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1. “Energy Solutions Beyond Technology”
Dr. Steven Koonin, Former
Undersecretary for
January 12th, 2-3 p.m., Room 105,
2. 7th Annual San Francisco Networking Reception
Thursday, January 19, 2012, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
3. The Goldman School’s Career Fair
February 29, 2012
4.
Annual Aaron Wildavsky Forum 2012
Lawrence Summers, President Emeritus
of Harvard University; Director of the National Economic Council in the Obama
Administration 2009-2011; U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, 1999-2001.
April 12-13, 2012.
ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS
1. “GOP restores ban on needle-exchange funding” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 25, 2011); story citing LAURA THOMAS (MPP/MPH 1995); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/24/BA291MG3RO.DTL#ixzz1iVlskn7b
2. “State community colleges set to ration classes” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 25, 2011); story citing study by NANCY BOROW SHULOCK (MPP 1978); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/24/MN3U1MD0L6.DTL&ao=all#ixzz1iVpY3dPn
3. “Hellman’s memorial attracts 1,500” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 22, 2011); story citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/21/BAV61MFCA1.DTL#ixzz1hHkhNYCe
4. “Democrats turn tables on GOP as Boehner relents on payroll-tax deal” (Christian Science Monitor, December 22, 2011); analysis citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
5. “DOD, EPA Developing MOU on Stormwater Controls Beyond Permit Limits” (Water Regulation Alert, December 22, 2011); story citing DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).
6. “New laws look to make life harder - States lessen appeal to illegal migrants” (USA TODAY, December 21, 2011); story citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004).
7. “State site explains long-term health care” (Sacramento Bee, December 21, 2011); story citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002);
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/21/4136908/state-site-explains-long-term.html#storylink=cpy
8. “Leaders to weigh food truck, tree policies” (Alameda Times-Star, December 15, 2011); story citing JENNIFER OTT (MPP 2000).
9. “State budget: Trigger cuts hit community colleges” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 14, 2011); story citing PETER GOLDSTEIN (MPP 1981); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/13/MNFV1MBVNN.DTL#ixzz1gXANlVkl
10. “S.F. campaign-finance rules may get overhaul” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 10, 2011); story citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/09/MN671MANDO.DTL#ixzz1gQwcWOn9
11. “Mideast Expert Bard: Radical Islamist Rise Alarming” (Newsmax.com, December 10, 2011); interview with MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987).
12. “
13. “Taxation, citizenship, protest and the future of UC” (UC Berkeley NewsCenter, December 7, 2011); story citing HENRY BRADY and JONATHAN STEIN (MPP/JD cand.); http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/12/07/taxation-citizenship-protest-and-the-future-of-uc/
14. “Investment in state’s green car industry increases” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 7, 2011); story citing report lead-authored by DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/06/BU1S1M94OL.DTL#ixzz1fsFYnVMc
15. “Can ‘Carbon Ranching’ Offset Emissions in
16. “APNewsBreak: Ala. AG says change immigration law” (Associated Press, December 7, 2011); newswire citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004).
17. “Bay Area firms aid Obama’s energy retrofit plan” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 6, 2011); column citing FRANCISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/05/BUID1M8HG4.DTL#ixzz1fmHeO5M3
18. “CITY INSIDER: W Hotel objects to SFMOMA expansion” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 5, 2011); column citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/04/BAG41M73K7.DTL#ixzz1fgTmiOnP
19. “Child Well-Being in the Aftermath of the Recession: Creating a Vision for Kids” (States News Service, December 5, 2011); newswire citing JULIA BIXLER ISAACS (MPP 1985).
20. “Newt Gingrich Says You Can Use Food Stamps to Get to
21. “CAMPAIGN 2012: On fuel economy, Romney isn’t following in his ‘rebel’ father’s tire marks” (Greenwire, Vol. 10 No. 9, November 18, 2011); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992).
22. “Margaret Lavin: Obesity becomes threat to national security” (San Jose Mercury News, November 15, 2011); column citing SARAT MAYER (MPP 2004); http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county-times/ci_19342923?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
23. “Vistage Announces Winners of 2011 Member Leadership Awards” (PR Newswire, November 14, 2011); award citing KURT CHILCOTT (MPP 1984).
24. “
25. “House Financial Services Subcommittee Debates Expanding
Moving To Work Program” (States News Service, November
1, 2011); congressional testimony by WILL
FISCHER (MPP 1999).
26. “Science classes get shorted; A statewide survey and local interviews find science time and resources shrinking” (Los Angeles Times, October 31, 2011); story citing CHRISTOPHER ROE (MPP 2004).
27. “United Nations Increases Transparency in Global Arms Trade: New “Global Reported Arms Trade” Website Brings Statistics to Life” (States News Service, October 17, 2011); event featuring JEFF ABRAMSON (MPP 2003).
28. “
29. “Chinese bank to open in S.F.” (The San Francisco Chronicle, September 30, 2011); column citing GINNY FANG (MPP 2008); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/30/BUV11LATN3.DTL
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
1. “The Economywide Benefits of Unemployment Insurance Are Crystal Clear” (American Progress, December 22, 2011); analysis citing JESSE ROTHSTEIN; http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/12/unemployment_insurance_benefits_clear.html
2. “Google buys solar stake in Elk Grove, Galt projects” (Sacramento Bee, December 21, 2011); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/21/4136667/google-buys-solar-stake-in-elk.html#storylink=cpy
3. “The Hill’s Congress Blog: Solar opportunity or trade war with US” (The Hill, December 20, 2011); op-ed by DAN KAMMEN; http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-a-environment/200435-solar-opportunity-or-trade-war-with-us
4. “North Korean leadership change may not help
economy” (
5. “Live Q & A: What does Kim Jong Il’s death really mean?” (Washington Post Online, December 19, 2011); webchat hosted by MICHAEL NACHT; http://live.washingtonpost.com/kim-jong-il-121911.html
6. “This Week with Christiane Amanpour: The Great American Debates” (ABC News, December 18, 2011); debate featuring ROBERT REICH; http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/great-debate-part-15182994?tab=9482930§ion=1206874&playlist=15183260
7. “Wall Street shenanigans fuel public distrust” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 18, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/17/IN5N1MBT60.DTL#ixzz1h0bH0chE
8. “Two-tier pay system brings reopening of GM plant, reviving hope” (Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2011); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-economy-wages-20111218,0,969217.story
9. “The downside of unemployment benefits” (Washington Post Online, December 17, 2011); blog citing JESSE ROTHSTEIN; http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-downside-of-unemployment-benefits/2011/12/16/gIQAozL4yO_blog.html
10. “Patt Morrison Asks: Robert Reich, Pre-Occupied” (Los Angeles Times, December 17, 2011); interview with ROBERT REICH; http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-morrison-robert-reich-20111217,0,6937665,full.column
11. “Leaving
12. “AAAS Elects 11 UC Berkeley Faculty as Fellows” (States News Service, December 14, 2011); honor citing DAN KAMMEN.
13. “The Situation Room: … Gingrich Tax Plan A Windfall For Rich?...” (CNN, December 13, 2011); features commentary by ROBERT REICH.
14. “
15. “Durban Climate Change Conference” (Forum with Michael Krasny, KQED Radio, December 13, 2011); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Listen to this program
16. “Op-Ed: GOP hopefuls guided by Social Darwinism” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 11, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/11/INCK1M8VJ6.DTL
17. “Racial Disparity in Presidential Pardons: What Can Be Done?” (ProPublica, December 9, 2011); story citing JACK GLASER; http://www.propublica.org/article/racial-disparity-in-presidential-pardons-what-can-be-done
18. “Instead of New Deal, workers get raw deal” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 4, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/03/INF41M5J53.DTL#ixzz1fgavkzsZ
19. Blog: “What will happen to
20. Letters: “Changing How We Pay for Health Care” (New York Times, December 1, 2011); Letter to Editor by RICHARD SCHEFFLER; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/opinion/changing-how-we-pay-for-health-care.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
21. “When the barracking dies down” (The Australian Financial Review, Pg. 18-22, December 2011); analysis citing HENRY BRADY.
