The Boston Globe

Len Nichols in the Boston Globe |'McCain Plan May Cost Northeast'

Communications — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:41:00 -0400

New America in the News:

"If you're a healthy person in a low-cost area, this is a pretty good deal," said Len Nichols, a healthcare economist who directs the health policy program at the New America Foundation. "If you're a healthy person in a high-cost area, not so much. If you're an unhealthy person in a high-cost area, good luck."

To make sure these older and sicker people can afford insurance, McCain has proposed a pool funded by the states and federal government that the campaign says would provide them access to care at a "reasonable" rate. Critics say it would be either far more expensive than the $15 billion to $20 billion McCain says it would cost, or that premiums would have to be high.

Barack Obama's plan would not result in the same geographical disparities. The Obama plan would preserve the tax breaks on employer contributions to health insurance, so the value of those exemptions would remain directly related to the cost of insurance. Obama would provide tax credits for people who can't afford the full price of health insurance; those credits would also be directly related to a person's income and the price of the plan, said Neera Tanden, director of policy for the Obama campaign. LINK

William D. Hartung in The Boston Globe | 'Gunmaker to the World'

Communications — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:03:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Arms trade expert William Hartung of the New America Foundation says US arms were used in 18 of the 25 major wars in 2006 and 2007, with weapons sold to at least a dozen regimes in developing countries that are either undemocratic or commit serious human rights abuses. These include Thailand, Ethiopia, Morocco, and Oman.

Hartung says some countries join the arms race for no apparent reason. "Unless you think Romania is going to start bombing terrorist training camps, F-16s don't make much sense," he said by telephone. "Many weapons have no justification. It's a one-size-fits-all justification." LINK

A College Fund for Every Student

Articles — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:35:00 -0400

Barack Obama wants to give families a refundable $4,000 tax credit for college, if their children complete a required amount of community service. It's a fine, conventional Democratic idea. It could be a lot more powerful, though, if Obama coupled it with an old Republican favorite - depositing his $4,000 credit into private accounts like the so-called 529 plans that so many upper-income families use to save for college.

There are already 12 higher education-related tax credits and deductions on the books, including the Clinton administration's HOPE and Lifetime Learning tax credits. To varying degrees they make college more affordable for those with taxable income who get over the hump… more

The Pentagon's New Strategy: Show Us the Money

Articles — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 07:48:00 -0400

At first glance, the new national defense strategy released by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently looks like a new start, with much talk of working with allies and -- heaven forbid -- even other US government agencies.

Gates comes across as the "anti-Rumsfeld," replacing his predecessor's bluster with quiet diplomacy, and an overreliance on military force with a more pragmatic, balanced approach to security. The new strategy document reflects these differences.

This is not the first time that Gates has embraced the themes set out in the new strategy document. In a speech this year at Kansas State University, he called for substantial increases in spending for the State… more

Finding a Silver Lining In the Iraq Cloud

Articles — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:16:00 -0400

If there is ever a TV series about the American adventure in Iraq it might be called "Unintended Consequences Gone Wild." The war strategically weakened the United States, strengthened Iran, undermined democracy promotion, and gave Al Qaeda and the Taliban time to regroup - and that would just be season one. But the latest episode, the unintended Iraqi consensus opposing America's secretive quest to complete a Status of Forces Agreement and a Strategic Framework Agreement by the end of July, may turn out to be good news for both the United States and Iraq.

Even as short-term improvements have been registered in the security situation, the internal politics of… more

Len Nichols in Boston Globe's White Coat Notes | 'Single-Payer Champion to Testify Before President's Council'

Communications — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:13:00 -0400

New America in the News:

A prominent advocate of a single-payer national health system will make her case to a presidential commission later today. Dr. Steffie Woolhandler (left, in file photo) of Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School is scheduled to testify at 2 p.m. before the President’s Council on Bioethics, which is meeting today and tomorrow in Chicago.... Other experts scheduled to present plans include Len Nichols, director of the health policy program for the New America Foundation, and James Capretta, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC... LINK

Jeffrey Lewis in Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe | 'IAEA to Send Inspectors to Syria's Alleged Nuclear Site'

Communications — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:01:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...Syria's decision to allow international inspections astounded diplomats and analysts. "What's the point?" said Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert at the New America Foundation, a Washington think tank. "What do [the Syrians] get out of it? They don't get anything out of it as far as I can see..." LINK

Champlain Was Here

Ron Tang — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:34:00 -0400

New Englanders grow up imbibing certain creation myths, most of which relate to how unbelievably historic we are. It all started here, and entire businesses -- the vending of tricorne hats, for example -- depend on the tight control of information relating to the beginnings of America -- the Revolution, and the Salem witch trials before that, and at the dawn of time, the Pilgrims, hacking their way into the forest primeval. Everything trails in their wake; or so we like to believe.

But is it possible that New England trails in someone else's wake? As in, the dreaded French? These… more

My Peak Moment

adminn — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:48:00 -0500

Looking back well over two decades ago, it is impossible to isolate a defining moment in a dark-horse, long-shot, improbable presidential campaign in the nation's first primary. There were so many months of travel, so many hands to shake, so many questions to answer in so many living rooms and restaurants across New Hampshire that the temptation is to treat it all as a long-ago blur of memory.

Yet events and circumstances do still stand out these many years later: the good humor and hospitality of Connie and Maria at the Merrimack Restaurant in Manchester; campaigning at town dumps on Saturday… more

The Shadow Army

Articles — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 10:15:00 -0400

If there is a quagmire in Iraq, it was created more than a decade ago when the United States instituted a flawed system governing the use of contractors to perform governmental functions. Now, despite Iraqi fury at Blackwater USA, some of whose employees are accused of fatally shooting Iraqis, Washington is so reliant on the firm that it dare not order it from the field.

The heavy dependence on private contractors in the military is relatively recent. In the Gulf War only 9,200 contractors supported 540,000 military personnel. The estimated 180,000 US-funded contractors now in Iraq (of which about 21,000 are… more