Best Events of 2005

CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin discussed the hot off the presses "Long-Term Budget Outlook" at the New America Foundation on December 15th, 2005. The report is released every two years, and examines the challenges facing lawmakers over the coming decades as they consider ways to alleviate the looming fiscal crisis confronting our federal budget. Following Holtz-Eakin's presentation, Maya MacGuineas, Director of New America Foundation's Fiscal Policy Program and President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, moderated a lively question… more

Tax reform will be on the national agenda this coming year. Considered the opening salvo in a much-needed debate, the President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform recently released its recommendations to reform the federal tax code. Tax experts with differing goals and differing perspectives will come together to discuss their own recommendations for reforming the tax code. Key questions to be addressed include: What constitutes a fair tax code? What are the priorities in reforming the tax code? Do… more

This event explored various approaches toward health coverage in California. The first panel outlined the major policy proposals, including universal coverage for children, individual mandate, employer mandate, shared responsibility, and single payer plans. The following panel featured state officials, doctors, hospitals, and small business representatives, discussing the expected impact of each policy proposal.

New America released a series of papers at the event, outlining their proposal to cover the state's children as the first step toward universal coverage. PDF… more

As Congress is now preparing a second round of Katrina-related proposals, it's important to bring ideas to the table that will help families achieve economic stability. Hurricane Katrina highlighted the fact that many Americans live in abject poverty, without any assets to draw upon in bad times.

The asset-based ideas proposed by the President, including an urban homesteading act to encourage the ownership of land and homes and worker recovery savings accounts for job training and education offer a… more

A refreshing display of leadership for and bipartisan support of universal health coverage was in evidence at the 10/28 Health Care Reform event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, where Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI) presented his legislative proposal to ensure affordable, universal coverage to all Americans, and Rep. Joe Schwarz, MD (R-MI) offered support for the idea that government should play a role in providing universal health coverage.

The proposal, based on the well-regarded Federal Employee Health… more

At this New America event, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell from 2002-2005, outlined his views on national security, government reorganization and the Bush Administration's approach to power.

Wilkerson's newsmaking remarks offered an insightful and far-ranging account of U.S. foreign policy. Video of the event can be played at right, while and audio recording and complete transcript are available for download below. 

Four years after the tragic 9/11 terrorist attacks, the economic dimension in the fight against terrorism has received little attention in comparison to the ongoing focus of policy makers and the public on military responses and democracy promotion as a bulwark against continuing threats. Nevertheless, economic strategies and tools are critical as we work to help nations gird themselves against terrorist groups that seek a foothold in their societies or followers among their citizens.

On September 21st the New America… more

On September 6-7, 2005, just days before the fourth anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the New America Foundation convened a major national policy forum to examine the challenge of international terrorism and how best to confront it.

The forum brought together national and international public leaders, policymakers and scholars, security and intelligence officials, media, and citizens from diverse viewpoints to discuss a comprehensive plan of action for addressing the threat of terrorism around the world.

Among… more

This event is sponsored by Zocalo and The Music Center in conjunction with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation

At a time when basic public promises like an education, health care and home ownership are in decline, angry voters have weakened government with initiatives that limit terms in office, require super-majority budget votes and set minimum spending levels.

Four past governors of California will join us to discuss the future of governance in the nation's most populous state. Drawing on their own… more

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Jodie Allen Introduced the panel by highlighting the growing mainstream awareness of class-based issues, as evidenced by the recent New York Times and Wall Street Journal series on the topic.

Al Checchi identified five areas which need to be addressed to improve the plight of the middle class: technology, immigration, public education, the strength of the labor movement, and functioning of the political system. Also advocated increasing the minimum wage to the level of the living wage. The gap between the… more

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The Democratic Party has a credibility gap to overcome when it comes to national security and foreign policy. Simply being "in opposition" is not sufficient. Kurt Campbell and Cliff Kupchan, two leading Democratic strategists, have both served in presidential administrations and have been official and unofficial advisors to candidates.

At this event, Campbell and Kupchan went a long way toward answering the question: What will Democrats have to do to convince voters they can be good stewards of… more

Over 100 people, including key congressional staffers, leaders from the financial community, and policy advocates attended Solutions for Increasing Savings, Ownership and Retirement Security, co-sponsored by the New America Foundation and the Retirement Security Project, in conjunction with the Congressional Savings and Ownership Caucuses. Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Congressman Philip English (R-PA), Congressman Harold Ford (D-TN) and Congressman Jim Cooper (D-TN) were active participants throughout the half-day conference, bolstering an event that included many of the pre-eminent scholars on… more

California has a history of urban innovation, from the earliest missions to the rise of the Gold Rush era in San Francisco, the sprawling metropolis of Southern California and the "technopolis" that emerged in late 20th Century in places like San Jose, San Diego and Orange County.

Today most Californians -- including those in the Central Valley -- live in cities. These cities face many challenges, from growing populations of poor, immigrants to soaring housing prices. Some, like Los Angeles and… more

In his recently released biography, Richard Parker tells the story of John Kenneth Galbraith, one of the world's most famous living economists. Parker captures Galbraith's long career in economics and politics as well as the evolution of his economic thought.