22. “Bay Area Occupy Blog: Occupy San Jose campers say they are going to be raided” (Oakland Tribune, November 16, 2011); blog citing JENNIFER GRANHOLM and ROBERT MACCOUN.
23. “Facing the voters - Cosmetic enhancements are a double-edged sword for politicians in the video age” (Washington Times, November 8, 2011); story citing JACK GLASER.
1. “GOP restores ban on needle-exchange funding” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 25, 2011); story citing LAURA THOMAS (MPP/MPH 1995); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/24/BA291MG3RO.DTL#ixzz1iVlskn7b
--Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Bob Anderson (left), Andy Fyne and Tom Hannon work at the Marin AIDS Project, where dirty needles can be exchanged anonymously. The loss of federal funds will affect the service. (Sarah Rice / Special to The Chronicle)
It took AIDS activists 21 years to get Congress to restore federal funding for local programs that supply clean needles to drug users. It’s taken Republicans a couple of months of hardball negotiations to get the ban reinstated.
Legislation to fund government operations for 2012, which President Obama is about to sign, includes an amendment prohibiting federal spending on needle exchanges in both domestic and international programs. That was the law from 1988 until December 2009, when Obama signed a Democratic-sponsored appropriations bill lifting the restrictions....
“Reinstating the ban is
murderous. It’s saying that people who use drugs should contract fatal and
expensive diseases and die,” said Laura
Thomas,
2. “State community colleges set to ration classes” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 25, 2011); story citing study by NANCY BOROW SHULOCK (MPP 1978); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/24/MN3U1MD0L6.DTL&ao=all#ixzz1iVpY3dPn
--Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer
During World War II, there was
food rationing. In 2012,
The proposal is controversial, with many students and educators critical of a shakeout that could end free courses offered for generations, including classes such as music appreciation and memoir writing. Also squeezed out would be students who linger at college for years, sampling one class after another.
The problem is as basic as a butter shortage. Essential classes are in critically short supply as the state’s economic crisis lumbers on. Last year, 137,000 students couldn’t get into at least one class they needed, including first-year English and math. And many who are entitled to financial aid never apply for it because there aren’t enough counselors to help them navigate the complex process.
The result is a dropout rate of 60 percent among students who expect to transfer to a four-year university or earn a vocational certificate, according to a 2010 study by [Nancy Shulock, Director of] the Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy in Sacramento.
Fixing the problem will require overhauling the vast community college system, according to a task force of 20 academics [including Dr. Nancy Shulock] and college advocates who have wrestled with the issue for a year. Established by the Legislature in 2010, the Student Success Task Force wants campuses to do a better job of helping students reach academic goals, and it wants students to move more quickly and efficiently through school....
3. “Hellman’s memorial attracts 1,500” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 22, 2011); story citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/21/BAV61MFCA1.DTL#ixzz1hHkhNYCe
--Will Kane, Leah Garchik, Chronicle Staff Writer
Supervisors Carmen Chu and Malia
Cohen arrive for the memorial service for financier Warren Hellman at Temple Emanu-El in
People started lining up
outside the Congregation Emanu-El in
Hellman built a fortune as an investor and seemed determined to spend much of it. Co-founder of the Hellman & Friedman private-equity firm, he poured money into local causes, some political, some personal.
He bankrolled
4. “Democrats turn tables on GOP as Boehner relents on payroll-tax deal” (Christian Science Monitor, December 22, 2011); analysis citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
By Gail Russell Chaddock, Staff writer
In a stunning reversal, House Speaker John Boehner late Thursday abandoned a bid to force Senate Democrats to the bargaining table to resolve an impasse over the expiring payroll tax cut – a strategy that had risked tax hike for some 160 million American workers....
This agreement means that the payroll tax cut, worth about $40 on the average paycheck, will remain in effect through February. Federal jobless benefits up to 99 weeks will also continue, and a proposed 27.4 percent payment cut for physicians serving Medicare patients will not take place on Jan. 1.
In contrast with previous standoffs, this time the White House and Senate majority leader Harry Reid didn’t budge or even blink.
“Democrats learned to
say, ‘no,’ and it worked for them,” says Stan
Collender, a longtime federal budget analyst now with
Qorvis Communications in
Democrats saw the payroll tax clash as an opportunity to end a disappointing year on offense.”It was opportunistic,” says analyst Mr. Collender. “Shortly after the debt-ceiling fight in August was the point at which ‘no’ for Democrats started to be an acceptable answer.”
Until that point, Democrats were “reflecting the president,” he adds. “The president was trying to compromise, but each time they found that House Republicans kept raising the bar, and they were getting hurt with their base by appearing to be weak.”
But with the sharp turn in public-approval ratings after the debt-ceiling debacle, Democrats grew bolder in opposition and, in the end, left House GOP leaders no place to go but over a cliff.
“Support for Congress in general is close to its lowest point ever. Republicans are generally getting blamed for that, and support for the tea party is at its lowest point since the 2010 election. Put that together, and what’s the down side for Democrats in taking a strong position?” Collender adds.
5. “DOD, EPA Developing MOU on Stormwater Controls Beyond Permit Limits” (Water Regulation Alert, December 22, 2011); story citing DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).
The Defense Department (DOD) will be working with EPA over the next several months to develop a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will delineate actions federal agencies commit to take to go beyond the requirements of the landmark stormwater permit EPA issued for the District of Columbia in October, after the agency backed away from requiring federal facilities meet more stringent standards....
... DOD had raised concerns over the legality of inserting such requirements into permits administered under the Clean Water Act (CWA). It argued in comments on the draft proposal that the CWA does not authorize including [Energy Independence & Security Act (EISA)] requirements into the District’s stormwater permit, as well as raising the fairness argument. The water law has broad enforcement authorities, which could potentially subject the military to fines and penalties.
According to DOD correspondence recently obtained by Inside EPA, EPA has proposed to develop an MOU to capture federal agencies’ additional commitments. In the letter, dated Sept. 30, DOD Deputy Under Secretary for Installations & Environment Dorothy Robyn tells EPA Deputy Administrator Robert Perciasepe that the department backs EPA’s proposal to have federal agencies sign an MOU for stormwater management in DC. The MOU “would specify concrete actions [federal agencies] are willing to take beyond what the permit requires,” she says.
Robyn also says DOD remains committed to following federal laws, including EISA, and to implementing EPA’s technical guidance on EISA section 438. She also applauds EPA for applying the same performance criteria to federal and non-federal facilities subject to the permit.
According to the letter, among the actions DOD expects to be included in the MOU are development of metrics and best management practices; implementation of stormwater retention technologies at highly developed properties; incorporation of green infrastructure approaches to reduce the volume and rate of stormwater discharges; dissemination of information to demonstrate full compliance with EISA; and exploration of using preserved open space on federal properties to improve stormwater retention.
Robyn also says DOD would support EPA efforts to include additional federal signatories to the MOU, “so as to enhance the exchange of information and lessons learned.” ...
6. “New laws look to make life harder - States lessen appeal to illegal migrants” (USA TODAY, December 21, 2011); story citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004).
