New America in California: Publications, Events and More

CA Event: Expanding Savings and Retirement Security

Communications — Thu, 22 May 2008 08:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/21/2008 - 12:00pm

**Please note that the event date has changed to May 21, 2008**

Every day, six million Californians, or roughly 43 percent of workers in the state, go to work for an employer that does not provide any type of retirement pension or savings plan. This lack of retirement savings opportunities puts California working families at risk. On Thursday, May 22, Mark Iwry of the Brookings Institution will present on the current retirement savings crisis in America -- its causes and the continuing effect it will have on the financial security of working families as well as the state and national economy. Mr. Iwry will also discuss state and national policy options to significantly encourage retirement savings and the accumulation of assets by lower- and middle-income workers.

Mark Iwry is former benefits tax counsel for the Treasury Department. He is an expert on employee benefits, pensions, retirement, savings, and health care, and frequently advises and testifies before Congress on these issues. At Treasury, where he oversaw national policy on tax-qualified pension and 401(k) plans, as well as other employee benefits, Mr. Iwry played a key role in developing many important reforms to the nation's pension system. Mr. Iwry is one of the originators of the concept of state portable retirement savings account for private sector workers.

This event is co-hosted by the New America Foundation, the Assets Policy Initiative of California and the California Research Bureau, in association with Assemblymembers Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles) and Joel Anderson (R-La Mesa).

If you have questions, call or email Claudie Kiti Bustamante at (916) 448-5189 or bustamante@newamerica.net.

L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce Endorses Key Election Reform

Communications — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:55:00 -0400

Contact: Mr. Gautam Dutta, Esq. (213.480.0994; dutta@newamerica.net)

Los Angeles CA -- The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce has endorsed a critical election reform: Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles, and key labor unions like UNITE HERE have also endorsed IRV.

"Instant Runoff Voting will create more competitive races, increase voter participation and eliminate costly runoff elections," said Gary Toebben, President & CEO, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. "The L.A. Area Chamber strongly urges the City Council and Mayor Villaraigosa to put IRV on the ballot this… more

Policy Analyst, Asset Building Program, California Office

Operations — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:10:00 -0400

Intro/Description

The New America Foundation seeks a California-based Policy Analyst for the Asset Building Program. The program, launched in 2002, has established itself as a leading voice on innovative, market-oriented public policies to enable low- and moderate-wealth families in the U.S. and around the world to (a) accumulate savings; (b) access wealth-building financial services and financial education; (c) better manage their debts; and (d) build and protect lifelong, productive assets—a home, an education, a small business, investments, and a nest-egg for retirement. The program is among the world’s leading policy experts and advocates for universal and progressively funded savings accounts at birth in developed and developing countries.

In 2006, the program launched both the Financial Services and Education Project and the Global Assets Project to deepen its work in these areas; launched and manages the assets clearinghouse, AssetBuilding.org; and played a seminal role in the 2005 formation of the bi-partisan, bi-cameral Congressional Savings and Ownership Caucus in the U.S. Congress. The program has also published in the nation’s leading newspapers and magazines, and has appeared on the nation’s top television and radio programs. The program is also a leading voice for asset-building policies in California. For more information, see www.newamerica.net/programs/asset_building.

Responsibilities

The Policy Analyst will work closely with the Asset Building Program’s California Legislative Director, who is based in Sacramento. Primary responsibilities include:

Lead and conduct policy research designed to help low- and moderate-income Californians access wealth-building financial services, save, and build assets.
Write issue briefs, working papers, op-eds, blog posts, and magazine stories.
Brief members of the California Legislature, legislative staff, administration officials, regulators, and other policymakers, as necessary. Participate in policy design efforts, as requested.
Work with New America’s in-house website team to manage and strategically develop the California Asset Building Program page of www.newamerica.net and contribute to www.AssetBuilding.org, the nation’s premier web-based clearinghouse on asset-building ideas, policies, and programs in the U.S. and around the world.
Provide programmatic support, as necessary.
Represent the program on radio and television, and at meetings and conferences around the U.S.

