USA Today

Daniel Levy in USA Today | "Is Israel Better Off After Bush Presidency?"

Communications — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:49:00 -0400

New America in the News:

. . . Bush's Mideast policy, the 2003 invasion of Iraq and his willingness to stand tough against unfriendly Arab regimes and Islamists have left Israel in a strategically weaker position today than it was eight years ago, says Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator who is now a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, a Washington think tank on global and domestic issues. . . .

"At a mass level, people can go doe-eyed when President Bush repeats these nice, warm, embracing platitudes, but in serious assessments of where Israel is at today versus when Bush took office, I think people are a lot more sober and very concerned about the trajectory of where the region is," Levy says. "People are concerned that America is both so much less respected and feared today." . . .

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget in USA Today | 'GI Benefits Stymie Funding Bill'

Communications — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:31:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Full article

. . . Budget experts outside Congress were even more incensed. David Walker, the former U.S. comptroller general who has said the nation faces $53 trillion in unfunded federal liabilities over the coming century, called it "morally reprehensible." Criticism also came from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and the Concord Coalition deficit watchdog group. . .

Len Nichols in USA Today | 'Candidates Diverge on Health Care

Jerry Irvine — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:35:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Candidates Diverge on Health Care

Republican presidential candidate John McCain says the United States is approaching a "perfect storm" of problems that "will cause our health care system to implode" if the next president doesn't act.

Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton would agree. But that's about where agreement over health care ends.

...

Len Nichols, an economist at the New America Foundation, a centrist think tank in Washington, says without a mandate for everyone to get insurance, some people would wait until they are sick to buy coverage. That would deprive insurance companies of premiums paid by healthy clients that offset costs of treating the sick.

Lawrence Wilkerson in USA Today | 'U.S. Cuba Policy Could Get New Look'

Communications — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:11:00 -0500

New America in the News:

U.S. Cuba policy could get new look (USA Today)

...Retired colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, co-chair of the U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative [New America Foundation] and chief of staff to former secretary of State Colin Powell, said it was clear to most Americans that "our Cuba policy is a failure." more

Child Well-Being Index in USA Today | 'Report: Black, Hispanic Children Making Gains'

Communications — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:03:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Report: Black, Hispanic Children Making Gains (USA Today)

Black and Hispanic children have made significant gains in health, safety and income over the past two decades, narrowing gaps between them and white children, according to a pioneering report on child development to be released Tuesday.*

They still fare worse overall than whites, but they're catching up in several areas and are less likely to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, abuse drugs or commit suicide, according to the report. It was sponsored by the Foundation for Child Development, a philanthropy that funds research on children.

"There's a long way to go, but this is an enormous closing of the gap," says co-author Donald Hernandez, a sociology professor at the University at Albany, State University of New York. He says the overall gap between black and white children closed by one-fourth, and between Hispanics and whites by one-third. "That's stunning. I was frankly surprised by the extent of it."

The report evaluates how children fared from 1985 to 2004, based on 28 measures of income, education, health, safety, social relationships and community involvement. It combines them for a score known as a child well-being index. It found that children, especially minorities, fared worse in the 1980s but made significant gains in the mid- to late 1990s. more

*New America Foundation Workforce and Family Program convened the event for the release of the report.

Steven Clemons in USA Today on Bhutto's Death

Jerry Irvine — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:41:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Amid so much uncertainty, the U.S. government may have no other choice but to more closely embrace Musharraf, said Steven Clemons, director of foreign policy programs for the New America Foundation.

Musharraf has received billions of dollars in U.S. aid to fight terrorism and is regarded by Bush as a key ally, despite the continued strength of al-Qaeda and other militant groups in Pakistan. The Bush administration had hoped Bhutto could share power with Musharraf, pairing her democratic credentials with his military support. Now, Clemons said, "we're stuck" with Musharraf.

Continuing to support Musharraf has its perils for the United States, and could unsettle things in Pakistan even further. The former general's popularity has declined steadily since he seized power in a 1999 coup, and many Pakistanis are keen for democracy to return. Musharraf himself has been the target of several assassination attempts.

For the complete article, click here.

USA Today Opinion Writer Supports Daniel Levy's 'New Peace Proposal'

Communications — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:12:00 -0500

New America in the News:

If Daniel Levy is right, the way out of the morass the Bush administration has stumbled into in the Middle East is through the Palestinian territory.

To drain the swamp in which al-Qaeda and other U.S. adversaries operate and make it harder for this nation's foes in the Middle East "to speak above the heads" of moderate Arab leaders, Levy says, a way must be found to end Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territory.

The long-running struggle between Israel and the Palestinian people "is the mother-of-all grievances" for many in the Muslim world — and the United States' backing of Israel is the root cause of the antagonism that many in the Muslin world harbor for this country, Levy argues.

He should know.

