San Francisco Chronicle

Dropout Factories

Ron Tang — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

California has a massive dropout problem: An estimated 25 percent of students fail to complete high school, ultimately costing the state billions in lost income tax revenue, crime costs and public assistance.

Last month, a study from UC Santa Barbara suggested that the dropout problem might be more concentrated than previously thought: It found that just 20 percent of schools account for 80 percent of dropouts, and that many of them are "alternative" schools that are meant to help students who have not succeeded in regular schools.

This finding has drawn fire from leaders of these schools, who argue that it's only… more

"Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds" in SF Chronicle | Questioning Immigrants' Desire to Assimilate

Communications — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 12:49:00 -0500

New America in the News:

SF Chronicle | Questioning Immigrants' Desire to Assimilate

. . . Two new books diverge from the political approach to the simmering assimilation debate, one looking backward, another looking forward. Los Angeles Times columnist Gregory Rodriguez's provocatively titled "Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America" examines Mexican Americans' self-identity through history, from the Aztec conquest to 21st century immigration into the United States. Rodriguez makes a strong argument that the very idea of treating Mexican Americans or Latinos as a single racial category, as the U.S. Census attempts to do with the "Hispanic" label, misses the fact that, for the past 500 years, the Mexican people have been an "in between" group, with each individual deciding where he or she belonged based on economic and cultural advantage. . .

Gregory Rodriguez directs the California Fellows Program and is an Irvine Senior Fellow at New America Foundation.

Engine of Assimilation

adminn — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:25:00 -0500

Americans have little confidence that assimilation is happening today as it once did. According to a 2006 Pew Research Center poll, 44 percent of Americans believe that today's immigrants are not as willing to assimilate as those who came during the early 1900s. Their confidence is not likely to grow with the release of a new Pew Hispanic Center report, which shows that by 2050 nearly 1 in 5 people in the United States will be foreign-born. Nativists, such as columnist Patrick J. Buchanan, who has gone so far as to claim that the refusal of immigrants to assimilate is… more

Steven Clemons in San Francisco Chronicle | 'Castro, primaries - food, fuel for blogosphere'

Communications — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:21:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Castro, primaries - food, fuel for blogosphere (San Francisco Chronicle)

It came as a shock that, after 50 years in power, Castro has conceded he is no longer physically up to the job of running Cuba and is transferring the reins of power (well almost) to his brother, Raul. What this all means was taken up at links.sfgate.com/ZCNE by Steven C. Clemons. He says that what is lost amid all the reporting of the moment is that the real question may be, "Which of the presidential candidates is prepared to finally break U.S.-Cuba relations out of the anachronistic Cold War cocoon they have been frozen in and initiate a new course that benefits American interests?"

"Of all the low cost opportunities to demonstrate a new and different U.S. style of engagement with the world, Cuba is at the top of the list."

"One interesting U.S. presidential race tidbit involves Fidel Castro - who is now quite dismissive of and sparring with John McCain over McCain's accusations that Cuban agents engaged in torture in Vietnam. However, before this spat, Castro said that the 'unbeatable' U.S. presidential ticket would have both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on it."

'Spending Problem?' Some of it's Hidden in our Tax Laws

Ron Tang — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's diagnosis of California's $14.5 billion budget shortfall: a "spending problem." His remedy: 10 percent across-the-board spending cuts. What about a second opinion?

A spending problem is a chronic condition that warrants more than unfocused across-the-board cuts. Eliminating unnecessary spending would be a more reasonable and lasting treatment. The first step is identifying that wasteful spending -- not always an easy task. The task is made even trickier when some of it is hidden in our tax laws. Removing the spending waste in our tax laws can provide partial relief for our spending problem, reduce the chance of recurrence… more

How to Make Primaries Balanced, More Relevant

Ron Tang — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

In the aftermath of Iowa and New Hampshire, many Americans have begun to question the nominating process itself. Are two tiny rural states really the place to kick off an all-important national selection process? According to a survey conducted for the Associated Press and Yahoo News, fewer than 1 in 5 voters favors Iowa and New Hampshire's "favored state" status, and nearly 80 percent would rather see other states get their chance at the front of the line. Officials in those other states fear that if they hold their presidential primary too late in the season, the nominations… more

