Ted Halstead: All Publications, Events and Press

Washington Post Reports on Steve Coll, Next New America President

Communications — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:17:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Steve Coll, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former managing editor of The Washington Post, will become the new chief of a Washington think tank, officials said last night.

Coll, 48, will become president and chief executive of the New America Foundation, taking over in mid-September from Ted Halstead. His appointment will be announced today.

Halstead, the organization's founder, said last night that he "simply could not imagine a more worthy successor."

Halstead said he had achieved his goals for the foundation and was seeking someone who would not merely maintain and sustain it, but would "take it to the next level." Coll more than meets that standard, he added.

"I think he's going to do a fantastic job," Halstead said.

The nonpartisan public policy foundation, based in Dupont Circle, says it aims to promote "exceptionally promising" new voices and ideas in American public life. Its purpose, Halstead said, is "to break out of the old boxes of left and right."

Halstead said one of the group's goals is to help pioneer a new model of think tanks, with an emphasis on serving as a "content provider" for leading media outlets.

By the end of last year, he said, the foundation had expanded to have a $10 million budget and a full-time staff of 100. At that point, Halstead said, he decided it was time for him to "look for the next big thing."

Coll could not be reached immediately for comment. The author of four published books, he is currently a staff writer for the New Yorker magazine, and his work is expected to continue to appear in the magazine.

Coll won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction for his book "Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001."

Known as smart and energetic, Coll said that to write the book while serving as The Post's managing editor, "I worked seven days a week for two years."

In 1990, he shared the Pulitzer for explanatory reporting for a Post account of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

He joined The Post as a writer in Style in 1985, and later became financial correspondent and South Asia correspondent. Subsequently he was a London-based international projects and investigative reporter for the newspaper.

Coll was editor and publisher of The Washington Post Magazine before becoming managing editor of the newspaper from 1998 to 2004.

He was raised in Montgomery County and graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles.

This article is available on The Washington Post website.

New York Times Highlights Steve Coll, Incoming New America President

Communications — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:16:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Steve Coll, whose résumé as a journalist includes two Pulitzer Prizes, a stint as managing editor of The Washington Post and a job as a staff writer at The New Yorker, is now ready to try his hand at something else: a Washington public policy institute.

Mr. Coll plans to take over a nonpartisan public policy institute, the New America Foundation, in September, succeeding the founding president, Ted Halstead. Mr. Coll said he was drawn to the job by the caliber of ideas coming from the group and its interest in finding new ways to disseminate them.

“Nonprofits have to fill up some of the space that newspapers are inevitably leaving behind” as the industry changes, Mr. Coll, 49, said Friday night by phone from Washington, where he lives. Some of the journalists and scholars at New America “might have been accommodated by newspapers a generation ago,” he added, but that is not the case anymore.

Staff members of the foundation were informed last night in an e-mail message sent by the board chairman, James Fallows; the official announcement is scheduled for today.

New America was started nearly a decade ago as “a home for the ideologically homeless,” who are engaged in an “honest search for new ideas,” as Mr. Halstead put it. In that time the organization has grown from 10 people to more than 90 with a $10 million budget. The group has collaborated with liberals and moderates, journalists and politicians, publishing its own version of a State of the Union address with The Atlantic Monthly, for instance, and working with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s staff on a new health insurance policy in California.

“We have come to look to the New America Foundation as being one of the new thought leaders when it comes to health care policy,” said Kim Belshé, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency. “Their research and analysis was very useful in informing the administration.”

The foundation also received attention recently for revealing conflicts of interest in the student loan industry.

Mr. Halstead, who was once described by The Washington Post as someone “powerful people love to do favors for,” is moving from the nonprofit to the profit sector, working on an eco-friendly development of 620 acres of beachfront property in Costa Rica.

“This has been my plan all along,” said Mr. Halstead, who turns 39 on Wednesday and wants to live out his lifelong dream of sailing around the world. Entrepreneurs, he said, start looking for the “next big thing” every seven or eight years.

As for Mr. Coll, his dreams have changed during the course of his career. Once seen as the top contender to edit The Washington Post, Mr. Coll said he realized that despite his editors’ entreaties to stay, he couldn’t reconcile his desire to research and write with his management responsibilities at the newspaper.

After winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for “Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001,” he left the paper to write for The New Yorker, which he will continue to do. This new position, he said, will permit him to “preserve a little bit of my own life as author” and to collaborate with a group of “smart engaged people who are part of a conversation that I want to be a part of.”