Qualifications

Ideal candidates will have the following qualifications:

Excellent research skills and analytical abilities.
Strong writing and public speaking skills, especially the ability to communicate policy ideas and legislative proposals concisely and effectively to a diverse range of audiences.
Working knowledge of relevant policy issues in California, related to poverty, inequality, economic and community development, housing, education, savings, tax policy, and immigration.
A bachelor’s degree in economics, public policy, social policy or related fields is required.

Application Process

By June 2, 2008, mail, fax, or e-mail a resume and a brief cover letter summarizing your interests and qualifications to: Claudie Kiti Bustamante, New America Foundation, 921 11th Street, Suite 901, Sacramento, CA 95814. Fax: 916-448-3724. E-mail: bustamante@newamerica.net. Please state “Policy Analyst, Asset Building Program” in e-mail title.

Generous salary package commensurate with experience; excellent benefits. The New America Foundation is an equal opportunity employer.

Switch To Español

Ron Tang — Sun, 11 May 2008 05:52:00 -0400

Amid all the national debate over immigration, at least one firm consensus has emerged: Newcomers to the United States should learn English because it remains the lingua franca of our civic life. All three remaining presidential contenders say that the ability to speak English should be a requirement of U.S. citizenship. And last year, the immigrant governor of California told a convention of Latino journalists that immigrants should watch only English-language TV so they can understand the language and news of their home state. "You've got to turn off the Spanish television set," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger advised the… more

Dialogue Isn't the Last Word

Ron Tang — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:19:00 -0400

Barack Obama loves reconciliation, but it isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes it isn't even possible, and let's be honest, it isn't always the point.

About six weeks ago, during his "More Perfect Union" speech on race that some heralded as the second coming of Abraham Lincoln, Obama had a choice between reconciliation and renunciation, and, true to form, he chose the former. He protested that he could "no more disown" the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. than he could disown "the black community" or his own (sometimes politically incorrect) white grandmother. Really?

Right about now, his much-heralded tutorial on… more

Schwarzenegger-Shriver: Protecting the Brand

Ron Tang — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:18:00 -0400

One afternoon early in his second year as governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger flew home from Sacramento to Los Angeles with a vexing political problem. He needed to cut $2 billion from the budget he was putting together, and any of his best options for doing it could get him into trouble.

If he raised taxes, he'd anger his fellow Republicans. Break a promise to increase education funding and he'd alienate the top Democratic interest group, the California Teachers Assn. Option 3: Cut health and human services, the next biggest category in the budget. He didn't like the idea, but some of his… more

Confessions Of a Sweatshop Inspector

Ron Tang — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:53:00 -0400

I remember one particularly bad factory in China. It produced outdoor tables, parasols, and gazebos, and the place was a mess. Work floors were so crowded with production materials that I could barely make my way from one end to the other. In one area, where metals were being chemically treated, workers squatted at the edge of steaming pools as if contemplating a sudden, final swim. The dormitories were filthy: the hallways were strewn with garbage -- orange peels, tea leaves -- and the only way for anyone to bathe was to fill a bucket with cold water. In a… more

CA Pension Bill in Sacramento Bee | Plan to Open Up CalPERS Reflects Worry About Inadequate Saving for Retirement

Communications — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:58:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Sacramento Bee | Plan to Open Up CalPERS Reflects Worry About Inadequate Saving for Retirement

Investing for retirement is the financial equivalent of eating your vegetables: It's good for you, but sometimes downright distasteful.

Now a proposal making its way through the California Legislature has people talking about whether the state can make putting aside retirement money more palatable.

The plan would let private businesses and workers funnel direct payroll deposits into a retirement investment account. The California Public Employees' Retirement System would administer the pooled money.

No one knows how many of California's 6 million workers without retirement plans would sign up. Many struggle in jobs that leave them with little money at the end of the month. The arcane language of finance can paralyze the uninitiated. And let's face it: We love buying stuff, even when we can't afford it.

"We want everything now," said Lynn Wigginton, a Sacramento certified financial planner. "All the bells and whistles, the newest car. It's a real obstacle to saving for retirement."

The savings plan could change that by making individual retirement investing as close to set-it-and-forget-it as possible.

*Assembly Bill 2940 would let private-sector workers without an employer-sponsored retirement plan sign up for IRAs watched over by CalPERS. The same apparatus used to take taxes out of paychecks would channel direct deposits into the accounts, which could be carried from job to job.

