The Orlando Sentinel

Maya MacGuineas in the Orlando Sentinel | 'Where They Stand: Fixing the Economy'

Articles — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:59:00 -0400

New America in the News:
The total cost of McCain's plan is about $352.5 billion, of which about $300 billion would be offset through savings in other areas, for a net cost of about $52.5 billion, according to a preliminary analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan, nonprofit Washington think tank. The total cost of Obama's plan is about $200 billion, of which about $90 billion would be offset through savings in other areas, for a net cost of about $110 billion, according to a preliminary analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget... LINK

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget in the Orlando Sentinel| 'Americans Want More from the Presidential Candidates'

Communications — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:15:00 -0400

New America in the News:
How would Mr. Obama pay for universal health care, tax cuts for 95 percent of families and the other ambitious initiatives he promised? He declared that he could cover the cost -- "every dime" -- by trimming or eliminating other, unnamed government programs and closing corporate tax loopholes. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan watchdog, estimates Mr. Obama's plans would, in fact, add nearly $300 billion to the already-swollen national debt over his first four years.

How exactly would Mr. McCain pay for extending the Bush tax cuts and cutting taxes for corporations? He also vowed to cut spending and get rid of unspecified "failed" programs. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget figures his plans could add $300 billion or more to the debt in his first term. LINK

Engaging Hamas: The When and the How

Articles — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:28:00 -0400

The Hamas takeover of Gaza in June and the resulting West Bank-Gaza split has raised serious questions. What are the short-term prospects for reunification? Can serious political progress be made with Israel without Palestinian reconciliation? What are the elements of a successful and lasting future reconciliation?

There is no doubt that ultimately for political, economic and geopolitical reasons, the West Bank and Gaza must be one territorial unit. Hamas represents a sizable Palestinian constituency that must be engaged and become part of the political system. But the chances of that happening in the near future are slim. Engaging Hamas without a… more

Orlando Sentinel Quotes Shannon Brownlee on Clinical Studies

Communications — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 16:10:00 -0400

New America in the News:

According to Greek epidemiologist John Ioannidis, the latest medical research is wrong about one-third of the time - or at least that's what the latest research shows.

Ioannidis, whose findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined 49 widely cited medical studies and found that the results of 14 of them were contradicted or downplayed by later research.

He went so far as to claim that "most published research findings are false."

While Ioannidis' work raises some hard questions - Is there a fundamental flaw in medical research or is this just part of the scientific process? - he joins a growing chorus of critics of the way research is conducted, published and subsequently reported by the mass media...

Typically, it's not that researchers are trying to mislead people - but the sponsor of the study might be. Until recently, few medical journals included information on who paid for the research or whether the researcher stood to gain financially from the outcome.

"Today, private industry has unprecedented leverage to dictate what doctors and patients know - and don't know - about the $160 billion worth of pharmaceuticals Americans consume each year," writes Shannon Brownlee, a journalist and fellow at the nonprofit New America Foundation.

That's because, during the past two decades, the money for most clinical studies has come not from the federal government, as it once did, but from the pharmaceutical and biotech industries themselves. If a study doesn't show its drug to be effective, a company sometimes does its best to delay or even prevent publication. A drug-maker may even sponsor several trials until it gets the results it wants...

For the complete article, please visit The Orlando Sentinel website.