Robert Bernard Reich ( /ˈraɪʃ/;^[2] born June 24, 1946) is an American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator. He served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997.

Reich is currently Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He was formerly a professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government^[3] and professor of social and economic policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management of Brandeis University. He has also been a contributing editor of The New Republic, The American Prospect (also chairman and founding editor), Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

Reich is a political commentator on programs including Hardball with Chris Matthews, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, CNBC's Kudlow & Company, and APM's Marketplace. In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the Ten Best Cabinet Members of the century,^[4] and The Wall Street Journal in 2008 placed him sixth on its list of the "Most Influential Business Thinkers".^[5] He was appointed a member of President-elect Barack Obama's economic transition advisory board.^[6]

He has published 14 books, including the best-sellers, The Work of Nations, Reason, Supercapitalism, Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, and a best-selling e-book, "Beyond Outrage". He is also chairman of Common Cause and writes his own blog about the political economy at robertreich.org.

Early life and career[link]

Reich was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and attended John Jay High School in Cross River, New York. He attended Dartmouth College, graduating with an A.B. summa cum laude in 1968 and winning a Rhodes Scholarship to study Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford University.^[7] Reich subsequently earned a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. At Yale, he was classmates with Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Richard Blumenthal. He first met Bill Clinton when they both were Rhodes Scholars at Oxford.^[8] Before Hillary and Bill met each other, he allegedly went on a date with Hillary Clinton.^[9]

From 1973 to 1974 he served as law clerk to Judge Frank M. Coffin, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and from 1974 to 1976 was Assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General, Robert Bork. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed him Director of the Policy Planning Staff at the Federal Trade Commission.

From 1980 until 1992, Reich taught at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he wrote a series of influential books and articles, including The Next American Frontier and The Work of Nations. In The Next American Frontier he blamed the nation's lagging economic growth on "paper entrepreneurialism" -- financial and legal gamesmanship that drained the economy of resources needed for better products and services.

In The Work of Nations he argued that a nation's competitiveness depends on the education and skills of its people and on the infrastructure connecting them with one another, rather than on the profitability of companies headquartered within it. Private capital, he said, was increasingly global and footloose, while a nation's people—its human capital—constituted the one resource on which the future standard of living of a nation uniquely depended. He urged policy makers to make such public investments the cornerstone of economic policy.

Bill Clinton incorporated Reich's thinking into his 1992 campaign platform, "Putting People First," and after being elected invited Reich to head his economic transition team. Reich later joined the administration as Secretary of Labor. During his tenure, he implemented the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), successfully promoted increasing the minimum wage, successfully lobbied to pass the School-to-Work Jobs Act, and launched a number of job training programs.

In addition, Reich used the office as a platform for focusing the nation's attention on the need for American workers to adapt to the new economy. He advocated that the country provide more opportunities for workers to learn more technology.

Reich was born with multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, also known as Fairbanks disease, and as a result is 4 feet 10.5 inches (148.6 cm) tall. He has at times frankly discussed this fact about himself, often with a twist of humor. He once appeared with the 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) Conan O'Brien in a sketch on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.^[10][11] In the early days of the Clinton Administration, Reich confirmed to reporters that he was on Clinton's 'short list' for a cabinet appointment.

After the Clinton administration[link]

In 1996, between Clinton's re-election and second inauguration, Reich decided to leave the department to spend more time with his sons, then in their teen years. He published his experiences working for the Clinton administration in Locked in the Cabinet. After publication of the book, Reich received criticism for embellishing events with invented dialogue. The paperback release of the memoir revised or omitted the inventions.^[12]

Reich became a professor at Brandeis University, teaching courses for undergraduates as well as in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. In 2003, he was elected the Professor of the Year by the undergraduate student body.

In 2002, he ran for Governor of Massachusetts. He also published an associated campaign book, I'll Be Short. Reich was the first Democratic candidate for a major political office to support same-sex marriage. He also pledged support for abortion rights and strongly condemned capital punishment. His campaign staff was largely made up of his Brandeis students. Although his campaign had little funding, he surprised many and came in a close second out of six candidates in the Democratic primary with 25% of the vote.

