Investor's Business Daily

Steven Clemons in Investor's Business Daily | 'U.S. Hopes Bank Crisis Won't Last Like Japan's'

Articles — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:15:00 -0400

New America in the News:

"The U.S. bailout is definitely going to work faster, but it will feel more brutal," said Steven Clemons, a Japan expert and director of the foreign policy program at the New America Foundation. "The Japanese digested about 10% of their nonperforming loan problem a year -- so while the economy didn't grow, it didn't shrink. Japan was able to keep flat GDP."

Clemons cited the already sharp contraction in the U.S. housing market and consumer spending. With bank lending still pretty much frozen, he says there's no way to avoid a hard landing. LINK

Len Nichols in Investor's Business Daily | 'Universal Health Care Costly, Divides Dems'

Communications — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:26:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Universal Health Care Costly, Divides Dems (Investor's Business Daily Online)

...Universal health care advocates attribute the cost overruns in Massachusetts to a positive outcome -- more uninsured are signing up.

Len Nichols, director of health policy at the New America Foundation, remains upbeat about health care reform in 2009.

Away from the campaign trail, Nichols notes that a bill from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has attracted about a dozen sponsors across the political spectrum. The bill would pay for mandated universal coverage by ending the tax break on employer-provided coverage and using those savings to help those with incomes of less than 400% of the poverty level pay insurance premiums.

"The main reason I'm optimistic is precisely because we have that conversation going on," Nichols said.

Both Obama and Clinton would force insurers to offer affordable and generous coverage to all, regardless of health status. They would end Bush tax cuts for families making over $250,000 to help subsidize premiums.

Len Nichols in Investor's Business Daily on Candidates' Healthcare Plans

Communications — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 05:54:00 -0400

New America in the News:

... President Bush proposed capping the tax break at $15,000 for families and using the savings to provide a tax deduction to help the uninsured afford coverage. Republican presidential contenders Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have offered similar ideas.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has proposed financing universal coverage by ending the tax break on employer-provided coverage. He would redirect those savings to help people with incomes of less than 400% of the poverty level pay insurance premiums.

The Wyden plan, which has a handful of GOP sponsors, "allows you to cover every single American without repealing the Bush tax cuts," said Len Nichols, director of health policy at the New America Foundation.

In contrast, the top Democratic contenders would repeal the Bush tax cuts for higher earners. Clinton's plan would raise $52 billion a year by reversing the income-tax cuts for households making more than $250,000.

Clinton, alone among the Democrats, also would cap the exclusion on employer-provided care -- but only for those making more than $250,000. This would save an estimated $2 billion a year.

While noting the savings from tax reform in Clinton's plan are "tiny," Nichols suggests the senator is signaling a willingness to consider more substantive reform.

But Clinton's rhetoric suggests she might not go very far. Her plan overview "rejects calls to limit the tax exclusion for middle-class Americans who have negotiated generous coverage."

The alternatives to restraining costs through tax reforms are mostly "draconian" ideas such as capping payments to doctors and hospitals, he said.

The candidates are in no mood to talk of draconian measures. Clinton has even talked about closing the gap in Medicare drug coverage, which the Congressional Budget Office has said would cost $39 billion a year by 2010.

Nichols said it is not surprising the candidates don't want to talk about performing the equivalent of "root canal" in the middle of a campaign.

But in the process of trying to push a universal coverage bill in 2009, they'll have no choice but to get serious about cost containment.

"That's when we want the adult conversation to happen," Nichols said.

For the complete article, please visit Investor's Business Daily online.

Investor's Business Daily Quotes Maya MacGuineas on Saving Social Security

Communications — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:35:00 -0400

New America in the News:

In recent weeks, presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton discussed her approach to saving Social Security. Maya MacGuineas, Director of the Fiscal Policy Program at New America, comments on the issue of Social Security:

"No one could argue that a return to fiscal discipline isn't a step in the right direction, but that alone isn't sufficient" to restore solvency to Social Security, said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

"It's certainly going to take hard choices, and the only productive way to start this discussion is leaving everything on the table," she said...

For the complete article, please visit Investor's Business Daily web site.

Len Nichols in Investor's Business Daily on Candidate Health Plans

Communications — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 06:25:00 -0400

New America in the News:

The Democratic contenders are focusing on expanded health care coverage as the best way to address economic anxiety. But this year's plans are costlier and more ambitious, says Len Nichols, director of health policy at the New America Foundation.

Edwards puts the annual cost of his plan at $90 billion to $120 billion. Obama says his wouldn't cost more than $65 billion — if the assumed savings materialize.

Edwards would mandate that everyone buy coverage — a big leap from Kerry's 2004 plan that would have left 17 million uninsured.

Edwards and Obama would give people a choice to purchase private coverage or buy coverage from Medicare...

Gov't Rx Fixes In Vogue

Nichols attributes the shift in the health care debate to three factors.

First, premiums now cost close to 20% of family income.

Second, growing international competitiveness means high U.S. health care costs come out of profits.

The Business Roundtable is now much more vocal about the need for health care reform than in 2004. "These guys are demanding change," Nichols said.

Many old-line corporate titans such as GM made big promises to workers in the past that they can no longer afford. They would love to load their problems onto taxpayers.

Last year's health care pact in Massachusetts, signed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a GOP presidential hopeful, "proved that you could get a bipartisan agreement to actually cover everybody," Nichols said...

For the complete article, please visit the Investor's Business Daily web site.

Maya MacGuineas in Investors Business Daily on Lame Duck Congress

Communications — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 09:00:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Even before Democrats take the reins of power in January, the lame-duck session of Congress that began on Monday is providing a preview of what's to come.

It appears that although the GOP agenda is in retreat, Democrats are picking their battles carefully as they try to hold onto the independent voters who swung Democratic in last week's election....

With a short window of time, Congress is likely to pass a continuing resolution to fund most other agencies and "leave the hard choices" for next year, said Maya MacGuineas, director of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Congress is also likely to extend tax credits for research and development, state and local sales taxes, tuition, and teacher purchases of classroom supplies. Republicans had packaged those and other tax cuts with a minimum-wage hike and permanent estate-tax relief to try to win Democratic support. The GOP is ready to drop the estate-tax relief and pass the tax cuts itself.

Democrats campaigned on a pledge to institute pay-as-you-go budgeting, meaning they won't cut taxes or add spending programs without finding offsets. It's unclear whether Democrats will simply go along with the tax credits or insist on finding offsets.

While the lame-duck session "isn't the best indicator of what will happen" once Democrats take charge, it will offer an early signal on how serious they are about being the party of fiscal responsibility, MacGuineas said....

For the complete article, please visit the Investors Business Daily web site.

Blending Economic Theories Risky

Articles — Wed, 03 Oct 2001 00:00:00 -0400

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that "the true test of a first-rate mind is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time." By that standard, our president, whose intelligence opponents have long underestimated, may be an economic genius.

In a recent White House meeting, aiming to define the economic policy reaction to the events of Sept. 11, President Bush reportedly said: "We are both supply-siders and Keynesians."

Now, that's a little like saying you're both a Red Sox fan and a Yankees fan. Supply-siders and Keynesians stand at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum.

Bush's apparent contradiction is part… more

No Bulls for Bush: With Little Access, Wall Street Views White House Warily

Articles — Wed, 14 Mar 2001 00:00:00 -0500

President Bush received a raucous reception on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange last week. But Wall Street traders have generally not reacted to his economic agenda with exuberance

Bush's… more