PLUS: Can't-miss events, a plea to reinvent government, and more!

View this email in your browser ([link removed])


** [link removed]
Progress Report
------------------------------------------------------------
News, events, and must-read analysis from the Progressive Policy Institute.
On crime, Democrats should follow
Eric Adams

[link removed]

The U.S. economy is rebounding vigorously from the COVID-19 recession. That ought to be lifting the public's spirits, but Americans instead are increasingly preoccupied by two distressing pandemic legacies — soaring prices and gun violence.

In New York City, for example, serious crimes jumped by nearly 39 percent in January, prompting civil rights leader Al Sharpton to call the situation “out of control.” President Biden traveled to Manhattan last week for a high-profile confab with newly-elected Mayor Eric Adams, who has made public safety his top priority.

It was a smart move, because Adams is just what Biden and his party need now to refurbish their credentials as credible crime fighters. He’s a pragmatic Black mayor and former police officer who has been an outspoken critic of both police brutality and racial profiling as well as the activist left’s demands to “defund the police.”

On crime, Democrats should follow Eric Adams ([link removed])
By Will Marshall
President of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) ([link removed])
for The Hill ([link removed])
READ MORE ([link removed])
[link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fopinion%2Fcriminal-justice%2F593814-on-crime-democrats-should-follow-eric-adams Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fopinion%2Fcriminal-justice%2F593814-on-crime-democrats-should-follow-eric-adams)
[link removed] Forward ([link removed])
New from the Experts

Brendan McDermott, Fiscal Policy Analyst for PPI's Center for Funding America's Future Project in NYDN: Democrats should reinvent government again
⮕ New York Daily News ([link removed])

Dr. Michael Mandel, VP and Chief Economist: Railroads, "Supply-and-Data Chains," and the Forced Unbundling of Transportation Services
⮕ PPI Blog ([link removed])

Ben Ritz, Director of PPI's Center for Funding America's Future: MMT Isn't Taking a Victory Lap – It's On Its Last Legs
⮕ Forbes ([link removed])

ICYMI: Eric Leeper, Contributing Author for PPI: Modern Monetary Theory: The End of Policy Norms as we Know Them?
⮕ PPI ([link removed])

Hot Off the Press

CNN: Ronald Brownstein: Why schools are taking center stage in the culture wars ([link removed])

Will Marshall, founder and president of the Progressive Policy Institute, a centrist Democratic think tank long critical of teachers' unions, sees the same dual-edged message for Democrats in the broadening conflicts over education.
"Republicans are tapping into frustrations real and imagined, but we have left a vacuum," he says. "We have no reform agenda. Our party is seen as propping up a bureaucratic status quo that many parents thought didn't perform well during the pandemic. You can't just point to Republican demagoguery about race and books and win the argument. You have to make voters a counteroffer."
⮕ CNN ([link removed])

The Guardian: UK urged not to abandon climate goals amid net zero row ([link removed])

Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate adviser, now with the Progressive Policy Institute, said that although political attention was focused on Biden’s stimulus, the UK government’s moves on net zero were also viewed with concern. “Boris Johnson’s dedication to net zero is seen in Washington as a linchpin for greater ambition by nations around the world, including at Cop27, so his recent troubles and backbencher bellyaches on climate are worrisome,” he warned. “Johnson should never allow the Tory right fringe to undermine his climate legacy.”
⮕ The Guardian ([link removed])

Washington Post: White House aides weigh deficit reduction as way to revamp economic plan for Manchin ([link removed])

“I think the only way Manchin will see this as a real deficit reduction bill is if it’s reducing deficits every year, not playing games like the last version,” said Ben Ritz, director of the Center for Funding America’s Future at the Progressive Policy Institute. “It’s definitely a good pivot, but it actually needs to be a deficit reduction bill for this to work.”
⮕ Washington Post ([link removed])

Politico: U.S. farmers push Washington to help boost exports even after a record year ([link removed])

“If you have cargo that’s ready to go and you’re ready to pay and the ship just turns around, it is like getting left on the sidewalk by taxis,” said Ed Gresser, director for trade and global markets at the Progressive Policy Institute. “Quite reasonably they’re upset about that and there is some real damage, too.”
⮕ Politico ([link removed])
THIS WEEK: What is Cryptocurrency? Regulating an Unprecedented Technology
With a special keynote address from
Rep. Jake Auchincloss

[link removed]


** THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17 AT 4:00PM ET
------------------------------------------------------------

Cryptocurrency has taken the world by storm. Depending on the day, digital currencies are now cumulatively valued at several trillion dollars. Financial and nonfinancial corporate executives, once dismissive, increasingly understand the importance of cryptocurrency and related technologies for the future.