In 2003, he was awarded the prestigious Václav Havel Foundation VIZE 97 Prize, by the former Czech president, for his writings in economics and politics.^[13]

In 2004, he published Reason, a book on how liberals can forcefully argue for their position in a country increasingly dominated by what he calls "radcons", or radical conservatives.

In addition to his professorial role, he is a weekly contributor to the American Public Media public radio program Marketplace, and a regular columnist for the American Prospect, which he co-founded in 1990.^[14] He is also a frequent contributor to CNBC's Kudlow & Company and On the Money.

In early 2005, there was speculation that Reich would once again seek the Democratic nomination for Governor of Massachusetts. He instead endorsed the then-little-known candidacy of Deval Patrick, who had previously served as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Clinton Administration. Patrick won the party's endorsement, a three-way primary with nearly 50% of the vote, and the general election in November 2006.

In September 2005 Reich testified against John Roberts at his confirmation hearings for Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

On January 1, 2006 Reich joined the faculty of UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Policy. Since then, he has taught a popular course called Wealth and Poverty.^[15] In addition to his professorship, Reich is also a Member of the Board of Trustees for the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley.^[16] The Center is focused on finding solutions to address the crisis of extreme poverty and disease in the developing world.^[17]

Two years later his book Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life was published. In it he argued turbo-charged corporate competition, fueled by consumers and investors seeking the best possible deals from anywhere in the world, was generating severe social problems. But governments were failing to address them because big corporations and Wall Street firms were also seeking competitive advantage over one another through politics, thereby drowning out the voices of ordinary citizens. The answer was to keep corporations focused on making better products and services and keep them out of politics. "Corporate Social Responsibility" is essentially forbearance from activities that undermine democracy.

During the 2008 primaries, Reich published an article that was extremely critical of the Clintons, referring to Bill Clinton's attacks on Barack Obama as "ill-tempered and ill-founded," and accusing the Clintons of waging "a smear campaign against Obama that employs some of the worst aspects of the old politics."^[18]

On April 18, 2008 Reich endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States.^[19]

On April 3, 2009, Reich commented that published U6 employment figures indicate that the United States is in a depression.^[20]

In September, 2010, his book "Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future" was published. In it, Reich explained how America's widening inequality had contributed to the great recession and made it difficult for the economy to recover, by undermining the purchasing power of the middle class relative to the nation's productive capacity. In April, 2012, his book "Beyond Outrage" was published as an e-book. In "Beyond Outrage" Reich focused on why an increasing portion of the public felt the game was rigged in favor of those with wealth and power, why the "regressive right" was nonetheless able to persuade many that taxes should be lowered even further on corporations and the wealthy while many public services should be cut, and what average people could do to take back the economy and reclaim democracy.

Social media[link]

Reich has been an active user of social media. He has personally maintained a presence on Tumblr and Blogspot. In September 2011 he created an account on the internet forum reddit and opened an 'ask me anything' thread.^[21]

Political and philosophical stances[link]

Official Department of Labor portrait of Robert Reich

In an interview with The New York Times, he explained that "I don't believe in redistribution of wealth for the sake of redistributing wealth. But I am concerned about how we can afford to pay for what we as a nation need to do."^[22]

In response to a question as to what to recommend to the incoming president regarding a fair and sustainable income and wealth distribution, Reich said, "Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit — a wage supplement for lower-income people, and finance it with a higher marginal income tax on the top five percent. For the longer term, invest in education for lower income communities, starting with early-childhood education and extending all the way up to better access to post-secondary education."^[22]

Reich is pro-union, saying "Unionization is not just good for workers in unions, unionization is very, very important for the economy overall, and would create broad benefits for the United States."^[23][24]

Books[link]

