The Christian Science Monitor

Shannon Brownlee, Jacob Hacker in Chrisitan Science Monitor | 'Arguments for a National Healthcare System'

Communications — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:52:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Arguments Mount for a National Healthcare System (Christian Science Monitor)

...In the current campaign season, Senator McCain calls for dozens of reforms to bring down costs and make expenditures more effective in health results. And he states, "we can and must provide access to healthcare for all our citizens." His proposals, though, don't fully embrace the uninsured.

Shannon Brownlee, a senior fellow at the centrist New America Foundation, charges that McCain is "so wedded to the free market that he fails to recognize that there has been market failure" in the healthcare industry.

Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are more ambitious in their proposed reforms than McCain. They both promise, if elected, to provide guaranteed, affordable care for all Americans.

Both of their proposals have taken key elements from a plan of Jacob Hacker, a political scientist at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. Professor Hacker's template, outlined in an Economic Policy Institute briefing paper, notes: "America's $2.2 trillion-a-year medical complex is enormously wasteful, ill-targeted, inefficient, and unfair. The best medical care is extremely good, but the Rube Goldberg system through which that care is financed is extremely bad – and falling apart." He calls the runaway costs a "grave threat" to the security of family finances and to corporate America's bottom line.

The Hacker plan combines the current employer-based system with a new federally administered insurance pool similar to Medicare, the popular program for older Americans. This new pool would be funded by premiums and copays charged to individuals and employers who sign up, as well as government subsidies. Individuals would automatically be enrolled, either at work or when they seek care. Premiums would be capped, with subsidies for lower-income families. ...

Hacker was delighted last month when an analysis of his plan by the Lewis Group, a nonpartisan consulting group, held that his proposal would cover 99.6 percent of all Americans without raising total national health spending. Indeed, it would save more than $1 trillion over 10 years, the report held.

None of the leading presidential candidates call for a single-payer system, as in Canada. That may be in part political expediency, considering what is possible. Republicans sometimes call Democrat health plans "socialized medicine." ...

Hacker doubts if Americans would go "in one fell swoop" for a single-payer system where individuals choose their own doctors, but government pays the bill. ...

Canada, says Ms. Brownlee, author of a new book, "Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer," spends about 16 percent of every dollar on administrative costs.

Daniel Levy in The Christian Science Monitor on Israel's Politicians

Communications — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:33:00 -0500

New America in the News:

After an unexpected show of strength at a rally on Monday by supporters of the Palestinian Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip, rival Hamas forces – which control the area – moved quickly to arrest hundreds of Fatah activists, increasing the likelihood of more conflict in the territories.

The Palestinian split into two camps, a Fatah willing to compromise with Israel and a Hamas still insistent on refusing to recognize the right of the Jewish state to exist, and the newly heightened tensions between the camps have further clouded the outlook for peace. ...

On his blog Prospectsforpeace.com, former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy says that Israel's politicians are also weakened by divisions, limiting the prospects for concessions from their side, though he also argues they could make some concessions if the country's prime minister is willing to take some political heat.

A major reason for the shifting of emphasis away from core permanent status issues has been the lack of political wiggle room afforded to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by the coalition math. Parties within Olmert's governing coalition, as well as members of his own Kadima party, declared their opposition to any far reaching understandings with the Palestinians on territory, Jerusalem…etc. Nevertheless, whether before Annapolis in a last ditch effort to make the gathering something more than a "photo-up" or post-Annapolis as negotiations move forward, the core issues will eventually have to be addressed.

Bottom line, should he be so inclined, Olmert has a majority to pursue negotiations and for many key Roadmap deliverables; and yes there would be the political knocks, bumps and crises that can be safely avoided by doing nothing. None of those crises will be as damaging to Olmert politically or to Israel strategically as the folly of last summer's Lebanon war. ...

For the complete article, please visit The Christain Science Monitor website.

Maya MacGuineas in Christian Science Monitor on Social Security, Medicare

Communications — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:48:00 -0400

New America in the News:

As baby boomers enter the starting gate into retirement, the cost of America's entitlement programs – foremost, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid – is projected to balloon to levels that are unsustainable.

Already, those three programs make up 40 percent of the federal budget. If reforms are not enacted, Social Security will eventually go bust; in 40 years, on the current path, the two medical programs alone could equal the size of today's entire federal budget according to the US Government Accountability Office.

