New America Policy Papers: 2010

Papers and other formal publications from our policy programs are available below. To jump to another year in the archives, please use the links at right.

America Needs a Manufacturing Strategy

February 3, 2010

 

In President Obama’s meeting with Senate Democrats today, Senator Sherrod Brown (OH) pressed the president on why the United States does not have a manufacturing policy.   Senator Brown was right to raise the question.

First, manufacturing is critical to the economy.

Largest multiplier. Manufacturing has the largest multiplier of all sectors of the economy. Every dollar in final sales in manufacturing products supports $1.37 in other sectors of the economy. By contrast, the financial services sector generates only

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Summary and Analysis of President Obama’s Education Budget Request

  • By Federal Education Budget Project
February 2, 2010

President Barack Obama submitted his second budget request to Congress on February 1st, 2010. The detailed budget request includes proposed funding levels for federal programs and agencies in aggregate for the upcoming five to ten fiscal years, and specific fiscal year 2011 funding levels for individual programs subject to appropriations. Congress will use the president's budget request to inform its consideration of tax and spending legislation later this year, including the fiscal year 2011 appropriations bill that will set specific funding levels for federal education programs.

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Key Questions on the Obama Administration's 2011 Education Budget

February 1, 2010

President Barack Obama submitted his second budget request to Congress on February 1st, 2010. The detailed budget request includes proposed funding levels for all federal programs and agencies in aggregate for the upcoming five to ten fiscal years, and specific fiscal year 2011 funding levels for programs subject to the annual appropriations process. It is important to remember that the president's 2011 budget request is a policy and budget proposal, but not legislation or law.

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A Proposal for Genuine Financial Reform

  • By Marshall Auerback, RAB Capital Plc and Economists for Peace and Security
January 26, 2010

"Is the president finally getting serious about real financial reform? Last Thursday, Obama called for the biggest regulatory crackdown on banks since the 1930s, proposing strict limits on the size of financial institutions and a ban on risky activities such as proprietary trading and internal hedge funds." So writes Marshall Auerback in a new policy paper. Although the proposed regulations are a good start, Auerback argues, "a more broadly based approach, which incorporates all financial services intermediaries, might ultimately be required."

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Yemen on the Brink?

  • By Barak Barfi
January 25, 2010

Executive Summary

Status of al Qaeda in Yemen. Yemen is dominated by powerful tribes, some members of which shelter al Qaeda in order to leverage their power vis-à-vis other political actors. Tribal support for al Qaeda is thus political rather than ideological in nature. But despite this support, the relationship between al Qaeda and the tribes is sometimes strained, and al Qaeda is unpopular with the Yemeni people.

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The Asset Building Potential of Shared Equity Homeownership

  • By Rick Jacobus, NCB Capital Impact & John Emmeus Davis, Burlington Associates in Community Development
January 20, 2010

In this paper, we review the literature on homeownership as an asset building strategy for lower income households. We then present a real world case study, examining wealth building and household mobility among buyers of 424 resale-restricted, owner-occupied houses and condominiums developed by the Champlain Housing Trust (CHT) in Burlington, Vermont between 1988 and 2008. We conclude by comparing the asset building potential of shared equity homeownership to the rewards and risks associated with other strategies for helping lower income families to accumulate assets and build wealth.

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Automating Savings in the Workplace

  • By
  • Alejandra Lopez-Fernandini,
  • New America Foundation
  • with Caroline Schultz, MDRC
January 15, 2010

The AutoSave model — in which employers help facilitate automatic contributions to unrestricted savings, and employees are actively encouraged to sign up using a simplified enrollment process — is largely untested. Unlike most existing workplace saving programs, which focus on building retirement assets, AutoSave savings are intended to be fully liquid and available both to cover short-term needs and, potentially, to increase attachment to mainstream financial services or serve as building blocks to longer-term asset accumulation.

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Any Device and Any Application on Wireless Networks: A Technical Strategy for Evolution

  • By Andrew Afflerbach, CEO and Director of Engineering; and Matthew DeHaven, Principal Engineer, Columbia Telecommunications Corporation
January 13, 2010

This Report presents the results of an engineering evaluation of some of the issues raised by the Federal Communications Commission’s “Open Internet” Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The Report suggests a strategy entailing a conservative process for evolving from the limitations of current locked and closed wireless device and application environments to a more open future as envisioned by the “any device” and “any application” portions of the Commission’s draft Open Internet rules. This Report proposes:

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For Security and Peace: Ratify START

  • By
  • William D. Hartung,
  • Frida Berrigan,
  • New America Foundation
January 13, 2010

This backgrounder makes the case for a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (“New START”) between the United States and Russia and rebuts the key arguments from critics of the agreement. Specifically, it responds to nine assertions made by the Senate Republican Policy Committee (SRPC) in a report entitled “START Follow-on Do’s and Don’ts.” This report has been chosen because it is representative of the key arguments being made by New START critics.

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Freedom from Fear

  • By Steven Attewell
January 11, 2010

The Social Security system was intended not merely to provide public pensions for the elderly but to establish a framework for a comprehensive system of economic security. Steven Attewell writes: “We need to go back to the original drawing board – the Social Security Act of 1935 – to finish the job it began and create a truly universal and comprehensive social welfare state.”

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