• 2012: Beyond Outrage: What has gone wrong with our economy and our democracy and how to fix it
• 2010: Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future ISBN 978-0-307-59281-1
• 2007: Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life ISBN 0-307-26561-7
• 2004: Reason: Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America ISBN 1-4000-7660-9
• 2002: I'll Be Short: Essentials for a Decent Working Society ISBN 0-8070-4340-0
• 2000: The Future of Success: Working and Living in the New Economy ISBN 0-375-72512-1
• 1997: Locked in the Cabinet ISBN 0-375-70061-7
• 1991: The Work of Nations: Preparing Ourselves for 21st Century Capitalism ISBN 0-679-73615-8
• 1990: Public Management in a Democratic Society ISBN 0-13-738881-0
• 1989: The Resurgent Liberal: And Other Unfashionable Prophecies ISBN 0-8129-1833-9
• 1988: The Power of Public Ideas (editor) ISBN 0-674-69590-9
• 1987: Tales of a New America: The Anxious Liberal's Guide to the Future ISBN 0-394-75706-8
• 1985: New Deals: The Chrysler Revival and the American System (with John Donahue) ISBN 0-14-008983-7
• 1983: The Next American Frontier ISBN 0-8129-1067-2
• 1982: Minding America's Business: The Decline and Rise of the American Economy (with Ira Magaziner) ISBN 0-394-71538-1

See also[link]

• The Trap (television documentary series), BBC documentary featuring Reich
• 2008–2009 Keynesian resurgence

References[link]

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (April 2012)

External links[link]

• Official website
• The American Prospect articles by Robert Reich
• US Department of Labor biography
• UC Berkeley bio
• Robert Reich's blog posts for the Why Democracy? project

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Reich

v t e United States Secretaries of Labor Secretaries of Commerce & Labor Cortelyou Metcalf Straus Nagel Secretaries of Labor Wilson Davis Doak Perkins Schwellenbach Tobin Durkin Mitchell Goldberg Wirtz Shultz Hodgson Brennan Dunlop Usery Marshall Donovan Brock McLaughlin Dole Martin Reich Herman Chao Solis

v t e Cabinet of President Bill Clinton (1993–2001)   Cabinet Secretary of State Warren Christopher (1993 – 1997) Madeleine Albright (1997 – 2001) Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen (1993 – 1994) Robert Rubin (1995 – 1999) Lawrence Summers (1999 – 2001) Secretary of Defense Les Aspin (1993 – 1994) William Perry (1994 – 1997) William Cohen (1997 – 2001) Attorney General Janet Reno (1993 – 2001) Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt (1993 – 2001) Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy (1993 – 1994) Dan Glickman (1995 – 2001) Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown (1993 – 1996) Mickey Kantor (1996 – 1997) William Daley (1997 – 2000) Norman Mineta (2000 – 2001) Secretary of Labor Robert Reich (1993 – 1997) Alexis Herman (1997 – 2001) Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala (1993 – 2001) Secretary of Education Richard Riley (1993 – 2001) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros (1993 – 1997) Andrew Cuomo (1997 – 2001) Secretary of Transportation Federico Peña (1993 – 1997) Rodney Slater (1997 – 2001) Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary (1993 – 1997) Federico Peña (1997 – 1998) Bill Richardson (1998 – 2001) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown (1993 – 1997) Togo West (1998 – 2000) Hershel Gober* (2000 – 2001) acting secretary.   Cabinet-level Vice President Al Gore (1993 – 2001) White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty (1993 – 1994) Leon Panetta (1994 – 1997) Erskine Bowles (1997 – 1998) John Podesta (1998 – 2001) Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Carol Browner (1993 – 2001) Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Korbel Albright (1993 – 1997) Bill Richardson (1997 – 1998) Richard Holbrooke (1999 – 2001) Director of the Office of Management and Budget Leon Panetta (1993 – 1994) Alice Rivlin (1994 – 1996) Franklin Raines (1996 – 1998) Jacob Lew (1998 – 2001) Director of National Drug Control Policy Lee Brown (1993 – 1995) Barry McCaffrey (1996 – 2001) Trade Representative Mickey Kantor (1993 – 1997) Charlene Barshefsky (1997 – 2001) Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency James Lee Witt (1993 – 2001)* Director of Central Intelligence John Deutch (1995 – 1996) George Tenet (1997–2001) Administrator of the Small Business Administration Erskine Bowles (1993 - 1994) Philip Lader (1994 – 1997) Aída Álvarez (1997–2001) took office in 1993, raised to cabinet-rank in 1996

Max Chilton
Chilton in 2009.
Nationality	British
Born	(1991-04-21) 21 April 1991 (age 21) Reigate (England)
Related to	Tom Chilton (brother)
2012 GP2 Series
Debut season	2010
Current team	Marussia Carlin GP2 Team
Car no.	26
Former teams	Ocean Racing Technology
Starts	48
Wins	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	20th in 2011
Previous series
2009–10–2011 2009 2007–09 2007 2007 2005 2005–06	GP2 Asia Series Formula Renault 3.5 Series British Formula Three Le Mans Series Star Mazda Championship T Cars Autumn Trophy T Cars

Max Alexander Chilton (born 21 April 1991 in Reigate, Surrey) is a British racing driver who currently races for Carlin in the GP2 Series. He attended Ardingly College, West Sussex from 1999 to 2008. His brother Tom is also a racing driver, currently competing in the World Touring Car Championship.

