The New York Times

Are You Confused Yet?

Ron Tang — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 05:49:00 -0400

Polls show that health care ranks near the top of voters’ concerns, especially among Democrats. And for those who say “the economy” is the top issue, health care is usually a major part of their financial worries.

And yet, voters must be awfully confused about where the Democrats stand on health care. On the one hand, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton say they want to insure everyone -- and in much the same way. On the other hand, they are beating each other up at every turn. Before the Pennsylvania primary, Mr. Obama ran yet another ad arguing… more

Doug Rediker in New York Times | Financier Aims to Buy Struggling Small Banks

Communications — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:54:00 -0400

New America in the News:

New York Times | Financier Aims to Buy Struggling Small Banks

. . . “For Abu Dhabi to come in and try to cobble together eight different thrifts into a multibillion-dollar deal is enormously complicated,” said Douglas Rediker, co-director of the Global Strategic Finance Initiative at the New America Foundation, a research organization in Washington. “But Wilbur Ross is an active investor who knows how to do this.” . . .

CRFB Featured in NY Times | 'Views on Money for Iraq War'

Jerry Irvine — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:29:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Views on Money for Iraq War, and What Else Could Be Done With It(New York Times)

...Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Mr. McCain’s chief economic adviser and a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said the benefits of success in Iraq dwarfed the $150 billion annual cost. He also said that if the war and the personal and corporate tax cuts that Mr. McCain advocated added to the federal deficit and debt, so be it.

“I would like the next president not to talk about deficit reduction,” Mr. Holtz-Eakin said at a symposium sponsored by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “The next president should talk about what’s good for American families — education, health care at reasonable costs, pensions that are secure, opening our borders to trade. If we can take care of that, we can take care of the budget.”

Mr. McCain has said he plans to pay for tax cuts and modernizing the military by eliminating earmarks and wasteful spending from the federal budget. Both Senators Clinton and Obama would allow the Bush administration’s personal income tax cuts to expire in 2011 and are proposing new levies on wealthy individuals, oil companies and other businesses to help pay for expansive and expensive new government programs.

'The Bin Ladens'

Ron Tang — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 07:29:00 -0400

"We All Worship the Same God"

October 1984 to February 1985 Lynn Peghiny played piano most mornings at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Hotel in Orlando, Florida. She was twenty-four, dark-haired, slim, and spirited. She had grown up in Melbourne, on the Atlantic coast, and studied music at the University of Central Florida. She was drawn to the piano and made a living at it, if barely. The breakfast shift in the Hyatt's cavernous atrium was normally subdued sleepy tourists fortifying themselves for a day at Disney World, businessmen murmuring about real estate. One morning in October 1984, however, a middle-aged… more

Sascha Meinrath in New York Times | 'Hopes for Wireless Cities Fade as Internet Providers Pull Out'

Communications — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 07:27:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Hopes for Wireless Cities Fade as Internet Providers Pull Out (New York Times)

. . . “The entire for-profit model is the reason for the collapse in all these projects,” said Sascha Meinrath, technology analyst at the New America Foundation, a nonprofit research organization in Washington.

Mr. Meinrath said that advocates wanted to see American cities catch up with places like Athens, Leipzig and Vienna, where free or inexpensive Wi-Fi already exists in many areas.

He said that true municipal networks, the ones that are owned and operated by municipalities, were far more sustainable because they could take into account benefits that help cities beyond private profit, including property-value increases, education benefits and quality-of-life improvements that come with offering residents free wireless access.

Mr. Meinrath pointed to St. Cloud, Fla., which spent $3 million two years ago to build a free wireless network that is used by more than 70 percent of the households in the city. . .

Competing Prescriptions

Ron Tang — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:39:00 -0400

With the March 4 primaries delivering finality on one side of the partisan divide and uncertainty on the other, it’s a good time to take stock of where the candidates are on health care. For now, most attention has centered on the scrap between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama over an “individual mandate” requiring everyone to have health insurance. But this fight will look like a college seminar discussion compared with the take-no-prisoners battle that’s likely to emerge between John McCain and whomever the Democrats eventually nominate.

That’s because, when it comes to health care, Republicans are from Mars and Democrats… more

Sascha Meinrath in the New York Times politics blog | "Wanted: A More Digital Congress"

Communications — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:12:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Wanted: A More Digital Congress (New York Times)

. . . Another way to share content online with voters, said Sascha Meinrath of the New America Foundation, is including access to a program like Google Documents, which allows multiple users to edit the same document. The idea is that if congressmen put a preliminary draft of a bill in an open source program on their sites, then specialists out in their home districts could amend the language or add information that hadn’t been addressed for the legislator to consider.

“We should be tapping into that expertise,” Mr. Meinrath said. “Peer production is a massive untapped resource.” . . .

Len Nichols in New York Times | Coming Soon: Health Care Debate, Part 2

Jerry Irvine — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 06:22:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Coming Soon: Health Care Debate, Part 2

THE skirmishing between the Democratic presidential candidates over the mechanics of universal health coverage will soon give way to a quite different general-election debate — about whether universal coverage should even be a national priority.

Len M. Nichols, director of health policy for the New America Foundation, and a supporter of a health insurance mandate, said the ledger also must account for the economic and social costs of the deaths, disabilities and bankruptcies attributable to lack of insurance. “The right question is: would coverage expansion add enough social and economic value to merit the investment?” he said. “The literature suggests a resounding yes.”

Ellen Seidman in New York Times | 'A Moral Hazard for a Housing Bailout'

Communications — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:14:00 -0500

New America in the News:

A ‘Moral Hazard’ for a Housing Bailout: Sorting the Victims From Those Who Volunteered (New York Times)

Ellen Seidman, a former director of the Office of Thrift Supervision and now a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, said the government’s first challenge is to buy mortgages at their true current value. If the government overpaid or became caught by an even further decline in the market value of its mortgages, taxpayers would indeed be bailing out both the industry and imprudent home buyers.

“It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible,” Ms. Seidman said. “There are various auction mechanisms, both inside and outside government.” ...

Len Nichols in New York Times | '2 Plans and Many Questions on the Uninsured'

Communications — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:03:00 -0500

New America in the News:

2 Plans and Many Questions on the Uninsured (New York Times)

Brandy Coons is what health economists call a free rider.

She may not fully appreciate it, but her decision to go without health insurance, like millions of similarly situated Americans, has become central to the pre-eminent policy dispute of the Democratic presidential campaign. ...

Many free riders are assumed to be young and at little risk of major illness, but they do consume health care. A recent analysis by the New America Foundation, a Washington policy group, found that 16 percent of the patients who received uncompensated medical care in 2004 had family incomes of at least four times the federal poverty level (which would currently be $41,600 for an individual and $84,800 for a family of four).

They accounted for $5.8 billion of the estimated $41.4 billion in uncompensated care that year. Most of it was delivered in hospitals, which are required by federal law to treat patients with emergency conditions, regardless of ability to pay. A vast majority of that care is covered by the federal, state and local governments in a direct cost shift to taxpayers. ...

“By allowing people to stay out, you risk that only the sick will come in,” said Len M. Nichols, director of health policy for the New America Foundation, and a reluctant supporter of a mandate. “Insurers have to protect themselves. Bringing everyone in also lowers costs across the board because the risk pool is wider.” ...