YPNation

Tomorrow, I'll join fellow YPNation contributors Ethan Pollack and Marc Goldwein on a panel discussion about America's fiscal future. (Be sure to tune in here.) As Ethan previewed, we'll be investigating what young professionals need to know about the current state of fiscal affairs and what they can do to build a better economic future. For my part, I'll be discussing the federal budget picture and what the government should-or should not-do to get it's fiscal house in order.

Last week I wrote about a new trend in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), in which companies target the world's poorest people to move them up a notch on the ladder of economic development and profit from them as well.( I went to a slum in Angono, Rizal, here in the Philippines, to see how one Philippine company is putting this business model into practice.

I'm hardly one of President Barack Obama's most avid supporters. But for the sake of debate it would be nice if the media stopped repeating and started reporting.

This Wednesday, YPNation is hosting a panel discussion on the sustainability of our fiscal future; I will be one of the three speakers. My post today is a preview of my argument for how we should approach the topic of our fiscal future, and what our policy goals should be.

Remember the Bosnia intervention? Back in the days of easy, feel-good wars fought from above? In fact, America's involvement in Bosnia was going to be so simple that then-President Bill Clinton promised U.S. service men and women they would be "home by Christmas." (It was never clear whether President Clinton meant Christmas 1995 or 2004.)

"Corporate Social Responsibility still evokes images of an underfunded handful of ideologues in a company who, in their spare time, collect canned goods for area homeless shelters or do some other sainted charity work."

Making a case for why we need to continue spending public money on social insurance programs, such as Social Security and Medicare

Ten Democratic senators recently issued an important call to action for Majority Leader Harry Reid to support efforts to get America's long-term fiscal imbalance under control. One can only hope Senator Reid listens.

I see overturning "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is again back on the agenda. Has it really been almost two decades since we last had a serious debate about this anachronism?

"For as long as most of us have been old enough to donate blood, the American Red Cross has been under a federal court order to improve the way it collects and processes blood. That is because the organization repeatedly fails its reviews by the FDA. (Because it provides a critical health service, it is allowed to continue to supply blood to patients.) Unfortunately, the problems with the Red Cross do not end there. The conditions under which its workers operate are, well, just as frightening."