Career[link]

Karting[link]

Chilton's karting career was satisfactory, but failed to break into the top ten of the major Super 1 championship at both Cadet and Junior TKM level and also the British ICA Junior Championship. His best result was 11th in that 2005 British ICA Junior series, which was won by Formula Renault UK driver Will Stevens.^[1]

T Cars[link]

He dovetailed his 2005 karting season with a season in the T Cars championship, for drivers between fourteen and seventeen years of age. He finished eighth in his first season, before going on to finish third in the Autumn Trophy. He continued in T Cars in 2006, where he would finish runner-up to Luciano Bacheta by just three points. He won seven races to Bacheta's six, but more retirements cost him in the end.

Formula Three[link]

Chilton qualifying for Hitech Racing at the Croft round of the 2008 British Formula Three season.

Max made his debut at the second round of the 2007 British Formula Three season for Arena International, as he was below the required age of 16 to take part in the season opener. He could not break into the points however, with his best result being eleventh, in Bucharest and at Brands Hatch. He also made one appearance in the Star Mazda Championship, at Laguna Seca – having been turned away from the American Le Mans Series race due to being too young – qualifying fourth, and finishing fifteenth. As he was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. He also drove in the 2007 1000km of Silverstone, with brother Tom for Arena, and they finished sixth overall, eight laps down on the winning Peugeot 908 HDi FAP of Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gené.

Chilton returned for a second season, this time moving to David Hayle's Hitech Racing, and improved to tenth place in the championship. He recorded two pole positions at Monza and Rockingham, and scored two podiums – 2nd in the opening race at Oulton Park and third at Rockingham. He moved to Carlin Motorsport for the 2009 season, scoring three pole positions in the first four races of the season. Chilton took his first win at the 60th attempt, finishing as the best-placed British runner behind guest drivers Jules Bianchi and Sam Bird at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão. He added a second win in his final Formula Three race, at Brands Hatch.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series[link]

Chilton made his debut in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with Comtec Racing at the Monaco Grand Prix-supporting round of the championship. He replaced Alexandre Marsoin, who left the team during the previous round, at Spa-Francorchamps.^[2] This appearance was a one-off, as Jon Lancaster took his place for the succeeding round.

GP2 Series[link]

Chilton driving for Carlin at the Monza round of the 2011 GP2 Series season.

Chilton graduated to the GP2 Asia Series for the 2009–10 season, driving for Barwa Addax.^[3][4] However, after one round at Addax, Chilton moved to Ocean temporarily during the Asia Series. This was to allow Addax's 2010 main series driver Giedo van der Garde to learn the Yas Marina Circuit, ahead of the main series finale at the track in November.^[5] Chilton returned to Addax to partner Sergio Pérez, and then Rodolfo González. He joined Fabio Leimer in the 2010 GP2 Series, driving for Ocean Racing Technology.^[6] He finished 25th in the drivers' championship.

Chilton moved to the Carlin team, which he had previously driven for in F3, for the outfit's first foray into GP2 in 2011. Partnered variously by reigning Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion Mikhail Aleshin and Álvaro Parente, he finished 22nd in the Asia series and 20th in the main series. He remained with the team, now with backing from the Marussia Formula One team, for the 2012 season alongside Rio Haryanto. He secured his first series podium finish in the feature race of the first round of the championship in Malaysia.

Formula One[link]

In November 2011 Chilton drove for the Force India team in the Young Driver test at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit. This was his second time driving Formula One machinery following a straight-line aerodynamic test for the team earlier in the year.

Racing record[link]

Career summary[link]

* Season in progress.

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Series results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

* Season in progress.

Complete GP2 Asia Series results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Max Chilton – career summary at DriverDB.com