By Alan Gomez,
State legislators looking to crack down on illegal immigration in 2012 are turning away from the law enforcement statutes that dominated state houses this year, and instead are pushing other measures that can make life just as difficult for illegal immigrants.
Much of the furor over
immigration laws in states such as
The U.S. Department of
Justice has sued four states—
Yet it’s a new provision
in
Another aspect of
The combination of those
provisions “has led to nothing short of chaos in the state,” said Karen Tumlin,
managing attorney for the
7. “State site explains long-term health care” (Sacramento Bee, December 21, 2011); story citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002);
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/21/4136908/state-site-explains-long-term.html#storylink=cpy
--Mark Glover
The state has launched a website to help Californians with long-term health care planning.
The site, www.rureadyca.org, was created by the state Department of Health Care Services’ California Partnership for Long-Term Care.
The site includes numerous tools, calculators and scenarios for individuals and households. Video presentations also are on-site.
“Long-term care concerns can be emotionally and fiscally taxing, especially for those who wait to prepare,” said DHCS Director Toby Douglas. “It’s critical that Californians work to address this issue before the need arrives.”
8. “Leaders to weigh food truck, tree policies” (Alameda Times-Star, December 15, 2011); story citing JENNIFER OTT (MPP 2000).
By Peter Hegarty -
City Council members
will consider allowing food truck gatherings on the
The Planning Board has
already recommended that the city’s municipal code be changed so that food
trucks could assemble at Alameda Point, the
But the board also asked the council to consider creating a policy for outreach with local business groups, including finding ways to help them take advantage of any food truck events.
While some restaurant owners are on record as saying that they fear permitting the trucks will undercut business, Deputy City Manager Jennifer Ott said the city’s current ordinance violates state law, which allows the trucks on public thoroughfares.
Moreover, despite the
local prohibition, food trucks are already visiting Alameda Point and the
The goal is to bring city regulations in line with state law, according to Ott....
9. “State budget: Trigger cuts hit community colleges” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 14, 2011); story citing PETER GOLDSTEIN (MPP 1981); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/13/MNFV1MBVNN.DTL#ixzz1gXANlVkl
--Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer
Now that
But the deepest impact will be at community colleges, where the cuts will cost $102 million, for a total loss this year of $502 million from the system’s $5.9 billion budget....
That translates to a
loss of $13.5 million at
“We just got hammered,” said Peter Goldstein, vice chancellor for finance....
10. “S.F. campaign-finance rules may get overhaul” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 10, 2011); story citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/09/MN671MANDO.DTL#ixzz1gQwcWOn9
--John Wildermuth, Chronicle Staff Writer
A public
campaign-financing plan that cost
The city’s Ethics Commission on Monday will consider forcing candidates for office to raise more money from more donors before qualifying for public financing, which might not be available until later in the political year and could be far less generous when it comes to matching funds.
While the public-financing system, used in a mayor’s race for the first time, went very smoothly, the city needs to address concerns that were raised during the campaign, said John St. Croix, the commission’s executive director.
“Clearly, there need to be changes,” agreed David Latterman, a consultant for Board of Supervisors President David Chiu’s mayoral campaign. “A lot of public money was spent for not much effect.”
Nine of the 11 top candidates for mayor accepted public financing.... A report by the Ethics Commission found that five of those candidates, who received a combined $2.3 million in city money, each received less than 5 percent of the first-choice votes cast....
11. “Mideast Expert Bard: Radical Islamist Rise Alarming” (Newsmax.com, December 10, 2011); interview with MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987).
By Paul Scicchitano and Ashley Martella
Radical Islamist
advances throughout
“There’s no question it’s alarming to see radical Islamists come to power in various places in the Middle East and be on the verge of taking over, perhaps, Syria, Egypt—maybe even Jordan in the future,” Bard said during an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV.
“The record of many of these radical groups is that they don’t believe in democracy. They believe in one vote, one time, and they want to impose a kind of theological curtain over the people—much like what is the case in Iran today,” said Bard, author of “The Arab Lobby: The Invisible Alliance that Undermines America’s Interests in the Middle East.” ...
Although there is a
danger that
“It’s possible, but in
most cases, these are Sunni-dominated countries that are not necessarily in line
with all of the theology—very much opposed to some of the theology—of the
Shiite-led government in
Bard, executive director of the nonprofit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise and director of the Jewish Virtual Library, said peace is possible in the troubled region....
He believes the best prospect for peace lies in the so-called two-state solution.
“The belief is that this is a land that both peoples claim and that it has to be divided in some way where both will enjoy self-determination and autonomy,” he said, adding that it is essentially the same approach that the United Nations advanced 60 years ago....
12. “
By Calvin Men, American
News,
Thomas Parrott knows the value of a dollar. In his four-and-a-half years at Northern State University, he poured drinks as a bartender, prepared sandwiches at Subway and drove a truck at Target to help pay for tuition.
Despite working odd jobs, receiving financial help from his family and earning a football scholarship, he still had to take out student loans to meet the costs....
The report, which looked
at the undergraduate class of 2010, found 75 percent of students in the state
had debt, compared with the national average of 66 percent. The average amount
of debt for
“The cost of attending
college has risen faster than available grant aid or family income, which are
the main resources students use to pay for college,” said Matthew Reed, author of the study. “
Reed added that since the figures were only averages, there were probably students who owe significantly less or more than the average.
“If you look at the
public universities in
13. “Taxation, citizenship, protest and the future of UC” (UC Berkeley NewsCenter, December 7, 2011); story citing HENRY BRADY and JONATHAN STEIN (MPP/JD cand.); http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/12/07/taxation-citizenship-protest-and-the-future-of-uc/
By Cathy Cockrell, NewsCenter
UC student regents Alfredo Mireles and Jonathan Stein.
What that something might be was the question of
the moment, as members of the campus community — in the second in a series of
timely public conversations sponsored by campus deans — focused on themes of
taxation, citizenship and protest as they bear on the University of California’s
current crisis.
An effective student
movement against rising fees and continued state disinvestment requires
students willing to take up many roles, from protesting on campuses to lobbying
in
But he prescribed “good old one-on-one retail politics” as well. “Go home over winter break, talk to every individual family member” about the importance of funding public education, Stein urged students. “I propose a statewide Christmas-break teach-in, with students doing the teaching.”
“The near-term fate of this university” rests on November 2012 ballot measures that would help restore funding to public education, Stein added....
Protest is how “the young and dispossessed” make their voices heard in politics, said Professor Henry Brady.
Brady,
whose recent work focuses on public higher education, shared survey data
showing how the rich and highly educated, while less inclined to prioritize
public education, are more active in the political system that shapes public
policy. The young and the poor, meanwhile, express themselves via protest,
which he called “the weapon of the weak.”
“That’s what
[A webcast of the forum will be available online in mid-December. See webcast.berkeley.edu or the UC Berkeley channel on YouTube.]
14. “Investment in state’s green car industry increases” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 7, 2011); story citing report lead-authored by DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/06/BU1S1M94OL.DTL#ixzz1fsFYnVMc
--David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer
In the first half of
this year,
For all of 2010,
Those figures do not
include money that big, established automakers are pouring into their own
electric vehicle programs. But they do show that
“We think
The number of jobs
generated by the industry so far in
The consulting firm Collaborative Economics [headed by Doug Henton], which researched and wrote the report for Next 10, counted just 1,800 electric vehicle jobs in the state. But those figures come from a database whose information is nearly 2 years old, representing employment in January 2010. The report’s authors consider the database to be the most precise available, even if the information isn’t current....
