|
|
|
|
Dictators Stalk the Free World Again
By Will Marshall
PPI's President
for The Hill
Almost exactly a century ago, Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy and Joseph Stalin took control of the Soviet Union. These events marked the origins of fascist and communist totalitarianism, which soon gave rise to Adolf Hitler in Germany and lit the fuse for both World War II and the Cold War.
That era seemed to come to an end in 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union started to implode. Popular uprisings toppled tyrants, and liberalizing winds swept the globe.
But the totalitarian idea is making a comeback today thanks to Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping. Like their predecessors, these dictators are dangerous because they have designs on others’ territory, few domestic checks on their power and contempt for the resilience and resolve of free societies.
|
|
|
New from the Experts
Ben Ritz, Director of PPI's Center for Funding America's Future: Win Or Lose, Executive Actions Like Student Debt Cancellation Should Face Judicial Review
⮕ Forbes
Chicago mayor’s race shows impact of crime in COVID’s wake, ft. Will Marshall, President and Founder of PPI
⮕ AP
What Keir Starmer has learnt from the return of the German Social Democrats, ft. Claire Ainsley, Director of the Project on Center-Left Renewal
⮕ The New Statesman
Beer Lovers Would Benefit From Repeal of Aluminum Tariffs, ft. PPI
⮕ Bloomberg Tax
Trade Fact of the Week: U.S. Steel and Aluminum Output Have Changed Little Since 2017.
⮕ PPI's Trade Fact of the Week
|
|
|
Safeguarding Ukraine’s Civil Society
By Tamar Jacoby
Director of PPI's New Ukraine Project
For American Purpose
Following a wave of Russian attacks, there was no electricity in Kyiv’s Obolonskyi district administration building—essentially a neighborhood town hall—on the day the local council was formed. I had come to Kyiv to explore how the democratic reforms and nation-building so vibrant in Ukraine before the Russian invasion were faring in wartime; this was my first stop. Some three dozen nonprofit volunteers, legal aid lawyers, municipal officials, and people displaced from their homes in other parts of Ukraine—what experts call internally displaced persons or IDPs—sat in the dark in the ornate Soviet-era meeting hall. The wan winter sunshine filtering in past brocade curtains barely cast enough light to see by, but the activists didn’t seem to notice—they were so excited to be moving forward.
This ad hoc coalition of city officials and civil society advocates had gathered to talk about the needs of the estimated 30,000 IDPs who had settled in Obolon in the year since the Russian invasion. Their vision for the “IDP Council” they were launching: that activists would collect information about the migrants’ needs, and government would use it to tailor more effective services. The nonprofit organization spearheading the project, Charity Foundation Stabilization Support Services, was providing humanitarian aid to displaced people across Ukraine. The group says that it has distributed food and other basic supplies to more than 300,000 internal migrants since last February. But this was different, a step up the food chain—humanitarian help combined with grassroots democracy building. The new council’s motto: “Nothing about IDPs without IDPs.”
|
|
Getting Non-Degree Pathways Right: Expanding Opportunity & Ensuring Quality
Wednesday, March 15th at 1:00 PM ET
Join PPI’s New Skills for a New Economy project on Wednesday, March 15th at 1:00 PM ET for a one-hour Zoom webinar on Getting Non-Degree Pathways Right: Expanding Opportunity and Ensuring Quality.
This webinar will address this challenge and offer bold and innovative approaches to expand non-degree pathways, for young people and adults alike. Speakers will discuss why these opportunities are important, how to ensure they are industry-aligned as well as how to encourage quality outcomes for program participants. Speakers will also elevate best practices and successes of non-degree programs while discussing persisting roadblocks in developing and sustaining these opportunities – highlighting potential policy solutions to mitigate these challenges.
Panelists discussing this riveting topic include:
- Yuanxia Ding, Senior Program Manager, Amazon’s Career Choice Team
- Shalin Jyotishi, Senior Policy Analyst, New America’s Center on Education & Labor
- Dr. Ian Roark, Vice Chancellor of Workforce Development & Innovation, Pima Community College
Moderator: Taylor Maag, Director of Workforce Development at PPI
|
|
|
RECAP: PPI Joins Forces with Sen. Ben Cardin to Host Capitol Hill Briefing on New Report
America’s entrepreneurial ethos is widely touted as a cornerstone of our culture and one of the ways to achieve the “American Dream.” It is true that small businesses play a critical role in the economy, as they account for 99% of American employers. Business ownership can also be a source of wealth creation for many, with self employed individuals being wealthier, on average, than those who work for an employer.
However, the path towards becoming an entrepreneur and growing a successful business is fraught with obstacles for large segments of the population. Entrepreneurs of color, particularly Black and Latine, face many barriers that result in them having smaller, less profitable businesses when compared to those owned by White entrepreneurs.
|
|
|
Mosaic Moment:
'Tis the Season ... to Talk about Taxes!
It’s that time of year again… It’s tax season, and on this episode of the Mosaic Moment PPI’s Senior Policy Analyst, Nick Buffie, sits down with Mosaic alum and Associate Director of Policy at Prosperity Now, Joanna Ain to talk all things taxes.
|
|
|
THE NEOLIBERAL PODCAST:
Predicting the Future, ft. Stephen Grugett
Why is everyone so excited about prediction markets? Stephen Grugett, founder of Manifold Markets, joins the show to discuss all things prediction markets. We talk about why prediction markets are useful, the strange ways in which they might be used in the future, whether or not they're actually as accurate as they claim to be, the ethical considerations in putting everything into a market, and much more.
|
|
|
|
Don't Miss These PPI Reports
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
