Episodes

Wednesday Feb 09, 2022
A Blue Dog Keeps Barking
Wednesday Feb 09, 2022
Wednesday Feb 09, 2022
This week on Facing the Future we talk with Rep. Jim Cooper a Democrat from Tennessee and founding member of the House Blue Dog Coalition. After 32 years in Congress and a long record of pushing for fiscal responsibility, Cooper has decided not to run for re-election this year. We discuss this difficult decision and get his take on the challenges ahead. Also, Tori Gorman and Steve Robinson join me to discuss the new jobs numbers and the prospects for a government shutdown.

Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
COVID Makes a Mess of Economic Data
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
This week on Facing the Future we get an update on the economic outlook from Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. Last year saw strong GDP growth but an unexpected surge of inflation. We'll look at what comes next.

Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
A ’New Normal’ for COVID-19?
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
This week on Facing the Future, we talk to one of the leading international experts on infectious disease, Dr. Michael Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. He was one of six Biden transition team COVID-19 advisors who recently urged the President to seek a new strategy on the pandemic and accept the new normal: the virus will be with us for a long time.

Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
Inflation: Here Today, Here Tomorrow?
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
This week on Facing the Future, we discuss the outlook for inflation with Jason Furman, who chaired President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors and is now a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Jason's op-ed, "Four Reasons to Keep Worrying About Inflation" was published last week in the Wall Street Journal

Wednesday Jan 12, 2022
Plowing Through the ’Wintry Mix’ on Jobs Report
Wednesday Jan 12, 2022
Wednesday Jan 12, 2022
This week on Facing the Future we look at the December jobs report and what it means for the economic outlook and the congressional agenda. Our guest is Gordon Gray, director of fiscal policy at the American Action Forum. Later in the show, Tori Gorman and Steve Robinson join me to discuss Gordon's findings and whether Congress will pass another COVID relief bill.

Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
The 1992 Tsongas Campaign and the Birth of the Concord Coalition
Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
This week on Facing the Future, we kick-off The Concord Coalition’s 30th anniversary year by talking with political strategist Kitty Kurth, who worked on the 1992 presidential campaign of socially liberal, fiscally conservative former U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas. Later that year she became the first employee of the Concord Coalition, when it was co-founded by Tsongas and former U.S. Senator Warren B Rudman. Kurth and I discuss how several of the themes of that campaign became the genesis of The Concord Coalition.

Wednesday Dec 29, 2021
As 2021 Comes to a Close, Unfinished Business Dominates 2022 Congressional Agenda
Wednesday Dec 29, 2021
Wednesday Dec 29, 2021
This week on Facing the Future, we’ll have an all-star panel from the Concord Coalition join us to look back on the budget and economic developments of 2021 and what they all mean for the policy debates of 2022. We'll discuss the biggest surprises, what gives us the most concern for the new year and what gives us some hope.

Wednesday Dec 22, 2021
The Vital Role of Immigration
Wednesday Dec 22, 2021
Wednesday Dec 22, 2021

Thursday Dec 16, 2021
Political dysfunction confronts inflation and debt
Thursday Dec 16, 2021
Thursday Dec 16, 2021
This week on Facing the Future, we discuss congressional dysfunction; whether it has grown in recent years and why it matters. Our guests are former Congressman, Paul Hodes, Democrat of New Hampshire and political analyst Matt Robison who co-host WKXL's "Beyond Politics" Then, Concord Coalition Policy Director Tori Gorman and Chief Economist Steve Robsinson join me for a roundup of recent developments on the Build Back Better Act, the debt limit, and inflation.

Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
Keeping an Eye on COVID and the Debt Limit
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
This week on Facing the Future, we discuss the outlook for the COVID-19 pandemic with Dr. Jodie Guest, an epidemiologist and professor at the Rollins School of Public Health and School of Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta Georgia. Then, we turn our attention to another problem we can’t seem to get rid of - the statutory debt limit. Our guest for this segment is Rachel Snyderman, an associate director with the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Economic Policy Project.