15. “Can ‘Carbon
Ranching’ Offset Emissions in
By Christopher Joyce
Tall grasses in the San Joaquin valley in
Climate experts are exploring the concept of growing dense fields of weeds to help soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Just over a year from
now,
So if you run a power
plant in
Instead, you could help pay to protect a growing forest, because it sucks carbon dioxide out of the air. Or you could pay a farmer to capture methane from a pond of pig waste.
The market for these
so-called greenhouse gas “offsets” is growing, and people are angling to come
up with new kinds of offsets. One potential bumper crop lies in the state’s
huge agricultural heartland — the
“What we found was that this area was a really big source of greenhouse gases,” she says on a walk across some of the valley’s prime grazing land.
Silver, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, measures greenhouse gases coming up out of the peat-rich soil — carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane. She’s looking for ways to reduce those gases, and that could create offsets that farmers and ranchers could sell to businesses trying to reduce their carbon footprint.
One way to cork up those gases is to flood the peatland and grow a tall grass called tule....
Flooding would return the land to the way it used to be. However, that would reduce acreage for farmers and ranchers. But if they can get paid enough for the greenhouse gases they capture, it could be profitable....
Derik Broekhoff is vice president for policy at Climate Action Reserve, which ensures that these offsets actually do what they’re supposed to do: lower emissions. “A lot of these emission reductions you can do that a lot more cheaply so it reduces the overall cost,” he says....
16. “APNewsBreak: Ala. AG says change immigration law” (Associated Press, December 7, 2011); newswire citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004).
By Phillip Rawls, Associated Press
The Legislature passed the law to scare off illegal immigrants and open up jobs for legal residents in a state suffering from more than 9 percent unemployment....
Despite the jobs goal, a
leading business organization in
Also Tuesday, state
agriculture officials met with farmers in southwest
One of the attorneys challenging the law, Karen Tumlin of the Immigration Law Center, said officials are beginning to see the “devastating” impact the law is having on the state.
17. “Bay Area firms aid Obama’s energy retrofit plan” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 6, 2011); column citing FRANCISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/05/BUID1M8HG4.DTL#ixzz1fmHeO5M3
--Andrew S. Ross, Chronicle Columnist
When President Obama announced his $4 billion initiative to finance energy efficiency programs at the White House on Friday, a number of Bay Area allies were, literally, right behind him.
There were senior
executives from
They’re among the 60 private companies and other entities “stepping up,” in Obama’s words, in an effort to retrofit public and commercial buildings nationwide, pitching in approximately half of the $4 billion needed. The rest of the funding for the “Better Buildings Challenge” will come from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Other Bay Area partners
include
“It’s an effort to bring together the private sector to jump-start the whole energy efficiency sector,” said the firm’s president, Francisco DeVries, who was also present at the White House launch.
Obama said the aim of
the initiative is to increase energy efficiency in commercial and public
buildings by 20 percent by 2020 - the retrofits are projected to save
With no new legislation needed, and no new taxpayer money, “it’s the nearest thing we’ve got to a free lunch in a tough economy,” remarked former President Bill Clinton, who helped round up corporate participants.
-- More information on the Better Buildings Challenge, including participants, at http://www4.eere.energy.gov/challenge/ .
18. “CITY INSIDER: W Hotel objects to SFMOMA expansion” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 5, 2011); column citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/04/BAG41M73K7.DTL#ixzz1fgTmiOnP
--Heather Knight
... A close examination
of every ballot cast in last month’s election—the first to use ranked-choice
voting in a competitive mayor’s race in
Despite widespread concern that voters would be confused by the ability to rank three choices, 73 percent of them did just that. Only 16 percent voted for just one candidate. Supervisor John Avalos, who placed a strong second in first-place votes behind winner Mayor Ed Lee, appeared on fewer ballots overall than Lee, City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Supervisor David Chiu—meaning he didn’t have strong appeal outside his progressive base.
Of the 12 most popular voting combinations, seven of them included only Chinese American candidates. Of the 11 serious contenders, four were Chinese: Lee, Chiu, State Sen. Leland Yee and Assessor Phil Ting. There was substantial overlap with Lee and Chiu, with each getting 27 percent of the other’s second choices. Lee was also the top second choice of those who picked Yee or Ting.
Those voters that opted to list just one preference were most likely to do so when they supported a more moderate candidate. Twenty-three percent of those who voted for former Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier or former Supervisor Tony Hall left the rest of their ballot blank. Twenty-two percent who voted for Lee picked nobody else.
We cannot claim credit
for these findings. Do you think we have that kind of time? No, props go to David Latterman
and Corey Cook of the
19. “Child Well-Being in the Aftermath of the Recession: Creating a Vision for Kids” (States News Service, December 5, 2011); newswire citing JULIA BIXLER ISAACS (MPP 1985).
The true impact of the economic downturn on children has not always been easy to see—especially through traditional economic indicators such as unemployment or GDP. Yet the recession undoubtedly has taken a toll on our youngest generation. So how can we best measure the impact of the economy on child well-being? And how can we make improved child well-being a budget and policy reality for children?
First Focus, in
conjunction with Congressman Manzullo (IL), Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee
(TX), and the Congressional Children’s Caucus, and the Foundation for Child
Development, invite you to join us for a discussion on how federal budget and
policy decisions can better align the economy and child well-being to establish
a more secure future for the next generation. The event will also feature the
release of two new reports: The Child and
Youth Well-Being Index: 2011 by Ken Land (
20. “Newt Gingrich Says
You Can Use Food Stamps to Get to
By Louis Jacobson – Politifact
People can use food
stamps “for anything,” including “to go to
Newt Gingrich on
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 in a speech in
THE RULING: PANTS ON FIRE
... [Republican presidential candidate Newt] Gingrich garnered national attention in May when he said that President Barack Obama deserves to be called “the most successful food stamp president in American history” because “47 million Americans are on food stamps.” ...
In his
“Remember, this is the
best food stamp president in history. So more Americans today
get food stamps than before. And we now give it away as cash—you don’t
get food stamps. You get a credit card, and the credit card can be used for
anything. We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to
We decided to check three separate claims:
Can food stamps “be used for anything”?
No....
“We have people who take
their food stamp money and use it to go to
“There is undoubtedly some illegal bartering of EBT cards—though I understand trafficking in EBT cards is less than under the old food stamps—but I am having trouble imagining how you could barter an EBT card for an airplane ticket,” said Julia Isaacs, a child and family policy fellow with the Brookings Institution....
21. “CAMPAIGN 2012: On fuel economy, Romney isn’t following in his ‘rebel’ father’s tire marks” (Greenwire, Vol. 10 No. 9, November 18, 2011); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992).
--Jason Plautz, E&E reporter
George W. Romney—the father of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney—was also the father of American fuel-efficient cars.
In 1960, when most Americans were driving chrome-armored, gas-swilling tanks, Romney’s American Motors Corp. was marketing the compact Rambler that got an astonishing 38.9 mpg—jaw-dropping mileage at the time—in a coast-to-coast race. Romney, AMC’s president, crowed about fuel efficiency in a 1959 interview with Time magazine.
“Who wants to have a gas-guzzling dinosaur in his garage?” Romney said.
So is Mitt Romney a chip off the old engine block on fuel efficiency? Not exactly.
The former governor of
Speaking in a Republican
presidential debate last week in
The administration characterizes the CAFE plan as a “landmark” initiative to “save American families money at the pump, reduce our country’s dependence on oil and boost domestic manufacturing.” But Romney has questioned the wisdom of President Obama’s emphasis on green initiatives, especially the administration’s loans for electric-car initiatives....
Roland Hwang, transportation policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Action Fund, said Romney’s views seem “out of step or not up to date with the facts on the ground.”
