Jason Furman

New Keynesian economics
Born	c. 1970 (age 41–42)
Nationality	United States
Field	Macroeconomics, Economic policy
Influences	Joseph Stiglitz, Robert Rubin

Jason Furman (born 1970) is an economist. On January 28, 2009, Furman was named Deputy Director of the National Economic Council in the administration of President Barack Obama, whom he'd been advising since the latter stages of the 2008 presidential campaign. He has been widely criticized in the past.^[1]

Life and career[link]

Furman's research and policy focus includes the subjects of taxes, health care, and the U.S. Social Security program. Furman's qualified defense of Wal-Mart's business model provoked criticism from some labor organizations when he joined Obama's 2008 campaign.

In 1996, while he was a graduate student at Harvard, Furman was hired by economist Joseph Stiglitz to serve a one-year stint as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy in the Clinton Administration and on staff of the Council of Economic Advisers. He later worked with Stiglitz at the World Bank. Furman was involved to varying degrees with the Presidential campaigns of Al Gore and General Wesley Clark. In 2004, he took a position as Director of Economic Policy for the John Kerry Presidential campaign in 2004.

Furman received an MSc from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. Also at Harvard, Furman earned a bachelor's in social studies and a master's in government. He has worked with former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.

In recent years, Furman has worked as a budget expert at the Brookings Institution. There, he directed the Hamilton Project, an economic policy research group that develops policy proposals to achieve shared economic growth.^[2]

He was a Visiting Scholar at New York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.^[3] He has been a visiting lecturer at Columbia and Yale Universities.

He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, Eve Gerber, and their two children, Henry and Louisa. Gail Furman, Furman's mother, heads a family foundation ("The Furman Foundation, Inc.") that funds mostly left-leaning nonprofit groups.^[4]

His hobbies include juggling.

Furman is often parodied on the Glenn Beck Program as Obama advisor "Honkey Whitesville," a recurring call-in guest portrayed by Steve Burguiere.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Writings at the Brookings Institution
• Jason Furman at WhoRunsGov at The Washington Post
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Jason Furman on Charlie Rose
• Jason Furman collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Jason Furman in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