Why the Budget Gap Shouldn't Derail Health Care Reform

adminn — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:06:00 -0500

As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has released his budget threatened by $14 billion of red ink, many are asking whether California can afford the ambitious health care reforms that passed the state Assembly in December. Given the social and economic costs of leaving as many as 6.5 million Californians uninsured, the better question may be: Can we afford not to? Those worried by the possible impact of the budget gap on health reform include Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, whose chamber must vote for the health reform bill for it to move forward. Perata's concerns must be taken… more

Maya MacGuineas in S.F. Chronicle on Paygo

Communications — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:49:00 -0500

New America in the News:

President Bush seems to have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a full nelson.

Just a year after Democrats charged into power on Capitol Hill against a Republican president with bottom-scraping poll numbers and a soured war, it's the Democrats who are crying uncle in the biggest budget confrontation since the 1995 government shutdown.

Democrats do not want a repeat of that fight, which crippled the GOP revolution and revived Democrat Bill Clinton's presidency. Yet they seem astonished to find themselves on the defensive in a budget confrontation where Bush is asking for $200 billion to pay for the Iraq war, but promises to veto domestic spending bills that are $23 billion more than he wanted.

Democrats are struggling even to pass a middle-class tax cut under the banner of fiscal responsibility. A House plan to shield 21 million mainly Democratic households from the alternative minimum tax, and offset the lost revenue with higher taxes on Wall Street, appears to be unraveling. If it does, so does the vaunted "pay as you go" rule that Pelosi pledged would re-establish fiscal responsibility in Washington after years of rampant Republican borrowing. ...

Democrats are showing equal frustration on the alternative minimum tax. The alternative minimum tax was intended to ensure that the wealthiest taxpayers didn't evade all income taxes, but over time has hit more and more middle-income taxpayers in areas with high state and local taxes, such as California and New York.

Before leaving town for the holiday recess, Senate Republicans rejected a compromise Senate Democrats floated that would have made it easier to comply with the "pay-as-you-go" budget rule. The "paygo" rule is the chief claim Democrats have to restoring fiscal responsibility to government. It is vital to conservative House Democrats, many of whom captured Republican seats last fall that tagged them with the nickname "majority-makers."

"It's been a tough year on the budget, but Democrats have stuck to paygo, and there have been a lot of initiatives that were pushed back because people came to the leadership and said, 'This is what I want to do and I have no plan to pay for it,' and leadership said, 'We're not going forward with that,' " said Maya MacGuineas, director of the fiscal policy program at the moderate New America Foundation. "But it looks like it's all going to break down" on the alternative minimum tax.

"The real test is having paygo mean you have to make hard choices," MacGuineas said, "when it's a popular and expensive bill, which is exactly what the (alternative minimum tax) is. And now it looks like it won't be fully paid for." ...

For the complete article, please follow this link. Maya MacGuineas is president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Know New Taxes

Articles — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:20:00 -0400

When it comes to taxes, the United States is not very creative. We have the traditional income, sales and property taxes, as well as sin taxes on tobacco and alcohol. In comparison, Ireland has a tax on plastic bags and Denmark has a tax on disposable tableware. The United Kingdom has a landfill tax. China has a tax on disposable wooden chopsticks and Sweden has a carbon tax.

Are these countries just desperate for revenue? No. There are good reasons for environmental taxes and a few are used in the United States. Our federal tax on ozone-depleting chemicals has been around… more

On California's Quest for Health Reform

Articles — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:16:00 -0400

Twenty-five years ago, 49er quarterback Joe Montana connected with Dwight Clark on a last-minute miracle pass that changed the history of pro football forever. The metaphor for saving California health-care reform in 2007 resides in that memory.

Several national media reports of the death of reform are premature. But we are truly down to the final minute. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s original plan was good, but not perfect. Those for whom the perfect is the enemy of the good have effectively blocked it. Republican legislators refuse to consider whether investing in Californians’ health might be worth the cost. Some left-of-center advocates… more