As a Harvard professor for forty years, and an adviser to Democratic presidents and presidential candidates since the 1930s, Galbraith has been a powerful and witty voice for progressive thought. His work focuses on inequality of wealth, income, and… more

The world today is very different than when Social Security was created. A number of issues should be considered when thinking about how to reform Social Security, including:

Should we update benefits to reflect changes in family status and economic well-being of the elderly?

Can our children really afford to finance our spending such a large portion of our life in retirement?

Should Social Security reform be used to help strengthen the economy through increased work and saving?

How should we think about Social… more

The Honorable Rick Santorum (R-PA), United States Senate The Honorable Jon S Corzine (D-NJ), United States Senate Ray Boshara Director, Asset Building Program, New America Foundation

The debate about how to reform Social Security has been dominated by the fight over whether to create individual accounts and whether or not the system faces a "crisis." The central issue, what policy changes to make to address the system's long-term deficits, has been all but ignored. An esteemed group of experts will discuss many of the various options to fix Social Security, with no mention of accounts.

During the past two decades, commercial forces have quietly transformed virtually every aspect of academic life. Corporate funding of university research is growing -- and the money increasingly comes with strings attached. Universities themselves are starting to behave like commercial entitities, while professors are behaving more like businessmen. The speakers will discuss the origins of this remarkable commercial transformation, and explore its impact on education, medicine, and U.S. innovation over the long term.

The half-day conference highlighted arguments and expert analysis surrounding recent proposals for redistricting and other electoral reforms. Distinguished panelists --including Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Assembly Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy -- previewed the upcoming public debate and discussed the performance and priorities of the California Legislature.

Why are America's municipalities -- from small town Corpus Christi and Granbury, Texas, to big cities such as Philadelphia -- building wireless broadband networks and fighting state legislatures that want to ban them? The networks rely on unlicensed public airwaves to extend the reach of WiFi-type broadband coverage to blanket business districts, towns and even entire cities.

Recent reports criticizing municipal wireless networks make them sound like some socialist conspiracy. But the small towns and cities building these networks don't… more

Edited by Karen Greenberg and Joshua Dratel, "The Torture Papers" is a compilation of the "torture memos" and reports written by U.S. government officials to prepare the way for and legitimize coercive interrogation in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. The authors of the memos and documents include Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Counsel to the President Alberto Gonzales among others.

A bi-partisan group of Senators and Representatives launched the Savings and Ownership Caucuses at a press conference on Thursday, February 17th at 1:30 p.m. in HC-9 of the U.S. Capitol. The respective Senate and House caucuses, facilitated by the New America Foundation's Asset Building Program, explore, debate and advance policies to build savings and assets for all Americans, and low-income Americans in particular.

Gunner Palace is the real life portrayal of the members of the 2/3 Field Artillery, AKA the "Gunners", whose living headquarters are housed in Uday Hussein's Azimiya Palace, situated in the middle of the most volatile area in Baghdad.

Director Michael Tucker lived with the soldiers in what became a gunned out palace where he had total access to all unit operations and activities, resulting in a rare series of intimate "snapshots" that reveal the complex realities of a… more

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In the wake of an election characterized by extreme partisanship and name-calling, the country is confronted by major challenges -- economic inequality, a growing divide on social issues, global instability and terrorism, among many others. What is the real state of the union and how do we build a consensus to move the country forward?

Join us for a provocative policy conference, featuring Richard Clarke, former National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism, and James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic, along with some of… more

Ten years ago, veterans hospitals were dangerous, dirty, and scandal-ridden. Today, as Phillip Longman reports in the cover story of the current issue of the The Washington Monthly, they're producing what is demonstrably the highest quality care in America.

The story of how and why the Veterans Health Administration became the benchmark for quality medicine in the United States promises to shift the terms of the debate about health policy in America. Longman argues that precisely because the VHA is… more

California is struggling to cope with a wide array of serious policy challenges: Job creation, education, health care costs, a budgetary crisis, political leadership, immigration and regional inequities. An opportunity exists to tackle these issues head on, but partisanship and parochialism threaten to stifle real progress.

The New America Foundation's California Program delivered its analysis of the "State of the State" in Los Angeles on Jan. 19, 2005. Panelists provided a wide range of innovative proposals to address the most… more

-The Honorable Douglas Holtz-Eakin Director, Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, Council on Foreign Relations; Former Director, Congressional Budget Office and Chief Economist, White House Council of Economic Advisors The Honorable Charlie Stenholm Member, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget; Former Member of Congress (D-TX) David Wessel Deputy Washington Bureau Chief and Columnist; Wall Street Journal Maya MacGuineas President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, New America Foundation

-Steven C. Clemons Senior Fellow and Director, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation Brent Scowcroft President and Founder, The Scowcroft Group; Former National Security Advisor to both Presidents Ford and Bush Zbigniew Brzezinski Counselor, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Professor of American Foreign Policy at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University and Former National Security Advisor to President Carter