On behalf of the staff here at The Concord Coalition, let me welcome you to our new blog. We hope this blog will provide a forum for us to bring you the latest news about Concord, highlight our fiscal policy positions, and report from the field.
On behalf of the staff here at The Concord Coalition, let me welcome you to our new blog. We hope this blog will provide a forum for us to bring you the latest news about Concord, highlight our fiscal policy positions, and report from the field. The last item is the one we felt our new website was most lacking, so we are hoping the blog will give us the opportunity to inform the public around the country what our field staff does and also what the citizens we encounter when we go around the country talking to schools, civic groups, and other community gatherings are most worried about when they think of the fiscal future and the importance of generationally responsible fiscal policy.
I want to thank our Chief Economist, Diane Lim Rogers, for keeping the seat warm here with her blog “EconomistMom.com” while we have worked on getting our new website up and running. She will continue her prolific blogging there, and will also be lending a hand here with posts highlighting her unique take on fiscal policy.
Many of you might wonder how we came up with the name for our blog and why we prominently feature a picture of an outdated soda can. For those of you who have seen the movie I.O.U.S.A. you probably already know that Concord Coalition Executive Director Bob Bixby’s favorite drink is TAB–a 1970’s era diet soda by Coca-Cola. While other drinks have taken over the diet soda market, Bob has managed to maintain a steady supply of TAB, and has delighted movie audiences around the country with his dedication to the soda.
(Snapshot from I.O.U.S.A.)
Even more important, however is that Bob and The Concord Coalition, through the grassroots education initiatives we have undertaken since our founding in 1992, (some of which are highlighted in I.O.U.S.A.) have worked very hard to bring attention to the fiscal “tab” we are leaving to our children and grandchildren through irresponsible policy and unfunded promises. It is this tab that the Concord Coalition is dedicated to shrinking by educating the public on these issues, because the politicians who make policy in Washington, D.C., will only make the hard choices the nation requires if they feel their constituents demand it, and understand why such choices are needed. Otherwise, it is too easy for them to ignore future problems and focus only on getting through the next election.
We are hoping that you find our “Tabulation” of Concord activities and policy thoughts helpful in either teaching you about fiscal policy or helping you teach others, so that we can begin the process and demand leadership that can bring a better economic future to the next generation.
–Josh Gordon, Policy Director