v t e Obama Administration personnel v t e Cabinet and cabinet-level Office Name Term Office Name Term Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 2009– Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner 2009– Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta 2011– Attorney General Eric Holder 2009– Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar 2009– Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack 2009– Secretary of Commerce John Bryson 2011– Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis 2009– Secretary of Health and   Human Services Kathleen Sebelius 2009– Secretary of Education Secretary of Transportation Arne Duncan Ray LaHood 2009– 2009– Secretary of Housing and Urban   Development Shaun Donovan 2009– Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki 2009– Secretary of Energy Steven Chu 2009– Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano 2009– Vice President Joe Biden 2009– White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew 2012– Director of the Office of Management and   Budget Vacant 2012– Administrator of the Environmental   Protection Agency Lisa Jackson 2009– Ambassador to the United Nations Trade Representative Susan Rice Ron Kirk 2009– 2009– Chair of the Council of Economic   Advisers Alan B. Krueger 2011– Below solid line: Granted Cabinet rank although not automatically part of the Cabinet. See also: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet v t e Executive Office of the President Office Name Term Office Name Term White House Chief of Staff White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy   Rahm Emanuel Pete Rouse William M. Daley Jacob Lew Mona Sutphen Nancy-Ann DeParle 2009–2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012- 2009-2011 2011- National Security Advisor Deputy National Security Advisor   Jim Jones Tom Donilon Thomas E. Donilon Denis McDonough 2009–2010 2010- 2009–2010 2010- White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations   Senior Advisor to the President   Deputy Senior Advisor to the President Counselor to the President Jim Messina Alyssa Mastromonaco David Axelrod David Plouffe Stephanie Cutter Pete Rouse 2009–2011 2011- 2009–2011 2011- 2011- 2009- Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Douglas Lute† Ben Rhodes   2009– 2009– Senior Advisor to the President and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement Valerie Jarrett   2009–   Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security John O. Brennan 2009– Director of Public Engagement   Christina Tchen Jon Carson 2009–2011 2011-- Deputy National Security Advisor and NSC Chief of Staff   Denis McDonough Brooke Anderson 2009-2010 2011- Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Muñoz 2009– White House Communications Director Daniel Pfeiffer 2009- Director, National Economic Council   Lawrence Summers Gene Sperling 2009–2010 2011- Deputy White House Communications Director White House Press Secretary   Jennifer Psaki Robert Gibbs Jay Carney 2009– 2009–2011 2011- Deputy Director, National Economic Council Diana Farrell 2009– Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton 2009–2011 Deputy Director, National Economic Council Deputy Director, National Economic Council Jason Furman Brian Deese 2009– 2011- Director of Special Projects Stephanie Cutter 2010-2011 Chair of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board Paul Volcker 2009– Director of Speechwriting Jon Favreau 2009– Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors   Christina Romer Austan Goolsbee 2009–2010 2010- White House Counsel   Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs   Robert Bauer Kathryn Ruemmler Phil Schiliro Rob Nabors 2009–2011 2011- 2009–2011 2011- Member of the Council of Economic Advisors Katharine Abraham 2011- Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs Lisa Konwinski 2009– Member of the Council of Economic Advisors Cecilia Rouse 2009– Executive Clerk George T. Saunders† 2009– Director, Office of Management and Budget   Peter Orszag Jacob Lew 2009–2010 2010–2012 Director, Office of Political Affairs Chief Technology Officer Patrick Gaspard Aneesh Chopra Todd Park 2009–2011 2009–2012 2012- Chief Performance Officer and Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget Jeffrey Zients   2009– Chief Information Officer Director, Office of Presidential Personnel Steven VanRoekel Nancy Hogan 2011– 2010– Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget   Jeffrey Liebman Heather Higginbottom* 2010–2010 2011- Director of Scheduling and Advance   Director, White House Military Office Alyssa Mastromonaco Danielle Crutchfield George D. Mulligan, Jr. 2009–2011 2011- 2009– United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk 2009– Cabinet Secretary Chris Lu 2009– Director, Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes 2009– Deputy Cabinet Secretary Liz Sears Smith 2009– Deputy Director, Domestic Policy Council Heather Higginbottom Mark Zuckerman 2009–2011 2011- Staff Secretary Lisa Brown 2009– Director, Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Joshua DuBois 2009– Director, Office of Management and Administration Bradley Kiley 2009– Director, Office of Health Reform Nancy DeParle 2009–2011 Director, Oval Office Operations Micaela Fernandez 2009– Deputy Director, Office of Health Reform Jeanne Lambrew 2009– Personal Aide to the President Reggie Love 2009– Director, Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy Carol Browner 2009–2011 Personal Secretary to the President Katie Johnson Anita Decker 2009–2011 2011- Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Heather Zichal 2009– Special Projects Coordinator and Confidential Assistant to the President Eugene Kang   2009– Director, Council on Environmental Quality Director, Office of National AIDS Policy Nancy Sutley Jeffrey Crowley 2009– 2009– Chief of Staff to the First Lady   Jackie Norris Susan Sher Christina Tchen 2009 2009–2010 2011- Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske 2009– White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers Julianna Smoot Jeremy Bernard 2009–2010 2010–2011 2011– Director, Office of Urban Affairs Policy Adolfo Carrión, Jr. 2009– Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy John Holdren 2009– *Senate-confirmation pending.   †Remained from previous administration(s). v t e Office of the Vice President Position Appointee Position Appointee Chief of Staff to the Vice President Bruce Reed Chief of Staff to the Second Lady Catherine Russell Counsel to the Vice President Cynthia Hogan Director of Administration for the Office of the Vice President Moises Vela Counselor to the Vice President Mike Donilon Domestic Policy Adviser to the Vice President Terrell McSweeny Assistant to the Vice President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison Evan Ryan Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser to the Vice President Jared Bernstein Assistant to the Vice President and Director of Communications Jay Carney Press Secretary to the Vice President Elizabeth Alexander Deputy Chief of Staff to the Vice President Alan Hoffman Deputy Press Secretary to the Vice President Annie Tomasini Deputy National Security Adviser to the Vice President Brian McKeon Director of Legislative Affairs Sudafi Henry Residence Manager and Social Secretary for the Vice President and Second Lady Carlos Elizondo Director of Communications for the Second Lady Courtney O’Donnell National Security Adviser to the Vice President Tony Blinken