“There’s just overwhelming evidence,” Hwang said, “that fuel efficiency and having regulatory certainty of increasing standards have led to auto companies investing ahead of the curve.” ...
22. “Margaret Lavin: Obesity becomes threat to national security” (San Jose Mercury News, November 15, 2011); column citing SARAT MAYER (MPP 2004); http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county-times/ci_19342923?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
By Margaret Lavin,
Weight
problems have become the leading medical reason young adults are unable to
serve in the military. This is according to research from
“Many of us, when we think of the military, we think of large ships, fast jets and smart weapons,” retired Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr said. “I can tell you that the real secret weapon in our arsenal is our people.”
Unfortunately, an
estimated 1 in 4 young adults in
“We’re pleased that our
efforts are helping to turn the tide on childhood obesity,” said Sarat Mayer,
23. “Vistage Announces Winners of 2011 Member Leadership Awards” (PR Newswire, November 14, 2011); award citing KURT CHILCOTT (MPP 1984).
The following is a list of the winners and finalists by category: ...
Kurt Chilcott, award winner for Passion, is
President & CEO of CDC Small Business Finance in
24. “
By Paula King - For the Contra Costa Times
... Pending Brentwood City Council approval next month, the city’s Agricultural Enterprise Committee decided that the 166-acre Stenzel farm and the 42-acre Tennant-Taylor property should both be protected using past developer fees.
“These conservation easements are an important tool to preserve these lands in perpetuity,” Planning and Economic Development Manager Alex Greenwood said.
Through an easement, the
landowner agrees to restrict the use of the land for agricultural purposes
only, according to
The California Coastal Conservancy plans to contribute money for the Stenzel easement and may team up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to provide additional matching funds for a third easement on the 160-acre Nunn-Wallace farm.
The Stenzel farm costs about $1.9 million, with the Coastal Conservancy expected to contribute $1.2 million and the city providing $640,167. For the Tennant-Taylor easement, the cost is $399,000, with the city contributing the entire amount.
After dedicating about
$1 million to these easements, the city’s Agricultural Easement Program will
have exhausted most of its financial resources that came from developer fees
when residential development was more active. There is no future revenue in
sight.
“We are exhausting all of the available programs for the next several years,” he said. “We will be looking at other easements in the future.”
The Brentwood Grown branding effort has had a positive effect on farmers in recent years by improving the image and identity of locally grown produce in grocery stores and beyond, according to Greenwood. The city estimates that it takes about $10,000 annually to keep the program’s momentum going.
“It is so people know
that Brentwood has the best quality corn, peaches and other products, and they
learn to ask for it by name,”
25. “House Financial
Services Subcommittee Debates Expanding Moving To Work
Program” (States News Service, November 1, 2011); congressional testimony by WILL FISCHER (MPP 1999).
Prior to the hearing, Subcommittee member Gary Miller (R-CA) released a draft of his bill, the Moving to Work Improvement, Expansion, and Permanency Act of 2011. The bill would establish MTW as a HUD program and end its status as a demonstration. The bill would create an application and review process for public housing authorities (PHAs) wanting to apply to become an MTW agency, and would eliminate the current restrictions on the number of PHAs that can participate in MTW.
Ranking Member Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) said in his opening statement that he is concerned about Miller’s MTW bill and believes there is little evidence to support wholesale expansion of the program. He is also concerned about HUD’s capacity to administer an expanded MTW program without additional funding.
Will Fischer, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, testified that expanding MTW would fundamentally change federal housing assistance. He stated that the MTW demonstration is not effective in determining what policies are working to move people to self-sufficiency. Additionally, Fischer argued that MTW is not a good deal for taxpayers because it allows funding to be shifted from the voucher program and be used for other purposes, meaning less housing assistance for the lowest-income families.
Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) asked Fischer how the ability of PHAs to waive many tenant protection provisions under MTW could harm tenants. Fischer replied that it would be harmful and used portability as an example, stating that portability has been curtailed in a number of MTW agencies....
26. “Science classes get shorted; A statewide survey and local interviews find science time and resources shrinking” (Los Angeles Times, October 31, 2011); story citing CHRISTOPHER ROE (MPP 2004).
By Teresa Watanabe
At some
And educators from the
state’s high-tech epicenter of
Only 10% of elementary students regularly receive hands-on science lessons, the report found. Just one-third of elementary teachers said they feel prepared to teach science, and 85% said they have not received any training during the last three years, according to the survey conducted by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd, the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley, SRI International and others.
... On the most recent
fourth-grade science exams compiled by the National Assessment of Educational
Progress,
[Tom Torlakson, the state Supt. of Public Instruction] and others have launched a flurry of initiatives. They include plans to rewrite the state’s 13-year-old science content standards to focus more on hands-on learning and a new statewide network of educators, scientists, philanthropists and business leaders to push STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] education. The California STEM Learning Network brought science instruction to 300 after-school programs this fall and plans to more than triple that number next year.
“There is a sense of
alarm, particularly in the business community, over our low achievement scores
in math and science,” said Christopher
Roe, head of the STEM network. “For a state that depends on science and
technology as we do with Silicon Valley and
27. “United Nations Increases Transparency in Global Arms Trade: New “Global Reported Arms Trade” Website Brings Statistics to Life” (States News Service, October 17, 2011); event featuring JEFF ABRAMSON (MPP 2003).
The new Web platform is expected to vastly increase the possibility that government officials, researchers, journalists and anyone interested could absorb and analyse arms transfers as reported to the United Nations by its Member States....
In 1991, the General Assembly established a Register of Conventional Arms and called upon all Member States to provide annually for the Register data on international arms transfers in seven categories of major conventional weapons (battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large-calibre artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopter, warships, missile launchers and missiles), as well as background information on military holdings and procurement through national production.
Since then, many countries regularly report their arms imports and exports to the UN Register of Conventional Arms. To date, the Register has received reports from more than 170 States. The vast majority of official transfers are captured in the Register. Now, its data will be presented in a searchable, user-friendly manner, providing easy access to a wealth of previously difficult-to-find information....
... The event will also feature panel discussions by senior experts from academia and media to discuss the state of play regarding transparency in the global arms trade. The participants include: Magda Coss, investigative journalist; Jeff Abramson (Arms Control Association); Tobias Bock (Transparency International); and Mark Bromley (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute)....
28. “
By
Jude Clemente,
“I believe that together
not only can we lead
The present analysis
seeks to augment the growing body of literature declaring that
According to a University of Texas Center for Energy Economics case study, “Electricity Restructuring in California,” California had “maintained one of the strictest sets of environmental regulations and opposition to industrial sites and in particular power plants could be significant at the local level. This ... discouraged investment in new capacity.” This deficiency paved the way toward $40 billion in extra energy costs from 2001 to 2003, or about 4 percent of the state’s total annual economic output, writes Christopher Weare in the Public Policy Institute of California’s “The California Electricity Crisis: Causes and Policy Options.”...
29. “Chinese bank to open in S.F.” (The San Francisco Chronicle, September 30, 2011); column citing GINNY FANG (MPP 2008); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/30/BUV11LATN3.DTL
--Andrew S. Ross, Chronicle Columnist
Bank of Communications,
based in
“This is our most
significant recruit to
Founded in 1908, Bank of
Communications has more than 2,800 branches in 80 cities worldwide, most of
them in
Originally chartered as “the
bank for developing the country’s industries,” one of its chief mandates has
been to help expand the country’s industries overseas. “At first, it will be
mainly focused on bringing Chinese companies into the
The bank’s office will
be at
1. “The Economywide Benefits of Unemployment Insurance Are Crystal Clear” (American Progress, December 22, 2011); analysis citing JESSE ROTHSTEIN; http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/12/unemployment_insurance_benefits_clear.html
By Sarah Jane Glynn
A line worker assembles an
engine for a Ford Focus at the Ford Michigan Assembly plant in
The holidays are approaching and yet in spite of
the December 31 deadline to continue unemployment insurance for out-of-work job
seekers, the House of Representatives left
This impact on the economy at large is clear
from the research, yet a largely facetious “debate” continues to rage on in the
media. In a recent piece for The New York
Times,
This is not the first time that Mulligan has argued that unemployment benefits are a cause of prolonged unemployment, but the research does not back his assertion up....