That conversation includes issues like nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and policy initiatives in California (which Mr. Halstead refers to as a “laboratory of democracy”). “This is part of my own history,” said Mr. Coll, who attended Occidental College in Los Angeles and lived in that city after he graduated.

In a telephone call from China, where he lives, Mr. Fallows said the board had considered several candidates, but that Mr. Coll’s “combination of intellectual achievements, managerial experience and personal character” made him the perfect person to take over. “Over the next two years there is going to be a significant transition in American politics,” Mr. Fallows said, and the foundation is in a position to be part of new policy innovations.

Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International and a board member of New America, agreed, saying that Mr. Coll is unusual in that he has “succeeded in managing people who produce ideas and in producing them himself.”

This article is available on the New York Times website.

Steve Coll Named Next President of New America Foundation

adminn — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 06:00:00 -0400

The Board of Directors of the New America Foundation announced today the appointment of Steve Coll as the Foundation’s next President & CEO. Coll will succeed New America’s founding President & CEO, Ted Halstead, who will remain on New America’s Board.

“Ted Halstead has been a wonderful leader through an astonishingly successful first chapter in New… more

U.S. Must Warm to Energy Efficiency

Articles — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:43:00 -0400

Between record petrol prices at home, growing geopolitical instability abroad and mounting concern over climate change, the case for fundamental energy reform has never been stronger. Yet the U.S. energy debate remains disproportionately focused on the supply side: how to secure future supplies and finance alternative sources. Too often ignored is the other -- and far more cost-effective -- alternative: how Americans can use the energy they consume more efficiently.

New research by the McKinsey Global Institute finds that a concerted effort to boost energy productivity -- or the level of output achieved from the energy consumed -- could have spectacular… more

Voice of America Reports on New America's Ten Big Ideas Event

Communications — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 23:14:00 -0500

New America in the News:

U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, a Democrat from New York, and Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, were the keynote speakers at a conference this week unveiling a number of radical ideas meant to inspire change in U.S. policy on areas such as health care, climate change, and energy efficiency. Both senators, who say they are good friends despite political differences, said they believe the country needs courage and compromise to make the radical changes they say are needed to solve some long-standing problems. VOA's Marissa Melton reports from Washington.

The theme of the Ten Big Ideas for a New America conference, hosted by the nonpartisan New America research group this week was, well, the Ten Big Ideas in the title, proposals by scholars on election systems, economics, health care, retirement, and higher education to improve long-standing problems in U.S. policy. But the big-name speakers, Clinton, Graham, and New America founder Ted Halstead, focused on a broader idea. Each said the results of November's congressional elections, in which Democrats gained control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, signals a new feeling in the nation that this is the time for a new approach to old problems.

Halstead said there is support now for aggressive change in U.S. policy, after more than a decade of Republican control in Congress. "The political moment in America now is so ripe for big ideas. No question, the recent election was as significant turning point in American political history. As we all know, it was the end of conservative political domination of Congress that began in 1994. But what was so interesting about this recent election and this new era in American politics is that the pendulum has not swung back to traditional liberalism. Rather, this new era belongs to those who are willing to step outside of the partisan fray and offer the American people what they most want, which is bipartisan cooperation on bold reforms to solve our national problems..."

For the complete report and to listen to an audio clip, please visit the Voice of America website.

Ten Big Ideas for a New America

Communications — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 02:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
01/31/2007 - 11:00am

The recent turnover in Congress, combined with a wide open presidential election cycle, creates a rare opportunity to bring new ideas into the political process. The spirit of this new era will be captured by those -- from either party or no party -- who embrace innovative yet pragmatic solutions to the foremost challenges facing our nation.

At this event, the New America Foundation released a major new report outlining Ten Big Ideas for a New America, and offered brief presentations on nine of the 10 ideas. (Senior Fellow Jacob Hacker, author of the Universal Risk Insurance proposal, was testifying on Capitol Hill and was unable to attend.)

In addition, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) offered kenote addresses that explored their respective takes on the need for big ideas in American politics.

Video of the complete event is available at right, while MP3 audio recordings can be dowloaded at the bottom of this page. To jump directly to video of a particular keynote address or Big Idea presentation, please use the links below.

Every Baby a Trust Fund Baby

Closing the $700 Billion Tax Loophole

Instant Runoff Voting

Mandatory, Affordable Health Insurance

Tax Consumption, Not Work

A College Access Contract

A Capital Budget for Public Investment

A Universal 401(k) Plan

An Energy Efficiency Trading System

Myrtle Beach Sun Times Profiles New America's Ten Big Ideas Event

Communications — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 20:55:00 -0500

New America in the News:

WASHINGTON - Over the last few years, Sens. Lindsey Graham and Hillary Clinton have become a Capitol Hill odd couple, working across party lines on issues such as their mutual support for invading Iraq and their shared concern over vanishing manufacturing jobs and inadequate health care for military reservists.