Vic Firth
Vic Firth (2006)
Background information
Born	(1930-06-02) June 2, 1930 (age 82) Winchester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupations	Musician, business owner
Instruments	Percussion instruments, cornet, trombone, clarinet, piano
Years active	1940s - Present
Website	VicFirth.com

Vic Firth is an American musician and is the founder of Vic Firth Company (formerly Vic Firth, Inc.), a percussion stick and mallet manufacturing company that he started in 1963.^[1] The company bills itself as the world's largest manufacturer of drum sticks and mallets.^[2] Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company's products are manufactured in Newport, Maine.

On December 20, 2010, it was announced that Vic Firth, Inc. had merged with Avedis Zildjian Company.^[3] According to the announcement, both companies will continue to run autonomously.^[3]

Vic Firth[link]

Vic Firth was born June 2, 1930, in Winchester, Massachusetts.^[4] He was raised in Maine by parents Everett E. and Rosemary Firth. Son of a successful trumpet player, he started learning the cornet from the age of four, turning over to percussion at an older age, as well as learning to play the trombone, clarinet, piano, and studying music arrangement. When he reached high school he was a full time percussionist, creating an 18-piece band at the age of 16. He played a variety of percussion instruments such as vibraphone, timpani and the drum set. Firth is now an accomplished percussionist with his own percussion corporation that produces sticks and mallets.

Vic Firth Company[link]

The company began when Firth, who had been performing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 12 years, was asked to perform pieces which he felt required a higher quality drumstick than those that were currently being manufactured. Firth decided to design a set of his own sticks.^[1]

Firth hand-whittled the first sticks himself from bulkier sticks and sent these prototypes to a wood turner in Montreal. The two prototypes that he sent would become the SD1 and SD2, the first two models of sticks ever manufactured by the Vic Firth, Inc.. As Firth himself states: "It came out of necessity not of imagination or my ability to start a company." Although the sticks were initially intended for Firth's personal use, they gained popularity among his students and were eventually carried by retailers.

Today, the Vic Firth Company product line has grown from the SD1 and SD2 to approximately 300 products in its catalog, and the company manufactures 12 million sticks a year.^[1]

The company's current range of products also includes a line of pepper mills, salt grinders, and rolling pins sold under the Vic Firth Gourmet brand.^[5]

See also[link]

• List of drum makers

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vic Firth

• Vic Firth Company
• Vic Firth Gourmet

Paul Murphy (born September 2, 1982), known primarily by his stage name Skratch Bastid, is a Canadian hip hop DJ and Juno nominated record producer. His rise to prominence began with his 2003 Scribble Jam win, and his world class status was solidified with subsequent victories in 2004 and 2007.^[1] He released his debut album, Taking Care of Business on his own label First Things First Records in 2005,^[1] and was the first-ever Canadian DJ to be nominated for the Juno Award for Producer of the Year in 2008, for his work on Buck 65's album Situation.^[2]

Discography[link]

Mixtapes[link]

Albums[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Skratch Bastid Official Website
• Skratch Bastid at Allmusic

Jonathan Browning (October 22, 1805 – June 21, 1879) was an American inventor and gunmaker. Born in Sumner County, Tennessee, he started earning a living as a blacksmith and later switched to become a lock and gunsmith. He invented a 'sliding breech' repeating rifle also called a Harmonica gun between 1834 and 1842 while living in Quincy, Illinois. He achieved success with the Harmonica gun and he received many orders. It is estimated that each Harmonica gun took 2 weeks to make, and Browning sold the guns for twenty-four dollars.

With his local prominence in Quincy, Browning was elected the justice of the peace. He came to know a young lawyer by the name of Abraham Lincoln who was an overnight guest in his home on at least two occasions.

In October 1838, Governor Lilburn Boggs issued the Extermination Order that caused the Mormon followers of Joseph Smith to flee Missouri. In his capacity as a judge, Browning came into contact with many of the Mormon exiles. Curious about the new settlement of Mormons in the swampy lands of Nauvoo, Illinois, Browning paid a visit to Nauvoo. His meeting with Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith caused Browning to convert to the Mormon faith. His conversion led to him being ostracized by the community in Quincy. Browning sold his gun shop and land in Quincy.