Citing outdated research that does not reflect the reality of our current economic situation is not only disingenuous but also unnecessary given the existence of more contemporary data analyses. Jesse Rothstein, former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor and current professor of public policy and economics at the University of California-Berkeley, published recent research that analyzes current unemployment-insurance impacts.
Rothstein’s analysis found that extending unemployment benefits had a very small impact on the unemployment rate—only raising it by approximately 0.3 percentage points. Less than half of this effect was because people did not become re-employed, and he concludes that “the availability of extended benefits might have raised reemployment rates of displaced workers, by keeping them from abandoning their searches prematurely.” Unemployment insurance allows at least some people to hold out for a better job, and a better career path, rather than taking the first, possibly less desirable, position that comes along. Quickly getting people off of unemployment benefits does not benefit the economy if they are forced to return to less productive and less economically secure jobs....
2. “Google buys solar stake in Elk Grove, Galt projects” (Sacramento Bee, December 21, 2011); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/21/4136667/google-buys-solar-stake-in-elk.html#storylink=cpy
By Dale Kasler
Google Inc. is jumping into the solar energy
business in
The Internet giant said Tuesday it’s teaming with Wall Street private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. to buy a majority stake in four solar farms under construction in Elk Grove and Galt.
The solar farms, developed by a
The deal shows the increasing viability of the
renewable energy business in
“This becomes a very savvy investment,” said Daniel Kammen, an energy professor at the
Because it has so much cash, “Google is in a very fortunate position,” he added....
3. “Solar opportunity or trade war with US?” (The Hill, Congress Blog December 20, 2011); op-ed by DAN KAMMEN; http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-a-environment/200435-solar-opportunity-or-trade-war-with-us
By Daniel
M. Kammen,
The Solyndra uproar
and the recent International Trade Commission decision to investigate Chinese
solar panel manufacturers threatens to distract us from what we need most: a
proactive, long-term clean and sustainable energy strategy.
If you look beyond the partisan politics that has recently engulfed the solar industry, two irrefutable facts stand out. First, the solar energy industry is at a tipping point. With a diverse set of promising technologies coming online that are affordable and scalable today, or soon will be, the industry is becoming competitive with conventional energy sources.
Second, ill-conceived and reactionary policies could serve to undermine this fast-growing, innovative and job-producing sector.
The
The capacity of the solar industry to create
jobs is similarly clear. My laboratory at the
Not only has the
Kammen is the Class of 1935 Distinguished Professor of Energy at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Energy and Resources Group and the Goldman School of Public Policy, where he directs the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory. From 2010 - 2011 he was the inaugural Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at the World Bank.
4. “North Korean leadership change may not help
economy” (
By Kathy Chu,
Kim Jong Il named his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, as his successor in September 2010 and appointed him to high-level posts within the government. Yet the relative inexperience of Un and his young age—he is believed to be 27 or 28—could test his ability to unite the military and lead the country, analysts say.
If a power struggle ensues between different
factions within the military of
For
“The top military party that enjoyed the fruits
of society will want to continue to enjoy those fruits, and they won’t risk
very much,” says Nacht, now a professor of public policy at the
If Kim Jong Un succeeds his father, the “ray of hope” for economic reform is that Kim Jong Un studied in the West, Nacht says “The hope is that he’s a man of the modern world and he’s more inclined to reach out (to other countries). I think it’s probably unlikely though in the short term.”
5. “Live Q & A: What does Kim Jong Il’s death really mean?” (Washington Post Online, December 19, 2011); webchat hosted by MICHAEL NACHT; http://live.washingtonpost.com/kim-jong-il-121911.html
The death of Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader who threatened the world with his nuclear weapons ambitions and suppressed his own people with imprisonment and isolation, raises immediate questions about the future - and the stability - of perhaps the world’s most isolated state, which for six decades has been held together by the Kim family personality cult.
Chat with [public policy professor Michael Nacht, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs] about what Kim’s death means for North Koreans, as well as the rest of the world....
6. “This Week with Christiane Amanpour: The Great American Debates” (ABC News, December 18, 2011); debate featuring ROBERT REICH; http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/great-debate-part-15182994?tab=9482930§ion=1206874&playlist=15183260
With Rep. Paul Ryan, George Will, and Rep. Barney Frank, public policy professor Robert Reich participated in the first of “The Great American Debates” on the key issues of the 2012 presidential campaign. Subject of Debate I: “There’s Too Much Government in My Life.”
ROBERT REICH: “The real issue is not about how much government but what is government for?”....
7. “Wall Street shenanigans fuel public distrust” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 18, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/17/IN5N1MBT60.DTL#ixzz1h0bH0chE
--Robert Reich, © 2011 Robert Reich
Wall Street is its own worst enemy. It should have welcomed new financial regulation as a means of restoring public trust. Instead, it’s busily shredding new regulations and making the public more distrustful than ever.
The Street’s biggest lobbying groups have just filed a lawsuit against the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, seeking to overturn its new rule limiting speculative trading in food, oil and other commodities.
The Street makes bundles from these bets, but they have raised costs for consumers. In other words, a small portion of what you and I pay for food and energy has been going into the pockets of Wall Street. Just another redistribution from the middle class and the poor to the top....
But when it comes to regulating Wall Street, one big cost doesn’t make it into any individual weighing: the public’s mounting distrust of the entire economic system, generated by the Street’s repeated abuse of the public’s trust....
Yet capitalism depends on trust. Without trust, people avoid even sensible economic risks. They also begin trading in gray markets and black markets. They think that if the big guys cheat in big ways, they might as well begin cheating in small ways. And when they think the game is rigged, they’re easy prey for political demagogues with fast tongues and dumb ideas....
The cost of such cynicism has leached deep into
Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at UC Berkeley....
8. “Two-tier pay system brings reopening of GM plant, reviving hope” (Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2011); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-economy-wages-20111218,0,969217.story
By Don Lee,
Autoworkers cheer an
announcement that GM will begin building the Chevrolet Equinox at the plant in
Reporting from
The ceremony marked a rare bright moment for
workers in
At first glance, the scaled-down pay for some employees seems starkly at odds with Henry Ford’s famous decision nearly a century ago to double daily pay to $5, a move that boosted workers’ morale — as well as their ability to buy Ford cars.
“This is what Henry Ford understood by paying
his workers three times more than the industry average,” said Robert Reich, a
What concerns Reich most is that whittled-down paychecks will erode spending power and thus lead to fewer sales, weak hiring and stagnant wages, creating a vicious cycle. “You shoot yourself in the foot eventually,” he said....
9. “The downside of unemployment benefits” (Washington Post Online, December 17, 2011); blog citing JESSE ROTHSTEIN; http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-downside-of-unemployment-benefits/2011/12/16/gIQAozL4yO_blog.html
--Suzy Khimm
(AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Congress
still hasn’t reached an agreement over the unemployment benefit extension that
expires at the end of this month. Republicans argue that the benefits will
actually increase the unemployment rate, as workers on the dole will be less
motivated to work. Democrats say the $44 billion in additional benefits will
boost the economy while helping the downtrodden. A new study may help put
Congress’s cost-benefit calculation into better perspective.