However, the federal government is only in the early stages of deciding how to regulate cryptocurrency, which could have enormous implications going forward. In this briefing from the Progressive Policy Institute, industry leaders and experts will discuss the potential regulatory options for cryptocurrency, debating the merits and drawbacks of several proposed approaches.

WHEN: Thursday, February 17; 4:00-5:00pm ET; Zoom
PANELISTS:
Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) (Keynote Address)
Dante Disparte, Circle's Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy
Kirsten Wegner, CEO of the Modern Markets Initiative and a Mosaic Economic Project cohort member
Michael Katz, Director of Legal, Digital Currency Group

MODERATED BY: Dr. Michael Mandel, Vice President & Chief Economist, PPI


**
------------------------------------------------------------


** > RVSP TODAY! ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------


**
------------------------------------------------------------
Don't Miss These PPI Podcasts
[link removed]

[link removed]

On this episode of the Radically Pragmatic podcast, Dr. Kalinda Ukanwa sits down with Jordan Shapiro, PPI’s Data and Economic Policy Analyst, to discuss her new paper entitled, “Breaking Up Big Tech Will Not Prevent Algorithmic Harm to Society.” ([link removed]) Dr. Ukanwa and Jordan dive into what algorithms really are and how they’re simultaneously helping and harming consumers. They unpack why breaking up Big Tech is not the solution to the algorithm bias problem, and they explore what actions can be taken to remedy algorithmic harm on a societal level and in your everyday life.

The New York Times declared a 'victory lap' for MMT — but is that justified? Ben Ritz and Eric Leeper join the show to discuss Modern Monetary Theory. What exactly does MMT say, and why is it so hard to pin down MMT's advocates to a firm position? What does the current inflation mean for the theory, and why don't mainstream economists accept it? Ultimately, what's wrong with MMT?

Read Eric Leeper's newest report for PPI. ([link removed])


** ICYMI: PPI on MMT
------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed]

A new report from the Progressive Policy Institute’s Center for Funding America’s Future dives into the economic and political debate around Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), looking closely at the challenges MMT advocates would have in delivering on their goals without drastically harming our economy. The report, authored by Dr. Eric Leeper of the University of Virginia, is titled “Modern Monetary Theory: The End of Policy Norms as We Know Them?”.

“Dynamic democracies should periodically reconsider existing policy norms to evaluate if they continue to serve policy goals well. If MMT seeks to change long-standing policy norms, the onus is on its advocates to persuade us that old norms do not serve us well and to communicate precisely what new norms will prevail and how they will affect the economy’s performance,” writes Eric Leeper in the report. “Until MMTers are ready to take these steps, their ideas must remain in the realm of guess and conjecture. In the meantime, we should apply to economic policy the basic principle we apply to health policy: follow the science. Economic science, such as it is, provides no support for MMT’s central claims."

This report breaks down several flaws in the economic thought behind MMT, including the constraints that ultimately finite resources place on governments, the inability of MMT to explain the relationship between inflation and demand when an economy is operating below its resource constraint, how it would overcome the structural and political challenges that prevent elected lawmakers from responsively managing inflation, and the indiscriminate approach it takes to the impact of different tax and spending policies, among others.


By Eric Leeper ([link removed])
Contributing Author
for the Progressive Policy Institute's
Center for Funding America's Future

Don't Miss This PPI Report
Don't Miss This PPI Event
[link removed]

[link removed]

============================================================
Get Connected
** ([link removed])
** FOLLOW WILL ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
** Spotify ([link removed])
** LinkedIn ([link removed])
** Medium ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
Copyright © 2022 Progressive Policy Institute, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in to programming.

Our mailing address is:
Progressive Policy Institute
1156 15th Street NW
Ste 400
Washington, DC xxxxxx
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.
Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp
[link removed]