Now the two high-profile senators are at it again: They will deliver keynote speeches Wednesday on "big ideas for America" to a gathering of 400 prominent business, political, nonprofit and academic leaders, along with lobbyists, congressional aides and senior staffers for executive agencies.

The event is hosted by the New America Foundation, a Washington think tank devoted to finding creative, bipartisan responses to the country's rapid technological changes and demographic shifts in the face of economic globalization.

Ted Halstead, the foundation's president, said Clinton and Graham were natural choices to address the forum.

"In announcing her presidential bid, Hillary specifically talked about wanting to promote big ideas and a national discussion about where the country ought to be heading," Halstead said.

"As for Senator Graham, he has a strong reputation as an independent, maverick type of legislator who is himself interested in big ideas and who has shown the courage in the past to be outside the usual partisan fray," he said.

In addition to seeking the senators' proposed solutions to national problems, the foundation will release a report with its own "10 Big Ideas for a New America," among them "Every Baby a Trust Fund Baby," "Tax Consumption, Not Work" and "An Energy Efficiency Trading System..."

For the complete article, please visit the Myrtle Beach Sun Times website.

The Financial Times Quotes Ted Halstead on State of the Union Address

Communications — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 23:54:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Although it had been billed as one of the most important speeches of his presidency, there were few signs on Wednesday that George W. Bush’s State of the Union address had succeeded in stemming the rapid haemorrhaging of his authority.

A number of leading Democrats, including Barack Obama, a front-runner for the 2008 presidential campaign, evinced cautious welcomes for Mr Bush’s modest proposals to address global warming and healthcare reform.

But most Democrats and several prominent Republicans remained fixed on Mr Bush’s unwillingness to listen to his growing army of critics over the war in Iraq, to which he devoted about a quarter of the 50-minute speech on Tuesday night...

In contrast to his six previous State of the Union addresses, Mr Bush appealed to Congress, which turned Democrat last November for the first time in his presidency, to work “across the aisle” in a bipartisan way in order to “achieve big things for the American people”. But the already-weak prospects for a fruitful White House legislative agenda over the next 18 months appear only to have waned further.

“If you want to see bold bipartisan action between now and 2008 you should look to America’s democratic laboratories at the state level where states like California and Massachusetts are showing the way on issues like healthcare and global warming,” said Ted Halstead, president of... the New America Foundation, a centrist think tank in Washington...

For the complete article, please visit The Financial Times website.

Sacramento Bee Focuses on Schwarzenegger's Embrace of New America Health Proposal

Communications — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 10:37:00 -0500

New America in the News:

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to build public support for his eagerly awaited health care overhaul, he turned to a study by the New America Foundation.

The report, released recently by the nonpartisan [New America Foundation], concluded that the average family in California pays a $1,200 "hidden tax" to subsidize health care for the uninsured.

Never mind that Families USA, a liberal advocacy group, released a similar study in 2005. The Schwarzenegger administration has cultivated a close relationship with the New America Foundation, whose centrist philosophy is more in tune with the governor.

Administration officials heard New America was working on the study and asked, " 'Hey, can we use this thing?' " recalled Len Nichols, director of the foundation's health policy program.

"I said, 'Well, sure,' " said Nichols, an economist, adding that New America also has been approached for advice by five presidential aspirants as rising health care costs become a top domestic issue.

As the governor prepares to unveil his health care plan in his Jan. 9 State of the State speech, New America's proposals on how to increase access for the nearly 7 million Californians without insurance may shed some light on the biggest guessing game in the Capitol.

Schwarzenegger has rejected a single-payer health care system that would diminish the role of the private sector and adamantly opposes new taxes.

Nichols said that leaves the governor with only two choices -- "shared responsibility or a lick and a promise" -- if he intends, as he has said, to provide universal access.

And like New America, the governor believes individuals, government, employers, medical providers and insurers must all be involved, said Kim Belshé, Schwarzenegger's secretary for health and human services.

The big question is whether Schwarzenegger will require workers and their employers to contribute to insurance premiums -- and how those costs would be divided among the various parties.

"The individual mandate is the kind of thing you've got to have," Nichols said. "The optional piece is the employer requirement. But in the real world -- and especially in California -- you're probably going to have one."

Belshé said "finishing touches are being put on the governor's plan," but she declined to say whether it would place requirements on individuals or employers...