In a paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Jesse Rothstein finds that the recent expansion of unemployment insurance (UI)— extending benefits from 26 to 99 weeks—does increase unemployment, by up to 0.5 percent. But Rothstein’s estimates are also significantly lower than previous research on the issue. And none of these estimates factors in the additional jobs that could be created due to the UI program’s boost to GDP.
Rothstein, a public-policy professor at the University of California-Berkeley, looks at the impact of extending unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 99 weeks—an extension Congress has taken up in fits and starts since July 2008. He explains that extending benefits can reduce some motivation to search for work: as their benefits expire, people tend to look even more intensively for work, so extending benefits would decrease that pressure. But the overall impact on the unemployment rate is small. On the other hand, UI benefits can also encourage the jobless to continue searching for work when they otherwise may have stopped looking and dropped out of the labor force altogether.
Overall, Rothstein estimates that unemployment benefits contributed about a 0.2 percentage point increase in the overall unemployment rate between 2007 and 2009. And he estimates that the UI benefit extension that Congress is currently considering would increase the unemployment rate by 0.1 to 0.5 percent in 2012, assuming they are extended by a full year....
10. “Patt Morrison Asks: Robert Reich, Pre-Occupied” (Los Angeles Times, December 17, 2011); interview with ROBERT REICH; http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-morrison-robert-reich-20111217,0,6937665,full.column
By Patt Morrison
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor
Robert Reich speaks to Occupy Los Angeles protesters after the Move Your Money
March through the downtown financial district. Occupy movement members called
for people to move their money from banks to credit unions in support of the
99% movement. (David McNew/Getty
Images / November 5, 2011)
Robert Reich has worked in a lot of big white buildings—in the Senate, as an intern to Robert F. Kennedy; in the office of then-Solicitor General Robert Bork; in the Ford and Carter administrations; and as labor secretary to President Clinton. Now the political economist works in another set of big white buildings, teaching at UC Berkeley, where his “Wealth and Poverty” class is as overbooked as a bargain flight to Paris, and where he dotes on his 3-year-old granddaughter, to whom he dedicated his latest book, “Aftershock”: “To Ella Reich-Sharpe, and her generation.” ....
We think of ourselves as a nation that practices democratic capitalism, but sometimes capitalism and democracy pull in opposite directions.
Essentially, every time the excesses of capitalism threaten to destroy it, we save capitalism from itself. We did it in the Progressive era, we did it in the New Deal, and hopefully we are at least beginning to do it now. Ironically, it’s progressives and Democrats who take the lead in saving capitalism from itself.
The question is how bad things have to get
before average people begin mobilizing. Sometimes we revert to third parties.
Sometimes we take over dominant parties, as the tea partyers
have done. Sometimes we make such a ruckus, as we did with civil rights and
One reason I love teaching so much is that I’m in contact with young people who, most of them, want to change the world.
Is
Every time I go to
11. “Leaving
Army soldiers honor fallen
friends in
The
Guests:
...
-Michael Nacht, Thomas and Alison Schneider professor of public policy at UC Berkeley....
MICHAEL
NACHT: ... A lot of what
12. “AAAS Elects 11 UC Berkeley Faculty as Fellows” (States News Service, December 14, 2011); honor citing DAN KAMMEN.
By Sarah Yang, Media Relations
The UC Berkeley researchers are among 539 new fellows chosen for this honor, which is bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers in recognition of their distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications....
The new honorees and their citations are: ...
[Section on Societal Impacts of Science and Engineering]
Daniel M. Kammen, professor of energy and resources, public policy and nuclear engineering, for demonstrating the value of rigorous interdisciplinary work combining technical expertise with policy analysis, with a particular focus on renewable energy systems in developing countries....
13. “
By Tami Luhby
That’s a good thing, some economists say.
“It does demotivate people from making tough decisions that they need to make,” [Chris Edwards, an economist with the Cato Institute] said, adding that the economy will recover when Americans “adjust to the new reality. The faster they adjust, the better off we all are.”
That theory, however, doesn’t sit well with many of the unemployed and their supporters. They say they’d much rather work, but they simply can’t find anyone willing to hire them....
Jesse Rothstein, who served as the chief economist in the Department of Labor last year, estimates that extended benefits raises the jobless rate by only .5 percentage points at the most. And more than half of that increase is because people must continue to look for work to receive their checks. If they stopped getting benefits, many would just drop out of the labor force completely.
“You want people to be able to survive until the
labor market recovers enough so they can find new jobs in a reasonable length
of time,” said Rothstein, now an
economics professor at
14. “The Situation Room: … Gingrich Tax Plan A Windfall For Rich?...” (CNN, December 13, 2011); features commentary by ROBERT REICH.
... WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Newt Gingrich’s
campaign is dismissing a new analysis of this tax plan. That analysis by the
A Gingrich spokesman says the study doesn’t take into account the economic growth and the new jobs his plan would create....
And joining us now Robert Reich, professor at the
ROBERT REICH, FORMER LABOR SECRETARY: I think it’s totally nuts. I mean, already the highest income earners in this country who are getting a higher share of total income than they have in 80 years are already paying the lowest marginal tax rates they’ve paid in about 40 years.
To take those marginal tax rates down to 15 percent, I mean, you’re going to blow a gigantic hole in the federal budget over $1 trillion in one year.
And on top of that, you know, the biggest beneficiaries according to the independent Nonpartisan Tax Policy Institute, the biggest beneficiary, the lion’s share goes to the wealthy of this tax cut.
You know, the people who are at the top 1/10th of 1 percent, earning an average of $8 million a year, get 25 percent of all of these benefits of this tax cut. This is absurd....
I mean, this is ... taking supply side economics to a bizarre extreme. And nothing trickled down from the Bush tax cuts, we know that, most people got no benefits at all. And now what is Gingrich doing? Let’s take the Bush tax cuts and magnify them 500 percent....
15. “Durban Climate Change Conference” (Forum with Michael Krasny, KQED Radio, December 13, 2011); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Listen to this program
An activist pretends to eat a
piece of coal at a protest aimed at the delegates of UN climate talks in
After two long weeks of climate change talks in
Guests:
...
- Dan Kammen, professor of energy at U.C. Berkeley. Director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, U.C. Berkeley....
16. “Op-Ed: GOP hopefuls guided by Social Darwinism” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 11, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/11/INCK1M8VJ6.DTL
--Robert
Reich
Listen carefully to the Republican debates, and you get a view of the type of society many Republicans seek. The last time we had it was in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century.
It was an era when the nation was mesmerized by
the doctrine of free enterprise. It was also a time when the ideas of William
Graham Sumner, a professor of political and social science at Yale, dominated
American social thought. Sumner brought Charles Darwin to
To Sumner and his followers, life was a competitive struggle in which only the fittest could survive—and through this struggle, societies became stronger over time. A correlate of this principle was that government should do little or nothing to help those in need because that would interfere with natural selection.
Today’s Republican presidential hopefuls sound a lot like Sumner....
Newt Gingrich warns us not to “coddle” people in need. He calls laws against child labor “truly stupid” and says poor kids should serve as janitors in their schools. He opposes extending unemployment insurance because, he says, “I’m opposed to giving people money for doing nothing.” ...
Mitt Romney doesn’t want the government to do much of anything about unemployment. And he’s dead set against raising taxes on millionaires, relying on the standard Republican rationale that millionaires create jobs....
Social Darwinism offered a moral justification for the wild inequities and social cruelties of the late 19th century....