The plan's supporters, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and author Assemblyman Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, believe CalPERS is up to the task. It's already the nation's largest public pension fund, managing $250 billion in assets for 1.5 million state and local government workers.

CalPERS hasn't yet commented on the idea. The fund's staff is analyzing the proposal and should make a recommendation to the CalPERS board at its mid-May meeting. . . Please click here to go to the Sacramento Bee website for the full article.

*Background on the pension bill: Advised by New America's Asset Building Program, Assembly Member Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles), introduced AB 2940 to establish the California Employees Savings Program. CalESP will provide voluntary and portable retirement savings accounts that workers can freely take with them from job to job. New America’s Asset Building Program has long called for the creation of a portable retirement account that will enable all workers the opportunity to build wealth and achieve financial security.

Cracks In the Foundation

Ron Tang — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:47:00 -0400

While Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain appear anxious to move into the White House, none of them have much to say about housing. Yet rarely a day goes by that the headlines don't mention the current housing crisis and its threat to the financial markets and the economy. This has led to a strange disconnect between the presidential campaigns and national reality.

Subprime lending and the ensuing foreclosures are being blamed for the crisis, but the problems and blame go much deeper. The fact is, our nation does not have a housing plan, and has not had one for… more

Dusting Off a Managing Tome

Ron Tang — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:28:00 -0400

Of all of Peter Drucker's achievements -- advising captains of industry and heads of state, coining the term "knowledge worker," winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the most remarkable may be this: In 1974, his 800-plus-page tome, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, vaulted past The Joy of Sex on the national best seller list.

Last week, HarperCollins released a revised edition of Management. And regardless of whether it winds up eclipsing Bonk, the latest hot-selling volume on the physiology and psychology of sex, I can tell you this: It deserves a spot on every manager's shelf, much as the Physicians' Desk… more

The Joe Lunch Bucket Strategy

Ron Tang — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:52:00 -0400

If Americans are such huge fans of big dreams and high rolling, self-made tycoons and upward mobility, why then do we insist on seeing our national political elites -- who are also generally our economic and educational elites -- throw back a shot of whiskey or lace up bowling shoes?

Why do we need to pretend that high-flying politicians who graduated from the fanciest schools and dine at the toniest restaurants really don't live in a different world and -- dare I say it -- class than the rest of us?

The easy answer is that we want to identify with them,… more

Throw Out the Tax Code

Ron Tang — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:25:00 -0400

Politicians don't like to talk about taxes except to brag about cutting them. But with California's widening budget deficit threatening deep cuts in education and other public services, it's difficult to avoid discussions about raising taxes.

Unfortunately, what's likely to be lost in the upcoming partisan melee over whether new taxes are needed to close the $16-billion gap is an equally important tax issue -- California's aging and often unfair tax system needs to be overhauled.

The goal of tax reform should be twofold. One is to generate a more reliable revenue stream. The other is to make the tax… more

CA Event: Instant Runoff Voting and Minorities in L.A.

Communications — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
04/19/2008 - 10:00am

Currently, Los Angeles' local elections run on a wasteful, two-round election system. Last May, only 6 percent of voters turned out for the runoff election for the Los Angeles Community College Districts -- an election that cost taxpayers $5 million, or $40 per voter. For this reason, the LA City Council is seriously considering Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) for local elections.

By combining the general and runoff election into 1 single election, IRV will save millions of taxpayer dollars and help raise voter turnout. IRV allows voters to rank their choices, in order of preference (1-2-3). This way, if your first choice cannot win, your vote will go to your next choice.

Please join the New America Foundation/Political Reform Program and the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable for an engaging discussion on political reform and its impact on communities of color.

CA Event: Financial Literacy - Need, Strategy, Opportunity

Communications — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
04/17/2008 - 12:00pm

Families across America face a growing array of financial decisions in an increasingly complex financial environment. Consumers are expected to navigate an increasinly complex financial services market in order to save for retirement, higher education and homeownership. Those with low-incomes -- who disproportionately lack both financial know-how and relationships with financial institutions -- are especially vulnerable to being shut out of the financial marketplace.