Any mandates would likely set off a battle in the Capitol...

New America maintains such clashes between the right and left have led to public policy paralysis.

Founded in 1999 by policy wonk Ted Halstead, the foundation has nurtured a new generation of public intellectuals who believe old ideologies are outdated.

Halstead laid out his philosophy in the 2001 book Radical Center: The Future of American Politics, written with Michael Lind.

New America's donors include some of the titans in the field, including the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

With headquarters in Washington, D.C., New America also has a significant presence in California, which it calls the nation's largest laboratory of democracy.

Two years ago, when Schwarzenegger first expressed interest in the concept of requiring all Californians to purchase health insurance -- as the state requires for auto insurance -- the idea was modeled on New America's national plan.

Belshé met with Nichols' predecessor, Laurie Rubiner, to hear more about the proposal.

"We've been working with them ever since," said Nichols, adding that New America has given the administration "lots of different ideas."

In November 2005, New America convened a symposium in Sacramento -- attended by Belshé and other health care experts -- and unveiled a plan that would require parents to insure their children. Included were tough penalties for noncompliance and tax credits for private coverage.

Last summer, New America officials were invited to the governor's summit on health care in Los Angeles, where the governor said he was particularly struck by the market-based solutions and "patient responsibility" advocated by some speakers.

Belshé said the New America Foundation is one of several organizations the administration has reached out to for suggestions.

"They've really invested a lot of time and attention to this issue and have done some very thoughtful writing and analyses," she said. "They're one of a number of different sources that have helped inform the administration's thinking about this complicated issue..."

"I know that if we work together the same way we have done with our infrastructure package this past year, we will be very successful," the governor said during a visit to an emergency room in Los Angeles, where he touted New America's "hidden tax" study.

Nichols, who served as a liaison between the Office of Management and Budget and policy-makers during President Clinton's unsuccessful fight for universal health coverage in the early 1990s, believes Schwarzenegger is in a "unique position."

"He's in a place where he could engage a hell of a conversation in a state that's always been a leader in these matters," Nichols said. "We're all sitting here with our fingers crossed and waiting for Jan. 9." ...

For the complete article, please visit The Sacramento Bee website.

Back to the Economy

Communications — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 18:45:00 -0500

A New America Event
10/30/2006 - 9:45am

This important New America conference features some of the nation's foremost economic experts. Video of the complete event is available at right.

Two new papers from our Economic Growth Program are being released as well -- one detailing the larger growth agenda, the other focused on developing America's Heartland. Both documents are now available below.

The Great Risk Shift

Communications — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 01:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
10/18/2006 - 12:15pm

The safety net on which Americans once relied is fast unraveling. With retirement plans in growing jeopardy and health coverage eroding, more and more economic risk is being shifted away from government and business and onto the fragile shoulders of the American family. And no matter how well educated and hard working, many Americans fear that bankruptcy could be just one unexpected lay off or health crisis away.

In The Great Risk Shift: The Assault on American Jobs, Families, Health Care, and Retirement And How You Can Fight Back, New America Fellow Jacob S. Hacker lays bare the new economic realities facing American families.

The book, to be officially released Oct. 21, is already garnering praise from a variety of critics. Called "deserving of serious debate" by The Wall Street Journal , "an important book for anyone concerned about the continuing vitality of the American dream" by John Edwards, former U.S. Senator, and one that "powerfully illuminates the real scope of the [economic security] problem" by Robert J. Shiller, author of Irrational Exuberance.

This Oct. 18 event featured an overview presentation by Hacker, who provided a taste of the data and anecdotes his book uses to explain the disconnect between robust U.S. economic growth and the sense of financial insecurity felt by a growing percentage of America families. A lively Q&A followed, with New America's President & CEO Ted Halstead, Vice President Michael Calabrese and Health Policy Program Director Len Nichols also participating.

Video of the event is available at right, while an MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below. A PDF file containing Hacker's presentation slides is also attached.

Guiding Principles of Competition, Featuring Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith

Communications — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 14:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
07/19/2006 - 12:00pm

In the rapidly evolving technology industry, software platforms offer the benefits of innovation broadly to a wide "ecosystem" of partners and competitors. As successful high tech companies develop new products and platforms, they must balance the demand of consumers and partners for cutting-edge technology with the need to fully preserve opportunities for others to offer technologies that may complement or compete with parts of the platform itself.

As Microsoft prepares to launch Windows Vista, enhancements to its Windows platform are being closely watched by customers, partners, competitors and antitrust authorities. This scrutiny is informed by more than ten years of analysis of the development of the Windows operating system by antitrust enforcement officials and courts, in the United States and abroad.