Social Darwinism also undermined all efforts at the time to build a nation of broadly based prosperity and rescue our democracy from the tight grip of a very few at the top. It was used by the privileged and powerful to persuade everyone else that government shouldn’t do much of anything....
But if one of the current crop of Republican hopefuls becomes president, Social Darwinism is back.
Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of
labor, is professor of public policy
at UC Berkeley and the author of “Aftershock:
The Next Economy and
17. “Racial Disparity in Presidential Pardons: What Can Be Done?” (ProPublica, December 9, 2011); story citing JACK GLASER; http://www.propublica.org/article/racial-disparity-in-presidential-pardons-what-can-be-done
By Lois Beckett and Robin Respaut
(Getty Images file photo)
If the government wants to correct racial disparity in presidential pardons, it will require a hard look at the standards used to judge applicants and whether there is implicit bias in the way decisions are made, a wide range of experts told ProPublica....
In an in-depth investigation of the presidential pardons process [1], published this week, ProPublica found that white applicants were nearly four times as likely to succeed as minorities, even when factors such as the type of crime and sentence were considered.
Standards considered by the office include judgments about whether an applicant is sufficiently remorseful or financially stable. Pardons office lawyers also have said they look at numerous factors to assess an applicant’s “attitude” — but that race is not a consideration....
Jack Glaser, a University of California, Berkeley, expert on discrimination who reviewed ProPublica’s analysis, said the process invites “way too much discretion.”
“To the extent that they allow their staff to be making judgments into somebody’s attitude — that’s an entry point for bias,” Glaser said. “It’s not that it’s a reflection of racial biases, because there are also cultural attitudes. White people understand white people better. They may not understand the outlooks of minority people as well.”
Glaser suggested that the White House create strict guidelines for the process. “The more you standardize things and the more you carve discretion out of the process,” he said, “the less opportunity for bias.” ...
18. “Instead of New Deal, workers get raw deal” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 4, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/03/INF41M5J53.DTL#ixzz1fgavkzsZ
--Robert Reich
Ford Motor Co., veering far from its founder’s course, now pays its new hires half what it paid new company employees a few years ago. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)
For most of the last century, the basic bargain at the heart of the American economy was that employers paid their workers enough to buy what American employers were selling.
That basic bargain created a virtuous cycle of higher living standards, more jobs and better wages.
Back in 1914, Henry Ford announced he was paying workers on his Model T assembly line $5 a day - three times what the typical factory employee earned at the time. The Wall Street Journal termed his action “an economic crime.” But Ford knew it was a cunning business move. The higher wage turned Ford’s autoworkers into customers who could afford to buy Model Ts. In two years, Ford’s profits more than doubled....
The basic bargain is over—not only at Ford but all over the American economy.
New data from the Commerce Department show employee pay is down to the smallest share of the economy since the government began collecting wage and salary data in 1929. Meanwhile, corporate profits now constitute the largest share of the economy since 1929. That, by the way, was the year of the Great Crash that ushered in the Great Depression....
The latest data on corporate profits and wages show we haven’t learned the essential lesson of the two big economic crashes of the last 75 years: When the economy becomes too lopsided—disproportionately benefiting corporate owners and top executives rather than average workers—it tips over....
We’re in a vicious cycle. The only way out of it is to put more money into the pockets of average Americans. That means extending the payroll tax cut. And extending unemployment benefits....
© 2011 Robert Reich Robert Reich, former
[On December 6, President Obama said in a speech
at
19. Blog: “What will happen to
... Yesterday, a U.S. District judge in
KALW’s Ben Trefny asked reporter Steven Short to catch us up on the
state of medical marijuana in
TREFNY: Steven, what we just heard Barack Obama say seems in conflict with what the Justice Department has announced.
SHORT: Yes, in fact, in the early days of his administration, President Obama specifically said that licensed dispensaries in states with medical marijuana laws would be left alone.
I spoke with Robert MacCoun about this. He’s a UC Berkeley professor, at the Goldman School of Public Policy. Here’s what he said about this seeming contradictions.
ROBERT MacCOUN: While they don’t think medical marijuana patients should be a high priority for prosecution, trafficking in marijuana, or profiteering from medical marijuana, is still on the table as a legitimate use of their resources. And they make quite clear that they’re going to reserve the right to be tough.
TREFNY: Why do you think the Justice Department has decided to take these actions at this particular time?
SHORT: I asked Professor MacCoun that same thing and here’s what he had to say:
MacCOUN: You know, I think every four years we enter a presidential “silly season,” where candidates make pronouncements about law and order that are ill-considered. And they’re gambling that it will play well with the electorate. But it’s usually not a good time to discuss rational drug policy. And I think President Obama does not want to be accused of being soft on drugs....
20. Letters: “Changing How We Pay for Health Care” (New York Times, December 1, 2011); Letter to Editor by RICHARD SCHEFFLER; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/opinion/changing-how-we-pay-for-health-care.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel’s column “Saving by the Bundle” (Sunday Review, Nov. 20) provides insightful and useful suggestions for bending the health care cost curve but may have pushed the numbers too far. He calculates his $80 billion-a-year savings using Prof. Arnold Milstein’s seminal work in which he finds medical home runs — practices that save money without compromising quality. Unfortunately, the study is based on four practices — hardly enough to base any sort of national estimate on.
But the lessons learned are noteworthy. Home runs in primary care practice happen when the least costly health worker does a task — nurse practitioners bat for doctors, registered nurses for nurse practitioners and so on.
Bundled payments will eliminate useless services while encouraging team practice of primary care integrated with hospital care. This combination has the potential to achieve significant savings and help to move us toward an affordable health care system.
RICHARD M.
SCHEFFLER
The writer is a professor of health economics and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of “Is There a Doctor in the House? Market Signals and Tomorrow’s Supply of Doctors.”
21. “When the barracking dies down” (The Australian Financial Review, Pg. 18-22, December 2011); analysis citing HENRY BRADY.
By Ben Potter
... Obstructive Republicans feature strongly in
President Barack Obama’s explanations of why the
22. “Bay Area Occupy Blog: Occupy San Jose campers say they are going to be raided” (Oakland Tribune, November 16, 2011); blog citing JENNIFER GRANHOLM and ROBERT MACCOUN.
By Bay Area News Group
... 12:18 p.m.: Law profs
blast Birgeneau’s
More than 85 faculty members at the
The Boalt Hall faculty’s
letter says police not only instigated violence at
Among the signers is former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, now serving as a Distinguished Practitioner of Law and Public Policy at the school [and Robert MacCoun , Professor of Law and Public Policy]....
[Full text of the letter and signatories.]
23. “Facing the voters - Cosmetic enhancements are a double-edged sword for politicians in the video age” (Washington Times, November 8, 2011); story citing JACK GLASER.
By Sadie Dingfelder,
Special to The
In recent weeks, there’s been a flurry of speculation about whether House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, 71, has had plastic surgery. But unless she has some previously undocumented condition in which one’s face gets tighter with age, the answer is obvious, plastic surgeons say.
“A woman her age shouldn’t look that good,” says Dr. Anthony Youn, a Detroit-based plastic surgeon. “It appears that she has had a good amount of surgery .. probably an eyelid lift and even a facelift”
That should surprise no one, says Samantha von Sperling, a New-York-based political image consultant: No one talks about it, but everyone does it.
But in their rush to look forever young, some politicians may be neglecting another, more important demand of the video age: the ability to express emotion clearly and convincingly....
Voters may read immobility in the face as impassivity,
explains Jack Glaser, a public policy
professor at the
Dec. 12 Robert Reich interviewed Anita Hill on “Finding
Home” at
Dec. 13 UC Berkeley Professor Robert Reich and
Stanford’s John Shoven at an event in
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