On Thursday, April 17th, Ellen Seidman, Director of New America's Financial Services and Education Project, presented on the importance of financial literacy for both individual households and the broader macroeconomy and discussed:

Expanding access to wealth-building financial services especially for low- and moderate-income families,
Effective strategies to improve financial education such as the California's Statewide Financial Literacy Initiative
Forging a new responsibility framework for consumer financial services in the 21st century and,
Helping Americans to better manage their debt and make wise financial decisions.

Terry Tamminen on CNET | Interview on Clean-Tech Industry

Communications — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:24:00 -0400

New America in the News:

CNET | Interview on Clean-Tech Industry

The clean-tech industry of today is in its early stages, about where Microsoft was in 1980, says Terry Tamminen, an adviser at Pegasus Capital Advisors and the former director of California's Environmental Protection Agency. Now a main force behind the state's rise to the top as a climate change policy maker, Tamminen sits down with CNET News.com's Carl-Gustav Linden in Santa Monica, Calif.

Understanding the Bin Ladens (San Francisco)

Communications — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:30:00 -0400

A New America Event
04/15/2008 - 5:30pm

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the national bestseller Ghost Wars, Steve Coll presents the story of the Bin Laden family's rise to power and privilege. In The Bin Ladens, Coll shows how the family navigated though and around economic and cultural hurdles, and he presents an authentic story of Saudi Arabia, America and those caught in the crossfire. Revealing new information, Coll shows how American influence changed a family's fortune and how one family member's rebellion changed the world.

"Riveting" - The New York Times

"Stunningly researched and grippingly told" - Los Angeles Times

"Marvelous" - The Washington Post

Please note that there is an $18 charge for non-members of the Commonwealth Club and a $12 charge for members.

To RSVP for this event, please go to the Commonwealth Club website.

Joe Mathews on KPBS Radio in San Diego | Political Writer Considers the Body Politic

Communications — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:36:00 -0400

New America in the News:

KPBS Radio in San Diego | Political Writer Joe Mathews Considers the Body Politic

What's this hand basket we're in and where is it going? That's what people are asking in America today as the war in Iraq wears on and the economy goes down the tubes. But where's that audacity of hope?

I guess we an always be a little bit hopeful in an election year, provided voters actually vote and politicians take some chances. Joe Mathews covered politics for many years for the Los Angeles Times. Most recently he's covered the presidential race, and he just got back from Pennsylvania, where Barack and Hillary are trying to win over rust-belt Democrats.

Joe has covered presidential politics and California state politics. He wrote a book about Arnold Schwarzenegger called "The People's Machine." He is an Irvine Senior Fellow with the New America Foundation.

Terry Tamminen on NewsHour | Schwarzenegger Adviser Outlines U.S. Oil Addiction

Communications — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:47:00 -0400

New America in the News:

NewsHour | Schwarzenegger Adviser Outlines U.S. Oil Addiction

In the fourth installment of the NewsHour's Costly Crude series, environmentalist and adviser to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Terry Tamminen discusses the shrinking oil supply with Ray Suarez.

Absolut Canard

Ron Tang — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:01:00 -0400

If I didn't already prefer Ketel One vodka in my martinis, I might very well call for my own boycott against Absolut.

Not because I agree with the knuckleheads who fear that the Swedish company's advertisement featuring a map of the American Southwest as Mexican territory is fueling ethnic secessionism, but because, in its attempt to lure upper-middle-class consumers in Mexico, the company played on an age-old canard that has historically been used to justify discrimination against Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans here in the United States.

Last week I was in Las Vegas, and I found myself having a depressing… more

Arnold vs. Arnold

Ron Tang — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:00:00 -0400

Education cuts and reform campaigns can be the drinking and driving of California politics. Each carries certain risks when pursued separately. Combined, they can be deadly.

This is a truth that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has found hard to accept. Three years ago, just as he launched his breakneck drive to win voter approval of budget and political reforms, he decided to withhold part of a mandated increase in education funding from his 2005-06 budget proposal. The delay in Proposition 98 funding soon consumed the public attention that Schwarzenegger wanted directed toward his reform proposals. His favorability rating dropped more than 20… more