The New America Foundation invites you to attend this policy luncheon address by Brad Smith, General Counsel of Microsoft, who will share Microsoft's competitive vision and guiding principles for the Windows Vista operating system and future Windows operating system releases.

Over the Hedge

Communications — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 16:14:44 -0400

New America in the News:

Belshire Way is a street in a subdivision in Orange County. ("Close to Irvine Spectrum!" the real estate ads say. "Open floor plans!") Drive by, and the view is of 14 one- and two-story tract houses. Some have red tile roofs. Some have pools in the backyards. Some get notices from the homeowners' association about garbage-can visibility and unsanctioned tetherball pole setups. In other words, it could be any suburban street in America but for something invisible from the curbside: For years, Belshire Way has been a cul-de-sac divided—exactly divided—between Democrats and Republicans....

A growing body of social science research has found the actual views of most Americans are converging toward the middle. One of the most provocative calls in the wake of the 2000 election has come from so-called radical centrist Ted Halstead, a former environmental activist and founder of the New America Foundation, who favors a platform drawing from a variety of ideologies (a strong military, for one, and universal health insurance that would make it easier for workers to change jobs and entrepreneurs to start new businesses)....

For the complete article, please see the The Los Angeles Times Web site.

A Homestead Act for the Twenty-First Century

Articles — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0500

The United States owes much of its status as the first mass middle-class society to enlightened social policy designed to broaden asset ownership. To this day, a quarter of all adult Americans enjoy a legacy of asset ownership traceable to the Homestead Act of 1862, which awarded 60 acres of land in the American West to families who lived on the land for five years. Likewise, the GI Bill, the Federal Housing Administration, and mortgage deduction policies paved the way for one of the highest home-ownership rates in the world.

But America's middle class has begun to atrophy. Poverty has… more

America Needs a Tax System that Reflects its Values

Articles — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 00:00:00 -0400

With President George W. Bush's Tax Commission about to issue its recommendations--opening up a rare opportunity for fundamental tax reform--we would do well to remember one of the iron rules of economics: whatever we tax, we will get less of and whatever we do not tax, we will get more of. In other words, we should tax what is bad, not what is good.

By this logic, America's current tax system is as wrong-headed as it is backward: it discourages savings, job creation and higher wages, while encouraging energy consumption, waste and environmental degradation. Sadly, the Tax Commission has decided… more

Real State of the Union National Policy Forum

Communications — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 11:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
02/07/2005 - 12:00pm

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 the leading policy experts in America tackling the key issues facing the nation. Speakers include, Ted Halstead, Jonathan Rauch, Steven Clemons, Hanna Rosin, Maya MacGuineas, William Powers, Karen Kornbluh, Michael Lind, Ray Boshara, Michael Calabrese, Sherle Schwenninger, Robert Wright, Rajan Menon.

Early Retirement Accounts are the Way Forward

Articles — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 00:00:00 -0500

Could a reformed public pension system give citizens more control over their retirement savings, as conservatives want, without undermining security in old age, as liberals fear? Here is a proposal that does just that in the American context, although it could apply equally well to any public pension system struggling with long-term debts and an ageing population.

The idea is to allow all US workers to divert a portion of their payroll taxes into personal "early retirement accounts", which would give individuals more control over their financial destiny and the timing of their retirement. In exchange, the age… more

What Comes Next?

Communications — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 23:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
11/10/2004 - 12:11pm

Featuring New America Experts

Where Have All the Big Ideas Gone?

Articles — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 00:00:00 -0400

Each era in American history is defined by a couple of big ideas: the Homestead Act, the GI Bill, Social Security, the Marshall Plan or the race to space. Such major social or economic innovations are usually advanced by our political leaders in response to national turning points. Few would disagree that the United States has reached another historical juncture. Where, then, have all the big -- and good -- ideas gone?

The paucity of innovative thinking is particularly evident in this presidential campaign. President Bush has a couple of big ideas -- … more

A Tax Plan for Kerry

Articles — Mon, 24 May 2004 02:00:00 -0400

John Kerry not only has a message problem, he seems to have conflicting economic priorities. Kerry wants to make job creation and helping the middle class the central theme of his campaign, but he has yet to offer any bold or compelling ideas to back up the rhetoric. At the same time, he has been unable to find a way to square his broader jobs agenda with his commitment to fiscal prudence. Allow us to suggest a solution to both problems: abolishing the payroll tax.

Although you'd never know it from listening to our political leaders, the largest… more