Robert Kuttner

For the American biologist, see Robert E. Kuttner.

Robert Kuttner
File:Robert Kuttner - Flickr image 3444876149.jpg Robert Kuttner in April 2009
Born	(1943-04-17) April 17, 1943 New York City, New York
Education	Oberlin College (1965) University of California, Berkeley
Occupation	Journalist, Writer
Notable credit(s)	Squandering of America Everything for Sale
Spouse(s)	Sharland Grace Trotter (?-?) Joan Fitzgerald

Robert Kuttner (/ˈkʌtnər/; born April 17, 1943) is an American journalist and writer. Kuttner is the co-founder and current co-editor of The American Prospect, which was created in 1990 as an "authoritative magazine of liberal ideas," according to its mission statement. He was a 20-year columnist for Business Week, and continues to write columns in The Boston Globe and for the Huffington Post.

Kuttner is also one of five 1986 co-founders of the Economic Policy Institute, and currently serves on its executive committee. In 2007, Kuttner joined the liberal Demos research and policy center as a Distinguished Senior Fellow.

Early life and education

Kuttner was born in New York City. He attended Oberlin College, the University of California, Berkeley, and the London School of Economics.

He currently holds the Ida and Meyer Kirstein Chair at Brandeis, where he is a visiting professor of social policy. At different times throughout his career he has also taught at Brandeis, Boston University, University of Oregon, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Harvard's Institute of Politics. He has also been a John F. Kennedy Fellow at Harvard University, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at UC-Berkeley, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Radcliffe Public Policy Fellow.

He holds an honorary degree from Swarthmore College.

Writer and editor

Kuttner has had an extensive career as a writer and editor at various national publications.

In addition to his early work at Pacifica Radio, including a stint as general manager of WBAI-FM in New York, he has served as Washington Editor of the Village Voice, economics editor at The New Republic, and was a member of the national staff at the Washington Post. Between 1984 and 2005 he was one of five columnists for the "Economic Viewpoint" section (also titled "Economic Watch") of BusinessWeek. He has been a columnist in the Boston Globe since 1985.

Writings

Kuttner is author of several books dealing with economics, politics, globalization and labor markets, as well as his political support for the revival of a robust labor-left agenda. His books include The Economic Illusion, Everything For Sale: The Virtues and Limits of Markets, The End of Laissez-Faire, The Life of the Party, and The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity (Knopf, 2007).

His 2008 book Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency presented a vision of Barack Obama's opportunity to transform American politics. His most recent book, Debtors’ Prison: The Politics of Austerity versus Possibility, criticized austerity economics in the U.S. and Europe.

Commentator

Kuttner has appeared as a commentator—usually offering a liberal counterpoint—on numerous public affairs and debate programs, including National Public Radio, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Firing Line, Debates-Debates, Crossfire, and NOW on PBS.

Government service

Kuttner has served in several capacities within the federal government, including as an investigator for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, as well as serving as Executive Director of former President Carter's National Commission on Neighborhoods.

Recognition

Robert Kuttner has been recognized by various organizations for his career as a journalist. These honors include the Sidney Hillman Award, which he won twice, once for his 1997 book Everything For Sale, and again in 2008 for "Obama's Challenge."

He has also been the recipient of the Paul Hoffman Award for Human Development of the United Nations, the Jack London Award for labor journalism, and the John Hancock Award "for excellence in business and financial journalism."

Family

Kuttner's wife Joan Fitzgerald is the Director of the Law, Policy and Society Program at Northeastern University in Boston. His former wife, the late Sharland Grace Trotter, was a psychotherapist and author. His daughter Jessica is a clinical social worker currently living in western Massachusetts, and his son Gabriel is a stage actor and director in Boston.

External links

• Obama's Challenge-- NOW on PBS
• SquanderingofAmerica.com Official website
• American Prospect biography
• American Foreign Policy as Political Failure Speech delivered before the New America Foundation
• TAP Robert Kuttner Column Archive
• Globalization and World Capitalism Epistolary debate between Kuttner and Johann Norberg, overseen by the Cato Institute
• What sank Asia? Money sloshing around the world
• Debate between Kuttner and William Kristol on YouTube
• Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Booknotes interview with Kuttner on The End of Laissez-Faire, February 24, 1991.