Soundbites, overheard @ Ford School events

December 9, 2015

Policy Talks @ the Ford School

“When Social Security was started, the ratio of retirees to working people was one to 15 or something like that. Over the next five or ten years, we’ll go to one retiree for every two folks working. That clearly will have big implications for the economic viability of these programs.”

Roger Ferguson, president and CEO, TIAA-CREF, “A conversation with Roger Ferguson, hosted by Justin Wolfers,” Sept. 22, 2015.

“In our haste to do good work, we sometimes forget that this is their country, not ours, and that we will eventually leave. Will what we leave behind be a mess?”

Ambassador Thomas Miller (ret.), president and CEO of International Executive Service Corps, “The nexus between diplomacy and development: A practitioner’s perspective,” Sept. 11, 2015.

“We find considerable empirical evidence to support the notion that short-term violent victories lay the groundwork for long-term violent societies. And because of that I’m very excited that this century is actually, despite what you read about in the news today, very much Gandhi’s century.”

Erica Chenoweth, associate professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, “Why civil resistance works: Strategic alternatives to violence in the 21st century,” Sept. 9, 2015.

“It represents the fulfillment of the President’s commitment to conducting important foreign policy issues through diplomacy by bringing the nations of the world together. To put the United States and our standing in the world in a different place than it was when we made the ill-fated decision to go to war with Iraq.”

Matt Nosanchuk, White House liaison to the American Jewish community, “Explaining the Iran Deal,” Sept. 2, 2015.

“In many cases, we don’t involve or engage the communities themselves that we say we want to help and to support. We don’t value what those communities can bring to the table, much less the policy making table.”

Melody Barnes, former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, chair of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, “Creating opportunity for America’s youth,” Apr. 13, 2015.


Below is a formatted version of this article from State & Hill, the magazine of the Ford School. View the entire Fall 2015 State & Hill here.