Levy is no backbencher when it comes to trying to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. An Israeli citizen, he's director of Prospects for Peace Initiative, a group based in Washington that seeks to bring "new think" to the quest for Middle East peace. Levy was an adviser to former Israeli prime ministers Ehud Barak and Yitzhak Rabin, and a member of the negotiating team that tried to broker a peace agreement with the Palestinians in 2001.

New Peace Proposal

Last month, Levy helped draft an open letter from a bipartisan group of U.S. foreign policy experts to President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It urged them to back a peace agreement that returns Israel to its 1967 borders and creates an independent Palestinian nation. It also called for Jerusalem, which both the Palestinians and Israelis claim, to serve as the capital of both states.

These proposals are a hard sell with right-wing Israelis who oppose sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians — and with Hamas, a militant Islamic group that has seized control of the Gaza portion of the Palestinian territories and calls for the destruction of Israel. To forge such a deal, the United States will have to do a lot of arm-twisting to get Israel to accept this version of a "two-state solution."

That won't be easy. Even as a peace conference took place in Annapolis, Md., last month, Israel pushed ahead with plans to build more than 300 housing units in East Jerusalem, an area of the city that the Palestinians claim. ...

For the complete article, please follow this link. Daniel Levy is Director of the Middle East Project with the American Strategy Program at New America.

Len Nichols in USA Today on Employer-Provided Health Insurance

Communications — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:50:00 -0500

New America in the News:

The percentage of people with health insurance through their employers — traditionally the way most people get coverage — is continuing to shrink, raising anxiety among workers and invigorating a debate about whether insurance should be tied to jobs. ...

Premiums continue to go up, although the rate of increase has slowed in the past couple of years. This year, the average increase faced by employers was 6.1%, according to the Kaiser survey, well below the recent peak increase of 13.9% in 2003.

Such premium increases weigh heaviest on lower-income workers.

For example, a household earning $40,000 this year would have to pay 8% of its pretax income to cover the average share paid by workers — $3,281 — for a typical family policy offered by employers, which this year cost $12,106. That doesn't include deductibles and co-payments that those with coverage must pay.

"People should be nervous," says Len Nichols, an economist at the Washington think tank New America Foundation. "People aren't so afraid of losing their jobs as (of) not being able to afford health insurance even with a good job," he says. ...

For the complete article, please follow this link.

USA Today Quotes Stephen Burd on Private and Federal Loans

Communications — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:16:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Student loans are often categorized as good debt, because a college education is considered a sensible long-term investment. ...

But it's important to understand that not all student loans are alike. Federally guaranteed student loans, known as Stafford loans, have fixed interest rates, now 6.8%, and flexible repayment terms. Any full-time college student, regardless of family income, can take out a Stafford loan.

Private student loans, which are often offered by the same lenders that provide federal loans, are more expensive. Interest rates are variable, so there's no limit on how high they can go. And repayment terms aren't as flexible as they are for federal loans.

Yet despite these drawbacks, private student loan borrowing has soared in the past decade. This year, private loans accounted for 29% of all loans taken out by undergraduates, according to a report released last week by the College Board. ...

The amount of federal money that students can borrow is limited, and those limits haven't kept up with increases in college costs. As a result, some students who attend high-cost schools rely on private loans to pay for expenses not covered by their federal loans.

But that doesn't entirely explain the growth in private loans. An analysis by the American Council on Education found that one in five undergraduates with private loans didn't first take full advantage of federal loans.

So why do borrowers take out higher-cost loans? Marketing probably plays a role. Many lenders advertise private loans on television and over the Internet. ...

In addition, recent cuts in government subsidies have made federal loans less profitable for lenders. Consequently, lenders may become even more aggressive in marketing their private loans, says Stephen Burd, senior research fellow for the New America Foundation, a policy institute. ...

For the complete article, please follow this link.

USA Today Quotes Len Nichols on Uninsured

Communications — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:02:00 -0400

New America in the News:

A 50% cut in health insurance premiums would only reduce the number of uninsured Americans by 3%, estimates a Rand study out Monday, which suggests that incentives and government tax cuts won't lead to universal coverage...

The study comes amid heightened debate about ways to cover the approximately 45 million uninsured. Ideas on how to fix the problem cross the political spectrum, from loosening regulation of the industry to mandating a government-overseen health system.

The study, published online Monday in the journal Health Services Research, says cost is just one obstacle to health coverage, with many uninsured citing other barriers, such as the hassle factor of buying insurance, the desire to spend money on other things or a belief that coverage is not necessary...

Len Nichols, an economist at the centrist New America Foundation who was not involved with the Rand study, says there are generally two broad types of uninsured: those who don't think they'll get sick and the low-income.

"If you believe you are immortal, you'd have to make the price darn near zero (to get them to buy); and if you are poor, you have to make the price darn near zero," Nichols says. "The humane thing to do is have subsidies for the low-income, and they'll buy, and then mandate coverage for the immortals..."

For the complete article, please visit the USA Today website.