He moved to Nauvoo, Illinois and joined the Mormon community in 1842, where he established a gun shop. Guns that Browning produced during these times were labeled "Holiness to the Lord - Our Preservation." The Browning Gun Shop has been restored as a museum, and is open to the public at no charge.

Browning fled Illinois with Brigham Young in late 1846 to escape religious persecution. He settled in the temporary Mormon community of Council Bluffs, Iowa (then called Kanesville in honor of Thomas L. Kane) and repaired guns for the Mormon settlers who were migrating to Utah. He was awaiting Brigham Young to invite him to join the main body of settlers in Utah. When the Mormon Battalion was formed during the War with Mexico, Browning wanted to join them, but was told by Young that his skills would not be needed by the soldiers as much as they would by the main body of pioneers in Kanesville.

As was common in the Mormon community at that time, Jonathan Browning was a polygamist, having taken three wives. He fathered 19 children; prominent among them was the gun designer, John Moses Browning, one of the most important figures in the development of modern automatic and semi-automatic firearms.

Browning received the word to join the main party of Mormon settlers in 1852. He left his gunshop in Iowa and migrated across the Rocky Mountains as the captain of a group of pioneers. He arrived with six wagons and six hundred dollars in the Salt Lake Valley. Browning moved to Ogden, Utah and established a gun shop there. His activities were limited to repairs in the Ogden shop, however. His son John Moses recalled, "We ridiculed some of the guns we fixed, and I damned some of them when Pappy wasn't near, but it never occurred to us to make better ones. He was too old, and I was too young."

References[link]

• John Browning & Curt Gentry. John M. Browning, American Gunmaker. New York: Doubleday, 1964.

External links[link]

• Jonathan Browning Home and Gun Shop

Rosenberg gives a speech on behalf of the NDN.

Simon Rosenberg is the founder of the New Democrat Network, an organization formerly allied with the Democratic Leadership Council, and was a candidate for the Democratic National Committee Chair in 2005.

Early life[link]

A 1985 graduate of Tufts University, Rosenberg was born in New York City and grew up in New York and Connecticut. He and his family now live in Washington, DC. Before founding NDN, he served as a key member of two Democratic presidential campaigns, working for Michael Dukakis in Iowa in 1987-88 and for Bill Clinton in the New Hampshire primary and the Little Rock War Room in 1991-92. From 1993-1996, he worked at the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Leadership Council.

New Democrat Network[link]

Having founded the New Democrat Network in 1996, he currently serves as president of NDN, which has since grown to become committed to modernizing progressive politics and building a winning, durable Democratic majority. The NDN eschews political orthodoxy when promoting candidates. Additionally, the NDN claims that it uses a more technologically modern and grassroots participatory approach to its activities than the DLC. Rosenberg is a member of the Aspen Institute’s 2001 Class of Henry Crown Fellows and served on the 2004 Democratic National Convention Platform Committee. Rosenberg has worked on the ground to help elect Democrats in 12 states across the country.

Rosenberg has become known for his focus on modernizing and developing the party's organization and communications infrastructure, especially through the use of new technologies such as the internet. He now sees NDN as a "non-denominational progressive" organization, focused on helping all Democrats be effective politically.^[1]

Some progressive bloggers endorsed Rosenberg^{[citation needed]}, and even some who supported Howard Dean for the post of DNC chair, were friendly towards Rosenberg's candidacy. His bid for DNC chair was endorsed by Joe Trippi, Mike McCurry, Chris Heinz, Rep. Adam Smith, and Rep. Artur Davis. Rosenberg ended his candidacy for the Democratic National Committee chairmanship on February 4, 2005. On February 12, Howard Dean was elected chairman.

To date, NDN and Rosenberg's political efforts for and within the US Democratic Party still enjoy the support of many of their initial backers and original supporters of his candidacy for DNC Chair.^[2]

In May 2011, Rosenberg walked off the set in a FOX News interview after a medicare discussion got a little heated.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bio page on NDN website
• Simon Rosenberg's blog
• Recent article titled "The 50 Year Strategy: A New Progressive Era (No, Really!)"
• "Wiring the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy" by Matt Bai in the New York Times Magazine, July 25, 2004.