 20-100 years for society)?
Let’s assume that the science (as evidenced by Nicholas Stern’s latest comments) predicts a climate future even more dire than the latest IPCC reports, and this becomes more clear in the next couple of years. This would indicate that more immediate and drastic action to curb global warming is required. Steps would include no net deforestation, phasing out US coal plants and replacing them with solar thermal and wind power within 5 years, all plug in vehicles, halting all ethanol programs, less energy intensive agriculture and meat production, etc. The goal would be to return global carbon to the 350 level, as proposed by Bill McKibben.
Whether China and India go along or not, what do you think would be the economic impact of this kind of transformation? I realize the steps listed above are not going to be implemented, but as an exercise I am interested to see if we would experience either a big loss in competitiveness or dangerous economic disruptions.
What measures will you recommend to the incoming president to implement a fair and sustainable income and wealth distribution? Do you believe that wealth concentration is bad for the economy and can U.S. manufacturing be revived to be competitive again?
Labor has been relegated to the backseat in favor of capital which has given illusory gains. Are you in favor of rescuing failed investments undertaken by excessive risk-takers even when their failure would cause systemic disruptions?
Mr. Reich,
As an Econ Professor and Democrat I’m still having trouble with the protectionist talk of the two candidates. I was particularly upset at Obama saying one thing, while Goldsbee was saying the right thing (from an economist’s perpsective). Do you think Obama is handling trade issues properly or should he be more pro-free trade?
Finally as a Grinnell College class of 2002 student, thanks for one great graduation speech!