Experts tend to agree on the projections, but is it a crisis? In the hyperpartisan atmosphere of the 2008 presidential campaign, the topic of entitlement programs is also a matter of dispute between parties. Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R) of Tennessee, the most impassioned candidate on entitlement spending, suggests that it's the nation's most important domestic problem – and, alone among the top-tier Republican candidates, is willing to take the risky step of discussing cuts in benefits. Most Republicans stick with the safer position of saying what they won't do – raise taxes – or proposing a new commission to study the problem. The Democratic candidates call entitlement spending a long-term challenge, and assert that there's plenty of time to work out a solution. They tend not to bring up the subject on the stump, but when asked, they repeat their opposition to the "privatization of Social Security," a refrain from the days of President Bush's ill-fated effort to make private accounts a part of the program.

"Democratic voters are not at all convinced that there's a problem, because they believe in many ways that this is something that was kind of contrived by the administration in an effort to privatize the system," says Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. "They see people using crisis rhetoric as a big exaggeration."

And so, she says, Democratic candidates tend not to stick their necks out by making proposals. ...

For the complete article, please follow this link.

Steve Clemons in Christian Science Monitor on Bush's Cuba Initiative

Communications — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:46:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Having belatedly realized that Cuba's communist regime is not doomed to collapse simply with the passing from power of Fidel Castro, the Bush administration is launching new pro-democracy initiatives with the decades-old U.S. hope of fostering a shift from communism.

But little suggests that the road to a democratic Cuba is suddenly open to new U.S. measures - or to renewed American pressure. Fidel's brother Raul has consolidated control of the Cuban system since the elder Castro relinquished power for health reasons in July 2006. And with Cuba's economy growing and the country benefiting from expanded ties to friendly governments such as Venezuela and China, new U.S. efforts are unlikely to have much impact, most Cuba experts believe.

The administration "could have come up with something different to respond to the changes that have taken place in Cuba, but instead they are acting as if the transition to Raul Castro hasn't happened," says Steven Clemons, director of the American strategy program at the New America Foundation in Washington. "What this does is keep U.S.-Cuba relations in a cold-war cocoon at least a while longer." ...

For the complete article, please follow this link.

Let the Poor Save for Their Future

Articles — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 12:23:00 -0400

In 1990, newspapers around the country profiled the story of Grace Capetillo, a welfare mom from Milwaukee who, after managing to save $3,000 in the bank, was hauled into court by the county Department of Social Services and charged with fraud. Having breached the limit on allowable assets, Ms. Capetillo was found guilty and ordered to pay a fine of $1,000, spend down another $1,000 of the money she had worked hard to save, and promise not to save again if she wanted to stay on assistance.

The country was rightfully outraged; the system was clearly broken. Yet today, 17… more

The Christian Science Monitor Quotes Daniel Levy on Syria and Israel

Communications — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 01:26:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...Daniel Levy, a former peace negotiator for Israel [and director of the Middle East Policy Initiative at the New America Foundation], says on his blog Prospects for Peace that it appears Israel is less committed to the US desire for regime change in Syria out of practical considerations, especially since one winner from any major political change in Syria could be that country's Muslim Brotherhood, which is aligned to Israel's enemy, the Palestinian Sunni militant group Hamas.

"Indications are that Israel is far from enamored with the regime change policy. In fact, there has been a flurry of backchannel diplomatic activity between Israel and Syria over the past weeks. Israeli and Syrian sources have both confirmed Turkish mediation, and the Turks are not alone in playing this role. There has also been a conscious effort on both sides to ratchet down the confrontational rhetoric, and to take steps to avoid any accidental military escalation this summer.

"As the backchannel messaging continues between Jerusalem and Damascus, the lack of an American willingness to engage is becoming a decisive negative factor. The Olmert government now seems serious in wanting to explore a Syrian option. The Syrian leadership is explaining to anyone willing to listen that it cannot be asked to move towards peace with Israel and the concomitant strategic realignment that this would require vis-a-vis Iran and Hizbollah, for instance, without receiving commitments from the US, that it will no longer be subject (to) a regime change and sanctions policy. Syrian sources actually consider that the dialogue with Israel is beginning to move forward seriously, while that with the Bush administration remains blocked..."

For the complete article, please visit The Christian Science Monitor web site.

David Gray and Justin King in The Christian Science Monitor

Communications — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 07:11:00 -0400

New America in the News:

We completely agree with the July 10 article, "America becomes a more 'adult-centered' nation." Not only are couples showing less interest in children but so are policymakers. The Urban Institute recently released a report detailing that from 1960 to 2006, federal spending on children's programs declined from 20.1 to 15.4 percent of domestic spending. Federal spending on children's programs is projected to decline from 2.6 to 2.1 percent of gross domestic product in the next 10 years.

