Richard Epstein is the Inaugural Laurence A. Tisch Professor at NYU School of Law. He has served as the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution since 2000. His newest book, The Dubious Morality of the Modern Administrative State, was published by the Manhattan Institute in November 2019. Today, he will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on higher education and the questionable assumptions that have been drawn from many COVID-19 models.

Professor Epstein believes Americans have largely been given a false choise between either entirely shutting down our economy or letting COVID-19 run rampant through the population. He believes there is a much wider array of outcomes depdendent on variables we don’t yet fully understand. But overall, he believes the country should have a bias toward trying to safely reopen as fast as possible.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems. 

Follow No Labels and Gridlock Break Twitter • Facebook • Instagram

Robert Johnson co-founded Black Entertainment Television (BET) in 1979, which became the  first black-owned company on the New York Stock Exchange. He also founded RLJ Companies, a holding company that invests in a number of different sectors. Today, he will discuss the current racial unrest, the future for black Americans, and the economic impact of COVID-19 on the black community.

Robert Johnson contends that the killing of George Floyd and police brutality will shape the attitude of black Americans towards this country for some time to come, specifically their place in either political party. He also notes that businesses run by black Americans often hover on the edge of financial failure and he believes minority owned businesses need a lot more help than they have been getting from the federal government.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

Follow No Labels and Gridlock Break Twitter • Facebook • Instagram

Bruce Bochy won three World Series titles between 2010 and 2014 as manager for the San Francisco Giants. And Dave “Doc” Roberts is the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has led the team to win the National League West every year since he took over the position in 2015. Today, they will discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic and the heated debate over racial justice have affected major league sports, specifically baseball. 

Well it looks like the shortened 2020 baseball season will be more of a sprint than the usual 162 game marathon. It took a lot of contentious negotiations between players and owners to even get to this point and Dave Roberts saw parallels between the polarized debates in Washington. Both Roberts and Bochy are world-class managers but suddenly they need to manage a lot more than baseball, including a new discussion around racial justice that will require a lot of listening and understanding. 

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems. 

Follow No Labels and Gridlock Break Twitter • Facebook • Instagram

Harold Kim is the president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. Before assuming the role, he served as Executive Vice President of the Institute and was also special assistant to the President in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs under President George W. Bush. Today, he will discuss the liability concerns emerging amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Harold Kim says he is hearing concerns about COVID-19 liability from so many different sectors, with specific worries about medical claims, exposure claims, product liability, and securities litigation. He think it is essential to our economy for Washington to set clear national standards about the responsibilities of businesses to protect workers and customers and the conditions under which people have a right to sue. 

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems. 

Follow No Labels and Gridlock Break Twitter • Facebook • Instagram

Jay Monahan became the fourth commissioner of the PGA Tour in January of 2017 and has worked for the Tour since 2008. Today, he explains the history of the PGA Tour, how it is navigating the COVID-crisis and debates over racial justice, and how it plans to safely get players back out on the links. 

COVID-19 has impacted sports in so many ways and the PGA Tour is no exception. It had to cancel over 14 events this spring and now even as the sport returns, it will be under very different conditions. The current plan is to return without fans for an extended period of time, and with intensive testing and precautions for players. Instead of the usual crowd of 30,000 to 70,000 at an event, upcoming events could now garner crowds of just professional players and crews of only 800. This is the new world of sports in 2020. 

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems. 

John Kasich served as governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019 after having served nine terms in the US House of Representatives. He ran for the Republican nomination for president in both 2000 and 2016. Since he left office, he has joined CNN as a contributor. Today, he will discuss the bipartisan work he is doing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and his frustration about the lack of national political leadership. 

Governor Kasich describes the COVID-19 pandemic as a black swan event and he thinks it requires us to look at the fragile nature of our most complex systems like health, transportation and commerce. He also stresses the need for budgetary restructuring of the federal government, as he sees our debt, climate change and mental health being the three most critical challenges facing America in the years ahead. 

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems. 

Follow No Labels and Gridlock Break Twitter • Facebook • Instagram

Janet Napolitano served as governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009, and then as Secretary of Homeland Security from 2009 to 2013 in the Obama Administration. Since 2013, she has served as president of the University of California system, the first woman to hold that role. Today, she will discuss the various responses to the COVID-19 crisis from state governments, from federal agencies, and from university systems. 

Governor Napolitano can see the current national health crisis from a number of perspectives: as a former state leader, as a national security expert, and as a university system president. In moving forward, she believes it is vital to clarify the roles of different federal government agencies and their relationships to one another. She also stresses the importance of maintaining state government rights, as she says the president simply does not have the authority to mandate all state responses to the crisis.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems. 

Follow No Labels and Gridlock Break Twitter • Facebook • Instagram

Lawrence Summers previously served as Chief Economist of the World Bank, Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton Administration, and director of the National Economic Council in the Obama Administration. He also served as president of Harvard University, where he is now a professor. Today, he discusses economic trends in the COVID-19 era.

You just heard Lawrence Summers talk about how so many economic trends have been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. He sees our chief economic problem as excessive savings that have a difficulty being absorbed except at inflated prices. And he sees a major change ahead for the economy as both individuals and companies focus more on resilience of systems and supply chains, rather than just efficiency.  

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

Follow No Labels and Gridlock Break Twitter • Facebook • Instagram

Ambassador Emily Haber has been German Ambassador to the United States since June 2018. Prior to her transfer to Washington, DC, she served in various leadership functions at the Foreign Office in Berlin. In 2009, she was appointed Political Director and, in 2011, State Secretary, the first woman to hold either post. Today, she will discuss the German government’s approach to the COVID-19 pandemic and what they are doing to protect their citizens and economy. 

Ambassador Haber explains that Germany did have a head start on testing and fortifying its hospital infrastructure, and additionally had a pandemic plan in place. As a consequence, the country only had to close those businesses that were client facing. But Germany is staying vigilant because the decisions made by other European countries will inevitably affect the course of the virus in Germany in the months ahead. 

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems. 

Chief Gary Ludwig has managed two metropolitan EMS systems (Memphis and St. Louis), and has pioneered many concepts which are now standard practice in fire and EMS systems nationwide. He currently serves as the fire chief of Champaign, Illinois and is President and Chairman of the Board of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Today, he will discuss the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on frontline workers, in particular, on firefighters. 

Firefighters are the largest provider of emergency medical services in the country. Throughout this pandemic, they have been treating and transporting COVID-19 patients with extreme levels of exposure. Over 50 firefighters have died as a result of having contracted COVID-19 on the job. Chief Ludwig notes that the economic fallout from the virus is hitting fire departments hard, and there could be as many as 30,000 firefighter layoffs unless Congress steps up to support local governments soon.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.