Washington Independent

Ellen Seidman in The Washington Independent | 'The Best Explanation so Far for Paulson’s Bailout Behavior'

Articles — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:07:00 -0500

New America in the News:
The question crossed my mind after New America Foundation’s Ellen Seidman described as “really inept” a news conference on Tuesday by Treasury, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to announce a new program to streamline loan modifications. Seidman said Treasury completely oversold the plan, to make it seem like it would cover more mortgages than the plan actually called for. Then, to make it worse, the Treasury spokesman ran out of the briefing room to avoid answering questions. LINK

Ellen Seidman in The Washington Independent | 'The Expectations Game and the Government’s Mortgage Plan'

Articles — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:10:00 -0500

New America in the News:
Tuesday night, I checked in with Ellen Seidman of the New America Foundation, who specializes in the financial services industry, to find out her reaction. Seidman, who closely follows loan modifications, said that people don’t really understand that the Fannie and Freddie plan is aimed at heading off foreclosures among prime borrowers — the next segment of homeowners in danger of defaulting on their mortgages. In that sense, the program has some merit. LINK

Asset Building Report in the Washington Independent | 'Shop Till We Drop — or Save?'

Articles — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:46:00 -0400

New America in the News:
In a policy paper issued last month by the New America Foundation, researchers Reid Cramer, Rourke O’Brien and Alejandra Lopez-Fernandini summarize the trend: “Millions of low-income Americans,” they wrote, “are hearing two conflicting messages from their government: Save and Don’t Save.” LINK

Ellen Seidman in the Washington Independent | 'Looking Out for the Homeowner'

Articles — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:17:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Ellen Seidman of the New America Foundation, who studies the financial-services industry, said the Consumer Products Safety Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and other consumer-protection efforts “have had a long history of being terribly underfunded,” making them less effective. There’s no guarantee a financial-products safety commission, strapped for funds, would escape the same fate -- especially when its goal is to intervene before “the bad stuff” gets to consumers, she said. LINK

Jacob Hacker in The Washington Independent | 'Collateral Damage'

Articles — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:38:00 -0400

New America in the News:
With so much at stake, patient advocates and many health-policy experts say the up-front costs of overhauling an unsustainable health-care system are well worth it.

“It is essential to improving the economy,” said Jacob Hacker, political science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of “The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Insecurity and the Decline of the American Dream.” LINK

Ellen Seidman in The Washington Independent | 'Homeowners Come Up Empty in Bailout'

Articles — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:39:00 -0400

New America in the News:
If Bank of America follows through with the loan modifications, “it would begin to break a huge logjam,” said Ellen Seidman, who studies the financial-services industry at the New America Foundation. It would set an example for other lenders -- and for the government. “But I’d hold off on getting excited about the serviced loans,” Seidman said, “until we see something starting to happen.” LINK

Peter Bergen in the Washington Independent | 'Taliban, Al Qaeda Unchecked in Pakistan'

Communications — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:43:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Peter Bergen, author of two books about bin Laden and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, argues that capturing or killing bin Laden is as vital today as it was in the aftermath of Sept. 11. "I can’t imagine one single thing we could to that would be more important,” Bergen said. LINK

Jacob Hacker in the Washington Independent | 'The Year of Healthcare Reform?'

Communications — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 06:53:00 -0400

New America in the News:

"Medicare naturally makes for strange bedfellows," Jacob Hacker, a political science professor a the University of California-Berkeley and the author of The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Insecurity and the Decline of the American Dream wrote in an email. "Both conservatives and liberals have an interest in keeping the program's costs in line. The divisions are much deeper when it comes to expanding the role of government in health care -- and the political fight will be that much fiercer..."

..."Democrats should take away from the Medicare fight two big lessons," Hacker said. "They need to stick to their guns on the important principles, and they need to pressure moderate Republicans to break with the more conservative members of their party." LINK

Gregory Rodriguez in the Washington Independent | 'Obama and the Latino Vote'

Communications — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:38:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...However there is one difference, said Gregory Rodriguez, author of "Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans and Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America." As of 2004, 67 percent of those we identify as Latinos were of Mexican origin. But unlike the Irish who came here to flee famine or Jews fleeing prosecution, the Mexican experience in America is not a linear one....

"Previous immigrants have had a beginning, middle and an end," Rodriguez said. "The continuous nature of Mexican migration has caused major confusion both of what people think of them and among Mexicans themselves. Let's take Swedish migration: at some point the native-born outnumbered foreign-born Swedes. But because of the continuous nature, it's not as linear as that. In the 1920s, the majority were foreign-born. In the 1930, U.S.-born dominated and in 1970 the vast majority were U.S.-born and most of them the grandchildren of immigrants. Today, that's obviously not the case..." LINK

Peter Bergen in the Washington Independent | 'Al Qaeda Goes Viral'

Communications — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:41:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...al-Suri is as famous to terrorists as he is unknown to the general American public. Lawrence Wright of The New Yorker penned the only substantive American profile of him in 2006, but apparently only had access to portions of "The Call." al-Suri "is highly intelligent, well read, focused, intense, no sense of humor, [and] speaks Arabic and Spanish and French, very little English" said Peter Bergen, a senior fellow at The New America Foundation and author of two influential books about Al Qaeda. In 1997, Bergen became one of the only Western journalists to interview al-Suri. "He seemed like a real intellectual," Bergen said, "but also a man of action..." LINK