Family economic well-being and educational outcomes have essentially flat-lined. Child health is in a steep decline because of the epidemic of overweight children. The increased prevalence of single parent households continues to negatively affect children's social relationships. Children also face deep and persistent disparities in their quality of life depending on race and ethnicity. America should become more child-centered. The quality of life of American children should be a top priority for presidential candidates, policymakers, and parents.

David Gray and Justin King
New America Foundation
Washington

Please visit The Christian Science Monitor website for that edition's full Letters to the Editor section.

Christian Science Monitor Quotes Anatol Lieven on Ex-Communist Purge

Communications — Tue, 01 May 2007 17:38:00 -0400

New America in the News:

When Kestutis Dziautas enrolled in Moscow's KGB college in 1985, he wasn't aware, he says, of the Soviet secret police's role in executing and imprisoning hundreds of thousands of fellow Lithuanians decades earlier. Likewise, he says, he didn't know that KGB agents were still the feared foot soldiers of a ruthless regime.

But neither his claim of naivete, nor the fact that he spent only four months working for the KGB before the fall of communism, was enough to spare him: A 1999 law aimed at punishing and rooting out ex-KGB operatives like Mr. Dziautas banned them from a wide range of public- and private-sector jobs for 10 years.

So Dziautas and three comrades took their case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg - and won. In 2004 and 2005 verdicts, the court declared Lithuania's "KGB Act" a violation of the European Convention of Human Rights, specifically the right to work...

The issue is typically used as a weapon - in Lithuania as elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe - by a nationalist right-wing pandering to its base by pummeling the left-wing, the historic heir to the Communist Party.

"I think this issue will come up again and again, as long as former communists of any seniority are still around," says Anatol Lieven, senior research fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington and author of "The Baltic Revolution: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Path to Independence..."

For the complete article, please visit The Christian Science Monitor website.

Joel Kotkin in The Christian Science Monitor on Unionizing in L.A.

Communications — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:28:00 -0400

New America in the News:

It's no secret that labor unions are struggling with declining membership and loss of negotiating clout, but don't tell that to the hundreds of activists who gathered Friday for a rally outside the Hilton Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport...

Analysts note that the city is a major entry point for immigrants, legal and otherwise, who tend to work at low-wage jobs in numbers large enough to have some collective impact. It has active environmental and religious communities, which are increasingly taking up the causes of the poor. Moreover, they say, an exodus by much of the middle class leaves a city in which the contrast between Hollywood's megarich and South Central's slipping poor is acute and, to many, disturbing...

"The big targets for unionization in L.A. are getting smaller," says economist Joel Kotkin, Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation who writes on economic, political, and social trends. "Outside the big public projects, you don't see a lot of union labor, and you are not going to organize day laborers [standing] outside Costco. Since many of the workers don't vote, aren't citizens, and make low wages, the unions are going to have somewhat less money and clout than the industrial unions of before..."

For the complete article, please visit The Christian Science Monitor website.

Christian Science Monitor Quotes Daniel Levy on Saudi Summit

Communications — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:34:00 -0400

New America in the News:

A meeting of Arab and Muslim leaders here that ended Thursday provided a venue for Saudi Arabia to put some distance between itself and the US, hand-wringing about the possible spread of Iraq's civil war, and negotiations to resolve the growing crisis between Iran and Britain...

At Thursday's summit, Arab leaders reaffirmed their support for the Saudi proposal, which offers full recognition of Israel by the Arab states in exchange for a return of Palestinian land seized in the 1967 war, East Jerusalem as the Palestinians' capital, and the return of Palestinian refugees to their former homes.

Saudi Arabia appears to be convinced that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the key issue inflaming Islamist revolutionaries in Arab countries, and gives Iran a wedge in gaining regional influence by inflaming anti-regime sentiments...

But Israel considers the right of return a threat to its survival, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called for Arab concessions before moving forward. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres has called for negotiations, though...

Daniel Levy, a key member of Israeli negotiating teams with the Palestinians in the 1990s and now senior fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, says Israel should make clear that it will meet all the land demands in exchange for compromise on the return of Palestinians.

"Every time [Foreign Minister] Livni says 'refugee' someone sitting next to her should say '67,' " says Mr. Levy. He also says a more careful tone from Israel could be helpful.

"If you want the Saudis and the Arab League to make certain modifications ... is sending the foreign minister to say, 'This is what you have to do, Arabs,' the right way to go about it?.."

For the complete article, please visit The Christian Science Monitor website.