Word: wonk
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Teresa Ghilarducci has always had more interesting - and controversial - things to say than your average retirement-policy wonk. An economist who moved this year from the University of Notre Dame to the New School for Social Research in New York City, she has railed for years against the decline of the traditional pension. She recently wrote a book subtitled The Plot Against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them; the less contentious main title is When I'm Sixty-Four...
...Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s address the other day. Singh is an old, mild-mannered academic—a policy wonk in the sort of rough political climate that would normally eat people like him for breakfast. His speech after the attacks was criticized for appearing meek and helpless, and his critics are probably right. What I see though, is a man wary of the same vicious cycle of Pakistan-baiting, worsening cross-border relations, and “tough security measures” that generate the sort of hatred that breeds even more terrorists. He knows...
...Indiana Governor: The Future of the Party Mitch Daniels was a somewhat tragic figure as President Bush's budget director, a policy-wonk, small-government conservative who found himself carrying water for a politics-driven, big-government budget buster. His aides almost had to strap him down to get him to sign a White House-directed letter supporting the corporate-welfare farm bill of 2002. But as Indiana's governor, he's gotten to do things his own way, privatizing roads, expanding health coverage, even supporting tax increases to get his state's fiscal house in order. His tough-love...
Last week, Tercentenary Theatre was decked out in Commencement fare, festooned with large banners proclaiming that “Green is the New Crimson” in an effort to welcome home eco-wonk-cum-movie-star Al Gore ’69, shown above in classic Uncle Sam pose.But lost amidst the glitz of Harvard’s sustainability efforts was a more meaningful step forward that took place a few hours after Gore’s speech and a few hundred yards to the south: the unveiling of Harvard’s revised master plan for Allston. While...
...have always loved School House Rock, and since I was a bit of a wonk even in my youth, the “I’m Just a Bill” song describing a bill’s journey from draft to federal law has always been my favorite. Harvard has a very different process for passing a bill, and by a bill I mean a change in policy. Unfortunately the administration has not yet come up with a helpful song to explain it, but this somewhat convoluted process can facilitate important discussion as long as everyone involved with...