The Seattle Times

Columnist Neal Peirce Extols Ray Boshara, Kids Savings Accounts

Communications — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 10:12:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Are the bad old days back? Read the headlines and you'd think so: "Violent Crime Blazing Back in America" and "Big-city murders way up since '04..."

Let's assume the recent rise is serious. What's happening? Lots of competing explanations get offered: Gang problems are now growing in smaller cities. Gun laws are loose and the politicos fear to stiffen them. Because we have the world's highest incarceration rate, rising numbers of inmates are being released from prisons — far too few rehabilitated or able to land a job...

Everyone wants truly dangerous criminals behind bars — indeed for as long as possible...

How about prevention — investing early, systematically in kids and families? This is the issue all the alarming crime headlines, and quick political fixes, ignore. Poverty, broken families, poor education and significant crime are inextricably bundled. Early childhood nutrition, care and education can pay off hugely later...

What of the argument that we can't "afford" the depth of early-childhood services such as other advanced nations provide?

Ray Boshara of the New America Foundation has a radically better idea: Establish an "American Stakeholder Account" for every child at birth — initial government deposit $6,000, plus eligibility for dollar-for-dollar matching funds for voluntary contributions up to $500 a year. Assuming modest but steady contributions, a young person might have $20,000 by age 18 for college tuition, a home, starting a business, or long-term savings.

What does such an idea have to do with crime? A lot, I'd think — building a mindset of hope is the best conceivable antidote to the lure of the streets, gangs and drug dependency. The ultimate benefits to the U.S. economy, in added wage earners and taxpayers, and fewer mired in lives of desperation, could be immense. America's surest road to a safer society is what we always claimed to be the best at — building opportunity...

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

Official at FDA Warns of Drug Risks

Articles — Fri, 19 Nov 2004 00:00:00 -0500

WASHINGTON -- In devastating testimony before a Senate panel yesterday, a whistle-blower at the Food and Drug Administration shocked a packed hearing room when he listed five drugs now on the market that he thinks are dangerous and accused the agency of stifling its own scientists who raise safety questions.

Dr. David Graham, an FDA drug-safety official, said the agency and drug giant Merck, didn't move fast enough to take the painkiller Vioxx off the market.

He said that because of the FDA's flawed structure, Americans are left "virtually defenseless" against dangerous pharmaceuticals.

"I would argue that the FDA ...… more

Spokane Bishop Elected to Lead Church in U.S.

Articles — Tue, 16 Nov 2004 00:00:00 -0500

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In an apparent affirmation of church tradition, Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane yesterday was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at its annual fall meeting.

The election came just five days after Skylstad announced his diocese would file for bankruptcy within the month, and amid clamor by critics in Spokane that Skylstad should not be elected president because he had failed in the past to deal firmly with complaints about sexually abusive clergy.

Skylstad, 70, had served as vice president of the conference during the past three-year term, and no sitting vice president who's… more

Cutting-Edge Small Technology Deserves Big U.S. Investment

Articles — Thu, 28 Jun 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Last January, during a major policy address on science and technology, President Clinton proposed a new $500 million National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, or roughly 70 times the diameter of a cold virus. … more